In the Days of Noah

Mark Dunagan
09/15/11 - Sunday Morning

In the Days of Noah

“Shut up. Shut up, I’m busy”.  This was the last message the ship S.S. Titanic sent to the ship Californian on April 14, 1912 prior to striking an iceberg that night.  In reply to the Californian’s repeated warnings of icebergs, the message was angrily dispatched by the Titanic’s radio operator who was preoccupied with wiring passenger’s mid-Atlantic greetings.  What a  reminder of man's poor track-record in terms of listening to and responding to critical warnings.  Why does mankind have such trouble getting prepared, taking things seriously, and even believing those who issue such warnings?  Such was the case even in Noah’s time:

• Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), and Jesus spoke through Noah during the many days in which the ark was being built.  Peter says that God’s patience “kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark” (1 Peter 3:20).  Even so, no one responded to the warning.  Jesus says that the response was so poor that, “... in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark” (Matthew 24:38).  In other words, mankind, over his shoulder, in essence shouted to Noah, “Shut up, I’m busy”.
• The idea that “It won’t happen to me”, “I will always have time to prepare” or, “God would never do that” is still alive and well to this day.  During the recent hurricane on the East Coast there were stories of many people going out to convenience stores and getting their supplies not until the very last moments.

A Well Known Account

The flood is not only mentioned in Genesis (chapters 6-9), it is mentioned by other biblical writers as well:

• Isaiah 54:9 “For this is like the days of Noah to Me; when I swore that the waters of Noah should not flood the earth again”
• Ezekiel 14:14,20  Noah is mentioned with Job and Daniel
• Jesus endorsed the authenticity of the flood account: Matthew 24:37,38
• Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household.”
• 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5;3:6 The flood is used to explain the relationship God has ordained of water to our salvation.

Secular Sources

Not only is a world-wide flood mentioned in the Bible, it is also mentioned in many other cultures.  There are at least 500 flood stories in other ancient cultures, these include stories in China, Babylon, Mexico, Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Persia, India, Norway, Wales, Ireland, Indonesia, Romania, among Native American Indians, etc. Almost all civilizations have a flood story.  And one would expect this if the flood really happened and was universal.  It would only be natural for all the descendants of Noah to have firmly fixed in their memories the fact of this event. Note the unscientific nature of the stories passed down by populations without the benefit of inspired men such as Moses, who recorded the only factual account of the flood.

 

• The Aztecs tell of a worldwide global flood in which only two people survive, and they survive by floating in a boat that came to rest on a mountain.  Then soon after the flood, giants constructed a great pyramid in an endeavor to reach the clouds.  Such ambition is said to have angered the gods, who scattered the giants with fire.  Compare with Genesis 11:1-9.
• In Mexico, one tribe of Indians, known as Toltecs, told of a great flood.  In their story, a deluge destroyed the first world 1716 years after it was created.  Only a few people survived, and did so in a “toptlipetlocali”,  or “closed chest”.  These few people then wandered about the earth, and found a place where they built a high tower in case another flood came upon the earth
• In China, there are many flood stories.  According to one story, God sent a personal messenger to warn three sons that a flood was coming.  In this story the ark landed on the mountains of Tibet.  It is significant that even the Chinese character for “boat” possibly reveals the story of Noah.  For this character is a combination of three other characters.  The character for vessel, plus the number eight, plus the character for mouth (or people).  Thus a “boat” is eight people in a vessel.  It seems likely that there may be some connection to the fact that eight people were saved in Noah’s ark (2 Peter 2:5).

What Should We Conclude?

• Many of these stories come from different ages and civilizations that could not possibly have copied any of the similar stories.
• There is variation, as is to be expected, yet they are in agreement on the following vital points: (a) A universal destruction by water of the human race and all other living things did indeed occur, (b) an ark, or boat, was provided as the means of escape for some.
• These stories were recorded thousands of years before any missionaries arrived to relate to them the Genesis account of Noah and the Flood.

Lost Opportunities

From 1 Peter 3:20 and 2:5 it appears that Noah’s generation had numerous opportunities to hear the warning and respond.  People tend to forget that salvation does take some time and effort.  It takes effort and time to listen to the warning.  Time is needed to count the cost and examine your own life.  Time is also needed to come to terms with the warning and wrestle with your own resistance.  Simple things like being too busy, misplaced priorities, complacency, carelessness, and bad judgments can all work against a person.  In the previous example of the Titanic...

• The captain had been wired messages by other ships about ice in the sea, yet he distrusted the credibility of messages delivered by wireless technology.
• The White Star Line’s representatives valued the breaking the company’s previous ocean-crossing record over the concern of cautious sailing after dark.
• The wireless operators were preoccupied with various tasks, and only forwarded a fraction of the incoming ice warnings they had received.
• The lookouts failed to locate the binoculars they were to have ready for their evening watch.

How Would I have Responded?

• In both cases, as with the Flood and the Titanic, when the warning was given nothing seemed to be wrong.  It wasn’t pouring down rain when Noah preached.  Noah proceeded to build and preach even though it looked as if a flood would never happen (Hebrews 11:7 “warned by God about things not yet seen”.  When the Titanic hit the iceberg there was no initial sign of damage.  The ship was a big ship, and the second officer who explored various decks of the ship initially reported no damage.  In like manner, some people are hesitant to prepare for eternity, their own death and the Second Coming when it appears there is no hurry.
• It takes independent thinking to get into the “ark” or the “lifeboats” when others around you are saying that you are not in any danger asserting, “There has never been a world-wide flood.”  “From what I can tell there isn’t enough water on the surface of the earth to flood it completely—even if a flood comes we can always find higher ground”.  “A loving God would never do such a thing”.  “This is a big ship, it is unsinkable”.  In like manner, you can find many people today who will quickly inform you that there isn’t a hell or a judgment day and that you are find just the way you are (2 Peter 3:4).
• Wisely heeding a warning is rarely convenient.  At times it will be inconvenient to obey God and go against the crowd, making such a change will always involve effort and some measure of pain.  Getting out of bed, away from a warm room and sitting in a lifeboat out in the cold Atlantic with no restrooms—was not something very appealing. Initially.
• Sometimes to be wise one must risk embarrassment.  "What if the boat isn’t sinking?" some may have asked. No one wants to be labeled an alarmist. " What if I get into the lifeboat, only to sit there for a couple of hours and then come back to the boat and be embarrassed that I was one of the foolish ones who got scared."  “Not very manly to overreact—I think I will go back downstairs for another drink.”  The same thoughts could have gone through the minds of those living prior to the flood.  “If I side with Noah, what if a flood never happen—I would never live that down”. 
• Then there is the feeling that “I will always have time, I will always have another chance”.    When the first lifeboats left the Titanic, many were only one half or one third full.  The feeling was that if the ship was really in trouble, they would return and pick up more passengers— yet they never did. Don't assume second chances.

While doubt still existed among passengers on the deck of the Titanic, it was very apparent from the vantage point of the lifeboats that the big ship was doomed. Light could be seen flooding out of portholes beneath the waterline, and the ship's stern was slowly beginning to cantilever out of the water.  In like manner, the people who have the clearest view of the world are not the people in the world, but rather God’s people who have been delivered. No one has to remind us that the world is in trouble.  We can see light flooding out of the portholes beneath the waterline. Make your life right with God while there is time. Serve Him with your whole heart and escape this world of darkness spiritually whole.

Many lessons never seemed to be learned.  “Did humanity learn from the lesson of the Titanic? Well, only a few short years after the Titanic's sinking, there were assurances that no disaster of that magnitude would ever happen again. Someone made the fateful comment that although the Titanic had been nicknamed 'Unsinkable', the truly unsinkable ship had been crafted thanks to lessons learned and to engineers' improved efforts. The name of that ship was...the Lusitania. Fast forward in time to May 7 of 1915: Lusitania's lifeboats did little good as that ship sunk in eighteen minutes. Although the Lusitania's antagonist was not an iceberg but one or two torpedoes from a German submarine, Lusitania's story is an amazingly similar pyramid of inconsequential actions and decisions which all added up to disaster. Of the 1,962 passengers and crew that set sail from New York, sailing in spite of advertised German warnings that any British or allied ship approaching the English Channel would be sunk, only 764 survived” (Provethebible.net).   So I need to listen to God and learn the lesson well.  I will trust Him.