The Ark and the Flood: So Noah, with his sons, his wife,

and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. .... So those that entered, male and female of all flesh (the animals two by two), went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in ( Gen. 7:7,16). God commanded the dimension of the the ark to be 300 x 50 x 30 cubits (Genesis 6:15). A cubit is estimated to be between 18 and 22 inches. At 18 inches this gives dimensions as 50 x 75 x 45 feet. To give some idea of the size,  the Titanic was 850 x 92 x 64.  They've  made a full size replica in Kansas (see pictures on the WEB). I'm told that such an ark is totally floatable (7:18), and it's certainly big enough to hold all “kinds” of animals (pun intended 6:20 NJKV).

Commenting on “the Lord shut him in,” Schaefer (Genesis in Space and Time p. 99) says “I am thankful that Noah did not have to shut the door.  Knowing that men would soon be drowning all around him, I don’t know how Noah could have done it.  But he wasn’t asked to,  he was asked to be faithful - a preacher of righteousness”  (2 Peter 2:5).  And why hard? Well we have a similar message to the one Noah gave, judgement is coming,  and there is only one way to escape it.  It's interesting that Jesus connects His second coming with the time of Noah.  “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man (Luke 17:26). Paul,  prophesied accurately of these last days when he wrote that they will be terrible,   “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure .... having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:2-5).

It was the same then for “wickedness was great in the earth” (Genesis 6:5). And what was the way of escape?  Well all those who came into the ark would escape.  Likewise for  “those in Christ,  there is now therefore no condemnation”  (Romans 8:1). There was plenty of room in the ark, and the invitation was to believe and follow the obedience of Noah's faith (Hebrews 11:7). Likewise  “Whosoever will may come,  come and  let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).  Back then it would have cost Noah to stand against the flow, likewise today at various levels we experience backlash and persecution.  In fact  “all those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). Compared with what is going on in some parts of the world, persecution is pretty tame in the West. And just perhaps this reflects how little godliness there is in Christ's body the Church.  

Father, You tell us we are to be in the world, but not of the world. And I come to You this morning,  confessing my part,  and the part of Your church,  in not being in the world, our being isolated from it, but at the same time being of the world (Romans 12:2).  Lord show us how to live as yeast for the Kingdom,  and so to do our part in Kingdom come,  will of God be done here on earth in Jesus Name Amen