10.29.07

And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it….” - Genesis 6:13-15a NKJV.

And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. - Genesis 6:17-18 NKJV.

Then the Lord said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.” - Genesis 7:1 NKJV.

And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in. - Genesis 7:15-16 NKJV.

Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days. - Genesis 7:23c-24 NKJV.

This morning on CNN, I watched as Dr. Roger Bielasz stood looking at the old swimming pool that had saved him and his wife from the inferno of fire that had engulfed the area, destroyed their home and killed their neighbors. Roger and Dena huddled in the cold water under a rocky overhang for what Roger described as “an eternity and a half” which was actually about three hours. The rocky overhang and the water protected them from the firestorm, and the burning embers falling down all around them. They jumped into the old pool that they had at one time planned to fill in, and they survived. One scrap of a page from an old book of Dr. Bielasz’ mother survived with the words, “no will but God’s” on that surviving scrap of paper.

What a horrific experience! To barely escape from your house, and then watch as your house burns down wondering all the while whether or not you will survive. If only their neighbors had been able to make it to the pool, they would have survived as well. However, it may be that they had no warning, and without any warning it was just too late to escape that terrible fate.

This all reminded me of the disaster that came upon the people of Noah’s age. Noah had some warning, decades of time, as he built the huge ship that would carry the animals and his family to safety. The people of that time could not have ignored the building of the gigantic ship on dry land. If only they had turned to God before it was too late, they too could have been saved. However, it was only the animals and the family of Noah that were onboard the Ark when the hand of God shut them in.

There is a spiritual firestorm raging around us today, and countless millions have already succumbed to the deadly rampage, having gone out into eternity bound for a devil’s hell. It does not have to be this way! God has provided an Ark, a place of safety for us; if only we would turn and jump into it. The Ark of this time is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Ark! He is the swimming pool of safety. He took our punishment upon Himself; suffering and dying for us so that we might have a Savior, that we might have an Ark of safety.

Through the mercy of God, we have been warned. Before it is eternally too late, let us jump into the Ark, the Ark of Jesus Christ and be saved.