Bible Thoughts

June 21, 1998

"And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not strive with man for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years"(Genesis 6:3)

Did you ever have the feeling that people would not listen when you tried to teach the truth? While you may feel disappointment, you are not the first. It has happened through the ages. Men in every time lacked the appetite for righteous teaching and turned a deaf ear to the preacher.

Noah preached for 120 years. While he was preparing the ark, he was living what he preached. His message was from God and there was no doubt that the world would be destroyed by a flood. Do you know how many listened to him, to the point of repenting? Outside of his family, not one single soul!

To the credit of Noah, his family was spared because they accepted the safety of the ark. This writer has long believed that when one leads and guides the family into righteousness and faithfulness, a great work has been accomplished. In spite of a later sin in one of his sons, the strength and faith of Noah led them into the ark and away from the flood.

It is our duty to teach our family, our friends, and others with whom we come in contact. Some will listen; some will not. Some will eventually obey the truth; many will not. "Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it"(Matthew 7:13-14). We are searching for those few as we appeal to the masses.

Noah lived a righteous life before the God who made him. Peter pointed out that in the midst of wickedness, God "...preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly"(II Peter 2:5). Noah would have had no influence with his family had he not been a righteous man.

One's teaching must agree with one's life and one's life must agree with one's teaching. This principle applies not only to a preacher or teacher, but to every Christian. An example of righteousness has influenced many toward God's way.

Noah did not give up. For those 120 years, he lived and taught the ways of the Almighty. He did not give up indespair because only his family heeded and changed. His continued faithfulness to God gave him the strength to use every peg and every board in constructing the ark.

Noah followed the pattern that God revealed to him. The ark was seaworthy because God designed it. It was so complete that all of the animals were protected from the waters and able to replenish the earth. Respecting the pattern was expected in Noah's day and it is expected in our day. The New Testament commands and principles are different from those of Noah's days, but they are God's will for the present.

Noah put his faith in God, not in his own skill as a carpenter. Had man designed the ark, it might have floated, but it would not have lasted! Jehovah provided the pattern so that Noah and his righteous family would be spared. The only way this could occur was for Noah to build it as God directed.

Noah put his faith in God after the flood. Having spent so many months inside the ark, aware of the destruction that was taking place on the outside, a man of God would be thankful for the protection of Jehovah. "And God remembered Noah..."(Genesis 8:1). Why? Because Noah remembered God.

It was now time to leave the ark and begin a new life and a new civilization. From Noah would come the generations that exist in the present. All of us can claim two earthly fathers: Adam and Noah.

Upon leaving the ark, Noah "builded an altar unto Jehovah..."(Genesis 8:20). Expressing his gratefulness for the power and protection of Jehovah, the burnt-offerings were a "sweet savor" to God. The Lord promised that he would not again destroy the world by a flood, even though "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth"(Genesis 8:21). The long-suffering of God would, however, be manifest in the sending of His son into this sinful world and permitting him to die for our sins.

While the Lord will not destroy this world by a flood, He has revealed the following through the apostle Peter: "But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and works that are therein shall be burned up"(II Peter 3:8-10).

Remember the days of Noah and do not be as the world of His day. Be prepared for the final day.

false teachers, and as long as there are faithful men who are willing to contend for the

faith. And it is the duty of the membership generally to hold up the hands of those who are contending for the truth. We need an educated, indoctrinated membership who know the truth; and we need a courageous, loyal membership who are willing to stand for the truth."(Annual Lesson Commentary, April 9, 1950).