Noah and the Ark (1) Genesis 6-9
What do you think of when you see it starting to rain?
Some of you think to yourselves, “I don’t like rain! When it rains, I can’t play outside or ride my bike. I have to stay inside.” Some of you might think, “But rain is good for the flowers. It helps them grow.”
Even though we can’t do a lot of things when it rains, rain is really a blessing from God. Maybe you have had a summer drought before, when no rain comes. Then the grass dries up, the fruit trees die, and the crops are few. Then, everyone is very happy to see rain again!
But rain is not always a blessing. Sometimes it is a curse, or punishment. Maybe you have heard of places where there was so much rain that it caused flooding so that homes and people were washed away. Then rain is a punishment from God for sins.
Such a flood happened in our new story. Adam and Eve had many, many children, and those children had children, and soon there were people all over the earth. But then what happened? They forgot about God. They began to sin more and more without even feeling sorry about it. It became so bad that God wished He had not made man on the earth at all. Men were no longer worshipping the God who had made them.
Then, the Bible tells us that God said, “I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth; all men, animals, and birds.”
“What?” you ask. “How can that be! Where did all the animals and people come from, then, if God destroyed them all?”
Let’s read the next verse in the Bible. This verse tells us our answer. This verse tells us that “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” which means that Noah, who was one of the people living on the earth at that time, was pleasing to God. Noah did not live as wickedly as the other people did. He loved God; he walked with God; he worshipped God as he should. God loved Noah.
God decided to destroy the whole world with a flood. He would let it rain and rain so hard and so long that all the animals, birds, and people would drown.
All of them? No, not quite all of them.
God told Noah that He would keep him and his family alive, as well as two of every kind of animal and bird. God told Noah to make a big boat, called an ark. He told him exactly how to make it. The ark would have three stories or levels, which had lots of rooms for all the animals.
It took Noah a long time to build this large boat. Day after day, night after night, he pounded and pounded. Gradually he began to finish the boat.
I think Noah preached to the people while he was building the ark, don’t you? He kept warning and warning them, “Friends, listen to me! There is going to be a big flood. God is going to destroy all people if we don’t seek him now! Please believe me, before it is too late! Hurry, hurry, there’s still time to pray to God!”
But the people just laughed at Noah. “We don’t believe you, Noah! Such a thing never happened before, so why do you think it will happen now? Who says there is a God anyway? Besides that, you’ve been building your ark and preaching now for so long already, and nothing has happened yet! I don’t believe anything will ever happen at all.”
But Noah kept on building the ark. Noah had faith in God. This means that Noah believed God no matter what happened. He didn’t need any proof that there was going to be rain. God had said that there would be a flood, and so there would be a flood. What a blessing to have this faith!
Maybe you think to yourselves, “I wouldn’t have been like the people in Noah’s time. I would have listened to him. I would have believed him.”
But think about it a moment. Our ministers are doing exactly the same thing today, aren’t they? Every Sunday they warn and warn us that God is going to destroy the people on earth in hell. Every sermon tells us, “God is going to come back some day and destroy the world. Hurry, hurry, before it is too late! There is still time now to get ready! Believe me now, before it is too late.”
But then what happens? Many of us go home and ignore the sermon. Many tell themselves, “I don’t believe it. There’s still time to get ready anyway. Nothing has happened for this long yet, so it won’t happen for quite awhile. Someday I’ll get ready. I’m too busy now.”
So we are no better than the people of Noah’s day, are we?
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Bekijk de hele uitgave van donderdag 1 februari 1990
The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's
Bekijk de hele uitgave van donderdag 1 februari 1990
The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's