Story of the Noah’s Ark: Do You Really Understand It?
Jingyuan
Bible-readers are very familiar with the story of Noah’s Ark. About 4,500 years ago, the earth was filled with violence, and people became licentious and evil and abandoned themselves to hideous depravity. Just as the Bible says: “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way on the earth” (Genesis 6:11-12). God could not bear to see it, destroying man at that time with a flood. Only Noah and the seven members of his family survived the destruction, with the rest dying in the flood.
Then, let us sum up the basic reasons why Noah could survive.
First, he believed that God is faithful and God’s words are absolutely true. Since God said He would end the world with a flood, He would surely do it sooner or later.
Second, Noah obeyed God’s instructions strictly, such as the size of the ark and the materials. If he hadn’t followed God’s words, being perfunctory and careless in his duty, the ark would not have had so good erosion resistance, and it would have sunk and they would have died.
Third, Noah was unafraid of being ridiculed, satirized, and mocked by others. In that background, it never rained. It was inconceivable to man that Noah built an ark. So, they all judged and condemned him. But Noah didn’t live in notions and imaginations and submitted to God’s words purely. Not being influenced by them, he continued to build the ark and eventually survived the flood.
Let us look at the extent of corruption of mankind in the present age, which is greater than that in the time of Noah. Social morals worsen day by day, so do the ethics. Man esteems evil, with the legalization of homosexuality. Man all chases after fame, interest, and money, losing conscience and reason. Corruption and bribery become a trend. Everyone turns their backs on God, living in eating, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure. …
God is a righteous and holy God. Since He destroyed mankind of the time of Noah, He would also destroy such an evil mankind of today. In recent years, all kinds of disasters have happened frequently, such as earthquakes, famines, plagues, floods and droughts. God is unleashing His rage to man! But before He destroys the evil mankind completely, He does all He can to save man and gives them the opportunity to repent and confess before Him.
Just as God’s word says: “God can deal graciously with men in the last days is not that they are less corrupt than men in the time of Noah or that they have shown repentance to God, much less is it that God cannot bear to destroy men in the last days where technology has advanced. Rather, it is that God has work to do in a group of men in the last days and this will be done by God incarnate Himself. Furthermore, God shall choose a part of this group as His objects of salvation, the fruit of His management plan, and bring such men with Him into the next age” (“Do You Know? God Has Done a Great Thing Among Men” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Then, what kind of people can enter God’s kingdom? What kind of people can be saved by God? Almighty God says: “God seeks those who long for Him to appear. He seeks those who are able to hear His words, those who have not forgotten His commission and offer up their heart and body to Him. He seeks those who are as obedient as babes before Him, and do not resist Him” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God wants those who can heed His words and obey Him, just like Noah, who did not fear others’ ridicules, slanders and curses, but only submitted to God’s words. Only such people can be saved by God and enter His kingdom.
My friend, when you hear some people say that disasters will not befall them, for there are no mountains near them which will trigger earthquakes and there are no seas which will cause tsunami; when you see the CCP government slander and condemn Christ in the last days, Almighty God on the internet; when you hear pastors and elders blaspheme the Eastern Lightning; when you hear that Christians of the Church of Almighty God do not read the Bible; when somebody spreads the gospelof the returned Lord Jesus; can you act like Noah, with a submissive and seeking heart, listening to the words of the returned Lord Jesus, Almighty God?
I trust that you are a wise and smart person. When you put down your notions, listen to the voice of God with your heart and honesty and practice God’s words, then you will get an unexpected harvest. It is the promise of God to man: “The great catastrophe will not come upon My sons, the ones I love. Every moment, every second, I will look after My sons. You need not suffer those hardships or calamities …” (“The Sixty-eighth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
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