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1) No deck chairs on Noah's Ark to re-arrange
On Noah's Ark there were no deck chairs.
What is meant by that statement?
There is a saying when people are seen as being so busy “doing”, that they lose sight and focus of the main event, that they are ”re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic”.
No deck chairs on Noah's Ark? Why?
Why were there deck chairs on the Titanic?
So passengers could sit down, relax, be waited on and enjoy the scenery.
We are told in Genesis the conditions that prevailed in the days of Noah.
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.(Genesis 6:11-12)
and
And Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)
Anyone who pays attention to the News can see that the phrase used by Yeshua (Jesus), “as in the days of Noah”is applicable to now. There is an amazing parallel to the days in which we are living.
But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.(Matthew 24:37)
In Noah's lifetime, Yahweh was longsuffering waiting up to 100 years and the length of this grace was shown in that Methuselah (whose name means when he dies it shall come) was the longest living man.
But at some point to make the world liveable again the evil had to be removed. But Noah was not saved because he was a good person. It is said Noah found grace,
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:8-9)
The grace that is given to Noah is a promise to destroy all the evil!
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (Genesis 6:13)
Then Noah is given a series of very detailed commands,
Make you an ark of gopher wood; rooms shall you make in the ark, and shall pitch it within and without with pitch. (Genesis 6:14) and
If – if he kept the commands then Yahweh would establish his covenant with him
But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. (Genesis 6:18)
Noah did keep the commands
Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. (Genesis 6:22)
He built a massive boat
The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shall thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shall thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shall thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shall thou make it. (Genesis 6:15-16)
It was just over 150m long. Compare it with the Titanic at 268m
or the Queen Mary 2 at 345 m (soon to be outclassed by 'the world' a floating residential complex at 453m)
and it was 25metres wide. The Titanic was 28m wide and the Queen Mary 2 was 41m wide
It's height was over 15m compared to the Titanic which was just under 30m
15m high is a 5 storey building. Gopher may have been pine, cyprus or cedar. So Noah and his sons just cut up a few trees? You think preaching is hard?
Just for one strip of one side up to 15 trees with no power saws, no portable mills and no logging truck. Up to 450 trees per side were needed just to clad that enormous height, let alone the massive structure needed to stop it bending in the water! And what was the timber held together with? It was hard work to make each joint. They would have sweated to build it. Noah couldn't hide his preaching. It was out there in the open. A remarkable structure in his day dominating the landscape like the Pasha Bulker on the beach.
It was a huge boat, high and dry in a paddock.
One of the later tasks was assembling the animals.
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. (Genesis 6:19)
Gerald Durrell, the famous British zoo collector's, efforts in Africa would be nothing compared to the effort to catch all these animals. Steve Irwin's park would be nothing to the park Noah would have had to make to collect them. With all the locals saying 'why?' And on top of this he had to collect all the food they would need for the long voyage.
And collect unto you of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to you; and it shall be for food for you, and for them. (Genesis 6:21)
He had to collect whatever all those animals ate. Some animals are very fussy eaters.
So after labouring with a small work force to make this huge Ark they then stop work collect animals and food and load the vessel and then they feed the animals and muck out the stalls on three levels on a boat half the length of the Queen Mary. Even with a team of 8 by the time you finish one end it would be time to start at the other. They weren't sitting around. Their salvation came with work, quite hard manual work to obey the commands.
2) How is the Noah's Ark like Baptism?
Baptism is immersion into water.
Water is everywhere, and once deep water covered the surface of the whole earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
Creation began when the Spirit of the Mighty Ones moved upon the waters.
If the natural world was all deep water even the strongest human swimmer would eventually drown. This is what happened in the flood. But Peter says a few, that is 8 souls were saved by water.
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: (1Peter 3:19-21)
In what way can we be saved by water? We can drown in water. Even in Baptism we are associated with death and symbolically 'die' by going down into the water,
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death (Romans 6:4)
So why does Peter say we are saved by water? Peter's point is that there is dis-obedience in the world
Peter says it was in this 'like figure' that Baptism saves us. He says it is not by the putting away of the 'filth', but by the answer of a good conscience, which is the desire to achieve the big picture. That is, we gladly are baptised wanting to be obedient, and not just because it is a means of putting away the 'filth' of lust. Noah was not saved because the flood destroyed all the evil, but he was saved because he desired to walk with Yahweh, and inherit the covenant even if that involved working hard.
Why did Noah have faith?
Why did Noah believe? Why did this belief cause him to start on this project that involved a tremendous amount of work?
The book of Hebrews states that he was 'moved by fear', because of his belief and he took action. He trusted the angel who told him what to do and why. Methuselah, the grandfather of Noah in his lifetime would have had contact with Adam, Seth and Enoch. Lamech, Noah's father, made a prophecy related to Noah at his birth. There was a long line of believers. There were also the prophecies of Enoch in existence, which are referred to in the book of Jude and in the Song of Moses.
Noah would have had trust, belief and faith in the original promises given to Adam and Eve, which related to the promised seed, the Messiah.
Grace was extended to Noah in the fact that he was told what was to happen. He then chose to take action to save the lives of his family, because he trusted that if he did as he was told, it would turn out well for him. So Noah, in the same way as us, was called upon to have both faith and works. Faith based on the evidence before him and works based upon the belief that God will do as he said he would.
Peter again returns to the idea of water for another illustration.
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men. (2Peter 3:3-7)
Today we wait for the day of judgment. Just as Noah did while he was building the Ark.
The water of baptism is an acknowledgement of our desire to become part of the future Kingdom and a recognition of our need of redemption
Paul gives us another application of water
as Christ also loved the congregation, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:25-26)
The Psalmist also gave this advice:
How shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed according to your word.(Psalm 119:9)
In our daily lives the Word is the means by which our minds are cleansed. In a world of violence, godlessness and evil, it is essential that we daily cleanse our minds with the washing of the Word of life.
We are saved by water.
We have been given the grace of an 'Ark' in Yeshua, but like Noah, we have still work to do.
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