Noah Narrative 4

More of that repetition

More than just the story-teller’s art

When God repeats things, those things are important

We see more of it here; the wives, sons, their wives, age...

We gain some details: specific month and day…but by what standard

It may be the second month of Moses’s 600 year, we can only guess when that would be

It could be reckoned by the Jewish civil year—this would have been written down after the Law was given, beginning at Rosh Hashanah

…or maybe calculated by the sacrificial year, beginning at Passover

Good arguments for each…whatever the reason, it show’s that details are important to God

When we finish the narrative, we’ll see that the timing of the events does have significance

…things like time of harvest, time of planting…may come into play; we’ll let the scholars argue those things, but good to consider

>>since dates were mentioned, there is something specific…a detail that God wants to have remembered…His timing in all things is always perfect

Speaking of timing...

By comparisons, it took 3000 men two years to build the Titanic; all the materials being supplied to them

The time for the work to be completed

At it’s simplest calculations

15000 man hours for just the bare bones construction…if they had reasonably modern tools—not likely

A minimum of about 100,000 board feet of lumber to be harvested and prepared (just outside structure and decks, no internal structure)

Deluge

The deluge only began AFTER all were safely closed inside the ark—timing....

There is a general understanding that that rain was unknown before the flood

…may or may not be factual, linguistic arguments based upon nature of the creation, how God divided waters, earth, firmament

Whatever the case, this was something like no man had ever seen before: “the windows of Heaven were opened”

But wait, there’s more…:the fountains of the great deep burst forth”

…a bit of sanctified speculation here, but entirely within the realm of probable:

Imagine a land mass encompassing all the land of the earth, with the rest covered by water

Imagine that the land mass split apart

…and then the rain started

That would certainly account for all the oddities of geology that are tossed about as “proof” of evolution, billions of years...

Archeology continues to validate the Biblical accounts; but the world will continue to be skeptics

If we chose to believe the Bible, that is what we chose to believe

Once again, if we believe in a God who created the earth, seas, skies, universe and all creatures…why must we look for a natural explanation?

Deliverance

Genesis 7:16 ESV

And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.

Imagine a land mass encompassing all the land of the earth, with the rest covered by water

Imagine that the land mass split apart

…and then the rain started

That would certainly account for all the oddities of geology that are tossed about as “proof” of evolution, billions of years...

Archeology continues to validate the Biblical accounts; but the world will continue to be skeptics

If we chose to believe the Bible, that is what we chose to believe

Once again, if we believe in a God who created the earth, seas, skies, universe and all creatures…why must we look for a natural explanation?

Devastation

Boone’s remark about his flood, sort of wrecked everything

We’ll deal more with some of this next week…examining the term “blotted out”

The time the earth was underwater was months…the ground would be saturated

All land-dwelling life was gone, all that had the “breath of life” in it (animal life)

The expression brings us to the conclusion that God is the one who grants the breath of life; and the one who can remove it

All on earth with this gift had it removed; only Noah and his family were allowed to retain it

Application

How do we…how can we…make any transition from the events described here to our lives today

First, we hold to the account as factual

God said it, that settles it

We continue to hold the premise that mankind is evil

We continue to hold the premise that God is sovereign

He allowed the human race to propagate despite the fact that was abjectly evil at its core

Even when He moved against the human race, he offered grace

Noah, was obedient to the commands of God

In the time Noah was building the ark, men and women could have repented

…they had the witness of Noah, the preacher of righteousness

Grace came to Noah, because God chose him

…we can go back and read the narrative again; God initiated the plan

Similarly, in the NT we read

Romans 5:6 ESV

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

NOTE: NIV “at just the right time....”

That matter of timing again

Always perfect, according to His plan…even if not so perfect according to ours

Mankind is still evil

God still offers grace

We can still be saved

It’s on us!

As violent, as horrid, as catastrophic as the deaths of the all who had the breath of life was…their eternal fate is worse yet

Failing to take advantage of the free grace offered us results in condemnation to Hell

It’s real, it’s horrible, it’s eternal

God completed the saving action for Noah

…and the LORD shut him in.

He will complete the saving action or us

He provides the plan for our salvation through Jesus Christ

Our faith in His finished work of the cross of Calvary

Here are some places people get it wrong today

They don’t believe in Jesus, as Jesus is

Fully God, fully man; tempted, yet sinless

…this is a problem to many…can’t believe the divinity

One person of the triune God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit

We may have a hard time grasping all these things; but we must believe them

If we sell Jesus short; there is no saving faith

A saving faith should be a sanctifying faith

Romans 8:30 ESV

And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

There’s a process there that leads to our glorification

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile, we should be about God’s business; Noah didn’t sit and wait for the rains to come; he go busy building

God brought His plan for Noah to completion; he’ll also bring his plan for us to completion