7 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 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, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 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.”
5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
11 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. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 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. 14 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. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.
17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.[a][b] 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. (Genesis 7:1-24)
We all know the story of Noah. What is the story telling us ? God knows.
God knows man’s wickedness (genesis 6:5),- corrupt and full of violence. God also knows Noah was a righteous man, blameless. And he walked with God.
The arc , which Noah built on dry land following God’s instructions, was the vehicle through which Noah, his family and the animals with him were saved from the flood, while every living thing that moved on the earth perished. It took more than 150 days.
All around the arc was death. Within the arc was life. God shut Noah in the arc and protect those within it so that they can bless the earth and renew it after the flood.
Noah did not do what his neighbours did. Noah went about obeying God . Building an arc on dry land the size of two and a half football fields must seem very strange. But it is a matter of life and death (Genesis 6:17) - no arc, no life.
It has often been interpreted that the arc represents the Church (the world wide Church). God has prepared the Church, so that everyone that goes in will be saved from the corruption and violence of the world.
The analogy however has to be extended, because the Church is not limited to 8 people. She welcomes everyone who will come on board. And the people already on board are called to go out to the world (the sea) to invite people to come to the arc (the Church). The door of the Church is never shut.
The analogy breaks down when we think of how many single people we have in the Church. There were none in the arc. Unless we think of the Church as the bride of Christ, and therefore by extension, everybody is married! (Smile )
The lesson remains - that being in or out of the Church is a matter of life and death. Like Noah, we expect to be laughed at for what we do before the flood (judgement) comes. Like Noah, we are in the minority. Like Noah, there will be certain limitations to our freedom (being in the arc for what must seem endless days) and there will be sacrifices (leaving home or comfort zone).
Is it worth it ? You bet.