Boarding and Deboarding Noah's ArkThe Ride of Your Life!(Episode 1: The Story of Our Lives)

 

Come with me for a ride on the world’s most famous ark: “Noah’s Ark.” The story of Noah’s Ark may seem fantastical, but it really happened. We may retell it as history, but it’s relevant today. It may feel like it’s about punishment, but it’s about deliverance. We may claim it’s only for the Jews, but it’s for everybody, including you and me. It’s the ride of our lives!

Maybe we’ve heard the story enough but there is something for everybody in this limited series of 8 episodes. Get ready for a story of desperation, deliverance, patience, judgment, faith, integrity, hope, worship, obedience, approval, eternal life, denial, sin, love, and sacrifice. It is the story of our lives.

The events of Noah and the Ark are recorded in Genesis 6-9 which is the basis for this series. We’ll journey from sunny skies to beyond the rainbow. But, like many series you might enjoy on TV, we’ll start at the end and then see how the story unfolded in subsequent episodes.

 

Episode 1: The Story of Our Lives

The end of our journey is much like the beginning. Some people in the last days will disregard God and won’t believe He will eventually judge the people of earth and punish them. They will follow their own desires. They will mock God and His promise to return (2 Peter 3:3-4). What’s more, there will be (and already are) those who intentionally twist the truth or spin their own values to deceive anyone who will adopt their instruction. They will even deceive some who earnestly seek after God (2 Peter 2:1-3). I have found myself too often following my own desires. I’ve lost sight, at times, of God’s priorities and promise at no one’s fault but my own, sometimes to the point where God pulled me back because I wouldn’t come back on my own. Despite my waywardness, God rescued me.

This may not sound like a big deal to those who do not care to believe and follow God, but that doesn’t mean the situation is not dire. God does exact justice. Sodom and Gomorrah did burn. Fallen angels are bound and awaiting final judgment. Flood waters did come after Noah built the ark (2 Peter 2:4-10). But Noah’s story is also a story of mercy. It’s a rescue story for Noah and his family because Noah did believe, fear, and honor God. It could have been a rescue story for others, too, if they had heeded Noah’s invitation to board the ark.

But that’s not how the story played out for the onlookers and naysayers. It’s not how it played out for those simply minding their own business. And it’s not how it will play out in the last days. 

But they deliberately forget that
long ago by God’s word
the heavens came into being
and the earth was formed out of water and by water.

By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire,
being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

2 Peter 3:5-7

You may already know God promised to never flood the earth again, but that doesn’t mean He will let unrighteousness go unpunished. In the future and final worldwide judgment, He will use fire and those who believe His promise will be spared. Since God delivered a worldwide flood, we should be concerned about the impending worldwide fire. 

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Since God delivered a worldwide flood,
we should be concerned about
the impending worldwide fire

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Only 8 people survived the Flood: Noah’s family. With no air to breathe, even the strongest swimmers couldn’t save themselves. We can’t survive a worldwide fire either. And fire storms across the globe will be swifter than flood waters. Fire is the end of the story for this current earth, and it will even reach the heavens.

This is the future, but it is not the present. Why? Why the delay?

God is patient, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9b). It’s been thousands of years since the Flood, but “a thousand years are like a day” to God, and “a day is like a thousand years.” So, God isn’t being slow with His judgment. We just don’t understand His dimension of time (2 Peter 3:8-9). He’s delaying judgment to give us time to get our lives in order. Here’s what Peter says to do:

• Be blameless and at peace with God (2 Peter3:14-16)
• Follow God, not those who oppose Him (2 Peter 3:17)
• Grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus (2 Peter 3:18)

Every person living today must respond to the impending fire. It's a heads-up for Christians and for those who prefer to live apart from Jesus. Many people already believe our earth will not last forever, but Jesus will come for His people before the last days. Since Jesus can return at any moment, what we do today is critical. 

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Since Jesus can return at any moment,
what we do today is critical

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For those who live apart from Jesus, you can escape the coming fire and other extreme difficulties that mankind will experience before the fire is released. Trust in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins. You cannot pay your own penalty. Only Jesus can, for He was sinless – the perfect sacrifice for all of us. He paid for not only your past sins, but the future ones as well. Once you’re on the ark, you will reach dry land after your journey. Visit my Good News page for explanations on how all of this works.

For the rest of us who call ourselves Christians, Peter exhorts us to grow and to grow up spiritually. He urges us to step around those who oppose God and to become more and more like Jesus as we walk this earth. Why does this matter? According to Peter, here is why:

1. To assure our knowledge of Jesus remains effective and productive (2 Peter 1:5-9)

This is about other people, especially those who do not yet know Jesus. God wants us to grow up spiritually and to take His mission seriously. He is withholding destruction by fire and He wants our efforts to be effective and productive. He wants to use us to introduce others to Jesus as their personal Savior so they can secure their place in Heaven.  

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,
as some understand slowness.
Instead he is patient with you,
not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance. 

2 Peter 3:9

Everyone. Including those who scoff, “Where is God? There is no God or He would’ve stricken me down long ago.” God is patiently awaiting even the scoffers in our lives. The people in Noah’s day had more than 100 years to recognize that God truly did command Noah to build an ark. They had ample time to come to God in faith and join Noah in the ark before the waters came. People have enough time today to step foot on God’s figurative ark, but that time is limited. It is our job to communicate this.

2. To never stumble and to receive a rich welcome into Heaven (2 Peter 1:10-11)

Wow. Is it possible that we never stumble? As hard as it sounds and as often as I do stumble, Peter wrote that, through the power of God, we have “everything we need for a godly life” and we have escaped “corruption…caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4). What a great benefit it is to rely on the power of God! And what a joy it will be to receive God’s welcome into Heaven!

But this is also about other people. Godly living is not so much about us, but about sacrificing for God in faith so that others may see Jesus in us (Matthew 5:13-16, John 13:34-35). Here on earth, we probably won’t live out a perfectly, godly life (1 John 1:8-10). But our earnest effort to do so really matters. It matters for the sake of the gospel in the hearts of other people. Read Paul’s explanation:

 

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—
not because of anything we have done
but because of his own purpose and grace.
This grace was given us in Christ Jesus
before the beginning of time,
but it has now been revealed through
the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus,
who has destroyed death and
has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
And of this gospel I was appointed a herald
and an apostle and a teacher.

2 Timothy 1:9-11

Hasn’t God directed all of us to share His good news along with Paul (Matthew 9:35-38, Romans 10:9-15, 2 Corinthians 5:16-20)? Godly living is foundational to sharing the good news of Jesus. It validates the message God wants us to deliver. Are we perfect. If you’re like me, you’re not even close. But God uses our earnest and unhypocritical living to further the reach of His good news and His gift of everlasting life to any who will accept it.

 

…God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-17

Let’s get ready for the ride of our lives. Board the figurative Ark if you haven’t already done so. God is waiting for you with open arms. When you ride the Ark you live securely in God’s care. Don’t let the Ark float off without you. The doors are still open. The invitation has not expired.

Deboard the figurative Ark if you haven’t already done so. Worship God and serve Him. Don’t bask within the doors with no regard for others. The world needs to see our godly living. We’ve been deployed. We may not always tell God’s story with our lips. But we can always tell it with our actions – our godly living.

Stay tuned for more episodes:
 

Episode 2: A Desperate Situation

Episode 3: Islands & Lifelines
Episode 4: Our Response of Worship

Episode 5: God’sCompassion

Episode 6: TheValue of Life

Episode 7: Victory Over Death

Episode 8: Jesus’ Return

I encourage you to listen to this song. It’s a song about faith when faith doesn’t seem like the thing for us. Faith in a Savior. Faith in the power of God. Faith when it doesn’t seem like any good will come. But good will come. 

Build A Boat by Colton Dixon (2022)
(62) Colton Dixon - Build aBoat [Official Lyric Video] - YouTube

 

 

If the gospel – the good news of Jesus – is new to you and you want to learn more about it, please email me at authordlv@att.net or visit the Good News page on my blog. Jesus is alive and preparing a place for us in Heaven while we serve Him until He comes back for us.

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