Today we will continue to discuss Noah. We will be looking at the call on his life, God’s provision for this call, and how we benefit from it.
However, as I was proceeding with my studies I pondered how it would have been if Noah had been called to build the ark today. It may have gone like this.
The Lord spoke to Noah and said, “Noah I am going to cover the world with water and all the evil things will be destroyed. But, I want to save a few good people and two of every living thing on the planet. So I want you to build an ark.”
As the sky began to cloud up, and the rain began to fall in torrents, the Lord looked down and saw Noah sitting in his yard, weeping, and there was no ark.
“Noah!” shouted the Lord, “Where is my ark?”
“Lord please forgive me!” begged Noah. “I did my best but there were some problems --- big problems. First, I had to get a building permit for the ark’s construction, but your plans did not meet their code. So, I had to hire an engineer to redo the plans, only to get into a long argument with him about whether to include a fire-sprinkler system.”
“My neighbors objected, claiming that I was violating zoning ordinances by building the ark in my front yard, because it was killing the dandelions --- so I had to get a variance from the city planning board. Then I had a big problem getting enough wood for the ark, because there was a ban on cutting trees to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists and the Fish and Game Commission that I needed the wood to save the owls, but they wouldn’t let me catch them, so no owls.”
“Next, I started gathering up the animals but was sued by an animal rights group that objected to my taking along only two of each kind; they wanted me to save them all. Then the Corps of Engineers wanted a map of the proposed flood plain. So I sent them a globe! The IRS has seized all my assets claiming that I am trying to leave the country, and I just got a notice from the state that I owe some kind of usage tax. Really, I don’t think I can finish the ark in less than five years.”
With that, the sky cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow arched across the sky. Noah looked up and smiled. “You mean You are not going to destroy the world?” he asked hopefully. “No,” said the Lord, “I am too late, the government already has.”
Last week we discovered that God was grieved that He had made man because man had become consistently and totally evil. He also was going to destroy every living animal that walked the earth. But Noah found favor in God’s eyes. God considered Noah righteous because of his faith in God. God considered him blameless because of the intent of his heart. Noah had a close relationship with God that reflected in the way he lived his life.
Because of Noah’s life choices and God’s favor on him, mankind would be saved along with the animals on the earth.
Ponder this for a moment. God knew by allowing Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives to live, sin would once again infect the world. But his love for man, created in his own image, was so great that He allowed his creation to be corrupted once again.
So God comes to Noah with some rather specific instructions.
Genesis 6:14-16 “Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper.”
This was basically a rectangular box. It was as long as one and a half football fields, as wide as 1/3 of a football field, and as tall as a seven story building. It is designed for stability. Since it doesn’t have pointed ends and rounded sides, it is one third larger in capacity than an ordinary ship. Some have calculated that it had the capacity to carry five hundred and twenty-two boxcars. Each boxcar could hold 240 average sized animals, for a total of 125 thousand animals.
But the most remarkable thing about the design of this boat was the ratio to which it was built. The ratio was 6 to 1, length to width. Six times longer than it is wide. This same ratio is used when building modern ships. God was the mastermind behind modern shipbuilding.
Then God instructed Noah to prepare to bring on seven pairs, male and female, of animals that would be approved by God for eating and sacrifice. Until now, there has been no hint of man-eating meat. It was after the flood in Genesis 9:2-3 that God said, “All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables” He was instructed to bring in one pair of the other animals. Also seven pairs of each kind of bird. Added to the task was gathering enough grain and vegetables to feed his family and the animals for the duration of the flood.
That was Noah’s task. God said He would send the animals to Noah. That was God’s task.
Building a boat like this would require some very hard labor. Noah couldn’t use just any wood. It was to be cypress wood. So trees were cut down and placed into slots, held together with wooden pegs and hemp. Tar was melted and this entire structure, bigger than a football field, as high as seven stories, was coated inside and out with this hot tar. Harvesting took place to feed a family of 8 and 125,000 animals.
Would you have been overwhelmed with such a task? I would have. But let’s read Genesis 6:22, “So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.”
With God, you can’t cut corners. If God says use cypress, you can’t use pine. If God says tar inside and out, you can’t do just one side. If God says harvest enough, you can’t just harvest till you are tired.
When God gives instructions, He is specific. He will demand that we use the opportunities placed before us to serve him. We can’t have a waterproof outside and be leaking inside. We can’t look like we are following Jesus in our actions to others but inside be harboring sinful thoughts and hiding sinful actions. We can neither have a waterproof inside but be leaking on the outside. We can’t have a relationship with Jesus on the inside but the way we live and act to the world would suggest otherwise. We can’t decide when the harvest is finished, when we have done enough in our service to God. We are called to the harvest fields as long as we remain on this earth.
Partial disobedience is still disobedience. The only certain way that Noah would survive was to be totally obedient.
Noah is now 600 years old. All of his ancestors mentioned have died, the last being Methuselah. Noah enters the boat and notice what happens.
Genesis 7:16 “A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.”
God closed the door. This was necessary to protect Noah. Imagine the sound of those who were perishing banging on the doors. I wonder is anyone knew how to swim? Imagine the sound of those who were perishing who perhaps floated on pieces of wood and found themselves clinging to the top of the ark, pounding on the deck. These were Noah’s friends, neighbors, relatives, perhaps even some of his other children. Imagine the desire in his heart to open the door and rescue some.
Those eight people sitting in the ark were chosen by God to be saved. In John 15:16 Jesus said, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you.” When they were chosen and put into a place of safety, they were sealed in. Nothing could snatch them away. We also have been sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption.
The day Noah entered the ark God undid his creation. Genesis 1:6-7 “Then God said, ‘Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.’ And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens.”
God created a living hot house. There was a layer of water encircling the earth. Much like a hot house, the earth experienced a perfect environment, free from the exposure of the sun. Temperatures would have stayed consistent. There would have been a mist in the air. Below ground were oceans of water, designed to amply supply wells that were dug for drinking and the watering of crops.
Noah enters the ark with his family and the animals that God had sent. God closes and seals the door. They are inside for seven days. Nothing has happened. One must wonder what Noah’s thought process was. Did he wonder why God was not acting upon his threat or did Noah, by faith, wait patiently?
On the eighth day, underground waters began erupting through the wells and rock crevices. Huge drops of water began falling from the layer of water that circled the earth. So vast was this expanse of water it took 40 days and 40 nights for it all to fall. The earth is now covered with water. Man and animals are all dead. Plants are underwater. God’s creation is undone.
For five months the earth would lie under water. Ten and a half months would pass before muddy ground would be seen. It would be one year before the earth was dry enough for the animals to be set free. It was then when God told Noah to leave the ark and set all the animals free.
Then Noah built an alter and sacrificed the animals that God had approved of for that purpose as a burnt offering. And we are told in the first part of Genesis 8:21 “And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice---”
It wasn’t that God was sniffing the air as we do when we pass a steak house somewhere. It was Noah’s surrender and gratitude toward God that was the aroma that pleased him. We are to do the same.
Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”
God doesn’t desire a broken spirit in the sense that we are downtrodden and insecure. He desires a broken heart and spirit that realizes that He is our sustainer. He desires a heart that recognizes its shortcomings and realizes its need for a savior. Look what Noah had just endured. The feeding and care of the creatures placed in his charge. The odors and mess endured for a year. How many of us would endure such an unpleasant chore and the first thing we desire to do is worship God? Most of us would rather complain to God. Complaints are not a pleasant aroma.
Hosea 6:6 “I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.”
The closest we come to burnt offerings is giving of our tithes. God states that He desires two things more than our giving. Our desire to know him more and our desire to love each other more. He wants us hungry for his word. He wants us hungry for prayer time with him in meditation. He wants us to have compassion on the less fortunate, to love the unlovable. If we do those two things, then we will freely give a burnt offering.
God doesn’t say, “I do not want your offering“. He simply says “there are things I want more.” So pull in your toes. If you are not tithing, then perhaps you haven’t conquered the two things that God desire the most; unselfish love and a commitment to learning God’s word.
Noah proved his love to God’s creation by doing exactly what God told him do. In God’s blueprints for the ark. Noah got to know him more. Watching animals coming in pairs sent by God from all over, Noah got to know him more. Caring for these animals and his family for a year gave him the opportunity to show his love. It was a tremendous sacrifice for Noah.
But within this pleasing aroma, God was moved to make a pledge. Genesis 8:21-22 “And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.’”
God pledged that the ground would become more fruitful, easier to plant and grow things. No longer would his creation live under a curse even though man was still inherently evil. Never again would all the animals be killed even though man was still inherently evil.
God’s creation was created anew. With the perfect environment removed there would now be seasons. There would be periods of heat called summer and periods of cold called winter. There would be periods to plant called spring and periods to harvest called fall.
Certain animals have now become a source of food. Some animals have become a threat to human life. In addition, the taking of a human life, by man or animal, has become punishable by death.
To seal this covenant, God places a rainbow in the sky as a reminder. Never again will the earth be destroyed by water. This reminder was necessary because rain was to become a common occurrence.
Life on earth began again. Children being born. Planting and harvesting taking place, probably from seeds taken on board the ark. One of the things Noah planted was grape vines. From what we understand now about wine making, these plants would have taken about three years to produce a good crop of grapes. Noah took some grapes and fermented them to make wine. This process takes about six months.
After three and a half years of no wine, Noah drank too much wine and passed out naked in his tent. Ham gazed on Noah’s nudity and told his brothers. Shem and Japheth backed into the room and covered his nudity.
When Noah discovered what Ham had done, he did not curse him but rather his son, Canaan. Canaan was to become the servant of Shem and Japheth. Shem and Japheth were to prosper. Canaan wasn‘t.
The lineage of Canaan would result in the Canaanites, Hitites, the Jebusites, Amorites, and the Philistines; all to become enemies of the Isralites. Ham’s ancestory would end with the giant Goliath who would be slain by David.
To understand why Noah was so distraught over Ham’s actions we must return to the Garden of Eden. When Adam disobeyed God by eating of the fruit his eyes was opened and he knew he was nude. He also knew that nudity was wrong. He became vulnerable.
Noah’s vulnerability to sin was exposed by his youngest son. For that, Canaan was cursed. This demands that we ponder this question.
How do we handle the sins of others? Are we like Ham who desires to expose their vulnerability? Do we rush out to tell others about our discovery? Do we share stories under the pretense of compassion? That is what the Bible describes as gossip.
Or do we desire to protect their vulnerability? Rather than rushing out to gossip, we sit with them, covering them in prayer.
We allow them the prividlege of disclosing their vulnerability with whom they chose. We do not dare make that choice for them by sharing anything with others.
Notice, Ham wasn’t cursed. It was his son and generations to come. We can just as easily affect future generations with curses as we can with blessings.
Noah lived another 350 years in this newly created world. He would die at 950 years old. He would be the last to live this many years.
