May 07, 2022
Today we begin a new series entitled, “Bible Stories”.
The story of Noah is vital for us today because it is more than just a story about a man who built a boat. Here’s why………..
At the end of Genesis 1, we read: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good….”
All was perfect and just as God intended for it to be.
However, just 2 chapters later, we find Adam and Eve hiding in the bushes, now afraid of God, because of their catastrophic choice.
By chapter 4, sin had well and truly taken hold:
• Murder - Genesis 4:8 - Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
• Polygamy - Genesis 4:19 - Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.
• Boasting of Murder - Genesis 4:23 - Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.
Chapter 5 gives us the genealogy of Seth’s line - 10 generations from Adam to Noah:
• Adam – 130 years old when Seth is born (in Adams image) lived 930 years
• Seth – 105 years old when Enosh is born. Lived 912 years
• Enosh – 90 years old when Cainan is born. Lived 905 years
• Cainan – 70 years old when Mahalalel is born. Lived 910 years
• Mahalalel – 65 years old when Jared is born Lived 895 years
• Jared – 162 years old when Enoch is born. Lived 962 years
• Enoch – 65 years old when Methuselah is born. Lived another 300 years/translated
• Methuselah – 187 years old when Lamech is born. Lived 969 years
• Lamech – 182 years old when Noah is born. Lived 777 years (Lamech was 56 when Adam died)
• Noah – 500 years old when Shem, Ham & Japheth are born.
And we note something interesting in verse 3: “When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.”
Year after year, decade after decade, century after century, the sin gene was passed on getting more and more virulent and destructive, until….
Genesis 6:5-9 - The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 And the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD…..
Noah was singled out by 3 characteristics:
• He was a “righteous man” - Noah did the right thing and he was in a right relationship with God. He was righteous because he put his faith in God. Noah is our earliest example of a faith that manifests itself in obedience:
o Hebrews 11:7 - It was by faith that Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about something that had never happened before. By his faith he condemned the rest of the world and was made right in God's sight.
• He was “blameless in his generation” - Noah wasn’t sinless, but no one could make an accusation of wickedness against him because he lived his life in accordance with God’s law.
• He “walked with God” - Noah loved God, worshiped God, served God, and walked in the same direction as God. He was counter-cultural. His life was a constant testimony against the corruption and wickedness that surrounded him.
Even though the state of planet earth was such that God grieved over His creation, his heart of love had planned for a way out….. and so, he turned to Noah:
Genesis 6:13-22 - … "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Construct an opening all the way around the boat, 18 inches below the roof. Then put three decks inside the boat -- bottom, middle, and upper -- and put a door in the side. Listen, I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing. Everything on earth will die! But I solemnly swear to keep you safe in the boat, with your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring a pair of every kind of animal -- a male and a female -- into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. Pairs of each kind of bird and each kind of animal, large and small alike, will come to you to be kept alive. And remember, take enough food for your family and for all the animals." 22 So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.
No doubt that Noah’s activities began to draw a crowd and for a while some might have taken him seriously, but as the decades went by and nothing happened, the crowds began to wonder about this really old dude, building a strange vessel that he said would float - even though he had made the mistake of building it nowhere near water. Noah was regarded as a fanatic…………. The crowds, who had once turned up to listen, now turned up to mock and ridicule him.
• Ellen White {PP 90-107} - But Noah stood like a rock amid the tempest. Surrounded by popular contempt and ridicule, he distinguished himself by his holy integrity and unwavering faithfulness. A power attended his words, for it was the voice of God to man through His servant. Connection with God made him strong in the strength of infinite power, while for one hundred and twenty years his solemn voice fell upon the ears of that generation in regard to events, which, so far as human wisdom could judge, were impossible.
Genesis 7 - Finally, the day came when the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I consider you alone to be righteous. 2 Take along seven pairs of each animal that I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others. 3 Then select seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that every kind of living creature will survive the flood. 4 One week from today I will begin forty days and forty nights of rain. And I will wipe from the earth all the living things I have created." 5 So Noah did exactly as the LORD had commanded him.
God gave humanity PLENTY of time to stop and turn and come back to Him {Repent} and yet only 8 people were saved. Noah and his family were saved simply because they got on the boat. It’s not rocket science. It’s not complicated. There was no entrance exam. God said get on the boat and they got on. I believe with all my heart that if there had been ANYONE ELSE who chose to believe what Noah said and chose to climb the gang-plank and chose to get on the ark, they would have been welcomed and saved.
cont. chapter 7 - Noah was 600 years old when the flood came and he went aboard the boat to escape -- he and his wife and his sons and their wives. 8 With them were all the various kinds of animals -- 9 They came into the boat in pairs, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. 10 One week later, the flood came and covered the earth…. 12 The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights. 13 But Noah had gone into the boat that very day with his wife and his sons -- Shem, Ham, and Japheth -- and their wives….. just as God had commanded. Then the LORD shut them in. 17 For forty days the floods prevailed, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. 18 As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. 19 Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, 20 standing more than twenty-two feet above the highest peaks. 21 All the living things on earth died -- only Noah was left alive, along with those who were with him in the boat. 24 And the water covered the earth for 150 days.
• EGW {PP} - As the violence of the storm increased, trees, buildings, rocks, and earth were hurled in every direction. The terror of man and beast was beyond description. Above the roar of the tempest was heard the wailing of a people that had despised the authority of God. Satan himself, who was compelled to remain in the midst of the warring elements, feared for his own existence. He had delighted to control so powerful a race, and desired them to live to practice their abominations and continue their rebellion against the Ruler of heaven. He now uttered imprecations against God, charging Him with injustice and cruelty. Many of the people, like Satan, blasphemed God, and had they been able, they would have torn Him from the throne of power. Others were frantic with fear, stretching their hands toward the ark and pleading for admittance. But their entreaties were in vain. Conscience was at last aroused to know that there is a God who ruleth in the heavens. They called upon Him earnestly, but His ear was not open to their cry. In that terrible hour they saw that the transgression of God's law had caused their ruin. Yet while, through fear of punishment, they acknowledged their sin, they felt no true contrition, no abhorrence of evil. They would have returned to their defiance of Heaven, had the judgment been removed…..
And so, Noah and his family floated around, going where ever the wind and waves carried them.
Genesis 8 - But God remembered Noah and all the animals in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear. The underground water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rains stopped. So, the flood gradually began to recede. After 150 days, exactly five months from the time the flood began, the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Two and a half months later, as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks began to appear. Forty days later, Noah opened the window and released a raven that flew back and forth until the earth was dry. Then he sent out a dove, but the dove found no place to land because the water was still too high…. Seven days later, Noah released the dove again. This time, the bird returned with a fresh olive leaf in its beak…. A week later, he released the dove again, and this time it did not come back. Finally, when Noah was 601 years old, ten and a half months after the flood began, he lifted back the roof and took a look. The water was drying up. Two more months went by, and at last the earth was dry! Then God said to Noah, "It’s time to go”, only then did Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives leave the boat, along with all the animals and birds. Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and sacrificed on it the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose.
Then God made a covenant with Noah that was universal, unilateral and unconditional - it applied to believer and non-believer alike “never again will I destroy the entire earth with a flood,” and then God ratified His covenant with a rainbow.
The rainbow is a visible sign of God’s grace and mercy even to those who do not acknowledge Him.
Noah lived another 350 years finally dying at the ripe old age of 950.
Many people view the flood as an out of context over reaction on the part of God. That somehow His response is out of proportion to the mindset and behavior of the time. However, I would argue that God had been particularly longsuffering. From the moment Adam and Eve sinned there was a steady decline. Within just 10 generations - a span of 2000 years - the decline was such that the Bible says, “the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. EVIL CONTINUALLY!
God grieved over His creation and determined to end the spread of sin, AND YET, even though the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually, God continued to extend grace and mercy. He provided a way out to ANYONE who wanted to get on the boat.
• Luke 17:26-27 - Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
• EGW {PP} - The picture which Inspiration has given of the antediluvian world represents too truly the condition to which modern society is fast hastening. Even now, in the present century, and in professedly Christian lands, there are crimes daily perpetrated as black and terrible as those for which the old-world sinners were destroyed.
The world has been warned and, just as God provided a way of escape for the antediluvian world, He has provided a way of escape for anyone who will put their faith in Him - He has provided Jesus.
Just GET ON the boat!!
