The Lord restates His intention to bring the great flood. "I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark---you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you." (Genesis 6:17-18) God makes a covenant with man before the flood. Later on in Genesis we find God making a covenant with the animals after the flood. As an animal lover it makes me happy knowing that God makes and keeps promises not only to humans but to animals as well.
Now the Lord reveals His plan for preserving the animal kingdom. "You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive." (Genesis 6:19-20) The Lord previously sent the animals to Adam so he could name them in Genesis 2:19. Now He's going to send animals to Noah so they can survive the flood. I am sure the Lord selected the best and healthiest examples from each species. Noah didn't have to worry that any of the animals on the ark would be suffering from diseases or be incapable of reproducing. The Lord knew every cell in the body of every creature He made. He knew exactly which animals to send to Noah based on the genetic traits He wanted them to be able to pass on.
Noah has to store up supplies to feed himself, his family, and all the animals who will inhabit the ark. "You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them. Noah did everything just as God commanded him." (Genesis 6:21-22) Noah obeyed the Lord, but the people living around him on the earth did not, not even when they witnessed the remarkable sight of animals lining up in an orderly fashion to enter the ark. They thought Noah was a madman so they discounted his warnings, but it seems to me that the sight of all these animals joining in with the "madness" might have given them pause. You'd think they would have begun to wonder whether Noah was right after all. But nothing fazed them. I think their hearts were so hard that they were the type of people Jesus was referring to when He said, "They will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." (Luke 16:31b) Nothing was going to convince the people of Noah's generation because they didn't want to be convinced. In Noah's day and in our own day and in all the centuries in between, there have been people who "did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God". (Romans 1:28)
"The Lord then said to Noah, 'Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation." (Genesis 7:1) Noah wasn't perfect, but he had faith, and faith is what saves souls. Faith often saves lives too, as it did in the case of Noah and his family.
"Take with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth." (Genesis 7:2-3) We tend to think just two of each type of animal went onto the ark, but here we are provided more detail about the numbers. The Lord wants the clean animals (animals He is going to allow humans to eat after the flood) to reproduce much faster than the unclean animals (animals He will forbid people to eat). So He instructs Noah to take seven pairs of the clean animals and only one pair of each unclean animal. If you're interested in taking a look at the list of clean and unclean animals, a detailed passage can be found in Leviticus 11.
"Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made. And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him." (Genesis 7:4-5) The people on the ark will be safe. The creatures on the ark will be safe. The creatures in the rivers and seas will be safe. It's only the humans and animals on the land who will be "wiped from the face of the earth".
The Lord is giving the people of the earth an extra week to repent. I have a feeling that Noah did the most fervent and impassioned preaching of his life during that week. But still no one repented. During his most intense preaching, I bet the people did their most intense mocking. But I doubt anything was on Noah's mind but how heartbroken he was for these lost souls. Their need was so urgent, and the flood was so imminent, that the laughter and jokes and disrespect of the people didn't discourage him in the slightest.
If we don't feel the same sense of urgency for the lost people around us, something is wrong with our relationship with the Lord. It should break our hearts that people are rejecting the Lord. In rejecting Him, they are rejecting everything that is best for them in the here and now and in the hereafter. When people don't want to hear our testimonies about the Lord and when they scoff at the gospel, we need to be thick-skinned enough to keep from taking it personally and becoming offended and discouraged. It's not us they are rejecting; it is Almighty God they are rejecting. It's not our message they are laughing at; it's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ they are scorning. I think that's the attitude Noah had and I think that's why he was able to preach to a lost generation for so many years and why he kept on doing it during the last week before the flood. He didn't want anyone to perish. God Himself didn't want anyone to perish. But men and women choose their own destinies, and sadly, some choose to perish by rejecting the Lord. But that doesn't relieve you and me of our responsibility to be a living testimony to the power of Christ. That doesn't give us a free pass to stop sharing the gospel whenever we can. And if we notice our hearts aren't broken for lost people as they should be, we need to pray to the Lord to make our hearts more like His. When people see that we honestly care about them, they are going to be more receptive to the One whom we serve.
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