God looked down upon the earth that He had created and He was grieved. He made a beautiful earth for man to dwell in peace and righteousness. God lovingly made the earth and the animals and the plants and the stars so that man would be happy. God made man so that they could be friends. But God looked down and saw how man hated God and hated other men. Men were killing each other and taking each others wives. Men loved themselves and not God. They did not listen to His holy commandments, they ignored Him. God was exceeding grieved in His heart. He repented that He had even made man on the earth.
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 in the whole earth there was one man who found grace in the eyes of the LORD. There was only ONE man who was doing right and obeying the Lord. His name was Noah. Noah was just and He walked with God. He listened to God and did things the good and holy way instead of being wicked like the rest of the people. Noah was 500 years old and had three sons whose names were Shem, Ham, and Japeth. In those days, men lived a long time, but God told them even then that He would eventually set the limits on man's days at 120 years. Not too many people live to be 120 years old nowadays.
God looked upon the earth, and behold, all flesh was corrupt. God said to 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..."
God then told Noah how to make the ark. He told him to make the ark 300 cubits long--that's longer than a football field! He told him to put pitch on it. Pitch is like tar. It kept the ark sealed up. God also told Noah to make a window on top of the ark and a door on the side of it. The ark was to be three stories high. What a vessel!
Then God told Noah what He was going to do. He said,
"And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die."
God was very serious. Men were hurting and killing and robbing and stealing and lying and sinning continually. Only Noah was seeking the Lord. How disappointing. God made man and loved man, but man hated God and His ways. Therefore, God decided to destroy the unrighteous by bringing the biggest flood in the history of the world.
But since Noah was faithful to the Lord, God said unto Him,
"But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee."
In other words, God was going to save Noah and his family from the worldwide flood by placing them in the ark where they would be safe.
God had more instructions for Noah. God cared about the little animals.
"And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female."
God told Noah to bring every kind of animal on the ark--one male and one female, that is a pair. God said that each little animal would come to Noah so Noah would keep them alive. God sent the animals right to Noah! What a sight that must have been. Of course, Noah did not bring fish on the ark because they would not drown from the flood--they live in water!
God also told Noah to collect food for Noah and for the animals for their stay on the ark. Noah had to gather A LOT of food to feed all those people and animals. Noah obeyed God and did everything that God told him to. It took Noah a LONG TIME to build the ark and gather all the food that they would need while they were on the ark. Remember, he had to collect food for himself, his wife, his three sons, and his sons' three wives PLUS he had to collect food for all the animals that were going to be on board the ark.
The ark was completed when Noah was 600 years old! It took 100 years to build it! After it was finished, God told Noah,
"Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation."
God went on to tell him to take seven pairs of each of the clean beasts onto the ark and one pair of each of the unclean beasts. He also commanded him to take birds onto the ark by sevens to keep their seed alive upon the face of all the earth. Then God told Noah,
"For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth."
Can you imagine what that was like? To know that in one week, God was going to cover the whole earth with deep, dark water. To know that your neighbors were going to be killed in one week? Noah's neighbors probably laughed at him for building such a huge ark on dry land. The Bible says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness--but nobody listened to him. Nobody believed that God would destroy the wicked. But they were very wrong. They had had 100 years to repent and follow God, but they would not.
Finally the time came for Noah and his family to enter the ark. After they went inside, all the animals followed them. The animals were paired up--the male and his female. This way, after the flood, the animals could make babies and repopulate the earth. There were all kinds of animals--
- THE BEASTS like lions, bears, tigers, wolves, squirrels, and cats.
- THE CATTLE like cows, oxen, wildebeasts and deer.
- THE CREEPING THING THAT CREEPETH UPON THE EARTH like beetles, grasshoppers, worms, and moths.
- THE FOWLS like vultures, sparrows, robins, storks, and eagles.
There were rooms and compartments on the ark for the animals. Each animal had a mate. Each male had a female and each female had a male so they could repopulate the earth after everything had been destroyed.
When God made the earth, He made it so man could live a comfortable life, but man did not want that. So God destroyed it all except for the ONE man who loved God. That man's name was Noah. After Noah, his family, and all the animals were on the ark, the LORD shut the door of the ark. And with that, the rest of the world was condemned to die.
It came to pass that after seven days, the waters of the flood came upon the earth. Those were probably very dark days. Have you ever looked at the sky when there is about to be a thunderstorm? The sky is dark and gray with thick, charcoal-colored, ominous clouds rolling in. The wind gets rather warm and quickly blows across the streets, hills and valleys. There is a low rumbling from distant clouds and you begin to look for cover because you know that it is about to rain.
While Noah and his family were safely in the ark, the rains came. They could hear the heavy raindrops falling on the ark. Sheets of rain began to fall all over the world. Noah was 600 years old. It was the 2nd month, the 17th day of the month when the rains came. The waters kept coming down. They prevailed and were greatly increased upon the earth. The huge ark began to float. The once dry land was now covered with water. The people ran for cover, but they couldn't find any. The rain wouldn't stop. Even the bottom of the ocean opened and water gushed forth. The windows of heaven were opened and water came down like a huge waterfall. The water crashed to the ground and swirled and raged and grew deeper and deeper. People and animals were drowning. Survivors ran to the hills and mountains so that they would not drown, but alas, the water kept rising. People screamed in terror and some even cursed God, but the rains still came. It rained for forty days and forty nights.
The waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills and mountains on the earth were covered with water! No place to run, no place to hide. All flesh that was outside of the ark died...
Both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. Noah only remained alive and they that were with him in the ark.
The waters prevailed on the earth for 150 days and God remembered Noah and all the living things on the ark with him. So God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters retreated. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven stopped sending forth water and the rain was restrained.
Five months later, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. It was the 7th month, the 17th day of the month. But there was still water on the earth. Noah stayed on the ark. The waters decreased continually until the 10th month. In the 10th month on the first day of the month, the mountain tops could be seen. Forty days later, Noah opened the window of the ark. Noah sent forth a black raven which flew to and fro until the waters were dried up from off the earth. Noah also sent forth a dove to see if the waters had abated from off the ground, but the dove couldn't find a place to rest so she came back to the ark. The waters were still on the face of the whole earth. Noah then waited another seven days and sent the dove out again.
Lo and behold that evening the dove came back and in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. But Noah did not get off the boat. He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again. This time she did not return.
Noah was now 601 years old. It was the 1st month, the 1st day of the month and the waters were dried up from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked and behold the face of the ground was dry. But Noah still did not leave the ark. He was waiting on God's instructions. Finally, on the second month, on the 27th day of the month, the earth was dry and the Lord God told Noah to go forth of the ark. He told Noah to take his wife, his sons and his sons' wives with him. He also told him to let all the animals out so that they can breed abundantly on the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth. And Noah obeyed.
After Noah got off of the ark, he made an altar unto the LORD and took of every clean beast and fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The LORD smelled a sweet savour and the LORD said in His heart,
"I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living as I have done. While seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
God then blessed Noah and his sons and told them to multiply and replenish the earth. In other words they were to have plenty of children so that the population would grow. God told Noah that every moving thing would be meat for him just like the green plants and herbs. God commanded Noah not to eat the blood of animals. He also told Noah that whoso sheddeth man's blood, his blood would be shed. In other words, if one person murdered another person, the murderer would have to die. God did not want any more violence.
God also said to Noah,
"And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, and of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth."
What was the covenant?
"...neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth."
So God said that there would never be another world wide flood.
God gave Noah a sign, or token, to show that He would never cause another world wide flood. Do you know what the sign was? It was the rainbow! Everytime you see the rainbow after the rain, it is God's sign that He will never destroy the earth with a flood. God said in Genesis 9:13 and 16--
"I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth."
Do you remember why God destroyed the earth with a flood? Men were violent and they disobeyed God's commands. They were exceeding wicked. Things have not changed today. Men are still violent and wicked. God will not ever destroy the earth with a flood, but the Bible says that He will COMPLETELY destroy it with fire...
2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.2 Peter 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
We do not want to be destroyed with wicked men. We want to live with the LORD God.
Noah feared God and served God and he was saved from the flood. If we fear God and serve Him we will be saved from the fire. How do we fear God? (1) We must repent of our sins. That means we must admit that we are sinners and that we want to live God's way. (2) We must believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead on the third day. (3) We must confess Jesus with our mouth. We need to make Him our Lord and Saviour. The Bible says that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved from the wrath of God.
If you have any questions you can write to Mrs. Tracy.
Go to Children's Bible Stories
On-line!
Home