A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Obeying the Lord in our daily walk even when it doesn't make sense to the watching world. Next.

John Randall: I will say, and I have experienced it, and perhaps you have as well, that there are moments when God asks you to do something or calls you to do something. I might look crazy to everybody else. Why would you do that? Because God encouraged me to do that, and I feel like this is the way the Lord's leading. Why would you do that? Again, God told me to. I just feel like the Lord is leading me.

And it's not always going to make sense to the world. They're not always going to understand. But what am I supposed to do? I keep building. I keep going. I'm following the leading of the Lord. That's what Noah did.

Guest (Male): Well, if you've ever felt that something God was leading you to do didn't make any sense, one can't help but wonder if that very thought crossed Noah's mind when he was instructed to build a huge ark because a worldwide flood was coming. But Noah was faithful to do what God commanded him to do even when it seemed illogical to the watching world.

Today on A Daily Walk, Pastor John Randall points to Genesis chapters 6 and 7 and encourages us to follow in Noah's footsteps. You can be sure we'll need to walk by faith in our daily walk as well.

John Randall: In the midst of a world that is corrupt, perverse, God looks at those people that are seeking to be in the midst of His grace. He's so gracious, so merciful. With all of our failures, with all of our shortcomings, He looks at us with eyes of grace. Even the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 3, verse 24, it says, "being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ."

Furthermore, the Bible tells us in Titus chapter 3, verse 7, that "being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Noah's character is seen. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Then it goes on to talk about Noah and the generations that came from him. Look at verse 9. It says, "This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generation."

Look at this: "Noah walked with God and Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth." Noah was a just man. He sought to live a blameless life. He was a man of integrity. Even in the midst of corruption, he sought to remain blameless. I realize it's possible. It's possible to live a godly life in an ungodly world through the grace of God. Noah's proof of that.

Now, it says in verse 11 that the earth was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt, and all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. So this is the state of the earth at this time: full of violence, full of perversity, complete corruption. The intent of man's heart continually was wicked. It was at an all-time high.

Then it says that God speaks to Noah and He tells Noah in verse 13, "The end of all flesh has come before Me. The earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth." The Lord then told Noah, "Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make its rooms in the ark and cover it inside and outside with pitch."

And this is how you shall make it. He goes on to give the measurements. The ark shall be 300 cubits, and its width 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above and set the door of the ark in its side, and you shall make with it lower, second, and third decks.

As wickedness is covering the earth, God says, "Hey, Noah, I got a building project for you. It's going to take about 120 years, but you want to get started. It's a big one. It's actually a boat you're going to build." It's more than a boat. It's a huge vessel that you're going to build, the ark. God tells him the materials you want to pick up: gopher wood. Here's what it's going to look like.

Just to give you a bit of an idea of what the ark would have looked like, consider the three different decks that are there: deck one, deck two, deck three, top deck. Quite the ocean liner, quite the cruise ship for Noah and his family and many animals. But the gopher wood: sturdy, similar to that of a redwood tree. It had stability.

The pitch that was used was like waterproofing the outside of it and the inside of it so water couldn't get in. There were rooms or nests, places for the animals to fit inside. God was very specific as to the length, the width, and the height. It says that the length was 300 cubits, which would have been estimated the ark was somewhere around 437.5 feet in length.

The width would have been about 72.92 feet wide. The height: 43.75 feet in height. It was big. It was huge. Then there were windows and decks, and there was also this carrying capacity: three decks. When you do the math, and there are those much brighter than me who have done the math for us, it is estimated that the approximate area for the decking of this boat was somewhere around 95,700 square feet.

The volume of the ship would have been 1,396,000 total cubic feet. The tonnage, approximately 13,960, which is very near what modern-day vessels are. But imagine in the primitive culture, where are you going to get the gopher wood? You just go down and buy it already planked out? No, no. No wonder it took 120 years. You're going to have to cut that down. What's that like?

The carrying capacity of the ark, to put it in modern terms to give you kind of an idea, it would have been the equivalent of being able to carry 522 standard railroad stock cars, which would equal each carrying about 240 sheep each. The ark would have accommodated, estimated if we were measuring by sheep, 125,000 sheep. That's a lot of sheep.

Then there was a window around the top which no doubt provided ventilation with all those animals. It would be necessary. Then you get down to it. It says here in verse 16, "make a window for the ark and you shall finish it to a cubit from above." And then notice this: "set the door of the ark in its side." So there was a door.

Then the Lord goes on. Just the building alone would have been wow. Then the Lord said, "By the way, there's some other stuff that's going to come with the ark." "Like what?" Here's what I want you to take on the ark. Look at verse 17: "And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth to destroy from under heaven all flesh in the earth that's breath of life. Everything that's on the earth is just going to die."

"But I will establish My covenant with you. You shall go into the ark: you, your sons, your wife, your sons' wives with you. And every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you, and they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, the animals after their kind, every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you and you will keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself all the food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself and it shall be food for you and for them."

Imagine the Lord just showing up. "Hey, Noah, how you doing? Got something for you. What are you going to do the next 120 years of your life? I got a plan. Here's what we're going to do: you're going to build this. And also, you're going to get two of every animal." And the Lord? "How are we going to do that?" The Lord said they're going to come to you.

How did that go down? Wouldn't it be great when you get to heaven and just like, "Hey, Noah, can we talk about that whole ark thing? How did the animals come to you? Did you have to chase any? Did you have to go after them? Did they bite you? What did you do? How did they come to you? What was that like?" It would have been amazing to see.

While Noah was building this ark, the Bible does tell us what he was doing. Did you know the Bible tells us for 120 years what he was doing? Peter tells us this. That while Noah was building the ark, 2nd Peter chapter 2, verse 5, says this: "And God did not spare the ancient world, He saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness bringing the flood of the world of the ungodly."

What was Noah doing while he's building? He's preaching. The fact that he was building was preaching to the world. "What are you building? What's up with all the gopher wood? Save some for the rest of us." He is building this massive vessel. And then the Bible also gives us a New Testament commentary on what he was doing.

Hebrews chapter 11, verse 7, tells us this: "It says by faith that Noah, being divinely warned of things yet not seen, was moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of righteousness which is according to faith." He was preaching righteousness.

By the way, the world is scoffing at what this guy's doing. They think it's a joke. "What do you believe that? You really think that's going to happen? You really think judgment's going to come upon the earth? Come on, what are you crazy? It's never rained before. Why would you even think that? What are you doing? And what's with all the animals?"

People really thought no doubt he was crazy, but what did Noah do? He kept on building. In fact, the Bible tells us here in verse 22, and this is very significant, "Thus Noah did according to all that God commanded him, so he did." Obedience. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He walked with God. He was blameless in the midst of a corrupt world and he was obedient to the will of God.

This didn't make sense to anybody else. Why would you build something like that? The world would laugh at it, but he obeyed God. For the next 120 years, he was building the ark. I will say, and I have experienced it and perhaps you have as well, that there are moments when God asks you to do something or calls you to do something. I might look crazy to everybody else.

Why would you do that? Because God encouraged me to do that and I feel like this is the way the Lord's leading. Why would you do that? Again, God told me to. I just feel like the Lord's leading me. It's not always going to make sense to the world. They're not always going to understand. But what am I supposed to do? I keep building. I keep going. I'm following the leading of the Lord. That's what Noah did.

Fast forward, 120 years goes by. Then you come to chapter 7. Then the Lord said to Noah, "And please make note of this, come into the ark, you and all your household because I've seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation." Please make note of the fact that God said, "come into the ark." God did not say, "go into the ark." He said, "come into it," which tells you what? He's already there. He's inside. "Come into the ark, I'm here."

This guy's about to go into the biggest storm ever. And the Lord says, "Come in. I'm in here." That encourages me. The Lord doesn't say, "Go into it, John." He says, "Come into it. I'm here." How wonderful to know that before the storm, the Lord is there. "I am here with you. I'm going to preserve you, Noah. Come inside. Come inside with Me in this."

One of the most beautiful things I think about the ark is when you think about it, it really points to Jesus. It really does. God takes the initiative to save Noah and his family. God takes the initiative. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 5, verse 8, in a similar way, "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

God takes the initiative to save mankind. He took the initiative to save Noah and his family. Why? Because of grace. When you think about the ark, there's something divine about it and there was also something human about the ark. God designed the plan, but He allowed man to be a part of the process of building.

Jesus Christ, when He came to this world, fully God and yet fully man: something divine and yet something human. God in human flesh: the incarnation, a savior for the world. It's also interesting to me that it says when Noah built this ark, there was only one door in. One door in. Not one of many doors, just pick one. There's one. There's one way into this thing and there's one way out of it.

Jesus said, "I'm the door." Jesus said, "I'm the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me." There is one way in and it's only through Christ. Interesting also that this vessel that was built, made of gopher wood, brought salvation for Noah and his family, spared them from the destruction that was to come. Noah believed it and he trusted in it.

Because Jesus is who He is, He died on a piece of wood, in a sense, on the cross on the hill called Calvary so that we could be saved. If we would believe in Him and act upon it, we will find salvation. It says in verse 2, "You shall take with you seven of every clean animal, male and his female, two of each of the animals that are unclean, a male and his female, also seven of the birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on all the face of the earth."

Seven of these clean animals that are mentioned here, a male and his female, two of each of the unclean animal. Eventually they were going to sacrifice to the Lord when they got to the other side. These extra animals were to be for sacrifices to the Lord as God had brought them through the storm.

People ask the question often when looking at the story of Noah, "how did he get two of every animal on there? How did he do that? How do you fit all those?" Guy by the name of Henry Morris did a great work called *The Genesis Flood*. He estimated according to modern terms that there were less than 17,600 currently known species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians that would have been needed to have shelter in the ark at that time.

He calculated for two of each on the ark, there would need to be room for only 35,200 animals plus five each of the clean animals with a maximum of 79,000 animals on the ark. Because there were smaller numbers of species in original creation and the fact that most dry land animals are smaller than sheep, it can be assumed that the young and smaller animals were taken, and it's easy to see how the ark could hold them.

They took the babies. "How'd you get a big old giraffe on there?" Maybe they took a baby giraffe. "How'd they get a big old rhino on there?" A baby. God did what He did. Two of every animal came on the ark and God provided for them and they made it to the other side.

It says in verse 4 then the Lord says this: "After seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth all living things that I made." And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. And Noah was 600 years old when the flood waters were on the earth.

Friends, I want you to see something here. This spoke to me. The Lord said there's seven days left. Seven days. And when that's over, I'm shutting the door. I wonder if the preacher of righteousness during that last seven days cried out to people and said, "Come in. Listen, there's seven days left. There's seven days."

People are like, "And now he's got this massive boat sitting in his yard. You don't think this is real?" They're like, "Bah, that's crazy. 120 years, you are nuts." There's seven days. And then it started to rain and then the doors were shut. The door was shut and there was no way in. What if we knew there was only seven days left? The Lord's coming. There's seven days. Of course, no man knows the day of the hour. It could be sooner than that.

How do we think? Does it move us at all? Are we preachers of righteousness? Are we concerned about people? They don't believe it. They don't care. They're not concerned. They're living like there is no God. Is there any kind of incentive or motive or heart or compassion for those kind of people? God, stir me up in this way is my prayer. Lord, help me to see beyond myself.

It says then in verse 11, in the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the 17th day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. Notice that: the fountains of the deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened.

When the flood occurred, there were giant upheavals and shiftings of the earth's crust causing the ocean floors to rise and to break up their reservoirs and subterranean waters. Not impossible that mountain ranges were coming up through as the ground was being broken up at the foundation. Remember in chapter 1 where we read how there was like a canopy over the earth kind of covering the earth almost like a greenhouse effect, just keeping everything watered?

Well, that canopy is now broken and water is coming down and water is coming up from the ground, pushing its way up and pushing its way down. The result is this rapid shifting of poles and the collapse of this vapor canopy that was original and volcanoes and earthquakes, etc.

Then it says in verse 13 on the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife and three wives of his sons with them enter the ark. They and every beast after its kind, all the cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.

They went into the ark two by two of all flesh in which is the breath of life. So they entered male and female all flesh went in as God had commanded him. Notice this: the Lord shut him in. Closed the door. Every creeping thing on the earth. I think it was Charles Spurgeon that said even the snail made it on the ark by faith, one step at a time, made it on.

But then the flood began to fall. Verse 17: "Now the flood was on the earth forty days and the waters increased, lifted up the ark and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed, greatly increased on the earth. The ark moved about the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth. All the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, the mountains were covered. All flesh died that moved on the earth: the birds, the cattle, the beasts, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle and creeping thing and bird of the air that were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days."

Many people have the misconception that the flood and the time spent on the ark by Noah and his family was only 40 days: 40 days and 40 nights. Actually, when you do the math, you find that it was longer than that. You recognize that there's a list of numbers. They ended up spending about 371 days on this vessel.

Following the entrance onto the ark, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Then it continued to rain. Talks about another 110 days. Then we read that the rain stopped after 150 days. And then the next 74 days the waters were declining until the tops of the mountains could be seen. And then 40 days later, Noah releases the raven. Another seven days, a dove. And then another seven days, the dove again. And then an additional 29 days, Noah takes the covering off the ark. And yet another 57 days, God commands Noah to get off the ark.

So when you put 150, 74, 40, 7, 7, 7, 29, 57 together, it equals 371 days. Get me off of this boat. That's a long time to be in a storm. There was no doubt during that season the need for great faith and endurance and trust in God during those times. God had promised to bring Noah and his family through a difficult time and I realize as I see this, God keeps His word. But I'm sure there were moments when he thought, "When's this storm going to end? When's this going to be over?"

Maybe that's you tonight. "Lord, I'd really like for a change of scenery. Perhaps the rain can stop." What do you do? You just keep going. You just keep trusting God. You keep persevering. You depend on Him. He always makes good on His promises.

Guest (Male): Pastor John Randall on A Daily Walk. We're going through the Bible right now. You can hear the study from Genesis again at adailywalk.org or download our church app so you can listen through your mobile device. Just search for Calvary South OC. You'll also find us on most of the major podcast platforms.

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