Genesis 7:7-8:2
“AND NOAH went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.... In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life.... were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” vv. 7, 11, 12.
Only a little more than 1600 years had passed since God created man. In that short period those whom He had created in His own image had willfully departed from Him and made such havoc of their lives that He could no longer forbear judgment on them. Yet even as he pronounced the dire consequence of their wicked ways, He also provided a means of escape in the ark. But when the time came to enter it there were only eight souls who responded — Noah, the faithful man of God, and his immediate family. Then the deluge broke in all its fury; not only the devastating downpour from above, but all the fountains of the great deep were broken up as well. Hopeless indeed became the plight of those who had scorned Noah’s preaching, or who had delayed accepting it. God had shut the ark’s door and none could open it. Alas, what remorse must have filled the hearts of those who had gone blindly in folly and deliberate estrangement from God. There was no refuge for them in the strongest building made by their hands, nor upon the highest mountain peak.
Sinner friend, there is another day of judgment coming soon. Have you prepared for it? Have you entered the ark through Christ, the living Door? Are you safe and secure in Him?
The great overflowing of these swells of water proceeded undiminished for forty days and nights figure of the fullness of God’s wrath against sin and those who refuse His Son. Upward and yet upward rose the destroying tide, catching up all living things, until the highest peaks were no longer to be seen. No spot of ground remained as refuge to those who had rejected God’s grace. “And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle. and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.” v. 23. What a dreadful scene! Yet Noah, safe within the ark, was completely away from it all. Nor did he look on the tragedy from which his faith had delivered him, for his only view was upwards, toward the God who was seeing him safely through the storm.
“And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark... The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained.” How lovely to read that “God remembered Noah.” But there was never any question that He would do so, for He had secured him and his family in that ark which spoke of His own beloved Son. He saw them thus united to Himself and dear to Him. For the believer in Christ this is equally true. Faith in Him keeps us secure from all that would harm us.
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38, 39.
ML-11/15/1964