Are you one that doubts the reality of the man called Noah, and the flood that God brought upon the earth? This is the first in a 7 part series of in-depth articles on Genesis 6 to 9 based on the King James bible.
The Days of Noah Part 1
The Proofs that Noah was a living, historic person and the flood was an actual, historic fact.
Genesis 6:1-14 "And it came to pass,
when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were
born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they
were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the
LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also
is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were
giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons
of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to
them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the
earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will
destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man,
and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it
repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and
perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat
three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before
God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the
earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way
upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come
before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and,
behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher
wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch."
About 5,000 years ago, around 3,000 BC there lived a man called Noah. Noah was a man who was very different from the generation in which he lived. We read about Noah mostly in the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis is the book of beginnings and it is a history book. Genesis contains real, actual, literal history. Genesis is the foundation of the whole bible and all the major doctrines of scripture can be traced in their foundation to the book of Genesis. The author is God, the writer is Moses. The first 5 books of the bible are called the books of Moses, the Lord Jesus says so in John 5:46 "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me." 2 Chron 35:12 "......as it is written in the book of Moses" 2 Corin 3:15 "But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart." Romans 10:5 "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law..." 1 Corin 9:9 "For it is written in the law of Moses..." To disagree on this is to disagree with the bible. Noah and the events recorded about his day are real history. These things happened and these things are recorded for us that we may learn from them. 1 Corin 10:11 "Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come." There is a stark lesson for the new testament church to be found in Noah and his day as recorded in the book of Genesis 6.
What is God's message.. because it is a message of vital importance not only for God's people but for the whole world. If people do not receive and understand the message that the days of Noah teach us about God, then they are doomed because this Genesis account teaches us something that is absolutely essential about the character and very nature of God himself. The God who says "I change not." It's a lesson that the church does not promote today. The modern church presents a deformed view of God. The modern church has been presenting a 2 or 3 attribute God, over-emphasizing love, mercy and forgiveness and forgetting about justice, wrath and holiness of God. The message of Genesis 6-9 teaches us about the true God of the bible and it needs to be heard today.
The Historicity of Noah and the flood. In the book of Genesis 5:28-32 is the genealogy of Noah. What does historicity mean? Noah was a historic person and the flood was a real, historic event. I am saying that because we live in a day of mockers and scoffers, also known as people who can't distinguish between hypotheses and facts. The unbelieving world around us does not believe in Noah and the flood as historic events, but that shouldn't surprise us because the unbelieving world is unbelieving and therefore it makes sense that they don't believe. Also I do have to say that though they don't believe, in their ignorance they oppose abundant convincing evidence of Noah and the flood and they close their eyes to scientific facts that prove the historicity of Noah and the flood. But worse that that is when those who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who profess to be believers, they don't believe in Noah and the flood. They certainly do not believe the bible.
What is your proof:
Noah's family tree, it is one of the best proofs of Noah and the flood. Genesis 6:9-10 "These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth." Gen 5:1-32, the whole chapter is a genealogy which tells us who Noah's father was, Lamech. Who Noah's grandfather was, Methuseleh. Who his great grand-father was, Enoch. and his great-great-father, Jared, His great-great-great-grandfather Mahalaleel and back to Seth and Adam. Don't you think that is a detailed family tree? Always the age is given when their eldest child was born. It's more detailed than your family tree or mine. Would such a detailed family tree exist for someone who wasn't a real person? Noah was a real, historic person. Look at all his relations.
The Lord Jesus says so. Matthew 24:37 "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." what does that tell us? the Lord is telling us that Noah lived in a actual time and that Noah was an actual person. The Lord Jesus is referring to a time before an event, he is speaking of Noah as a person living in a particular time before a particular event happened. So we therefore must believe in Noah and the flood, because if we don't we don't agree with Jesus Christ. And if we don't agree with Jesus Christ we are not Christians.
The rest of the scriptures say so. Ezekiel 14:20 "Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the LORD God....." Isaiah 54:9 "For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." Hebrews 11:7 "By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." 1 Peter 3:20 "Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is eight souls were saved by water." 2 Peter 2:5 "And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly." 2 Peter 3:6 "Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." The biblical testimony is very clear to the history of Noah and the flood.
Geography or geology says so. The shape of the earth, and the study of the rocks. These say the flood was an actual event because of sedimentary rock. The face of the land mass of earth is covered in sedimentary rock, and that is rock laid down by water, massive amount of sediment when water carves into the earth, when the water settles all those places, settles in layers and hardens into sedimentary rock. This rock is full of fossils. The high mountains of today have fossils of sea creatures, even Mt. Everest. How did they get there? They didn't walk. They got there in the massive devastation of the flood.
Human history also says that there was a flood, there is a story of a flood on every continent of earth. Is this coincidence? or confirmation of a real event. Babylon, ancient Greece, India, North America, South America, Pacific islands, and almost all the cultures on all the continents have stories about a world-wide flood. They have the basic events of the flood. Did they all make it up? or are we all descended from Noah's family, his 3 sons and spread out across the world since the tower of Babel, remembering the flood in story form. The evidence is overwhelming for Noah and the flood.
Because all this is true it would be wise for everyone on this planet earth to realize that God's attitude towards sin is true. He sent the flood because of human sin. God punishes sin. For anyone, if your sin is not punished upon Jesus Christ than your sin will be punished on you. God punishes physically, literally and eternally. And the historical event of the flood proves that God punishes sin, and yet the ark proves that God provides a way of escape, a path to safety and Jesus Christ is that way.
Hebrews 11:7 Noah was commanded by God to prepare a means of escape from the judgment and because he did that, he condemned the world because there is no other way of escape. If you are not in the ark, on the way of escape, you are condemned to the judgment. God has provided a way to escape judgment for sinners and the way is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, but if anybody rejects that, they can forget notions of merciful and loving God because the love of God for sinners is shown in the cross of Jesus. If sinners don't want the way of escape, they are condemned.
He that believeth not is condemned already.
When God says that in the future he will judge this world by fire, that also will be a real event.
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These notes were made by myself from the sermon by Rev Paul Dowling of Whiteabbey Congregational Church (Reformed) at Sermon Audio.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=420151143236
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