Good Thursday to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Cruise ships are among the most complex of all floating things in our world today and they’re getting bigger all the time. The largest today is “The Icon of the Seas” at 1196 ft long, 159 ft wide with 20 decks and able to accommodate 7600 passengers with 2350 crew! It required 30 months for construction with a huge army of highly specialized workers!
In Genesis 6 God gave Noah instructions to build an ark that was so big, so complex in design, that I think it compares in dramatic impact with many of the great cruise ships of our day. The ark was 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high but when we consider Noah’s primitive tools and his very small workforce it was a comparable achievement to “The Icon of the Seas”, especially when we consider the Ark’s passenger list!
Perhaps you know a remarkable life-size rendition of Noah’s Ark has been produced by the same people who developed the Creation Museum in Williamstown, Kentucky. Known as “the Ark Encounter” this remarkable, gigantic ‘ark’ is simply a breathtaking experience. Here’s a link with more information about this Ark: https://arkencounter.com/
As remarkable a feat was the construction of the original ark by Noah and his sons, I wonder if the even more amazing miracle of God was bringing all the animals into this huge ark, closing the door and waiting for something God had promised, but no one had ever seen before… a flood!?
Genesis 7 gives us this remarkable story, beginning with these words: “The LORD said to Noah: ‘Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation…seven days from now I will send rain on the earth… and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” (Gen. 7:1-4) Those terrifying words from God are almost incomprehensible!
As we saw yesterday, the wickedness of humanity had become unbearable for God who generation after generation was rejected by the people God had created in His image for the purpose of living in a love relationship with God! Finally there was no hope and God decided to start all over with one man, Noah, and his family. God also, miraculously, brought into that ark representative animals of all the species of animals He had created, so both man and animals could continue to procreate after the flood.
There is a key phrase which makes possible this remarkable global flood story. Do you see it? “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” (Gen. 6:22; 7:5) That phrase distinguishes people, throughout history, whom God involves in His major accomplishments in our world! Did you know that? In fact, centuries later, God explained His involvement of certain people in His purposes with these words: “The eyes of the LORD roam to and fro across the whole earth looking to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to HIM.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)
In Noah’s generation, Noah was described by God as “a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time and he walked with God faithfully.” (Gen. 6:9) That really challenges me, how about you, my friends? If God is looking for people in our day whom God can trust to do everything God commands, exactly as God wants it done, will God find you and me to be people like Noah?
Genesis 7:6-17 describes the almost unimaginable scene of animals being drawn to the ark by God and then Noah and his family herding them into their assigned locations inside the ark! And after all were aboard, including 600-year-old Noah and his family, God opened the water flood gates both from above with 40 days of rain, and from below with springs and rivers billowing up in what seemed to be an endless flow of water spreading out across all of planet earth.
Gen. 7:20 tells us: “The water rose and covered the mountains to a depth of 15 cubits.” That’s about 25 feet. Now for the skeptics among us, does that mean even Mount Everest was underwater? Probably not, for as we know there is an elevation at which point the air cannot sustain life and freezing temperatures would kill most all life. Gen. 7:22 gives us this grim report: “Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died…Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for 150 days.” (Gen. 7:21-24)
Genesis 8 gives us the description of God turning off the water flow, sending water drying winds and helping the earth absorb the immense amount of water which was everywhere. If you’ve ever been in or seen a flood, perhaps you can imagine what our planet looked like during this almost indescribable experience.
Finally, more than seven months after the rain had begun, the ark settled on the mountains of Ararat in modern day Turkey. (Gen. 8:4) But there was so much water Noah waited for another three months as he watched the water slowly recede exposing mountains and hills all around the ark. But it wasn’t until more than a full year after the flood had begun, that God gave Noah the ‘all clear’ and allowed Noah and all aboard the ark to disembark! Can you imagine what that day was like? (Gen. 8:6-19)
After Noah and his family and every last animal disembarked, what was the very first thing Noah did? Noah worshiped Almighty God thanking God for a second chance at life! “Noah built an altar to the LORD and sacrificed burnt offerings on it.” (Gen. 8:20)
So, what things in life move your heart to irresistible worship of God? For me? Holding a newborn baby or watching a sunrise or looking at a star filled cloudless sky at night! What about you?
God then spoke a promise over our planet and the human race: “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.” (Gen. 8:21)
As we close today, let’s just stand with Noah and his family watching all the animals run to find their new homes in the world that was drying out from the flood. We cannot imagine what that year in the ark would have been like but as the noise of all those animals subsided as they scattered out into their new world, I imagine that evening Noah and his family were overwhelmed with the privilege and responsibility which was before them.
In that moment they were the only human beings alive on our planet, and each of them had a powerful, personal awareness and understanding of God and His protection of them from the great flood.
To them was now the privilege of beginning the repopulation of the earth and paramount in that process would be their responsibility to make sure every new person born would understand Creator God and both His love and His standard of living God honoring lives. We too have that privilege as we raise and teach our families.
Years later Moses gave us this admonition: “The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength… Impress these things upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up…” (Deut. 6:4-7)
Is that a description of the family you grew up in, or the family you have raised? Let’s worship God with this song and tomorrow we’ll see what Noah and his family did next, as the only living humans on the face of our planet!
Today’s Scripture: Genesis 7 & 8.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Genesis 8
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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