IMITATE THEIR FAITH / NOAH - Conclusion of "Forty Days and Forty Nights"

No! Nor did their merciful God.  (Ezekiel 33:11) Jehovah had done everything to save as many as possible. He had commissioned Enoch's warning, and he had ordered Noah to build the ark. Noah and his his family had been laboring on that massive project for decades, in full view of the people.  What is more Jehovah directed Noah to serve as "a preacher of righteousness." (2 Peter 2:5)   Like Enoch before him, he warned people about the judgment that was coming upon the world. And how did they respond?  Jesus, who witnessed events from heaven, later recalled the people of Noah's day: "They took no note until the flood came and swept them all away." - MATTHEW 24:39

Imagine what it must have been like for Noah and his family during those first 40 days after Jehovah shut the door to the ark.  As the torrential rains kept drumming down on the ark day after day, the eight of them likely settled into some kind of routine-caring for one another, tending to their home. and seeing to the needs of the animals in their enclosures. At one moment, though the whole immense structure shuddered and lurched.  The ark was moving! Cradled on the rising waters, the ark was lifted up higher and higher, until "it was floating high above the earth." (Genesis 7:17)  What an amazing demonstration of the power of the Almighty God, Jehovah!

Noah must have been thankful-not only for his safety and that of his family but also for Jehovah's mercy in using them to warn the people who perished outside the ark.  Those years of hard work may have seemed unrewarding  at the time.   People were so unresponsive!  Think of it-Noah must have had brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces alive before the Flood came; yet, no one except his immediate family listened to him.  (Genesis 5:30)  Now, as those eight souls clung to safety in the ark, they surely drew comfort from thinking back on all the time they had spent giving people a chance to survive.

Jehovah  has not changed since Noah's day.  (Malachi 3:6)  Jesus Christ explained that our times today are much like "the days of Noah." (Matthew 24:37)  Ours is a marked era, a time of great trouble that is due to end in the destruction  of a corrupt world system of Things.  Today, God's people  are likewise delivering a warning message  to all who will listen.  Will you respond to that message?  If you have already accepted the truth of that lifesaving message, will you join in sharing it with others?  Noah and his family set an example for us all.

Next time: IMITATE THEIR FAITH / NOAH - "CARRIED SAFELY THROUGH THE WATER"

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