Last night six of us from my church converged on a movie theater in West Des Moines to experience on film the on-stage performance of the biblical musical Noah. It was originally performed live at the Sight & Sound Theater in Branson, MO and Lancaster, PA. The live musical was filmed and that film is showing this week in theaters across America.
And what an extravaganza it was! Great set with an Ark standing four stories high filled with live animals, many of which came up the isles and onto the stage two-by-two. Birds flew in as well, with some landing on Noah's outstretched arms. Definitely an event worth seeing!
Genesis 6:5-8 sets up the story of Noah and the Flood, which is found in Genesis 6:9-9:17. It begins like this: "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.' But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD" (Gen. 6:5-8).
Things had gotten so bad and all mankind was so evil that judgment was coming. Only Noah and his family remained faithful to the Lord God, and God took notice. So God spoke to Noah: "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them" (Gen. 6:13-21).
The important thing to notice is Noah's response: "Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did" (v. 22). Noah was faithful. All the way through this great and epic story, Noah remains faithful. He always does everything exactly as God had instructed.
Do we do the same? We may not be asked to build an Ark, though recent local flooding may have started some to wonder! Yet, we are to respond as Noah did when God directed. We need to follow faithfully every detail.
They entered the ark as commanded, and the rains descended and the floodwaters covered the earth. But again take note: "And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him" (Gen. 7:5). "So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days" (vs. 23-24).
"Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen" (Gen. 8:1-5).
After some time, the earth dried up and again God spoke to Noah: "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth" (vs. 16-17). And again, Noah was faithful: "So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark" (vs. 18-19).
"Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, 'I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done'" (vs. 20-21).
Again, Noah remains faithful to God's Word. "So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth'" (Gen. 9:1).
"Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 'And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth" (vs. 8-11).
"And God said: 'This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.' And God said to Noah, 'This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth'" (vs. 12-17).
Again, it was said of Noah: "Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God" (Gen. 6:9). Oh, that we too would be righteous and just, walking faithfully with God every day. Like Noah, remain faithful, always following the Lord Jesus in every way and in every detail of His Word. Amen.
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