It begins with an interesting statement (v1) – “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.”
I don’t think God ever forgot Noah for one moment. Remember that God invited Noah to come into the ark, He was already there, and He never left and was caring for him and all the occupants. The time had come for God’s plan to go a stage further.
The bible says that God said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5); “For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people.” (1 Samuel 12v22)
Verse 1 simply goes on to say, “And God made a wind to pass over the earth” – as simple as that. No plug to pull. God did this later when the Children of Israel were facing the Red Sea with the Egyptians chasing them. It was nothing for God to make the waters subside, no problem.
“The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.” (v2-5)
The rain stopped and the water which came from above and below stopped. The word ‘restrained’ in relation to the rain conjures up an idea of the power of God in holding it back. Again, we are given a precise date – seventh month, seventeenth day of the month. In all this had lasted five months, 150 days in all. The ark then rested on the mountains of Ararat. As a boy I got the idea that it rested rather precariously on the peak of the mountain, but it just says on the ‘mountains’ of Ararat. The waters gradually decreased over the next three months until the tops of the mountains could be seen.
After forty days, in verses 6-12, Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven which kept flying until the waters dried up. Ravens are scavengers and feed on dead carcasses so one can safely assume that the raven found some food as there would likely be dead carcasses from all the bodies which didn’t go into the ark. Then he sent out a dove which returned to the ark having found nowhere to rest. The raven was selfish and just looking after itself, not bringing good news to Noah, whereas the dove is pictured as thinking of others and returned to the ark as the waters had not receded. After seven days Noah sent out the dove again and it returned with an olive leaf, good news, the waters had receded. After a further seven days he sent out the dove again and it did not return. This would tell Noah that the earth had reappeared, and the dove found a landing place and thus it was habitable. Since that the dove with an olive leaf has been a symbol of peace and goodness.
We come to verses 13-19 and on the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the waters dried up and Noah removed the covering of the ark and saw the surface of the ground was dry. On the twenty-seventh of the second month the earth was dried. God told Noah to, “Go out of the ark, you and your, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh …. birds and cattle and every creeping thing…. so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
Noah had been inside the ark a full year and all living things would repopulate the earth and life would recommence.
The first thing Noah did after leaving the ark was to build an altar to the LORD to show his thankfulness and worship of Almighty God. It was essential that clean animals and birds should be offered. No laws had been given regarding sacrifices. It is clear that when people worshiped and offered sacrifices, they should give of their best. When laws were given the animals offered were to be clean, without blemish. Only the best was good enough for The LORD. We are often guilty of giving the leftovers or substandard. There were seven of each clean animal and bird and we must assume that this was the purpose of that.
The sacrifice was pleasing to The LORD and He knew Noah’s heart was pure and his worship genuine and as a result He gave Noah a promise – “And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”” (v21,22)
The LORD God showed His sincerity and faithfulness and promised never again to judge with a worldwide flood, and He goes into greater detail in the next chapter. Here, He speaks of the evil imaginations of man’s heart but indicates his mercy that He will not judge in this way again but make no mistake there will be a further judgment at the end. He promises that the seasons will not cease. We are bombarded today by the threats of global warming and climate change, but let’s remember God’s promise here is for us today, it is ‘while the earth remains.’ We can rest assured in power of God and if we are His, we need not fear.
So-called experts today are filling us with fear unless we do something about it. Those who demonstrate about anything and everything (at present – Global Warming and Climate Change) cause chaos to society for their cause. Yes, we have a duty to care for the earth, but the ultimate responsibility belongs to God. He will wind everything up in His time. In Acts 1:6,7 Luke, the writer, records that the Disciples asked the risen Lord Jesus, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.”
We need to be sure who we belong to, this world and Satan, or God. Only the latter will keep us safe. We must be ready for The Lord’s coming, it will be in His time, not a moment too soon nor a moment too late.It begins with an interesting statement (v1) – “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.”
I don’t think God ever forgot Noah for one moment. Remember that God invited Noah to come into the ark, He was already there, and He never left and was caring for him and all the occupants. The time had come for God’s plan to go a stage further.
The bible says that God said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5); “For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people.” (1 Samuel 12v22)
Verse 1 simply goes on to say, “And God made a wind to pass over the earth” – as simple as that. No plug to pull. God did this later when the Children of Israel were facing the Red Sea with the Egyptians chasing them. It was nothing for God to make the waters subside, no problem.
“The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.” (v2-5)
The rain stopped and the water which came from above and below stopped. The word ‘restrained’ in relation to the rain conjures up an idea of the power of God in holding it back. Again, we are given a precise date – seventh month, seventeenth day of the month. In all this had lasted five months, 150 days in all. The ark then rested on the mountains of Ararat. As a boy I got the idea that it rested rather precariously on the peak of the mountain, but it just says on the ‘mountains’ of Ararat. The waters gradually decreased over the next three months until the tops of the mountains could be seen.
After forty days, in verses 6-12, Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven which kept flying until the waters dried up. Ravens are scavengers and feed on dead carcasses so one can safely assume that the raven found some food as there would likely be dead carcasses from all the bodies which didn’t go into the ark. Then he sent out a dove which returned to the ark having found nowhere to rest. The raven was selfish and just looking after itself, not bringing good news to Noah, whereas the dove is pictured as thinking of others and returned to the ark as the waters had not receded. After seven days Noah sent out the dove again and it returned with an olive leaf, good news, the waters had receded. After a further seven days he sent out the dove again and it did not return. This would tell Noah that the earth had reappeared, and the dove found a landing place and thus it was habitable. Since that the dove with an olive leaf has been a symbol of peace and goodness.
We come to verses 13-19 and on the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the waters dried up and Noah removed the covering of the ark and saw the surface of the ground was dry. On the twenty-seventh of the second month the earth was dried. God told Noah to, “Go out of the ark, you and your, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh …. birds and cattle and every creeping thing…. so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
Noah had been inside the ark a full year and all living things would repopulate the earth and life would recommence.
The first thing Noah did after leaving the ark was to build an altar to the LORD to show his thankfulness and worship of Almighty God. It was essential that clean animals and birds should be offered. No laws had been given regarding sacrifices. It is clear that when people worshiped and offered sacrifices, they should give of their best. When laws were given the animals offered were to be clean, without blemish. Only the best was good enough for The LORD. We are often guilty of giving the leftovers or substandard. There were seven of each clean animal and bird and we must assume that this was the purpose of that.
The sacrifice was pleasing to The LORD and He knew Noah’s heart was pure and his worship genuine and as a result He gave Noah a promise – “And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”” (v21,22)
The LORD God showed His sincerity and faithfulness and promised never again to judge with a worldwide flood, and He goes into greater detail in the next chapter. Here, He speaks of the evil imaginations of man’s heart but indicates his mercy that He will not judge in this way again but make no mistake there will be a further judgment at the end. He promises that the seasons will not cease. We are bombarded today by the threats of global warming and climate change, but let’s remember God’s promise here is for us today, it is ‘while the earth remains.’ We can rest assured in power of God and if we are His, we need not fear.
So-called experts today are filling us with fear unless we do something about it. Those who demonstrate about anything and everything (at present – Global Warming and Climate Change) cause chaos to society for their cause. Yes, we have a duty to care for the earth, but the ultimate responsibility belongs to God. He will wind everything up in His time. In Acts 1:6,7 Luke, the writer, records that the Disciples asked the risen Lord Jesus, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.”
We need to be sure who we belong to, this world and Satan, or God. Only the latter will keep us safe. We must be ready for The Lord’s coming, it will be in His time, not a moment too soon nor a moment too late.
