This week’s devotions are based on the Week 1 “A Savior Born for You! (WATCH HERE)
Would you build an ark?
Genesis 6 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. …17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”
22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Perhaps this is an odd verse of Scripture with which to begin the season of Advent. It seems like nothing to do with Christmas or even Jesus’ second coming for that matter. Advent is a season of waiting and does lead us to prepare to celebrate Jesus’ first coming in the manger of Bethlehem, but it is also a season to remind us that Jesus is coming again…and he wants us to be ready.
Ironically in multiple areas of the New Testament, Noah and the flood are referenced and even some of the circumstances surrounding the flood are spoken of as going to happen in a similar way when Jesus returns (As we will see later in the week.)
So why Noah and the flood.
The promise of a world-wide flood would seem unbelievable to many.
The world was wicked and the justice of God was going to be carried out on the world. However, the reality of the coming flood must have made it to many ears in the 100 plus years that God waited after he told Noah about the flood. Don’t you think the “news” of the day would carry the crazy guy named Noah building a boat out in the middle of no where? Yet even after so many years, almost everyone was caught unaware of the flood coming.
For over 2000 years we have heard about Jesus and the reality of his birth in Bethlehem…and his promise to return. Yet, perhaps we see what we would call a similar level of wickedness and a similar level of ignorance of these facts in the world around us. Unfortunately, there is nothing new under the sun.
But Noah lived by the promises of God. He believed God and did as God commanded. I’m sure there were times where he questioned why he was getting ark ready for animals of every kind.
But when the flood waters came, I’m sure he was glad he did.
Jesus is coming back…we don’t know when. But we want to be ready. Noah built an ark to be ready. What are we supposed to do to be ready?
This week we will unpack what Jesus has to say to be ready for his return!
Apply: What would you have thought about a coming flood and building an ark if you were Noah today?
Prayer: Thank you for your love and grace which has let us know you will return, Savior Jesus. Help me not to blow this truth off, but to live this reality every day! AMEN.