Transcendence

Two: Noah Builds an Ark

The hundreds of years leading up to the flood were good years. The blood line through many generations from Adam to a great man named Noah were during a time when things went well in God's creation. The people reproduced as God saw fit throughout their long lives. It was common that their life spans on earth were more than 900 years. This important blood line was filled with names that led down to the ancestors of Jesus. Though it's not very interesting to read lists of names, it is important to know the connection between Adam and the famous man named Noah, and the reasons God saw a need to flood the entire earth.

Seth, Adam and Eve's son, grew up with his siblings. He married and had many sons and daughters. He was 105 years old when he had Enosh. Ninety years later Enosh had a son named Kenan. Seventy years after that Kenan became the father of Mahalalel. Sixty-five years down the road Mahalalel had a son named Jared. Jared was 162 when his wife gave him Enoch. When Enoch lived sixty-five years he became the father of Methuselah. (Each of these men had many other sons and daughters - I am simply listing the lineage to Noah. )

Hundreds of years, and many generations passed by during this time of mostly peace on earth. God had harsh punishments for sinners, he was personal with the people of that time. He talked directly to them and they worshiped him openly. The people were obedient because they feared God, but also because they understood the many blessings they had were from Him. They were thankful.

Enoch walked with God and lived for 365 years. Enoch was an exceptionally faithful man, who pleased God. He did not die, instead God took him away from the earth. He simply was no more. 

When Enoch's son Methuselah was 187 years old he became the father of Lamech. Methuselah, like his ancestors, lived a long life and had many other sons and daughters. He died when he was 969 years old, making him the longest living person on earth. ( If you have ever heard the saying: 'that's as old as Methuselah' - you now know what it is in reference to. )

182 years down the road Methuselah's son Lamech had a boy and named him Noah. Lamech knew Noah was a blessing from the Lord and he claimed that Noah would comfort all of them in the great and painful toil of their hands caused by the curse on the ground that the Lord had inflicted because of Adam and Eve's sin.

It was at this time, during Noah's childhood and years on earth, when people started slipping away from obedience to God. These years went from very good to slipping into sin in a relatively short time in God's eyes, which was hundreds of years in actuality. The earth began to fill up with corruption and evil, the Lord could see man's hearts were full of wickedness. The Lord grieved that he had made man and it had turned out so bad. His heart was filled with pain for his creation. He had created a perfect world full of love, peace, and happiness, yet people kept choosing sin over faith.

For hundreds of years more, as Noah grew older, God watched evil continue to grow throughout the earth. The Lord saw that his people would not change which forced his hand and he then made the hard decision that he would wipe mankind from the face of the earth, and wipe clean the world he had created.

Yet this man Noah, who grew up as an honest and upright man, found favor in God's eyes. He was a blameless man who walked with God. When he was 500 years old he had three sons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth. God saw that Noah and his family had pure hearts. He had found this in no other family. He decided when he wiped mankind from the earth he would spare them.

God told Noah of his plans to destroy all life on earth and wipe it clean of the violence. He then told Noah exactly what he needed to do to save his family from the destruction about to come. God explained that flood waters would come, and all lifeform under heaven will perish. He explained to Noah how to build an ark. He was very detailed in the exact measurements He expected Noah to use. He also told him to bring into the ark pairs of every animal, to keep the various kinds alive.