Missions Paul

Where were Noah and his family and the entire remnant of the animal kingdom? 

“For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased, they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.” (Genesis 7:17-20)

The high mountains were covered. Above the high mountains of the earth was not only the flood water, but the ark and everyone in it.

In the ark, floating on the surface of the water, above the high mountains, that’s where Noah was.

This was a return to the moment before the creation when the Spirit hovered over the waters. 

But it speaks so much more.

The flood was not the enemy of Noah. Yes, it took courage and faith. But the flood lifted Noah and his family high above everything the world called secure and immovable, the mountains.

Let that thought fall on you. 

Whatever is your enemy now can be the servant of your life.

You know the feeling of rising waters. Today, you may wake to a flood of crises. Grief can overwhelm you. How will you survive?

The answer is the ark. The ark is the symbol of salvation that we know is found in Christ. That which threatens to destroy you is, in fact, what lifts you higher. 

Sometimes you can’t sail away; even if you knew where you wanted to go, you couldn’t get there because you are not able to steer yourself there. All you can do is float. 

There is a faith that builds a boat and a faith that endures when you are in unfamiliar territory. You may not avoid the flood, but you can float through that season.

Sometimes simply being in the ark is the best place to be. All around you is chaos, but your salvation is the calm within the storm. 

Float today, even though the winds buffet against you. You’re safe in the ark.

Recently, in Kenya, I opened a borehole. Water is a much-needed commodity, and on the first day of testing, when the water was gushing out at thousands of litres per hour, an unusual phenomenon occurred: a whole variety of animals and birds gathered to drink from the pipe. They weren’t taken there; they went there of their own volition. It is like they just knew. I tell you that for a reason.

“Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.” (Genesis 7 v 6-16)

There are a few things to note here. I will embolden them.

The animals and birds came to Noah. He didn’t hunt for them to capture them and drag them into the ark. They came. I’m reminded of the borehole in Kenya. Except this is so much different – they were already paired up as if done so supernaturally. This is a miracle all in itself. How does this happen? God makes a way. That’s it. Maybe you are wondering how it will happen for you? God makes a way.

If that point alone isn’t a stand-alone encouragement, there is more.

If the ark represents our salvation in Christ—which it does—then we have this superb detail in v16: “The Lord shut him in.”

Noah never shut himself in. He didn’t close the door. God did. It is God who saves. It is all of Him.

Inside, they are in between worlds. The old world is ending. The new one hasn’t yet emerged. Do you know that feeling? In between the 2 seasons. You are leaving and cleaving. It is a journey of courage. Will this boat sink? God begins to bring judgment as the springs burst open and the rain falls from the sky. Inside the ark, there is mercy, and outside the ark, there is judgment. However, His intention is not to commence again; it is not to start a new creation. No. God is a God of hope. There is a remnant to begin with. He made provision within the judgment. This tells me that even on the worst day, there is hope.

God will make a way for you.

God saves you.

God is the hope for you.

Encouraged?

There are so many I know who are waking to another day of difficulty. Are you overwhelmed by looming threats? Are you facing what you can only describe as a flood? In the darkness of this anxious time, God still speaks. God still has a plan. The fact that you are walking with Him means God still has a future for you.

“The LORD then said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of every kind of 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. 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: 1-5)

Noah was 500 years old (5:32) when he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. He was 600 years old when the floodwaters came (7:6), and because his son’s wives also entered the ark, we can presume something around a 50-100-year period that Noah was involved in building this massive spectacle of an ark. Can you imagine spending what must have been between 50 and 100 years building something you had never seen (the ark) to experience something that had never happened before (the rain)?

If that is not the example of obedience, then what is?

Well, maybe there are similar, smaller perhaps, but still powerful examples of obedience all around us.

I remember as a Pastor getting tired of hearing people tell me, “Pastor, I am believing for a testimony, it isn’t ready yet, I am just waiting for my healing, then I will tell the church on Sunday what God has done for me.” I decided that wasn’t helping my church grow in discipleship. So from that moment, I didn’t wait for the healing or the breakthrough to happen. I had people come to the front of the church to give their stories of having cancer but holding on to God, of going through redundancy but waiting on God, broken, unsolved stories of ordinary people walking with faith and obedience despite their world collapsing.

Noah stood alone in his generation, as we read in the last chapter; it was evil at its core, and he remained obedient to what God had called him to do. It is possible to hold on to God even when no one else is.

Maybe …

Taking a lower salary because the job aligns more with your gifting and values; staying in a difficult marriage when your best friend advises you to leave; adopting a child when you should be having more for yourself; starting that project that no one understands; forgiving someone who won’t care if you do or don’t; giving when you would rather be spending; maybe, just maybe this story is actually closer to your experience than you first realised.

There are times when you stand alone because you are trying to be obedient to God. You keep hammering the nails into the wood, even when people mock you, even when you cannot see one rain cloud.

After decades of your life carrying this attitude, you then hear God saying ‘Go’ or maybe the door opens, something shifts in your experience, a chapter turns, and you realise that the lonely walk of obedience has been worth it.

God gave Noah a week’s notice of the rain.

We can find ourselves in such an imminent time. It’s not today. But the moment you have been waiting for is soon. So, in this late hour, what do you need to do? Who do you need to speak to? Noah had time to warn the community around him one more time. He was ready now, but the final instructions were to gather seven pairs of every animal and bird.

If you had seven days, what would you do with them? The 50-100 years have gone by—a lifetime of walking with God. One week is left.

We are in the last days. Live right. Make good decisions. Do everything you can. The future is at stake. God has a plan and it is coming to pass.

God came to Noah with an impossible assignment: build something he’d never seen (a boat) to prepare for something he’d never experienced (rain and floods).

Here’s the story:

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with the lower, second, and third decks. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also, take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him to do. (Genesis 6:11-22)

Noah was 500 years old when his sons were born (5:32) and 600 years old when the flood came (7:11). That means he spent a century building this ark—day after day, year after year, preparing for rain that never came.

By faith, he took a risk.

The boat was massive: 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high—100 feet longer than a football pitch. Noah didn’t hide this project in his garden shed, where failure could remain private. This was a public calling from God, carrying the very real risk of public humiliation.

Faith is not fail-safe. Faith is trusting God when everything could go wrong, when the consequences could be devastating.

For 100 years, Noah hammered and sawed. Preparing. Waiting. No rain.

What God calls us to do:

• V14 – Build something new, even something you’ve never seen

Sometimes God calls us to step into something entirely unfamiliar: a boat, a new career, reconciliation with someone, or a dream that seems fanciful —something akin to building what you can’t see.

• V17 – Let things die

God’s new beginning required an ending to all that Noah had known. There are times when we have to let go of people and let friends walk away from us. What we used to be like must be kept in the past. For we cannot carry what was into what is going to be.

• V18 – Hold fast to God’s promises

Amid the destruction, God gave Noah a promise. In the midst of your turmoil, God has given many promises within His Word. Today, you may need to hold onto those promises as Noah did.

• V19 – Be positive; choose life

Noah was preserving life. It is still the same choice for us. Choose hope, choose redemption, believe for change, build for a generation that you might never see.  

• V20 – Receive what God sends you

Noah didn’t hunt down the animals; they came to him. Noah built; God sent. God will fill and bring to what we’ve made ready. When we position ourselves in obedience, the provision comes.

• V21 – Take care of yourself

God didn’t just command the impossible—He told Noah to eat well through it. God needed Noah to look after himself. He had to eat well and sleep well. Noah must not burn out. He had to look after himself.

“These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”  (Genesis 6 v 9)

The name means ‘rest’ and his father named him so in Genesis 5, 27 prophesying that, “He will comfort us in the labour and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.”

This was a reset moment through Noah.

Noah was in a force nine gale of corruption, where ‘every intention of the thoughts of the heart (of that generation) was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). He was in a storm, not supported by the generation he lived in. He lived amongst evil people. He wasn’t a hermit. He lived in a generation that had turned its back against God, yet he walked with God and was blameless for his generation’s corruption.

That makes him alone.

That means friends, neighbours, and people around him misunderstood him. That means courage to make decisions that are not only counter-cultural but dangerous.

Perhaps you, too, have to make courageous decisions that are right before you and God. Others may not understand, and you may be talked about, but you have to do it.

This doesn’t mean it will be easy or pleasant. We are not told whether Noah and his sons were content. Sometimes obedience isn’t enjoyable. But with Noah, there is more: he walked with God. Like Enoch, his great-grandfather, this was not just obedience; it was an intimate relationship that would impact his next generation of sons.

The reset moment is an incredible story, and I am going to enjoy writing about it.

The reset moment is the rest needed. Is that what God is calling for you today?

Are you in a perfect storm right now? Multiple problems seem to be happening all at the same time. If so, your obedience is crucial. You may feel alone, people may speak about you behind your back, but you choose courage. Blameless in your generation that is corrupt at its core doesn’t mean you are superhuman, perfect in all your ways. We will find out that is certainly not true for Noah. But you are walking with God. You are trying to do what is right in the context of wrongdoing.

Biblical scholars far more learned than I have debated for years on this passage. Some have stated they know exactly who these characters are, but most remain unclear. But what is true is that the world at the time was spiraling out of control because of its sin.

“When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was distraught. So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them. But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6 v 1-8)

It’s not gone well. Has it improved?

The Nephilim were either the offspring of the fallen angels who took human wives, the male descendants of Seth intermarrying with the female descendants of Cain, or simply human rulers acting as divine beings, taking multiple wives. Whoever they were, they contributed to the rising tide of evil and played a part in ruining God’s created order.

What follows so early in the Biblical story is shocking. In His grief, God regrets creating.

“The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was distraught.”

God is bothered by what happens in the world He created. In fact, He mourns and He decides to end it all, man or animal. Pause for a moment. Did God make a mistake? Does he change His mind? Is this what it is really about?

No.

In this dark moment, we see God grieving, impacted by the sin —our sin —a ‘this is not what I originally planned’ moment. He is not detached from us. He is affected by sin, our sin. It causes Him pain. God can be hurt. We can hurt Him. Why would we do that?

In His grief, He moves with judgment and mercy. This is the story of God found in the Bible. This is not God out of control. This is a problem-solving God. He knows what to do, and judgment and mercy will flow throughout the Bible.

First, the judgment. “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” This is cataclysmic. We now know this is the announcement of the flood. We also know, as we read many times, primarily through the prophets, that repentance can cause judgment to be dismissed or at least delayed. We also know that individuals will rise as channels of mercy even in times of judgment, giving people a second chance. So we have a merciful sentence revealing a merciful God because of one man: “But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD.”

Others will follow: Abraham, Moses, Caleb and Joshua, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Esther, and Mary.

None of them was perfect; they all faced hardship, but they trusted God in those difficult times and, at critical points in history, stood alone with courage.

One, in fact, was perfect, Jesus. God in flesh. Coming Himself with an ark of salvation which is available still today, He offers hope in this chaos.

“But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD.” God is looking for people who will be culturally different; to walk with Him even when everyone else may walk from Him. The question is this: will we be that person in our generation?

 “You’re just like your father!”

 (Genesis 5)

Adam – 930 years: Adam was a sinner, we know the story now, “and then he died.”

Seth – 912 years: Seth established the line of Christ; his father, Adam, created the sin that saw Christ come to die for, “and then he died.”

Enosh – 905 years: Enosh was in the generation that walked with the Lord and longed for Him to move (4:26), “and then he died.”

Kenan – 910 years: Kenan is listed in the genealogical lists in 1 Chronicles 1 and Luke 3; we don’t know anything more about him: “and then he died.”

Mahalalel – 895 years: Mahalalel is mentioned in extrabiblical sources (in the Book of Enoch, he has a vision of the earth being destroyed), but nothing more than genealogical lists in the Bible: “and then he died.”

Jared – 962 years: Jared is in the same genealogical lists as above, “and then he died.”

Enoch – 365 years: Enoch walked with God; he pleased God; he did not die; he was searched for but was not found. Like Elijah, God took the man who knew intimacy with him. He went to be with the Lord alive; he did not taste death.

Methuselah – 969 years: Methuselah, the oldest man ever, in the genealogical lists, “and then he died.”

Lamech – 777 years: Seth’s descendant, not Cain’s, prophesies his son’s redemptive call about the flood, “and then he died.”

Noah, Shem, Ham, Japhet, are kept alive for the description of their story in the next chapter.

~

 Being made in the image of somebody else and being made in their likeness doesn’t necessarily mean you will live your life like they have done.

 The essential principle is this: it is not what you look like, but how you are living that counts. “Enoch walked with God,” as his predecessor Adam used to do, but lost it.

 In Christ and because of what he has done, you and I can walk with God. We may not look much, our genealogy may be suspect, but we can say “I walk with God!”

You can live your life in such a way that there is something to say other than you age, “and then he died.”

The consequence of sin is clearly seen throughout this chapter with that phrase, “and then he died.”

The whole list will inevitably be fulfilled except for the intervention of God, seen in Enoch and later fulfilled in Christ. As Christians, it is never “and then he died” for we are taken home in our death to be alive forever and ever!

When you may think all hope is lost, God can step in with a blessing. 

Just when you think all that is happening is waywardness and disobedience, a new path can open up.

When a generation may think their name is more important than anyone else, a new voice can emerge, calling on the name of the Lord.

“Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4 v 25-26)

The grandson of Adam lives in an era when people are starting to pray to the Lord.

He is named ‘mortal’ perhaps because Seth realised that, as the replacement brother of Cain, who had killed Abel, life was indeed very fragile. His name also means ‘people’ and could be referring to the significant increase in population.

The devastation of Cain killing Abel was felt deeply in that the Cainites turned their back on the Lord. However, the Sethites, people like Enosh, despite the turbulence of their world and the increasing sinfulness as the population grew, called on the name of the Lord. This was not only a private prayer, but a community’s declaration of its faith in God.

Never let a day go by without calling on the Name!

Even though you may live in a time that seems desperate and wayward, you can be like Enosh’s generation, who longed for God to move. There have always been two different paths. The generations of Cain built cities, achieved great things, and created a great deal. The generations of Sethites built altars.

In every generation, some walk on the broad path, and those who walk on the narrow path. Some call on themselves, and others call on God. 

Are you laying a foundation of the GOSPEL for the next generation? Are you calling on the name of the Lord?

Today can be a day of blessing or a day of cursing. It is in your hands, well, in your mouth. The story of Lamech is one of justified retaliation, which Jesus would later turn into a call for limitless forgiveness.

“Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech. Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah. Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.” (Genesis 4: 17-24)

Lamech, the father of Noah, has a name meaning ‘strong man’ or ’wild man’. Not only was Lamech the Bible’s first recorded polygamist (Adah and Zillah), but he seemed to be even worse than his ancestor Cain. It was not because he took more than one wife. However, it was because he presumed on God’s grace after taking revenge.

We don’t know what happened, but it would appear that the punishment did not fit the crime. He truly believed that those who tried to take revenge on him for his revenge would receive the vengeance of God 77 times over—a huge presumption on the mercy of God.

Interestingly, when Jesus teaches Peter to forgive, He says that he should forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22).

People with a deep desire for justice, those who carry a sense of right and wrong, are prone to revenge and retaliation.

Has there ever been a time in our lives when we wanted to take revenge? Of course! How we retaliate depends on our standing with God. However, all retaliation is wrong, whether that be in words or actions.

“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”
1 Peter 3: 9
Lamech’s son, Tubal-Cain, invented the first primitive sword, and weapons of war are first seen. Lamech came home not only boasting to his wives of how he took revenge on some person who wounded him, but worse than that. Lamech believed that with his son’s swords in his hands, though Cain would be avenged 7-fold, for him it would be 77-fold. The sword would now bring about greater retaliation from any attack by the enemy.

Lamech was now self-confident and self-sufficient because of the weapon he had in his hand. The sword meant he did not have to trust God, even if it was still a thought of doing so.

So, how strong are you, and is it in you to be ruthless with people?

What is in your hands can be a blessing or a curse.

We have all seen how position and power can inflict a retaliation that is way beyond what is equal to any mistake or pain inflicted on you. We have seen that in the regime leaders around the world, government leaders, and, sadly, we have seen it with Church leaders.

The abuse of power. Justified in the eyes of those who hold the sword in their hands, but not in the sight of God.

Let’s be different today. Where there is hurt, let us bless. Where offence comes, let us take every barrier down. Where there is war, let us bring peace. Who do you struggle with today? Bless them. Show kindness. Demonstrate the cross. Die for them. Please do not pick up the sword, no matter what they have done.

Even with a murderer, one’s heart can be moved with compassion … maybe. The scandal of God’s mercy matches the scandal of man’s sinfulness.

“Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” But the LORD said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” (Genesis 4 v 11-16)

The consequence of Cain murdering his brother was worse than what his parents had experienced. Whatever he does with the ground will not produce anything for him. His brother’s blood fell to the ground, and the earth was hardened for Cain to farm it.

His response is remarkable and pitiful. He fears being murdered. He actually now recognises that God is watching him and within that is protection. Pity he didn’t think of that before he murdered his brother. He knows he deserves vengeance, and he begs for mercy.

Now this is where our humanity cannot cope. God showing mercy. I mean, we want it ourselves, but not for those who have committed such crimes against others. But this is mercy. Mercy isn’t fair. God puts a mark on Cain not to point him out as a sinner, but to protect him from what would be justice. Cain is given a chance to live.

For the second time, we see another exile. Like father, like son. This time, worse, the intimacy is even more detached than his father’s.

But his story reveals hope. We will see how he marries, builds again, and has descendants who, with various abilities, produce good things.

Mercy breeds hope, and aren’t we glad we know it for ourselves?