IMITATE THEIR FAITH / NOAH - "GO OUT OF THE ARK"

Finally,  Jehovah's command came. "Go out of the ark," he told Noah, "you and your wife and your sons and yours wives with you."   Obediently, the family led the way, and all the animals followed. How?  In a chaotic stampede? Not at all!  The record states that "according to their families they went out of the ark." (Genesis 8:15-19) Once outdoors, breathing in the fresh mountain air and looking out over the highlands of Ararat, Noah and his family saw before them a cleansed earth.  Gone  were the Nephilim, the violence, the rebellious angels, and that entire wicked society!  Mankind had a chance to make a fresh start. 

Noah knew what to do. He started with worship.  He built an altar and used some of the animals that viewed as clean-which they brought aboard in "sevens"-and offered up a burnt sacrifice to Jehovah.  (Genesis 7:2; 8:20) Did that worship please Jehovah?

The Bible answers in these reassuring words: "Jehovah began to smell a restful odor." The pain that had filled God's heart when mankind was filling the world with violence was replaced by the restful, pleasant sense of seeing a family of faithful worshippers on earth who were determined to carry out his will.  Jehovah did not expect them to be perfect. The same verse continues:  "The inclination of the heart of man is bad from his youth up." (Genesis 8:21) Consider how Jehovah further explained his patient compassion for humankind.

Next time: IMITATE THEIR FAITH /NOAH - Conclusion of "GO OUT OF THE ARK"

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