Category: Noah’s ark

The Case for Right Division #3

Monday, May 22, 2023

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).

Can today’s Scripture deliver someone from absolute stupidity before he or she literally perishes in it? (Yes!)

In Christendom, the usual criterion for determining truth and error is whether or not the teaching is “Scriptural” (or “Biblical”). However, this is not enough, since false cults, denominations, and sects are all Scriptural or Biblical to some degree. Believe it or not, even Satan does not mind being Biblical if it might accomplish his will (see Matthew 4:5,6; Luke 4:9-11; cf. Psalm 91:11,12)! We must be Biblical and dispensational!!!

Consider this simple example from Genesis chapter 6: “[13] And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. [14] Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch…. [17] And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.”

Is it “Scriptural,” is it “Biblical,” to construct a boat so as to survive an impending global flood? Why, of course, it is Scriptural or Biblical—Noah did it and we read of it in the Scriptures, in the Bible. Still, it is foolish to try to obey verses that have nothing to do with us. If the average church member had any spiritual sense, he or she would laugh if we began constructing an ark to prepare for the flood of Genesis chapter 6. Yet, they seldom stop and contemplate a sad fact: their denominational system has directed them to be just as sloppy and silly with the Scriptures. What they need to do is start being Biblical and dispensational so they can recover themselves out of the snare of the devil (2 Timothy 2:24-26)….

Eight Billion!

Friday, November 18, 2022

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Genesis 6:11,12 KJV).

Friend, Earth’s human population has just surpassed eight billion!

While the Holy Bible never supplies any figures as to how many people were on Earth in the days of Noah and the Great Flood, we know their lifespan was literally hundreds of years because of unique atmospheric conditions, a purer genetic makeup, and a lack of world wars (read Genesis chapter 5, which means exactly what it says!). There may have been hundreds of millions to perhaps a few billion people alive when Noah and his family boarded the Ark! Whatever the total number of inhabitants, we can only speculate, but here is what we do know: just eight survived the global Flood of Genesis chapters 6–8 (1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5).

Concerning modern history, we have the following data. World human population was one billion in 1804, two billion in 1927, three billion in 1960, four billion in 1974, five billion in 1987, six billion in 1999, and seven billion in 2011. Thinking of it another way, whereas it took 200 years to add five billion (1800–2000), it has taken us only the last 20 years to add the final two billion. Yet, it is speculated it will take us about 60 years to reach 10 billion, because the global population growth rate has fallen since 1950. In the mid-20th century, it was five children per woman, but that has been reduced to 2.4. Global life expectancy has increased from 64 years in 1990 to 73 years now, largely because of advances in healthcare and medicine, so people are living longer and that plays a substantial role in maintaining an enormous global population.

What is Earth’s “carrying capacity?” That is, how many humans can its resources sustain? No one really knows because the value depends on several factors, including how greedy we are now and will be in the future. Today’s Scripture, though thousands of years old, is an up-to-date description of our modern world, as God in His marvelous grace now tolerates eight billion sinners!

Found Out and Fractured in Twain #8

Saturday, January 16, 2021

“But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23 KJV).

Doubtless, we never want to sensationalize or exaggerate. However, the fact remains, some dark days are ahead for the United States and the rest of the world. What can we Bible-believing Christians do?

Noah’s descendants exited the Ark in Genesis chapter 9, but within a few centuries it was clear they had no intention of obeying God’s command to scatter (verse 1; cf. Genesis 1:26-28). Read chapter 11: “[1] And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. [2] And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. [3] And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. [4] And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

“[5] And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. [6] And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. [7] Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. [8] So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. [9] Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

They united around pagan idolatry, so God invented human languages to force them to disperse. Once more, man’s sin found him out and fractured him in twain….

Our latest Bible Q&A: “What exactly is the ‘Fall’ of man?”

Found Out and Fractured in Twain #7

Friday, January 15, 2021

“But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23 KJV).

Doubtless, we never want to sensationalize or exaggerate. However, the fact remains, some dark days are ahead for the United States and the rest of the world. What can we Bible-believing Christians do?

Approximately 15 centuries after Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden, Genesis chapter 6 reveals to what depths Satan and wicked mankind went in their attempt to disrupt (undo) God’s purpose and plan in the Earth: “[1] And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, [2] That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. [3] And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. [4] There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

“[5] And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. [6] And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. [7] And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. [8] But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Due to a strange case of devil possession and human/devil reproduction, God brings about the Great Flood to punish that generation of rebellious creatures. As chapters 7 and 8 report, Noah is commissioned to build an Ark: all creatures and people not aboard it die in the floodwaters of judgment. Sin has again found out mankind and fractured it in twain….

Who Will Go? #3

Friday, July 24, 2020

“Also I heard the voice of the LORD, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 6:8 KJV).

May we agree with the Prophet Isaiah!

Noah’s call to the ministry is Genesis chapter 6: “[13] And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. [14] Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch…. [17] And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

“[18] But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. [19] And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. [20] Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. [21] And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. [22] Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” (For the next 120 years, Noah proceeded to build the Ark and preach; Genesis 6:3 cf. 2 Peter 2:5.)

The Prophet Hosea’s ministry was entirely unique. “The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son” (Hosea 1:2,3). Hosea’s tragic relationship with his twice-unfaithful wife perfectly pictures Israel and Judah cheating on JEHOVAH God with idols.

Let us likewise obey our call to the ministry….

A Storm Is Coming! #7

Monday, June 29, 2020

“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26,27 KJV).

Storms are a common theme in the prophetic Scriptures, but rarely is their connection recognized and their inclusion understood. If we are to appreciate them as Almighty God intended, we must delineate and examine their respective passages.

Concerning the Great Flood of Noah’s day, an old world was destroyed, cleansed of all unbelievers, and replaced with a new world. A believing remnant on an Ark survived, just as Israel’s Little Flock outlasts Daniel’s 70th Week (the seven-year Tribulation). In the case of Jonah’s tempest, rebellious Israel (who refused to be God’s preachers to the Gentiles) is now converted in the Tribulation. In the Millennium, Israel reaches the world with God’s Word (as reformed Jonah ultimately preached to Nineveh).

As touching the storm of Matthew chapter 7, Jewish unbelievers are spiritually destroyed under the Antichrist, while Messianic Jews (believers in Jesus) are spiritually saved to enter Christ’s 1,000-Year Kingdom. Regarding the tempest of chapter 8, Christ is present with Israel’s Little Flock during their time of testing (Daniel’s 70th Week). He ensures their safety “to the other side:” they enter His kingdom and enjoy blessings of physical and spiritual healing. Satan is removed from Earth! Concerning the storm of chapter 14, Jesus is away, His return postponed. Then, believing Israel sees His Second Coming, when He tramples their enemies (unbelievers, especially the Antichrist). The nation confesses Jesus as the Son of God: there is spiritual healing, God’s righteousness imputed to Israel.

Enoch, who lived before the Great Flood (Genesis 5:21-24), preached: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (Jude 14,15). Christ’s Second Coming loops back to the Great Flood (cf. today’s Scripture). All these storms preview various aspects of the future “storm” of Israel and the world!

Our latest Bible Q&As: “Does Acts 7:14 have a mistake?,” “Does Acts 7:16 have a mistake?,” and “Does Acts 7:43 have mistakes?”

A Storm Is Coming! #6

Sunday, June 28, 2020

“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26,27 KJV).

Storms are a common theme in the prophetic Scriptures, but rarely is their connection recognized and their inclusion understood. If we are to appreciate them as Almighty God intended, we must delineate and examine their respective passages.

In the context of today’s Scripture (verses 26-37; cf. Matthew 24:36-41), Jesus Christ links the Great Flood of Noah’s day to His Second Coming. Therefore, in the “Circumcision” or “Hebrew” Epistles at the end of our Bible—Hebrews through Revelation—we find several references to Noah and the Great Deluge. Noah’s experience was a type or preview of another major event, and this concerns Israel’s future.

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Hebrews 11:7). “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water” (1 Peter 3:20). “And [God] spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;…” (2 Peter 2:5).

“[3] Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, [4] And saying, Where is the promise of his [Christ’s] coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. [5] For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: [6] Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:…” (2 Peter 3:3-6).

Israel is to take the various “storm” passages in Scripture and see her future therein….

Not Many Likes

Friday, July 26, 2019

“And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5 KJV).

If social media were around in Noah’s time, how many “likes,” “shares,” “views,” and “re-tweets” would he have had?

Brethren, let us never (ever!) forget that we are not (NOT!) in the grace ministry to see how many “likes” we can get on Facebook, “views” on YouTube, “re-tweets” on Twitter, or “shares” and “subscribers” on any other internet platform. We are not (NOT!) in the grace ministry to see how many names and addresses we can add to our mailing list, or how many subscribers to our television shows, radio programs, and podcasts. “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12).

Honestly, if the Lord Jesus Christ Himself had social media accounts, He would have few friends. Actually, He would soon be banned for being “homophobic,” “xenophobic,” “misogynistic,” “Islamophobic,” and so on. When His orating got tough, the offended got going! “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him” (John 6:66).

Have you realized Bible truth is unpopular? We do not find many who have trusted—let alone, know—the Gospel of the Grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). We find few English-speaking Christians faithfully using the King James Bible. We do not find many Christians who are Pauline dispensationalists. Thus, when we share those doctrines, we should never expect widespread endorsements. So what! We are not in a popularity contest. Remember, our endeavor is to please God rather than men (Galatians 1:10); we seek God’s praise (cf. John 12:43). We are servants of Jesus Christ not mortal man (Romans 6:22).

In today’s Scripture, what ordinal number do we see? “One millionth?” (No!) “Ten-thousandth?” (No!) “One-hundredth?” (No!) “Tenth?” (No!) Noah was “the eighth person!” That meant, after 120 years of preaching, he converted seven people: his wife, their three sons, and their three wives entered the Ark with him (Genesis 6:3,18; Genesis 7:7; Genesis 8:16). The rest of the human souls on Earth—perhaps a few billion—drowned. Wow!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “How could God forbid Jeremiah to pray for His people?”

The LORD Shut Him In

Monday, January 22, 2018

“And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in” (Genesis 7:16 KJV).

Who shut whom in?

It is commonly assumed that Noah shut the door after he, his family, and all the animals entered the Ark. However, Scripture says, “the LORD shut him in:” it was an act of Almighty God. Had Noah shut the door, there was no guarantee it would stay closed. He might not have pulled hard enough, or secured it tightly enough. Since God closed it, though, it certainly could not be opened.

Why was it important that God shut the Ark’s door? Remember what was aboard: the last remaining eight people, the last of the beasts of the field, the last remaining fowls of the air, and the last of the creeping things. All these creatures would have been exposed to the extreme weather outside and would have surely died. Satan had tried to corrupt the whole human race before the Flood; he failed. Now, he would try to destroy it entirely (when God intended survivors). The good news is that what God does, Satan cannot undo. Dear, friends, not even Satan could open that Ark door!

Jesus Christ told Israel’s believing remnant: “[27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: [28] And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. [29] My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. [30] I and my Father are one” (John 10:27-30). Noah’s secure Ark pictured that Little Flock that will live during the end-times, to survive God’s judgment in an “ark” themselves (1 Peter 3:20,21).

The Apostle Paul spoke of himself as a secure member of the Body of Christ, not because of his faithfulness but because of God’s ability: “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep [guard] that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12). 🙂

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Do Matthew 9:18, Mark 5:23, and Luke 8:42 contradict?”

Resolute to Speak in Christ!

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

“For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:17 KJV).

Despite all the corrupters, we will keep God’s Word pure!

I periodically receive emails from discouraged grace believers, people “beaten up” by denominationalists. Whether in-person or on social media, they have encountered much opposition. (I know!) Individuals constantly attack the King James Bible as “faulty” and “a mere translation.” Jesus Christ’s crosswork means nothing to them because their religious works mean everything to them. There is much anti-grace rhetoric (legalism). Individuals viciously ridicule the Apostle Paul. Dispensational Bible study is questioned and denigrated as “nutty” and “cultic.”

This should neither surprise nor discourage us. Whether today, or throughout Bible history, very few follow Father God. Never forget, my dear brethren, Noah preached for 120 years, and all he converted was seven precious souls (2 Peter 2:5)! Untold millions mocked and refused to hear him, thus perishing in the Great Deluge. Pride kept them from entering that Ark, eternally damning them. Even today, pride keeps billions of lost people from being saved by trusting Christ as personal Saviour (1 Timothy 2:4). Moreover, pride prevents millions of Christians from “coming to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

Some 2,000 years ago, people were “wresting” (perverting) the Scriptures—especially Paul’s epistles—to their spiritual destruction (2 Peter 3:15,16). When we learn of so many people today vilifying Jesus Christ, the King James Bible, Paul, and dispensational Bible study, we recall today’s Scripture: “For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.”

A disheartened grace believer recently wrote to me concerning the hostility: “After it’s done beating me up a bit I tend to try to redouble my resolve to know the word of grace.” In other words, the opposition motivates him to endeavor to learn about God’s grace even more! (It took me years to gain that same attitude, but I agree 1000 percent!!) The more they question God’s truth; the more we reinforce it in our minds, over and over and over again. Daily, constantly, eternally! 🙂