IN the twilight of a winter’s day three little boys sat at their mother’s knee by the cheerful fire, the fitful gleams of which played in light and shadow amid the growing darkness which stole in through the window.
Their father had been called away from home, and their mother was telling them the Bible story of “Noah’s Ark” as they sat in the firelight.
She told of God’s judgment upon the wicked men and women of the old world, and pictured the waters, rising higher and higher, and the terrified people trying to escape by climbing the roofs of houses, high trees, mountain tops, until all were lost in one watery grave. As all this was related, a deep awe filled the children’s hearts. At length the second boy burst into tears, no longer able to restrain himself; the other two followed, and their little hearts seemed ready to burst.
Their kind mother then explained that the ark was God’s way of escape from the flood, and told them how safe Noah and his family were when God had shut them in; and how, after many days, the dove was sent forth from the ark, and returned; how Noah sent her forth again, and how she came back with an olive leaf in her mouth; and how delighted Noah and his family must have been when they saw the fresh, green leaf.
But, dear children, the Lord Jesus is the true Ark for us, —God’s way now for us to escape the terrible judgments which are soon to come upon this poor world that has crucified and cast out His beloved Son. He can never forget the dreadful hatred that was shown to the Lord Jesus when He was here showing nothing but love and kindness to everyone, healing the sick, opening blind eyes, raising the dead, etc., and saying to all, “Come unto Me.... and I will give you rest.”
And after man, in all the hatred of his heart against Him, put Him on the cross thinking to get rid of Him, God raised Him from the dead and exalted Him to His own right hand in glory, He now says to all, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31).
O, children! flee at once to Him the only place of safety; and outside of Him there is no possible means of escape from the judgments. He longs to save you and give you eternal blessing.
All this made a deep impression on these dear children who were listening and especially the eldest boy, but it was some time before he knew what it was to be in the true Ark. Later on he went to another place and began to attend a Bible Class. One afternoon, as the school was closing, the teacher said to him,
“Some of the elder boys are going to stay behind for prayer, according to our usual custom; may I ask you to pray?”
“Me to pray?” thought he; the question pierced his soul like a dart, and he who had never ceased to say his prayers regularly, since he learned them at his mother’s knee, now discovered, for the first time, that he was a religious hypocrite; and with faltering lips he said,
“I don’t know.”
“Then you ought to know,” replied the teacher. “When can you come to my house to see me?”
An appointment was made, and this was the beginning of several interviews He became more and more anxious about his soul, until at length he was led to cry out,
“Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner; a hopeless, lost, helpless, ruined sinner!”
One night, alone in his room in the dark, he was pleading for “mercy, mercy!” when a light direct from heaven shone into his very soul; the load of misery was gone, and his heart was filled to overflowing—Jesus was his Saviour. His desire was to
“....tell to all around,
Of the dear Saviour he had found.
Sweetest note in seraph song,
Sweetest name on mortal tongue,
Sweetest carol ever sung—
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”
It is my joy to tell you that the other two boys, his brothers, are now safe in the Ark, and his sincere, earnest desire is that every reader of this little paper may he saved before the night of judgment comes—safe in Jesus, as Noah was secure from the storm which overwhelmed all those who were not shut within the ark.
“Come to the Ark—come to the Ark,
To Jesus come away;
The pestilence walks forth by night,
The arrow flies by day.
Come to the Ark—the waters rise,
The seas their billows rear;
While darkness gathers o’er the skies,
Behold a refuge near!
Come to the Ark—wake ye that sleep!
Wake from the death of sin!
Arise! for danger is without,
But all is safe within.
Come to the Ark—ere yet the flood
Your lingering steps oppose;
Come! for the door now open stands,
But soon— soon it will close.”
ML 05/05/1918