지금이 마지막 때임을 느끼는 가장 큰 이유는 우리 인간들에게 일어나고 있는 일들 때문이다. 도덕성의 결여로 인한 악의 극대화 및 프라이버시 상실로 인한 노예화 등. 그 외에도 기후 및 지형의 갑작스러운 변화, 기독교의 타락 및 박해 등 다른 징조들도 많이 있는데, 창세기에서 노아의 홍수 부분을 읽으며 현재 일어나고 있는 또 다른 징조인 동식물 및 곤충의 대멸종이 떠올랐다.
창세기를 읽어보면 인간의 모든 고통은 인간이 한 선택에 대한 자연스러운 결과임을 알 수 있다. 인간의 역사에서 하나님께서 개입하신 경우마다 이유는 우리를 구출하고 보존하기 위한 것이었다. 노아의 홍수가 있기 전, 인간의 문화는 악이 암처럼 퍼져 깊숙히 뿌리내린 상태였다. 당시 악은 제도화되어 있었고(현재 낙태죄 법이 바뀌어 아기가 엄마 몸에서 세상에 나오기 직전까지 유산을 허용하듯이) 인간은 파괴와 멸망에 이르는 코스를 따라가고 있었다. 그래서 하나님은 심판을 통해 우리의 코스를 바꿀 필요가 있었다.
9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
5 The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.
12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.
18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you….22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.” 8:16-17
21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” 8:21-22
[9장: 계약과 축복]
1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.
3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
6 “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind. 7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”
Genesis 8:15. Noah built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. Genesis 8:20, 9:1. Came out as husband and wife. God allowed to continue with conjugal relations.
