Prevailing Faith Series

Several years ago, the Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects carried an article which discussed some of the technical problems Noah could have had in building the ark. Let me read to you some excerpts from that article.

The Lord said to Noah, “Where is the ark which I commanded you to build?”

And Noah said to the Lord, “I have three carpenters off ill. The gopher-wood supplier has let me down – even though the gopher wood has been on order for nearly 12 months. What can I do, Lord?”

And God said to Noah, “I want that ark finished in seven days and seven nights.”

And Noah said, “It will be so.”

And it was not so. And the Lord said to Noah, “What seems to be the trouble this time?”

And Noah said unto the Lord, “My subcontractor went bankrupt. The pitch which You commanded me to put on the outside and inside of the ark has not arrived. The plumber has gone on strike. Shem, my son who helps me on the ark side of his business, has formed a rock group with his brothers, Ham and Japeth. Lord, I am undone.”

And the Lord grew angry and said, “And what about the animals, the male and the female of every sort that I ordered to come to you to keep their seed alive upon the face of the earth?”

And Noah said, “They were delivered to the wrong address, but should arrive on Friday.”

And the Lord said, “How about the unicorns, and the fowls of the air by sevens?”

And Noah wrung his hands and wept, saying, “Lord, unicorns are a discontinued line; you cannot get them for love or money. And fowls of the air are sold only in half-dozens. Lord, Lord, You know how it is.”

And the Lord in His wisdom said, “Noah, my son, I know. Why else do you think I am sending a flood to cover the earth?”

I’m sure Noah faced a lot of frustration in his day, and not just in building the ark. Noah was a godly man in an ungodly world much like our world today. Yet, he was able to survive and thrive in such a world.

How? And how can we, as followers of Christ, thrive in our world today? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 6, Genesis 6, where we see how Noah did it in his day.

Genesis 6:1-3 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God [i.e., the kings and rulers] saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man [or better, shield man] forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years” (ESV).

In other words, man has 120 years before God is going to wipe him off the face of the earth.

Genesis 3:4 The Nephilim [or giants] were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown (ESV).

What we have here is a gross abuse of power. In Bible days, kings were called “sons of God” (Psalm 2:7; 2 Samuel 7:14). In fact, many rulers considered themselves to be gods, until the flood came. Then they found they couldn’t hold their breath very long. You know what I mean? These are powerful men with an insatiable lust for sex. They are grabbing all the young women they can, filling their harems and indulging themselves. It is a gross abuse of power – sexual harassment at its worst.

Then there was pervasive demonic activity. Did you notice the children born to the kings? According to verse 4, they were “Nephilim” or giants, “mighty men of renown.” There is something unusual going on here, something supernatural and demonic.

Henry Morris suggests that demons entered the kings mentioned here and altered their gene structure such that they produced abnormally big and strong children. I believe that Satan’s demons were infiltrating the human race in an effort to destroy the “seed of the woman.” You see, God had told Satan that the “seed of the woman” would destroy him someday (Genesis 3:15). So Satan is going to do anything and everything he can to stop that from happening.

The New Testament makes it very clear that demons were a big part of the problem in Noah’s day. 1 Peter 3:19-20 speaks of Christ who “went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.” 2 Peter 2:4 goes on to say that in the days of Noah, “God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment.” Evidently, when God sent the flood, he also sent some demons to hell.