On the sixth day of creation, Adam and Eve were created and were called to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth with people.
In those days, the earth was not tilted on its axis and it had never rained. There was a protective covering around the earth, similar to a greenhouse effect, with waters above the covering and beneath the earth, but no oceans as we have them today. A mist that came out of the ground watered the entire earth.
Because of this special protective covering, people were able to live much longer lives. Adam lived to be 930 years old; his son, Seth, lived to be 912 years old, his son, Enosh, lived to be 905 years old; his son, Kenan, lived to be 910 years old; his son, Mahalalel, lived to be 895 years old; his son, Jared, lived to be 962 years old; his son, Enoch, was translated by God directly into heaven at the age of 365, his son, Methuselah, lived to be 969 years old; his son Lamech, lived to be 777 years old; and his son, Noah, lived to be 950 years old.
During this time, every sin imaginable was being performed to the max. God was so disgusted with the people that he said he was sorry he had ever created them. He was very angry and wanted to destroy them all – except Noah. Noah had found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He was a perfect man in God’s eyes. This didn’t mean that he didn’t sin, but Noah’s heart was right with God. His intentions were pure and righteous.
Finally, God had had enough! He told Noah to build an ark, a floating house, that was approximately the size of a football field and about three stories high. There would be three floors in this ark to house and feed two animals of every kind, plus animals for sacrifice after the flood.
Noah followed God’s instructions, spending much time each day walking and talking with him. Like the prophets in later years, Noah preached righteousness to his friends and neighbors for countless hours, days and years, but, with the exception of his wife and three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, not one person listened. One hundred twenty years passed while Noah built the Ark, and no one listened to Noah except his family. Very few of us would keep the faith under those circumstances, but Noah did. He just kept holding on to God’s promises. When everyone started laughing and throwing tomatoes and eggs and teasing and ridiculing his children, Noah just leaned on the Lord.
Throughout the Bible, and our history since its writing, we find that of all the animals on the earth, humans are the only ones that disobey when God calls them. When the ark was completed after 120 years of building, God called all the animals to get on board and they did so. But the human beings just mocked the ark that Noah built. Noah preached the saving grace of God, but no one was interested. They had never seen rain and had no reason to believe Noah’s claims that they would drown in the flood for their disobedience.
After all the animals were on board, Noah gathered his wife and three sons and their wives into the ark. God closed and sealed the door. For seven days they waited, giving thanks to the Lord for his protection and salvation. On the seventh day, the greenhouse covering around the earth was destroyed. The rains from the heavens poured down and the fountains of the deep were broken up and it rained for forty days and nights. The continents were separated, and the oceans were formed. The earth was tilted on its axis, forming the north and south poles, quick-freezing all animals and vegetation in those areas.
Noah was saddened by the loss of life from the flood. His neighbors, friends and relatives were gone, totally destroyed in the flood. Were there any words he could have said to convince them? Was there anything he could have done to influence their commitment to God?
One year after the rains began, God called Noah, his family, and the animals, out of the ark onto dry land. Noah built an altar and offered burnt offerings of every clean beast and fowl unto the Lord. It was a sweet smell unto God and he promised Noah he would never again destroy all the earth with water. The token of the covenant between God and Noah was the rainbow, which God placed in the sky.
Noah discovered that even though man mocked his face and paid no attention to his warnings, God had provided a way through for the righteous man. His way was not easy, nor painless, but he was greatly rewarded for his steadfast grip on the Lord’s hand.
“Do what is right; then if men speak against you, calling you evil names, they will become ashamed of themselves for falsely accusing you when you have only done what is good. Remember, if God wants you to suffer, it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing wrong! Christ also suffered. He died once for the sins of all us guilty sinners, although he himself was innocent of any sin at any time, that he might bring us safely home to God. Long before in the days of Noah, people refused to listen to God, though he waited patiently for them while Noah was building the ark. Yet only eight persons were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.”
From I Peter 3