Noah's Ark
The Flood as Christians know it today is through that of the account of Noah. Noah's story is located in the scripture of the Bible. The story of the flood is first mentioned in the Genesis section of The Holy Bible. Scientific studies now show that a flood of the magnitude that is mentioned in the Bible is scientifically likely to have happened. According to the website www.the-flood.net, "Science now confirms that such a catastrophic event occurred some 4,500 years ago."(). The flood came about when God saw the wicked actions that his human creation had taken part in. In John Kitto's book Illustrated History of the Bible Including the Life of Christ and His Apostles, he writes "this universal depravity of mankind so offended the Almighty, that, as the sacred historian informs us, he 'repented that he had made man on the earth,' and, as a proper punishment for their offences, thought of destroying not only the whole of the human race..., but also the brute creation, which he had formed for the use of ungrateful man" (Kitto 80). Seeing his people embarking in these wicked actions made the Lord displeased with his creation. The Lord became so upset and grieved over what he had created and decided t
"The Almighty, knowing the purity of Noah's intentions, was so well pleased with his conduct, that he gave him his divine assurance that he would never 'curse the ground for man's sake,'" (Kitto 82). This is the point at which God decides to establish a covenant with the righteous Noah. David Alexander writes in the book Eerdman's Handbook to the Bible, that, like any other covenant formed between God and man that "God takes the initiative - this is no agreement between equal parties. God draws up the terms. He makes them known. And he alone guarantees their keeping. Men enjoy the blessings of the covenant in so far as they obey God's commands" (Alexander 134). This covenant is not as well known as that of God's covenant with Abraham, however, its significance to existence is uncanny. God tells Noah that he is going to bless him and his sons. God gives Noah and his family the go ahead to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Now, the animals will be afraid of them and animals and fish and birds become a source of food. Even though animals may have been a source of food before, the human population will now have to hunt those animals. God then says that he will establish his covenant with Noah, and all of the creatures that joined him upon the ark. The Noahic overall is God's promise to refrain from destroying the earth by way of the waters as he previously. God has now made alterations to his world that will fit into the natural human character. God's covenant with Noah is a covenant of love and grace. God recognized the shortcomings of the human race, and adapted his world. Because of a few who are righteous, God promises to keep the earth going in continuity from season to season and year to year. God symbolizes this covenant with Noah by creating a rainbow. Ratha Doyle McGee writes in her book Symbols: Signposts of Devotion that in Genesis "we find God telling Noah that the rainbow shall be a sign of the covenant which he is making with mankind". (McGee 16). The rainbow that emerges from the clouds is used as a reminder to keep us all aware of God's promise and His care. God promises to never destroy the world we live in by flood waters no matter how bad things get on earth. As the water level of the flood waters continued to lower, the ark finally came to rest upon the top of Mount Ararat. It was at this point that Noah waited for the waters to completely dry out. From this vantage point Noah released a raven and a dove out of the window that he built on the ark. The raven flew back and forth in a continuous path until the waters from the flood had dried up. The dove was sent out three times in order to find out if the dry land of the earth was visible once again. The
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Approximate Word count = 1837
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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