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I suspect that when most of us hear the name “Noah”, the words “and the ark” immediately follow. The person of Noah is rarely divorced from the story of the ark he built to save his family and the animals from the great flood. Likewise, I suspect that when most of us hear the phrase “Noah and the ark” it conjures up certain images in our minds—images influenced by illustrations that we have see in children’s Bible’s and Sunday school curriculums.
Let me paint you a visual picture, and you tell me if it is right! Noah’s ark is usually portrayed as a sweet tale of a pastel colored floating zoo, replete with images of two fluffy little Easter bunnies munching on carrots and a pair of cute giraffes poking their heads out the potholes of a clunky little boat. The background is a pale blue sky with puffy white clouds and a disproportionately large rainbow bending across the horizon. Noah is a short chubby man with a long gray beard; after all he was 600 years old when he finished building the ark. And he has a giant smile on his face with a caption by his mouth that says, “Yaaah, the animals are all safe!” Does that look familiar?
Portrayals like this have evoked comments from expecting parents like, “Aww, how pretty! Let’s decorate the nursery like Noah’s Ark!” How many of you have seen a nursery with a Noah’s Ark theme? That’s what I thought!
Now I certainly don’t want to knock anyone for having a Noah’s Ark nursery, but I do want to bring some reality to the story. Noah and the Ark is actually one of the most terrifying horror stories in the Bible. It more closely resembles “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” than it does “Care Bears” or “Peter Cottontale.” Noah’s Ark is a story about sin, judgment, and death! I hope that our reexamination of Noah will paint a more accurate picture for you!
Noah’s Wicked World (Gen. 6:1-8, 11-13)
The author of Genesis begins the Noah story with a chilling prologue. After Adam and Eve sinned, they were fruitful and multiplied. After Cain murdered his brother Abel, he and his wife were fruitful and they multiplied. As the human race increased, so did sin. Mankind became so rebellious against God that the Lord said that his Spirit would not contend with man forever, and he limited the human life span to 120 years.
The world had become so wicked (“every inclination of their hearts was wicked all the time”) that God actually grieved that he had ever created man in the first place. His heart was so filled with pain at the thought man’s violence and corruption that he decided to wipe humanity from the face of the earth. He decided to destroy everything he had created.
Now I have a question for you today! How many of you think our world is wicked today? Our world is filled with violence and corruption? In America alone, every year we have over 1,000,000 murders, almost 100,000 rapes, 400,000 robberies, and 800,000 aggravated assaults. When we think about the wickedness in our world today, it is hard to believe that it was even worse in Noah’s day, but it was!
I hope we feel the gravity of this prologue! Indeed, God’s Spirit will not contend with man forever. It is amazing that he has contended with us this long. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, but there will come a day when he holds the world accountable for its sin again. Just as he judged the world for its sin in Noah’s day, a day is coming when he will execute judgment again!
Noah’s Ark (Gen. 6:14-22)
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time because he walked with God. He had lived for 500 years and had three sons when God told him that he was going to destroy the whole earth because of its wickedness. He also told Noah to build an ark to save him, his family, and a male and female of every type of animal from the floodwaters. God gave him very specific instructions. The ark was to be made from cypress wood. It was to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high, and it was to have 3 decks, multiple rooms, a door in the side, and the whole thing was to be covered in pitch to make it waterproof.
The area of this ark was roughly equivalent to a football field. It was large even by modern standards; enormous by ancient standards. It took 100 years to build. Noah and his family certainly worked on the ark, and they probably had a number of hired men to help them.
God’s blueprint for the ark was very precise. His instructions and explanations were very clear. He communicated the exact dimensions and manner in which the ark was to be built. Notice what verse 22 says, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” Noah was a righteous man who took God’s word seriously. He obeyed the Lord completely by building the ark exactly as God commanded him.
God hasn’t called us to build an ark today, but he has given us his blueprint for our lives. He has given us precise instructions and has made his expectations very clear. The question that we have to ask ourselves is, “Will I live a righteous life and do everything as God has commanded me? Will I take his word seriously and obey him completely?”
The Great Flood (Genesis 7)
Noah completed the ark sometime after his 600th birthday. Then God showed up and said, “Get everything ready! The flood will begin one week from now!” So, Noah took his sons and their wives and all of the animals into the ark, just as God had told him.
When the week had passed, the springs that stored up all the tears from the violence that had taken place on the earth broke forth. The floodgates of heaven opened and God’s tears of judgment ran down his cheeks and pounded against the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.
As the water continued to rise, people ran to the high ground and watched all of their homes and possessions wash into the valleys. Soon the animals couldn’t find a place to stand and the birds couldn’t find a place to perch. Then as the waters overtook the hills and ascended the mountains, parents could no longer hold onto their children and husbands could no longer hold onto their wives. Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Only Noah and those with him in the ark survived. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. It all happened just as God had said.
The story of the great flood shows us that God always keeps his word! In this case, it took him 100 years to make good on his promise to flood the earth, but he did it. I’m sure many doubted that the flood would ever happen. Can you hear the people say, “Ahh, that is just Noah’s fairytale! That ark, what a waste of time and money! God wouldn’t really flood the earth!”
People today say the same things—“God wouldn’t judge sin! The world won’t end in my lifetime!” Just remember what Jesus said! A day is coming when the sun will be darkened and moon will no longer give its light! The stars will fall out of the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken! With a great trumpet sound, the Son of Man will appear in the sky and his angels will gather the elect from all over the earth! He will separate the wheat from the chaff and the sheep from the goats and pour out his judgment upon the earth! Two men will be working in a field together. One will be taken, the other will be left! Two women will be grinding grain together. One will be taken, the other will be left! God always keeps his word!
Just as in the days of Noah, people today are eating, drinking, marrying, and simply living life as they always have, not expecting God’s word to actually be fulfilled. God warned the world of judgment through the words of Noah, the preacher of righteousness, but no one listened. He has warned the world again today through the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder if anyone is listening? He always keeps his promises!
Salvation Leads to Worship (Genesis 8)
After the floodwaters receded and the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, Noah sent out a raven and a dove to see if all of the water had dried up. The birds returned because there was nowhere yet to land. So, Noah waited seven more days and sent the dove out again. This time the dove brought back an olive branch which signified that God had made peace with the earth and the ground had dried enough to produce vegetation again. He waited seven more days and the dove did not return; then Noah knew that the ground was completely dry. He opened the ark and his family and all of the animals emerged safely. The ark saved their lives!
Noah recognized that God used the ark to save their lives. If it hadn’t been for God’s grace, they would have been swept away in the flood too. So, the first thing he did after he left the ark was to build an altar and sacrificed burnt offerings on it. He showed his gratitude to God through an act of worship. He put everything else on hold until he properly thanked God for the salvation he received.
Here again, Noah is an example for us today. Despite our corrupted hearts and wicked deeds, God has spared our lives. He has also extended his grace to us through the sacrifice of his own son for the salvation of our souls. When we recognize all that God has done for us, how could we do anything else but to respond with worship? Have you recognized what God has done for you? Do you that he is the only one who can save our body and soul?
The Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9:1-17)
The aroma from Noah’s burnt offering was pleasing to the Lord and he said in his heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” He established a covenant with Noah and his sons to never flood the whole earth again. Then he set his rainbow in the sky as a sign of the covenant he made with Noah. Every time anyone sees a rainbow it is a reminder that God will never again do what he had done here.
God blessed Noah and his sons and renewed his command to “Be fruitful and multiply. Increase and fill the earth.” After God poured out his judgment on the world for its wickedness and even though he knew sin still ruled in people’s hearts, he began to recreate the earth—new vegetation, new animals, and a new human race that would descend from Noah and his three sons.
When we see a rainbow appear in the sky today, it is not only a sign that God will never flood the earth again, but it is also a foreshadowing of the new creation that we will one day experience. God has promised us that he will never flood the whole earth or destroy all living creatures again, but he will judge the earth. When we hear that great trumpet sound and Jesus returns, he will judge the world for its sin. But after this, he will make all things new.
The first heaven and first earth will pass away and make room for the new heaven and new earth. The New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven from God and we will hear him say, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” He will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” We will experience a new creation devoid of sin. What a wonderful place it will be!
Noah’s Ark is a terrifying horror story, but it is also a story of redemption. Many years after Noah, there came a man named Jesus. He, too, lived a righteous life in a wicked world. He blameless in his generation and walked with God and obeyed him perfectly. God used both of these men to save the human race from its sin. He even used wooden structures in both stories. For Noah, it was an ark. For Jesus, it was a cross. God spared Noah when he punished the world for its sin! God did not spare his own son Jesus and allowed him to be punished for the worlds sin.
So, let me ask you: Are you on the ark today? Have you trusted in the cross of Christ? Have you asked him to forgive your sins? Is the hope of heaven in your heart?