Genesis 6:16-18
[16] You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
[17] Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.
[18] But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark – you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
This is Genesis Lecture 103.
When God gave the instructions for the building materials and the structure of Noah’s ark, they all had spiritual meanings.
By putting the meanings in them, God taught how Noah and his descendants should live in the future, and what they should learn from the judgment of flood.
Now, I proceed to Genesis 6:16.
God said, “You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.”
God ordered Noah to make a window and the door for the ark.
Once the judgment was over, the genealogy of human history would restart by Noah’s descendants.
They would be fruitful and multiply, and populate the earth.
What God said was for Noah’s descendants to open the door to the world just as they made a window and the door for the ark.
They should not shut the door to isolate themselves from the world just because they believe in God; instead they should rather open it wide.
There is just one condition– that they should not be mixed with the world.
When God said, “Cover the ark inside and out with pitch,” it had the same meaning.
While they should be completely separated from the world and not stained by it, they should open the window and the door to the world, and play the role of spiritual light and salt.
Instead of turning their backs on the dark world where sin and evil are rampant, they should shine the light of spirit to actively defeat the darkness.
Just like salt, they should purify the place where plutocracy and corruption are rampant.
If they turn their back on the world just because the church and its members should be separated from the world, who would preach the gospel?
Without preaching gospel, how can they enlarge the kingdom of God?
For this, we need to learn the heart and attitude that the Apostle Paul had.
In 1 Corinthians 9:19-22, Apostle Paul said, “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.”
To save just one more soul, he approached people accordingly and preached the gospel to them.
He didn’t force the Gospel on others just because the gospel that he preached was good.
To help the gospel be completely absorbed by each and every person, he first considered and understood their respective situations.
I urge you to become the light of the world in this way.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world.”
He meant that you shouldn’t shine the light only in your church, but you should shine it also into the world.
You should not speak and behave the way worldly people do at work or in the home and virtuous at church.
Candlelight that shines light while melting itself shines everywhere.
So do the members who play the role of the light.
If they shine the light in their church, the light will not go out at home.
In Matthew 5:16, Jesus taught us how to become the light of the world.
He said, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
It means your good works that you show are the light that shines in the world.
If you do the good works that the worldly people cannot imitate, the world will say, “Truly the church goers are different,” and acknowledge you.
Eventually, God the Father will be glorified.
This is the will of God the Father who had Noah make a window and the door for the ark.
Next, let me explain the spiritual meaning of “making the ark with lower, second, and third decks.”
It means that you should think of God the Trinity in your heart all the time, and never let go of Him.
And it also shows that the history of human cultivation can be divided into 3 periods.
First, it is the period of God the LORD when God the Father Himself conducts the ministry.
Second, it is the period of the Lord when Jesus comes to this earth and performs His ministry.
Last, it is the period of the Holy Spirit which is from when the Lord resurrected and ascended to the time when human cultivation ends.
Therefore, at the turning point of human cultivation – the Judgment of the Flood – God clearly showed through the structure of the ark that the governor of history is God the Trinity.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
After God the Father told Noah about the design of the ark, He proclaimed again that He would judge the world with the flood.
God the Father said in Genesis 6:17, “Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.”
In this verse, He explained again how the flood would take place.
God said that He would bring the flood upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life.
Here, ‘All flesh in which is the breath of life’ refers to all the people except the eight of Noah’s family and all the land animals and birds excluding the animals in the water.
I explained in the previous lecture why God destroy all the animals along with people.
It was because the land animals and birds had something to do with the fall of human beings.
That is, people made idols from the image of those animals and served them.
It is just as Romans 1:23 says, “and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”
Along with this reason, the animals and birds are ruled by man and they belong to people; this is why God destroyed them with the people.
Simply put, God made them jointly responsible and held them collectively accountable to the same level.
By the way, you should pay attention here; God said that He would bring the flood of water ‘upon the earth.’
It doesn’t only mean that He would destroy all the people on the earth and all the animals.
It contains the meaning that He would completely destroy the entire foundation for life itself.
This makes it possible to imagine how great the changes would take place on this earth due to the flood.
In fact, this flood of judgment didn’t only because the earth to be submerged under the water as the sea level rose.
Because of the flood, the earth experienced huge diastrophism (large scale destruction of the Earth’s crust).
And as its result, the earth faced a completely different environment unlike before.
Its topography was completely changed, and so was its weather.
The ecosystem was changed a lot as well.
Let me explain more how the topography could be changed due to the flood.
Genesis 7:24 says, “The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.”
Although it rained for 40 days, the entire earth was submerged under the water for 150 days.
And it took 150 days or more until the water drained and the earth dried.
What would happen to the earth if it was under the water completely for 150 days?
Would the surface of the earth be still like a calm lake? No way!
The earth is in between the sun and the moon, and hence gravitation takes place.
Because of this force of gravity (the sun and the moon cause the earth to be attracted towards each other), the water bulges on both sides of the earth.
In addition to this, the earth rotates every day.
While the earth is rotating, the water is affected by gravity, which causes (currents in the water) that sweep over the surface of the earth.
This sweeping of the water on the earth erodes high regions such as mountains.
And the water pushes the ground and piles it on the plain lower place.
This phenomenon took place on the entire earth for 5 months.
As its result, most of civilizations that existed before the flood were destroyed.
As the water drained, a new topography was formed.
This is the meaning of what God said; He would completely destroy the entire living foundation itself.
Dear brothers and sisters.
In Genesis 6:18, God said to Noah, “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark – you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”
Here, ‘My covenant’ that God mentioned was this; He would save Noah and his family from the judgment of flood and restart the history of human cultivation with them.
As God said that ‘He would establish His covenant,’ God revealed His strong will that He would surely accomplish what He planned.
God keeps and accomplishes by all means His covenant that He establishes in His name.
It is just as Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
And God Himself said in Isaiah 55:11, “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
It doesn’t mean, however, that He uses His supreme and absolute power to accomplish what He says.
He does everything in justice.
He prepares within justice so that Satan cannot bring accusations.
In order to accomplish His will, He prepares in advance and governs situations and surroundings.
To save Noah and his family from the judgment of Great Flood, He had worked long before.
He had Noah’s direct ancestors receive God’s mercy so that they could revere God.
And Noah inherited this faith in God from his ancestors.
Noah himself revered God and lived a life distinct from the sinful world.
So did Noah’s wife, his children, and his daughters-in-law.
It was not that they were saved unconditionally just because they were Noah’s family.
They themselves learned from Noah’s teaching, and they followed the will of God that Noah explained.
The result was that they could also possess faith that could save them from the judgment of the Great Flood.
And thus, God could establish the covenant with Noah.
As you can see, when God establishes a covenant, it becomes effective only when the counterpart of the covenant meets the proper justice.
For example, think of the Israelites that escaped from Egypt.
When Israelites lived as slaves in Egypt, God promised to lead them out of Egypt into the land of Canaan.
But it was their second generation who actually entered Canaan.
Among the 1st generation who were given the direct promise from God, only Joshua and Caleb entered Canaan.
Did God break the promise? No, He didn’t.
God kept the promise faithfully.
It was most of the 1st generation of Exodus that didn’t believe in God’s promise, but doubted.
When they faced difficulties in reality, they rather held grudges against God and complained.
Only Joshua and Caleb believed in the promise of God until the end.
And so, Numbers 32:11-12 says, “None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed the LORD fully.”
Eventually, Caleb earned the hill country of Hebron, and made it their inheritance for generation after generation.
As you can see, the unchanging faith can fill the justice so that the promise of God will become real.
Of course, Moses didn’t doubt the promise of God, either. But he had to take the responsibility as their leader.
He led the Israelites until just before the entry into the land of Canaan and finished his duty, he entered Heaven, which is by far a much better place than the land of Canaan.
It is written in Ezekiel 36:36-37, “”Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the LORD, have spoken and will do it.” Thus says the Lord GOD, “This also I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their men like a flock.””
Once God the Father proclaims His words, He will surely keep them.
However, you must seek for His words to be accomplished.
