Connecting Scriptures:  Genesis 1:2, Matthew 24:38-39, Amos 9:6, 2 Peter 3:2-7, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, John 10:9

Imagine you’ve been building a boat in your front yard for 100 years.  You’ve endured the hardship of hand built construction that required hundreds upon hundreds of trees felled and layer upon layer of pitch on what was a titanic sized life boat.  You’ve dealt with an entire society of questions and mocking and hate for the path you’ve chosen in obedience to God.  

Then the day comes as you pass your 600th year of life, and the count down begins.  Seven days till the rain storm of a lifetime, seven days of God bringing every animal and some in sets of seven into the ark that was prepared.  Fantastical animals, most you’ve never even dreamed of.  They are all docile and seem to be obeying a voice they have always trusted from the beginning of time.  Then, its your turn.  

The only righteous man and family left on creation enter this vessel of salvation, and God himself, shuts the door.  

What did the rain sound like pounding on the roof?  What did the cries of corrupt humanity say and scream as the waters rose ever higher?  What comfort did Yahweh bring to Noah and family in those 40 days?

I read chapter 7 with a heart of wonder and deep dread.  I see Noah, a man of Gods choosing who obeyed without question or hesitation.  At first his righteousness was due to his belief in God, now it bears out in his actions and willingness.  I believe that rain was a normal occurrence in the world of Noah.  The water cycle was created on the second day of creation and I have no doubt that the world was working as it does today to sustain life.  But, a flood?  I think this was the new concept.  Up until that fateful day God secured the ark’s door, I think that waters stayed where God had put them—in the oceans and lakes.  When this rain came down, it must have been torrential, and when coupled with every spring and volcanic channel bursting forth, it would have been earth shattering.  As the ark rose higher, the land below changed drastically.  God was truly re-making the world through this cataclysmic event.  The Hebrew word gabar, meaning “prevailed” is repeated as a description of the waters strength.  Though the waters were powerful, this ark bobbed on top, secure and safe—kept by God.

I am reminded of another time, just a few pages past where the earth probably looked a lot like the picture in verses 17-20.  In Genesis 1:2, we see a world without form, it was dark and there was water.  At the point of creation, God was moving and working in a place that could sustain no life unless He willed it.  Noah and his family were a part of God’s renewal of the earth in what can be seen as a second Genesis.  The earth Noah would ultimately step onto all those months and days later, would be completely different. 

Let us consider this ark that was their salvation.  There was only one boat that could bear mankind and all of creation for saving.  Only Noah and his family were chosen to be saved.  They walked in through one door and God sealed it shut to preserve them; to take them over the judgment that was rightly deserved, yet hard to watch.  Even here, in the form of a boat and the grace given to these precious eight souls, can you see Him?  Can you see Jesus?  Can you sense God connecting a bigger picture for us?  

Questions for Reflection:

1.  How do you reconcile God’s justice in destroying the earth with His mercy in saving Noah and the others in the ark?

2.  How does the ark, as a symbol of salvation, point to Jesus as our refuge and only means of escaping God’s wrath?