"Make
for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and
shall cover it inside and out with pitch. "This is how you shall make it:
the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its
height thirty cubits. "You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it
to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you
shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. "Behold, I, even I am
bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is
the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall
perish. "But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter
the ark-- you and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you.
"And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be
male and female. "Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after
their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. "As for you, take
for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for
food for you and for them." Thus Noah did; according to all that God had
commanded him, so he did.
The Lord commands Noah to build an ark that was 450 feet
long by 75 feet wide by 45 feet deep, which would make the total deck area of
the ark approximately 95,700 square feet. The Lord explains to Noah that he is
to build the ark because He was going to bring a flood of water to the earth to
wipe out every living thing on the planet in His right and just response to the
selfishness and rebellion that filled His heart with sorrow and outrage.
With the exception of Noah and his family and two of
every kind of animal, life on this planet was to be extinguished. Now an almost
immediate question that arises here is “Well Dave how did Noah fit all the
different types of animals on the ark? It is impossible to fit every kind of
animal on the ark, so this story is a fable”.
If that question is running through your mind, here is my
response: Notice the phrase “after its kind” in verse 19 and 20? Just as we saw
in the “In the beginning series” the phrase after their kind refers to a
specific species or order. So Noah did not take every single type of cat onto
the ark. He took two cats. Noah did not take every type of bird onto the ark.
Instead he took two birds.
In addition, notice that Noah did not have to go out and
catch all the different types of animals that were going to go on the ark.
Verse 20 tells us that God gathered that animals and brought them to Noah, who
then placed them on the ark. Noah was responsible to gather enough food so that
his family and all the animals would survive during the duration of the flood.
You see, as God was executing His right and just response
to the selfishness and rebellion of humanity that filled His hearty with sorrow
and rage, God had also chosen to extend grace to Noah and his family, along
with some representatives of the rest of creation. The ark would be the vehicle
that God would use to reveal His justice and His grace.
Noah responds to God’s command by beginning to prepare
for the flood of waters by building the ark. The Bible tells us that it would
have taken Noah approximately 75 years to complete this project. Now imagine
being Noah. Place yourself in his shoes. God tells you to build an ark because
there is going to be a flood that destroys all life on the planet. So you begin
to build the ark. Now you live in a dessert. Can you imagine the conversations
that took place?
“Noah, what are you doing? I am building an ark. Why are
you building an ark? Because God told me there was going to be a flood of
water. Noah, how is there going to be a flood? It’s going to rain. It’s going
to rain a lot. Noah, what’s rain?” You see, in Genesis two, we discover that
the earth was basically watered by an underground watering system. It had never
rained before. Most likely, there probably had never been clouds.
So, Noah had to trust God and the promises of God. Noah
had to place his confident trust in God and act on that trust in the midst of
ridicule. “Hey did you hear what Noah’s doing. Noah’s building and ark because
God told him that it was going to rain and that there would be a flood. What a
loser!” Noah spent approximately 75 years building the ark in the midst of
ridicule from others. Noah spend 75 years building what would serve to be a sign
of God’s judgment to those who rejected Him and a sign of grace to those who
trusted in Him.
And while Noah spent 75 years being ridiculed, things
would change significantly, as Moses records for us in Genesis chapter 7:
Then the
LORD said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this
time. "You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and
his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; also
of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on
the face of all the earth. "For after seven more days, I will send rain on
the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the
land every living thing that I have made."
120 years after decreeing His decision; 75 years after
commanding Noah to build the ark, God commands Noah, his family, and the
animals to enter into the ark. Moses tells us that it took seven days to get
all of the animals and provisions into the ark. Part of those provisions would
be extra animals that Noah would later use to worship God. After preparing and
packing the ark, we see what happens next in verse 10:
It came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon
the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on
the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the
great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell
upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and
Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives
of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast after its kind,
and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on
the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. So
they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of
life. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had
commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind
him. Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased
and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and
increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the
water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high
mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed
fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. All flesh that moved on
the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that
swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in
whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out
every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to
creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the
earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the
ark.
Do you know what is often missing from the Sunday
school stories of Noah and the ark? Do you know what I have never seen on the
mural of the story of Noah and the ark that is painted on a nursery room wall?
What is often missing is the sights and sounds of multitudes of men, women, and
children drowning as a result of God’s right and just response to the
selfishness and rebellion of humanity that filled Him with sorrow and outrage.
And it is in this story that we
see God reveal for us two timeless consequences that the curse of selfishness
and rebellion brings to humanity. And those timeless consequences are that the
curse of our selfishness and rebellion results in us being rebellious to the
core and God being outraged to the core. You see the story of Noah and the ark
is not about a boat and some animals. The story of Noah and the ark is the
story of the selfishness and rebellion of humanity.
The story of Noah and the ark is the story of the
holiness and justice of God. The story of Noah and the ark is the story of the
sorrow and outrage that God feels toward selfishness and rebellion. The story
of Noah and the ark is the story that selfishness and rebellion is a big deal
and that God responds to the selfishness and rebellion with sorrow and outrage.
So here is the question: if you were to place
yourself in this story, where would you be? Would you be in the ark? Or would
you be floating like deadwood in the water?
You see, apart from God’s grace, all of us are
deadwood in the water. You see the story of Noah and the ark serves as a
reminder of God’s judgment to
those who reject Him and a sign of grace to those who trust in Him. Just as
Noah placed his confident trust in God and His promises, we must place our
confident trust in Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of God’s promises.
Otherwise, we are just deadwood
drifting in the water…
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