Adam & Eve Part 1
After Adam and Eve sinned against God they were thrown out of the garden of Eden. Then they began to have children and all of their children were just like them--disobedient sinners. A few of them however found sight in God's eyes because they obeyed God. The rest were exceeding wicked and cruel. Men did all sorts of wicked things. In those days, there were giants in the earth and violence was everywhere!
God looked down upon the earth that He had created and He was grieved. He made a beautiful earth for man to dwell in peace and righteousness. God lovingly made the earth and the animals and the plants and the stars so that man would be happy. God made man so that they could be friends. But God looked down and saw how man hated God and hated other men. Men were killing each other and taking each others wives. Men loved themselves and not God. They did not listen to His holy commandments, they ignored Him. God was exceeding grieved in His heart. He repented that He had even made man on the earth.
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."
But in the whole earth there was one man who found grace in the eyes of the LORD. There was only ONE man who was doing right and obeying the Lord. His name was Noah. Noah was just and He walked with God. He listened to God and did things the good and holy way instead of being wicked like the rest of the people. Noah was 500 years old and had three sons whose names were Shem, Ham, and Japeth. In those days, men lived a long time, but God told them even then that He would eventually set the limits on man's days at 120 years. Not too many people live to be 120 years old nowadays.
God looked upon the earth, and behold, all flesh was corrupt. God said to 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. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark..."
God then told Noah how to make the ark. He told him to make the ark 300 cubits long--that's longer than a football field! He told him to put pitch on it. Pitch is like tar. It kept the ark sealed up. God also told Noah to make a window on top of the ark and a door on the side of it. The ark was to be three stories high. What a vessel!
Then God told Noah what He was going to do. He said,
"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."
God was very serious. Men were hurting and killing and robbing and stealing and lying and sinning continually. Only Noah was seeking the Lord. How disappointing. God made man and loved man, but man hated God and His ways. Therefore, God decided to destroy the unrighteous by bringing the biggest flood in the history of the world.
But since Noah was faithful to the Lord, God said unto Him,
"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."
In other words, God was going to save Noah and his family from the worldwide flood by placing them in the ark where they would be safe.
God had more instructions for Noah. God cared about the little animals.
"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."
God told Noah to bring every kind of animal on the ark--one male and one female, that is a pair. God said that each little animal would come to Noah so Noah would keep them alive. God sent the animals right to Noah! What a sight that must have been. Of course, Noah did not bring fish on the ark because they would not drown from the flood--they live in water!
God also told Noah to collect food for Noah and for the animals for their stay on the ark. Noah had to gather A LOT of food to feed all those people and animals. Noah obeyed God and did everything that God told him to. It took Noah a LONG TIME to build the ark and gather all the food that they would need while they were on the ark. Remember, he had to collect food for himself, his wife, his three sons, and his sons' three wives PLUS he had to collect food for all the animals that were going to be on board the ark.
The ark was completed when Noah was 600 years old! It took 100 years to build it! After it was finished, God told Noah,
"Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation."
God went on to tell him to take seven pairs of each of the clean beasts onto the ark and one pair of each of the unclean beasts. He also commanded him to take birds onto the ark by sevens to keep their seed alive upon the face of all the earth. Then God told Noah,
"For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth."
Can you imagine what that was like? To know that in one week, God was going to cover the whole earth with deep, dark water. To know that your neighbors were going to be killed in one week? Noah's neighbors probably laughed at him for building such a huge ark on dry land. The Bible says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness--but nobody listened to him. Nobody believed that God would destroy the wicked. But they were very wrong. They had had 100 years to repent and follow God, but they would not.