“And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” (Genesis 7:1)
There was a time when everything God created was perfect and the world was without sin. But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, everything changed. The sin of the world became so bad that God decided to destroy the world with a flood and start over.
There was one man named Noah who did what was right and walked with God. God told Noah that he and his family would have to build an ark to escape the coming flood. God gave him special instructions on how to build the ark and what animals to take with him.
Can you imagine the sight of that? It would be like a floating zoo! Noah was to take one male and one female of each animal. He was to take all of his family and he had to take enough food for his family and all of the animals.
There is just one more thing; it is possible that Noah did not even know what rain was! The book of Genesis is not completely clear about this, but it seems to be that, so far, it had never yet rained – from the time of Creation to the time of the Flood! God had watered the plants a different way, from springs underground. So even the promise of rain might have been a test for Noah’s faith in God. Noah’s neighbors made fun of him. Who had heard of water falling from the sky? It had never happened before, so why should it happen now? But Noah knew that God loved him and that God always spoke the truth. Noah trusted God for his life and the life of his family.
Not long after Noah finished the ark, God began bringing animals to it. There were elephants, giraffes, lions, bears, tigers, goats, horses, cows, dogs, cats, snakes, zebras, lizards, and many, many more animals. Once the animals, people, and supplies were on board, God closed the door. The rain began to pour down, and the winds blew hard. It rained for 40 days straight! When the rain finally stopped, Noah opened a window and looked out. There was water everywhere, but he was alive! He began praising God for saving him and his family. He praised Him for the love He showed toward His creation. God had brought him through this flood safely.
God loved Noah so much that He saved him from the destruction of the flood. God loves people today the same way He loved Noah. The Bible says that because you are a sinner, your punishment is that you must be separated from Him forever. But because God so loves the world, He sent His Son – just like He provided the ark for Noah – to take the punishment for sin and die for sinners on the cross. All you have to do to be saved is to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).
Because God loves you, He sent His Son to save you from your sin.
My Response:
» Have I asked Jesus to save me from my sins?
» Am I responding with faith in God’s Word instead of giving in to what others around me say?