NOAH – OUR SECOND FATHER

Genesis 9:1-2
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.” KJV	Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.  The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.” NIV

Noah is the second father of all mankind. Just as all men came from Adam, so all men now living came from and through Noah. God makes a new start. The fact of which should make those who do not know God personally, shudder with fear, simply because, apart from Noah and his family (8 in total) every single human being perished in the flood. Some allege and argue for a localised flood only but fail to realise the implications of the words of Scripture where in Genesis 7:19-24 it tells us that all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The gigantic size of the Ark also tells us that if it was merely a local flood, then God could have just moved Noah and his family and all the animals to higher ground. But He did not, because we know the Mount Ararat Range reaches up to 17,000 feet, and the Scriptures tell us that the flood was 15 cubits higher! (One cubit being about 18 inches.)

The difference between Adam and Noah is worthy of discussion because when Adam was created and placed in the Garden of Eden, he had never known evil, hardship, danger and harsh times. Noah on the other hand, had known and experienced all of these, but he stood in the face of them, and being able to stand in the face of all those hardships made Noah the ideal candidate to lead his family, and his obedience to God is legendary.

Also worthy of note is that God saved Noah, Noah did not save himself. It was not his wood-craft skills, workmanship or wisdom, it was his obedience of faith that saved him!

The population of the world at that time had thrown away the Word of God, declaring themselves free of His influence, like today’s world in which people live as if there is no God, and even if they believe there is a minuscule possibility of there being a Creator, they have no fear of Him!

• Obedience is the evidence of faith.
• Where obedience is absent, faith cannot be present.

God told Noah that the animals will from now on fear man including birds and everything that moves on the earth and in the sea.

The fear of man remains true even today, even with the braver animals like lions, leopards and buffalo still fearing man. Having said, that there are two creatures that have absolutely no fear of man – the killer whale and the polar bear – because they do not know man.

It is my prayer that you will not act like the people of Noah’s time and ignore God and thereby suffer the consequences of doing so. God loves us and does not want anyone to perish.

But you need to know that He will not and cannot look on sin. The Bible tells us that we have all sinned and come far short of His requirements. You need to ask forgiveness for your sins and invite Jesus Christ into your life now, before it is too late. Just as the floods came, there is coming a time when Jesus will return to take those who have put their trust and faith in Him out of this world, and those who are left behind will, as in the days of Noah, perish with no hope at all.