The Last Ark
On Wednesday evenings, we have burrowed into the history of mankind before Abram. In these chapters of God’s message to us, He did not withhold the ugliness of his creation. Among the many highlights and lowlights of these chapters, the two that stand out most to me are the occurrences of man’s rejection of God.
The first “almost” appears like a simple mistake by Adam and Eve. If God had reacted to Adam and Eve’s sin, as perhaps you and I might today, He might have put them in time-out for a week or two and hoped they learned their lesson. Not God! This first rejection of God (sin) was met with a fury of cursing, expelling and closings.
The second occurrence was the rejection of God by all the people of the world, save Noah and his family. “The inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Gen 6:5). The salvation of Noah by the grace of God brings hope to us, but if we forget the sin part of the story, we will miss the point. God does not turn his eyes away from sin, nor does He excuse it as the childish or misdirected behavior of His precious creation. God is serious about sin! Sin will destroy mankind! God salvaged mankind the first time by saving Noah and his family. Beginning with Abram, God has set out to save mankind once again, but this time is the last time.
I first learned the “last time” lesson when I was about 10. I built a small gas-powered airplane that I could control from the ground with two strings once it was in the air (some of you remember). I did pretty good for a while, but I could never successfully fly it for long, or land it. It crashed the exact same number of times that it flew. I repaired and repaired and repaired until one day I said “no more.”.
That day is coming for mankind as well. God is the repairer, but if we continue refusing to be repaired, like the people of Noah’s day, judgment will come. It will be swift and everlasting. Don’t let these early Bible stories be forgotten. Be on that final Ark (I Peter 3:20-21).