As we saw last week, Scripture describes three
new beginnings for the earth and all it contains, even though God will
preserve the earth eternally in one form or another (Psalm 78:69; Eccl. 1:4). First was God’s creation (Genesis 1), second was the flood (Genesis 6-7),
and third will be renovation by fire
(2 Peter 3:10,13). occurring after
the Millennial Kingdom. Looking at the
flood in greater depth, we see that key events and precepts are again grouped
in three, reflecting God’s triune nature.
Because of man’s wickedness, God destroyed most of the
earth’s inhabitants in the flood, sparing only a few representatives of every
living creature: mankind, unclean
animals, and clean animals (Genesis
6:5-7). God extended His
grace to Noah because he “walked with God” (Genesis
6:8-9) and gave him detailed
instructions for building the ark as his safety vessel. The length of the ark was
three hundred cubits, the height thirty cubits, and it had three stories (Genesis 6:15-16).
Noah showed amazing faith in God by obeying His command
to build the ark (Genesis 6:22)
as shelter from the flood to come, even though the earth had never before
experienced rain! That faith must have been sorely tested due to the intensive,
prolonged labor involved in building it, not to mention the scorn and mocking
of his neighbors!
But Noah persevered, and God rewarded him by allowing Noah, his wife, and the next
generation of his family to board the ark, namely his three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives
(Genesis 6:10,18). God
commanded Noah to preserve three groups of animals: fowl, cattle, and every creeping thing, by bringing them onto the
ark, along with food supplies for them as well as for the humans (Genesis 6:20-21).
God commanded Noah to bring two (male and female) of every unclean animal, so that they
could propagate after the flood, seven of every
fowl, and seven of every clean
animal, not only for propagation but for sacrifices to God (Genesis 7:2-3). All other beings
living on earth, human and animal, were destroyed, giving rise to the fossil
remains still found today (Genesis 7:19-23).
On a single, specific day (Genesis 7:11-12), three
cataclysmic events marked the beginning of the flood: the heavens opened, the rains came, and geysers erupted from the
ocean depths. This was not a gradual buildup of flood waters such as we
experience with heavy, prolonged rain, but a violently dramatic overtaking of
the earth by water, such as we see at the coast line with a tsunami. There was
no time for anyone on earth who mocked Noah and rebelled against God to change
their mind – they were instantly swept away, along with all their wealth,
possessions and homes.
The downpour lasted for 40 days and 40 nights (Genesis 7:4,12), but the ark’s
inhabitants were safely protected from the catastrophe, floating above the
raging flood waters (Genesis 7:4,17).
Ultimately, God stopped the “fountains
of the deep” and the torrential
rains and sent a great wind to
remove the flood waters completely after 150 days (Genesis 7:4:24; 8: 1-3).
To inform Noah of the state of the flood waters, God gave
Noah three signs involving a dove he
had on board the ark. The first time Noah released the dove from the ark, she
found no resting place and returned to the ark. After seven days he released
her the second time, and she returned with an olive leaf as a sign that the
treetops were no longer under water. After another seven days he released her the
third time, and she did not return, signifying that the earth was once again
habitable (Genesis 8:8-12).
God then told Noah and his family to leave the ark, along
with the three categories of animals on board: every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, so that they
could do three things: “breed abundantly in the earth, and be
fruitful, and multiply upon the
earth (Genesis 8:15-19).
Pleased with Noah’s building of an altar and offering
animal sacrifice, God then made three
promises to Noah: never again to
curse the ground, never again to destroy the earth’s
inhabitants by flood, and to
perpetuate earthly cycles of seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, seasons,
and day and night (Genesis 8: 20-22).
He marked this new covenant with a new sign of the rainbow (Genesis 9:12-17).
Noah’s three sons, Shem,
Ham, and Japheth, and their wives were the progenitors of all mankind after
the flood and gave rise to all nations (Genesis
7:13; 9:18-19; 10:1,32).
The purging of the earth by the great flood foreshadows
God saving mankind by sending His only Son as the perfect sacrifice for our
sins, so that all who trust Him have eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus Christ, self-existent from the beginning
of time (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1),
came to earth to live in human flesh,
to die for our sins, and to live forever in His glorified body (Revelation 1:18). Mankind in the
days of Noah lived on the earth and died in the flood, but the faithful
remnant of Noah and his family lived to
repopulate the earth, that their descendants who trusted God would also have
eternal life.
Jesus told His disciples that like the flood, His return
will be equally sudden, dramatic in its consequences, and irrevocable. Life will be continuing on its usual course, as it was in the days of
Noah, when the Rapture will occur without warning (Matthew 24: 37-42; Luke 17:26).. Those who placed
their trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) as the only
way to Heaven will instantly rise up in their glorified bodies to meet Christ
in the air and to spend eternity with Him (1
Corinthians 15:52), but the rest will be left behind to face the great
wrath of the Tribulation.
Sadly, those who are left behind and rejected the Gospel before
the Rapture will not be saved during the Tribulation, because they will
experience a strong delusion preventing them from believing the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). May we
all be ready for that crucial turning point, turning from our sins, trusting
Christ as our Lord and Savior, and serving
Him with our time, talents and
resources!
Matthew
24: 37 But as the days
of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be.
40
Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41
Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other
left.
42
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
© 2013 Laurie Collett
