The Meaning Of Life

1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 You are to take with you seven pairs ofa every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate; a pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate; 3 and seven pairs of every kind of bird of the air, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of all the earth. 4 For seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.”

5 And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.

The only people to enter the ark, and the people from which we all descended, were Noah and his wife, and his three sons and their wives. And as the Bible story went, Noah took a pair of each kind of animal on the ark with him. But wait? Did he?

In the Book of Leviticus, we learn the difference between clean and unclean meat, but those instructions from God are several hundred years down the road. What did God mean by “clean” and “unclean” meat? Obviously, God’s rules were passed down from generation to generation, even before the decalogue was even thought about being written.

Next, only the unclean animals came in pairs, the clean animals came by sevens. Why? Could it be that Noah and his family had to eat while they were on the ark? Did they need enough food to feed the meat-eating animals? The Bible doesn’t say, but we have to trust God that he had a reason for doing this.

6 Now Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth. 7 And Noah and his wife, with his sons and their wives, entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 The clean and unclean animals, the birds, and everything that crawls along the ground 9 came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

10 And after seven days the floodwaters came upon the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

13 On that very day Noah entered the ark, along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons— 14 they and every kind of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, bird, and winged creature. 15 They came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two of every creature with the breath of life. 16 And they entered, the male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 So the waters continued to surge and rise greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. 19 Finally, the waters completely inundated the earth, so that all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered.

20 The waters rose and covered the mountaintops to a depth of fifteen cubits.c 21 And every living thing that moved upon the earth perished—birds, livestock, animals, every creature that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind. 2 2Of all that was on dry land, everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 And every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed—man and livestock, crawling creatures and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the ark remained.

24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth for 150 days.

Did Noah have to go and round up every species of animal and lead or carry them to the ark? No. They came on their own. No doubt they were motivated by God, they just didn’t sense an impending flood, but God had to have directed them, gave them instinct, to come to the ark on their own. A sense of survival if you will.

“Then the Lord shut him in”. Pay attention to the details. Skeptics always say if the ark was that big, the door to the ark had to be so heavy that no man could lift it or close it. He didn’t have to. God did that for him. And this wasn’t a fishing vessel. This wasn’t a cruise ship. This boat, if you will, was a single use craft, meant to save mankind, but never to be used again. So God shut the door for Noah.

I do not believe in evolution, but I have to admit there is micro-evolution; I’ve likely seen it in my lifetime. Each generation changes just a bit, and over time, generations change a lot. I don’t believe the ark was capable of holding two German Shepherds, and two Dalmatians, and two Chihauhaus, two Yorkies, but I do believe that there were two species of canines on board, and from there, the different breeds evolved. Why not? God is a miracle worker.

God forms human beings in the womb as he likes, he doesn’t necessarily create them out of the dust of the earth, but there are many instances in the Bible where an infant was conceived that God had a special purpose for; some are even named by God before they are born. So if he can mold the development of a human in the womb, why couldn’t he mold the microevolution of animals.

There were probably two canines, two felines, seven bovines, two equines, and so forth.

So God saw no answer to the violence and evil and wickedness but to destroy the earth. And he found Noah, whom he knew would be faithful, to build an ark so mankind and animal kind could be saved.

Praise God for His ultimate wisdom and love for us. He could have just destroyed the entire world and started over, but he didn’t. He loved us. I remember the story when Jesus and two angels came to earth to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot lived there, and Uncle Abraham was concerned for him, and he pleaded with God. I’m paraphrasing because I’m not smart enough to memorize a lot of scripture, but basically Abraham asks him, “will you destroy Sodom if there are 50 righteous people there? Then Abraham negotiates his way down, and in the end, Lot and his two daughters are saved. Just like Noah and his family were spared from the flood. And in the end, Jesus will destroy the earth again by fire, but before that, he will save the faithful, those who are righteous in His eyes.

Which side will you be on?