“And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.” (Genesis 7:23)
Every living thing upon the face of the Earth was destroyed. Every living thing. In the past century, the mankind has witnessed world wars, genocides, and holocausts that have left a truly staggering number of dead in their wake. But it is wholly beyond our comprehension to fathom every living thing on the planet being utterly wiped out. Yet this is precisely what happened during the Great Flood. Only Noah, his wife, and their three sons along with their wives survived. Every other person on the planet died. Not only is death of such a magnitude incomprehensible, it is obviously something that we would prefer not to dwell on. Yet it is crucial that we truly understand the implications of death and destruction at such a widespread level.
Genesis 7:23 tells us that, “Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.”
This brings us to the fourth parallel between being “in the Ark” and being “in Christ”, and that is the safety there is in both. Unfortunately, the safety in Christ is both comforting and sobering at the same time. The truth of the matter is that everyone who is not “in Christ” is in just as bad of a predicament as those who were not in the Ark. The world that we peer out upon from inside our Ark is not filled with as dramatic and apparent carnage that Noah looked out upon, but our world, too, is filled with the lost and dying. Those who do not find the safety of being in the Ark that is Christ are also doomed to destruction.
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:17-18, emphasis added)
In recent decades, much of the “gospel” being preached bears very little resemblance to the Gospel presented in the Word of God. The message being preached contains no warning of judgment, no awareness of sin, no need for redemption, and no impetus toward repentance. The Christian Faith is being presented as nothing more than another belief system on a par with thousands of others, and the promises being made are fleshly, temporal ones. The call is not, “Come to Christ so that you will live”; it is, “Come to Christ because He can make your life better.” What a sad condition that has overcome much of the Church! We don’t warn people to come into the “Ark” because we do not truly realize that He is our Lifeboat and that those outside of the Ark are really drowning!
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
The invitation to come into Christ is an invitation to come unto Him and receive life. It is not an improvement to the life that we thought we had apart from Him, no, we were dead before we believed on Him. It is a new life entirely. Before we came into the Ark of Christ,we, too, were drowning alongside the rest of the world. Let us be comforted by the safety that we now have being in Christ, but may we not lose sight of those who are still in the waters outside. Let our sincere prayer be that the Lord would greatly move us with His compassion to show them the mercy and grace that He is offering before they are lost forever.
To Jesus Christ goes all glory. In service to Him,
Loren
loren@answersfromthebook.org
[This post was originally published October 20, 2009]
**All Scripture quotations in this post are taken from the King James Version (KJV) Bible
[If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ or you are not certain where you are headed when this life ends, I invite you to read the article “Am I Going To Heaven?“]
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