God shares His plan with Noah!
Today we are going to learn God’s plan for Noah and the flood and how it relates to us today.
Let’s park in Genesis 6:11-22 for a bit.
We begin In verse 11, it says,
“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.”
God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. God then said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.”
That should be an eye opening statement to all of us. Think about what that would look like if God said that today? If our world, in our day.
In verse 14, God tells him to build an ark and gives him every single detail of how to build it. He gave him exact measurements. He told him what types of trees to use. What kind of adhesive to use. He was not building a canoe or a small boat. Our God is a God of details, He has a reason for everything He does. Based on the calculations in the scripture, imagine a boat the size of one and a half football fields and as high as a four-story building! The ark was exactly six times longer than it was wide – the same ratio used by modern ship builders today.
It is believed by Bible scholars that this huge boat was probably built miles from any body of water by only Noah and his sons. Remember God gave them 120 years to build it. Something that big with only a few men could certainly take that long. God was so detailed that he told him the exact measurement of where to put the door. This door is significant and will play an important role a couple of times later in the story.
So imagine building a boat for 120 years? Today it would be more than a persons lifetime. Imagine the faith Noah had to possess as he obeyed God. There is no mention of rain at this point. God had been using unique ways to water the earth. Nor, was there any mention to Noah of why he was building this. Imagine God telling you to do something to prepare for His plan that no one could see coming not even you.
The Holy Spirit speaks
Has the Holy Spirit ever given you a command or idea, and you thought, wait, what? Do you ever recall saying, “God, is that you? God are you sure?” I sure have. Over the years, I’ve come to expect the unexpected and have learned the hard way to trust Him and say, “yes, as long as you do it with me.” So imagine Noah in this circumstance, how scary would that be? How do you think your family and friends would react if God told you to do something incredible out of the norm of society and you started doing it with no questions asked? Probably much like his; they might even try to do a family intervention on you.
Believers today want to do what is comfortable to them. They want to go to church on Sunday, serve while there, hug a few necks, then get back to their life. Maybe some make room to add in small groups or Bible studies, and serve the community once a month, but don’t ask for more. Heaven forbid that God should ask them to spend time with Him every day and study His Word cover to cover, and to crave a close relationship with Him. Or that He would ask them to make sacrifices and do something out of their comfort zone, like build an ark for a flood that no one had ever seen or believed would ever happen.
For Noah during this time, imagine the pressure and ridicule he got for building the ark. To work on it night and day for 120 years while people were slinging doubt and unbelief his way. What determination he had to have to only listen to Adonai and ignore the constant persecution. It takes a strong faith and solid relationship with Adonai to withstand constant persecution. You only get that from spending time with Him and in His Word allowing Him to teach you.
Someone told me the other day in a conversation, “I don’t like confrontation so I probably wouldn’t say anything. I would let someone else handle it.” Question time: please raise your hand if you “love” confrontation. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
NEWS FLASH!!! NO ONE LIKES CONFRONTATION!!! No one likes persecution either! It’s a part of LIFE!!! We MUST learn to deal with it. The best way to do that is to be in a close relationship with Adonai. He teaches us, but better yet, He fights out battles for us!
God may not ask you to build an “ark” that comes with certain persecution and confrontation from unbelievers and believers alike, but He will call you. He will call you to step “out of the boat” and trust Him as He leads you to do things to complete His master plan before Jesus returns. Be prepared to say, yes, to Him. Study His Word every day cover to cover and learn His ways. Learn how much He loves you. Learn about the gifts He has for you and how He wants to help you use them. Learn how to stay under His covering of protection and be used by Him.
Warning of what’s to come
As for the flood, people were warned, God gave them 120 years to turn from their wicked ways, but they ignored the warnings. God’s Word has been warning us for way more than 120 years of what is to come when Jesus returns. God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and all His true disciples have tried to prepare you for what is to come so that you are ready to meet Jesus in the air and spend eternity with Him. Don’t be like the people who were swept away in the flood to spend eternity in the lake of fire.
It says in verse 17, “God will being floodwaters and everything on earth will perish.” It goes on to say in 18, that “God established a covenant with Noah, his sons, and all their wives.” Noah must have had some concerns along the way about he and his family perishing from God’s anger at the world. So God in His loving gracious way made a covenant with Noah to assure him that they would be safe in the ark.
Parallel today:
God made a covenant with us when He sent His son to die for our sins to assure our safety under his covering of protection for now and when Jesus comes back. First He gave us His rainbow, then He gave us His son.
”Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” Genesis 6:22
With the promise of God’s covenant, Noah was able to do everything God commanded with peace in knowing that He was under God’s covering of protection. We can also have that same peace as we obey God’s commandments knowing that He sent His son to save us and will return to bring us home to Heaven with Him one day. Be prepared, repent and turn to Him today and follow His ways.
God bless you.