363. Long Ago a Flood Was Coming

8.7.8.7.D.
1
Long ago a flood was coming
 
On the world with evil filled,
 
But a man of faith, named Noah,
 
Warned of God, an ark did build.
 
Years passed by, while God in patience,
 
Waited ere the flood began;
 
Noah preached, and warned, and pleaded,
 
Telling of God’s gracious plan.
2
Boys and girls, and men, and women,
 
Laughed and scoffed at what they heard;
 
Chose to follow sinful pleasures,
 
Thoughtless of the warning word.
 
But at last — the ark completed — 
 
Time had come for rain to fall;
 
Birds and beasts by twos and sevens,
 
Gathered in, with food for all.
3
Creeping things were not forgotten.
 
Two of each were sheltered there — 
 
For while foolish men are scoffing,
 
Little things will show God’s care!
 
Noah too, and all his household,
 
Safely o’er the threshold passed;
 
Then God shut the door upon them — 
 
Judgment’s day had come at last.
4
Rain came down, and floods of water
 
Covered hills and mountains o’er,
 
All were drowned outside the shelter,
 
Just as Noah warned before.
 
But the ark, and all within it,
 
Calmly rose above the tide;
 
Judgment’s storms can never reach them
 
Who in God’s own Word confide!
5
God has warned of greater sorrows,
 
He has told of judgment sore
 
Which will fall on Christ-rejectors
 
When the day of grace is o’er.
 
But His only Son once suffered,
 
He for us the judgment bore;
 
Those who come to Him are sheltered
 
By His blood, forevermore.
Echoes of Grace Hymnbook Index