Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Milford

Introduction
In geology, scientists are divided into two groups: Uniformitarianists and Catastrophists.

The word uniformitarian is derived from the assumption that uniform environmental conditions have worked together to affect Earth’s environment in predictable ways over time. The key phrase of uniformitarianists is “The Present is the Key to the Past,” that is, what can be observed today tells us what happened before. For example, if they measure the amount of growth on a stalactite in one year, they can then divide the stalactite’s height by that number to find an approximate age for the formation. Along the same line, if a river cuts an inch into a canyon in one year, they can conclude that a 2,000 foot canyon took 24,000 years to produce. Uniformitarianism has been the basic teaching of historical geology since the early eighteen hundreds.

But before that, Catastrophism was universally accepted as the explanation of geologic formations. The word catastrophism comes from the same root as the word cataclysm. A modern dictionary defines it saying: To inundate, to wash, flood, deluge, catastrophe.

Back in the 1600’s Nicholas Steno, now known as the Father of Stratigraphy (the branch of geology which studies rock layers and layering), developed his ideas with a firm belief in the Bible as the authoritative Word of God. With this understanding, Steno reasoned that the worldwide flood of Noah’s day would have had a tremendous impact on the land surface. In fact, if the flood described in Genesis 6 actually occurred, he said, “the science of stratigraphy would demand the formation of stratified rock layers all over the earth filled with the fossilized remains of the plants and animals that lived in the [pre-Flood] world.” (As creationist Ken Ham puts it, “If Noah’s flood were true you would expect to find millions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth, and what do we actually see in the fossil record? Millions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth!”) (Catastrophism tends to align itself with Creationism, while Uniformitarianism is a part of the teaching of evolution.)

The geologic evidence for Catastrophism is so overwhelming that Uniformitarianists have adopted many catastrophist arguments, interspersing various catastrophic events into their great spans of geologic time, in order to have their theories match the evidence around us. [See http://www.creation studies.org/Education/education-flood.html.])

At the heart of Catastrophism for most adherents is belief that Noah’s Flood was an historical event. But could the entire Earth really have been flooded with water? Seventy-one percent of the earth’s surface today is water, and the oceans average to be almost 2.5 miles deep. That leaves only 29% as land, with the average elevation being not even half a mile. So if all the continents and land masses were leveled into the sea using a giant bulldozer, nearly two miles of water would cover our entire earth! So, although many do not believe that Noah’s Flood was a global event, it easily could have been. And the original unified supercontinent that many call Pangaea would have been split apart as the pressures upon the earth’s crust shifted tectonic plates and volcanic craters were pushed up whose eruptions would have resulted in new geologic formations as well as transforming the makeup of our atmosphere. Everything would have been changed. Noah and his family would have exited the ark to an environment significantly foreign to them.
But why are we talking about these things?

1 Peter 3:13-22 [NLTse]
¹³ Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴ But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. ¹⁵ Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. ¹⁶ But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.¹⁷ Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!
¹⁸ Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but He was raised to life in the Spirit.
¹⁹ So He went and preached to the spirits in prison— ²⁰ those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. ²¹ And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
²² Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept His authority.

Sermon
As fearsome and catastrophic as the Flood must have been in “cleansing” and reshaping the Earth – breaking up the continents, carving the likes of the Grand Canyon, pushing up mountains and ranges like Everest, the apostle Peter writes that the Flood was just “a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (V. 21) As awe-inspiring as the effects and after-effects of the world-wide Flood were, they are all just a picture to us of what Almighty God has accomplished in the soul of a person who trusts Christ’s death on the cross.

Paul writes to the Ephesians that, just like all the rest of humanity, “You were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. (He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.)” Paul writes, “All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.” (2:1-3) Just like in the days of Noah when evil and wickedness were such that “everything [people] thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.” (Genesis 6:5)

At that time God sent the Flood to cleanse and remake the earth, but even such total destruction and re-creation could not cleanse or remake peoples’ sinful nature, so an even greater catastrophe had to happen: The loving, innocent, sinless Son of God laid down His life to be murdered by wicked men on a cross. But God made His death to be a sacrifice to cleanse and wash away the sins of all who would believe it, with the after-effects of His sacrifice removing all the guilt and shame that sin so often leaves behind.

What seismic changes occurred as the result of such a catastrophe? Men and women and boys and girls ever since have been remade: Those who had been dead, living in sin, obeying the devil have been broken apart from the rest of humanity, had a new life carved out for them, lives of love and righteousness pushed up, surrendered to the Holy Spirit, trusting and obeying God.

Now, we talk a lot here at First Presbyterian about Jesus dying to free us from sin’s power, and about Jesus’ death freeing us from the guilt and shame that our sins so often leave behind. But too often, I think, we sing our songs about God’s forgiveness and join in prayers thanking Him for making us new and we nod our heads at sermons talking about being washed and cleansed but I think many of us do not let these truths penetrate our hearts and minds to truly believe that Jesus has done all of that for us! From the conversations I have with many of you, I believe many Christians know that Jesus saves, but have not experienced Jesus saving them. No, for some reason many have come to believe that their sins are special: Jesus can and does forgive everyone, but not you. You’ve sinned too often, or you’ve had to ask His forgiveness about the same thing over and over and over again, and it’s still going on in your lives. You know that nothing is impossible with God, but your struggles are different. Things with you can’t change.

Well, let’s get down to it here. The Bible says that God created the world in six days. The more I read and study about the science of origins (as it is called) the more I discover that believing that – as fantastic as it sounds! – addresses the cosmic evidence around us as well, and oftentimes better, than the more popular uniformitarian-evolutionary teaching that so pervades our culture. Likewise, the Bible says that there was no death in all that God originally established. Evolution is based upon death – millions and millions of years of death. But the Bible says there was no death: The creatures and human beings were vegetarian and were intended to live forever. And as I’ve studied the science behind these seeming too-good-to-be-true wonders, I’ve found that although not every creature could exist on meat that all creatures could – and many do (even so-called carnivores) – exist on plants alone. The Bible tells us that a worldwide flood killed every creature the Lord God had made on the face of the earth except those creatures and people that were with Noah on his boat! And the Bible tells us that all of that is why Jesus came and died.

The Bible does not paint for us a picture of Jesus – the Son of God – dying as a sacrifice for sin just so that you and I could be forgiven our sins. No, it is not just about us: Jesus is making everything new! He’s reestablishing righteousness. He is overturning death. By the catastrophe of the cross, Jesus Christ is remaking and reshaping all Creation including the entire Earth and all of humanity and, yes, beloved of God, you and me!

That’s why we baptize: A new Creation. That’s what we’ve been baptized into: A new Creation. That’s what we’re reaffirming with Joe McNeely today: Jesus Christ overcoming evil and undoing death and washing sin away through the cataclysm of His sacrifice. And there is nothing you have ever done, and there is nothing you might ever do, that can’t be undone by the fearsome majesty of Jesus’ death on the cross.

Let the reality of it, let the majesty of it, let the upheaval and undoing and remaking of it pierce the lies you’ve believed about what’s possible and impossible in your own life.

What is your sin? Call it to mind. Think on it right now… What is your guilt? Your shame? Your regrets… Hold it in your mind, hold it in your hands before the Lord this morning.

And as we refresh Joe McNeely’s baptism today, be washed, be undone, be remade! And know it is true by faith…
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Worship Team, would you come forward as we pray…

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Savior: The sun went dark and earthquakes shook the land as You hung on the cross beginning the undoing to make all things new. Such a horror. Such a wonder! To re-create for Yourself and us a world where righteousness is at home and the Way of the land… As we splash the waters of baptism this morning, wash away our doubts and fears to trust Your Word and Your new-creation work in us and all things. For Your glory in Jesus Christ, we pray…