Scripture tells us Noah was a righteous man. In that day, just as today if you were a righteous person you stood out like a beautiful rose among thorns.
People knew he was righteous, a Weirdo!!! but righteous. (isn’t that how many people see us today) after all, who goes round building a huge three storied boat in a place that had never seen water falling from the sky, however, God had told him exactly what to do and how to do it and he did it.
Sometimes God tells us to do something, perhaps not as dramatic as Noah's assignment, but still we are hesitant, even though we have the Scriptures, The Holy Spirit and other Christians to pray with us; none of which Noah had, Still he was obedient to God.
He trusted God and in so doing God brought him through the greatest flood the world has ever known, and not only him, but his whole family and all those animals.
So what exactly is Righteousness?
According to Scripture, it is trusting and being obedient to God. I say “according to Scripture”, because God's righteousness and the world’s
righteousness (at least today) are poles apart and getting further apart daily, when in doubt it always pays to check with Scripture. In fact through Noah's righteousness God renewed the entire human race..... (According to history, The three sons went to Asia, Africa and Europe with their wives and hence repopulated the earth. Not doctrine, but that's what history tells us. See Encyclopedia Britannica).
What I am saying here is our integrity should be beyond reproach, our righteousness should fly like an Iridescent banner wherever we are or even when our name is mentioned; only then can we be regarded as followers of the most high God, Our behaviour, speech and attitude should reflect purity, health and wisdom. We must always remember we are representatives of Christ Himself 24/7.
We belong to God, He bought us at the very highest price.
It's interesting to note God's reasons for bringing the flood on the earth,” Corruption and violence over the whole earth.” Another thought I have is, Did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah before their sin could spread “Over the whole earth?” As it did in the time of Noah. And what about now, I wonder if Corruption and violence has covered the whole earth yet? and how long will it be before it does and He acts?
Many teachers and preachers believe Noah's Ark is a forerunner to The Ark of the Covenant which God established later. That Ark was going to carry the very presence of the Word of God, which was His law (The ten Commandments,) Manna, or Bread from Heaven, provided by God for His people in the desert and Aaron's budding rod, signifying the miraculous power of God;-- This speaks to me of The Righteous who choose to walk in the provision, protection and the very presence of God. All these things Noah did.
And Scripture says God was pleased with him.
After Noah entered the Ark with the animals, God waited seven days.... God always gives us time to come back to Him before shutting the door and sending “the rain” His judgement.
Clean and unclean animals speaks to me of us, even if we are clean, He doesn't separate us from the unclean. He didn’t separate the wheat from the tears, The sun and rain fall on both the good and the wicked. Noah took the clean animals to lay on the altar of sacrifice to God, quite often God takes us along with the wicked for the same reason, Have you ever been ridiculed or laughed at for standing on your Christian principles?
Consider yourself on the altar of sacrifice! It costs to follow Christ!!!
After Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives entered the Ark, Scripture says “God shut the door.” Interesting isn't it that God gave such specific instructions on how to build the Ark, but there was not one door handle or lock mentioned in those instructions, which leaves us to conclude that God is the one who opens and shuts the doors in our lives, in my experience He seldom shuts a door, without opening another, He may sometimes take a while about it, but He always does. Being a Spirit-filled Christian means giving God the right to open and shut doors in our lives.
After forty days the rain stopped. Forty is a number that is often used in Scripture and often precedes something very meaningful; --- The Israelites were in the wilderness forty years, before entering the Promised Land, Jesus was in the desert Forty days, when He was tempted by the Devil, Before He began His public ministry and Jesus remained on earth forty days after His Resurrection before ascending to His Father in Heaven to send us the Holy Spirit. There are also many instances in the Old Testament where the number “forty” is used.
The church doesn’t give us any official explanation for this, but, I find it interesting!!!
When the water had receded and the ark had settled on mount Ararat. Scripture tells us “Noah sent out a Raven” When researching this sending out of birds, I learned a few things. First, Ravens are black and eat rotting flesh this was the first bird Noah sent out from the Ark where he and his family had been for over a month. This black bird kept going and coming back, but not settling except on dead carcases. (When Jesus was in the desert,The devil kept leaving Jesus and then returning with another temptation)... A few days later Noah sent out a dove, these are white clean living birds that don't eat meat, or land on floating bodies it came back to the Ark and to Noah's outstretched hand.... If we invite the Holy Spirit, he will come to us too and make His home in our hearts. The dove is a sign of the Holy Spirit who longs to find a home with us. After seven days Noah sent out the dove again and it returned with a fresh olive branch, a sign of peace, (Peace is the very first gift the Holy Spirit will bring when He comes into the life of a new believer)... Seven days later and again Noah sent out the dove, this time the dove didn't return, so Noah knew it would soon be time to come out of the Ark. There is yet another thought here for us, four times Noah asked God and four times God said wait. But some time later God did speak and told them to come out. We have to understand that wait doesn’t mean “NO” it means wait.
Timing is one of God’s many prerogatives. It means He knows best.
When God did give Noah the green light, it must have been a huge relief, and also a huge job getting themselves and all the animals out of the Ark as God told him to, but even then after being in that smelly old Ark for so long, they didn't get all excited and have a BBQ, or a picnic in the sunshine and fresh air, No! Scripture says the first thing Noah did was build an altar and sacrifice some of the clean animals to the Lord. An attitude of gratitude goes a long way with our God (remember the ten lepers) God appreciates a heartfelt thank you.... And the Lord was so pleased with Noah's obedience and sacrifice that He made a covenant with Him saying He would never again send a flood over the earth and sealed it with the Rainbow which He set in the sky.
What I learned from the story of Noah was Trust, Obedience and Gratitude.
This is what God requires, deserves and rewards
Thank you for reading my lessons from the Flood. God bless you all.
Phaline.
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