“ For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.”

Mathew 24:37

I listened to a teaching the other day about Noah building the ark and what was taking place at the time. It impacted me so much that I want to share what I learned from it. Everything about it parallels His soon return for His bride. In Genesis a verdict was given by the Lord. 

“The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5

He used the words, every, only, continually. He saw no change. From the outside looking in there was progress, prosperity and everything was functioning just fine in the known world at that time. But yet, God brought forth this verdict. 

The Bible says that Noah walked with God perfectly, faithfully and consistently. He found favor with God. Because of this Noah was called by God to build an ark. It would save him, his family and all the animals on board. Noah was a preacher warning and declaring what was about to come. The Lord told Noah exactly how to build the ark inside and out. Noah did not just do some of it or only the parts that made sense, he completely obeyed what the Lord told him to do. It took 120 years of patience for Noah and his family to complete the ark. In this 120 years these are the things that everyone in the world at that time was seeing and hearing:

     – Noah preaching

     – The ark being built. A size so big everyone could see it. The door on the ark was open the entire time Noah was building it.

     – The passing of Methuselah at the age of 969. He was the oldest person to live. He was the grandfather of Noah. His name means; his death shall bring it. I find that so fascinating. 

     – The animals coming in pairs of 2, a steady stream right past the onlookers homes. Something so extraordinary you could not deny it.

The response of the onlookers was:

     – Mocking, condemning, disbelief and disobedience.

They saw nothing but a man building a solution for a problem that did not exist. You can be surrounded by evidence and still be unmoved by it. They walked by the evidence every day for 120 years and just continued planning for the next season, the next harvest as if the world would go on the way it always had before. The evidence was not insufficient; their hearts had already decided. The people were not stupid. They were stubborn in the face of divine warning. It is indistinguishable blindness. Seeing is not believing. Knowing is not obeying. The entire pre-flood world is proof. They knew, they heard, they saw and they did not move. The entire time that Noah was building the door was always open.  

Noah acted on what he couldn’t see. The earth at that time had never seen rain. He condemned the world not primarily by what he said, but by what he built. The Lord would finally shut the door and the rain would begin. God’s patience had run out. God’s patience has a door and the door closes.  

“Who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.” 1 Peter 3:20 

When God closes a door, no one can open it. When the door is shut there are no more chances. While the door was still open every day, every sermon was an opportunity to come to the open door. When it was ready to be shut there was no announcement, no final warning, the door was shut. The end of the age of mercy for that generation was gone in a moment. The evidence was massive, very public and hard to avoid. Yet they did not heed the warning. They knew, they heard, they saw and they did not move. We’ve got to stop assuming that tomorrow is guaranteed. The flood proves there is an unannounced day when the door closes. It will not announce itself. It will arrive like every other day for each of us. Today the door still stands open. The patience is still running. The invitation still stands. The evidence is not growing weaker. Prophecy has been fulfilled. History’s been confirmed. Scripture has been vindicated.

Today we no longer have the ark. We have Jesus the Son of God. He is the One standing with His arms wide open urgently calling us to Him before it’s too late. Run to Jesus! 

“So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.” Genesis 7:16