THE STORY OF NOAH - A CONTINENTAL FLOOD

Did the story of Noah, as it is described in the book of Genesis, actually happen? There is only one way to discover the answer to that question. If we study it with great attention, we will then be able to answer what seems to us presently as an unanswerable question. Research has brought forward the fact that what we were told in the past, pertaining to biblical stories, is not completely the truth. Therefore, we have no choice but to search for the true answer all by ourselves.

As a new age was dawning upon mankind, God's greatest creation, which is man and woman, had become corrupted with the exception of those who were following the teachings of the Prophet Noah. So God decided that he would save only those who lived according to those good teachings. He then decided to take the prophet Noah and his immediate family under His protective wings. Noah and his sons built and entered into the ark as requested by God. In other words, they took shelter under the arc (ark) of His covenant.

We shall discover very shortly that the story of Noah cannot be accepted literally because it was written symbolically. it was meant to be understood only in such a fashion. That story has many other wonderful meanings and other explanations are definitely a possibility.

This is the story of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, the one blameless man of his time; he walked with God. He had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. Now God saw that the whole world was corrupt and full of violence. In his sight the world had become corrupted, for all men had lived corrupted lives on earth.

God said to Noah, "The loathsomeness of all mankind has become plain to me, for through them the earth is full of violence. I intend to destroy them, and the earth with them. Make yourself an ark with ribs of Cypress ; cover it with reeds and coat it inside and out with pitch. This is to be its plan ; the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its breath fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a roof for the ark, giving it a fall of one cubit when complete; and put a door in the side of the ark, and build three decks, upper, middle, and lower. I intend to bring the waters of the flood over the earth to destroy every human being under heaven that has the spirit of life ; everything on earth shall perish. But with you I shall make a covenant, and you shall go into the ark, you and your sons, your wives and your sons wives with you. And you shall bring living creatures of every kind into the ark to keep them alive with you, two of each kind, a male and a female ; two of every kind of bird, beast, and reptile, shall come to you to be kept alive. See that you take and store every kind of food that can be eaten ; this shall be food for you and for them." Exactly as God had commanded him, so Noah did. Genesis 6 : 9 to 6 : 22

So far the story of Noah seems quite literal, it is telling us that Noah was a righteous man and that he had three sons. Then we are told that the whole world had become corrupted and that it had become full of violence. I wonder if they had any politicians in those days because some of those which we have on our planet these days, and especially in certain countries of our world, surely know what corruption and violence is all about, don't they?

But the story also says that the world was full of violence, does it not? We previously discovered that Cain was the first person who utilized violence when he killed his own brother Abel, it would seem that others had later followed in his footsteps. Perhaps, in those days, mankind had become very violent and went to war against their own kind.

God told Noah that mankind had become disgusting, repulsive, and nauseating (loathsomeness) when he saw them through the eyes of Noah. The story also says that Noah walked with God. It is a saying that is often utilized throughout biblical writings and which means that the Holy Spirit of God was constantly present with Noah. Therefore it is said that he walked with God, meaning that the power of the Spirit of God was constantly available to him. God not only saw the world through the eyes of Noah but He spoke to mankind through him. God always speaks to the world through His prophets and Messengers.

In the particular story, God says that he had decided to destroy His greatest Creation which is mankind. He decided to destroy all of mankind and the earth which they also walked upon. The Lord then tells Noah to build an ark with ribs taken from the cypress tree. The cypress tree which is mentioned contains durable wood, it is a tree that grows as high as 120 feet. The cypress is a wood that is aromatic, hard, dense, and very durable. God also told Noah to utilize reeds for the manufacture of the ark.

Reeds, when dried out, were often utilized for the making of musical instruments and especially for the making of organs. Although, today, metallic reeds are utilized for the manufacture of organs.

There is a sailboat which was manufactured not too long ago, it was built entirely with reeds. It floated well for a while until the reeds began to get waterlogged. If the people who built that sailboat had studied the story of Noah, and had also coated the reeds inside and out with a sealer, they would have discovered that their sailboat made out of reeds would not have gotten waterlogged so soon.

In the biblical story, Noah is told to cover the ark made of Cypress with reeds but he is also told that he must coat the reeds inside and out with some kind of pitch. The cypress wood is a hard and dense wood and, as we know, hard dense woods are also heavy and they do not float very well in the water. However, Noah is told to cover the ark with reeds which he has to seal inside and out with pitch. So the ark is going to be able to float easier by the addition of reeds on the outside of its structure.

Noah is given the dimensions of the ark which he is told to build, in cubits. A cubit is approximately 18 inches long. Therefore, the dimensions given for the building of the ark are 450 feet in length by a width of 75 feet and 45 feet high. Each of the three decks was probably 15 feet high. Noah was even told to insure that the roof of the ark had a fall of 18 inches from the top centre of the ark to its outer sides. The unsinkable boat which Noah was told to build had three decks.

I suspect that Noah lived on the upper deck with his wife and with his three sons who were accompanied with their wives. The animals, two of every kind, probably lived in the lower deck of the ark. The middle deck was probably utilized for the storing of the food supply for Noah's family and for the numerous animals. I also suspect that there were traps which opened in the ceiling of the first floor so that the bigger animals could be fed from above as required. Also it was a good method of transferring the food supplies for the animals from the second floor to the first floor where the animals were probably living.

Another fact which I would like to mention is : there had to be an outside air supply in order to replenish the oxygen which was utilized by the numerous animals living on the bottom floor of the ark. The second floor had to be sealed off from the top floor so that the polluted air from the first floor did not reach Noah's family nor the food supply on the second floor. In the story, Noah is also told that he must bring into the ark living creatures, two of every kind, a male and a female of every species.

Some modern day scientists built a reduced model of Noah's ark. They then tested the model in a big water tank in which they could simulate very high waves. The result of that test was that the ark was unsinkable. They discovered that it was the sturdiest ship that was ever built.

As we continue to study the story of Noah we will discover other hidden secrets which have been laying dormant and which are awaiting to be discovered by someone, so it may as well be ourselves. I strongly believe that everyone is capable of discovering them if he or she wishes to do so. The only way to discover it is to search for it with an open mind. The truth will most certainly not be given to you on a silver platter. In other words, it will not be given to you freely because you are going to have to search for it.

NOAH ENTERS INTO THE ARK

The Lord said to Noah, " Go into the ark, you and all your household; for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs, male and female, of all beasts that are ritually clean, and one pair male and female, of all beasts that are not clean; also seven pairs male and female, of every bird - to insure that life continues on earth. In seven days time I will send rain over the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe off the face of the earth every living thing that I have made." Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. He was six hundred years old when the waters of the flood came upon the earth. Genesis 7 : 1 to 7 : 6

Noah and his three sons have finally assembled the ark which took them seven years (seven days) of labour. He and his sons must have been very good carpenters in order to carry out such a task. Noah is now told that he must enter into the ark with all of his family and obviously with all of the domesticated animals which the Lord had ordered him to assemble together. This time God tells Noah that he must bring into the ark seven pairs of each animal that is ritually clean and one pair of each animal that is not clean.

The dimensions of the ark are only 450 feet long by 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Although the Ark seems to be very big at first hand, there is no possibility that all of the animals which existed on earth at that time could all fit into the ark. Then, perhaps, the story is not true literally, it may have other meanings. The ark may represent something else. It may represent God's covenant with mankind and, in the story, it is represented by the symbolic ark (arc) of God's covenant. Also if Noah and his family accepted to enter into the ark then it may mean that they accepted to be sheltered under that covenant. If you study the writings of the Bible very closely, you will soon discover that every time that it mentions a day it means a year. So Noah is also told that in seven years (7 days) time that the rains (calamities) will begin to fall on all of mankind with the exception of himself and his family.

The rains are said to have lasted for a period of forty days and forty nights which represents a period of forty years. The number forty along with other numbers such as twelve and seven are often utilized mysteriously in biblical writings. Many people who do a deep study of its content often refer to those numbers as magical numbers.

The story says that Noah was 500 years old when the waters of the flood began pouring on the earth. We know that the above statement is not true literally because we were previously told in the writings of Genesis that the new man which God created would not live beyond 120 years. Therefore, the meaning may very well be that the teachings of Noah were still alive five hundred years after Noah began to give those teachings to the people of the continent on which he lived. I must repeat myself, It does not mean that Noah was still alive 500 years after his own birth. No, I strongly believe that it means that his teachings were still alive and were being passed on to the people, although the majority of them did not seem to be paying any attention to the spiritual teachings which had been given to them by the prophet Noah.

We shall soon discover that this particular story pertains to a single continent whose people had become violent against one another, they had become satanic.

And so to escape the waters of the flood, Noah went into the ark with his sons, his wife, and his sons wives. And into the ark with Noah went one pair, male and female, of all beasts, clean and unclean, of birds and of everything that crawls on the ground, two by two, as God has commanded. Towards the end of the seventh days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. In the year when Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month (17 of February), on that very day, all the springs of the great abyss broke through, the windows of the sky were opened, and rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

On that very day Noah entered the ark with his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, his own wife, and his three sons' wives. Animals of every kind, cattle of every kind, reptiles of every kind - all came to Noah in the ark, reptiles of every kind that move upon the ground, and birds of every kind - all came to Noah in the ark, two by two all creatures that had life in them. Those which came were one male and one female of all living things ; they came in as God had commanded Noah, and the Lord closed the door on him.

The flood continued upon the earth for forty days, and the waters swelled and lifted up the ark so that it rose high above the ground. They swelled and increased over the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. The waters continued increasing over the earth until they covered all the high mountains everywhere under heaven. The waters increased and the mountains were covered to a depth of fifteen cubits. Every living creature that moves on earth perished, birds, cattle, wild animals, all reptiles, and all mankind. Everything died that had the breath of life in its nostrils, everything on dry land.

God wiped out every living thing that existed on earth, man and beast, reptile and bird; they were all wiped out over the whole earth, and only Noah and his company survived. The waters had increased over the earth for 150 days. Genesis 7 : 7 to 7 : 24

I strongly suspect that God may have rained fiery meteors on those earthly emplacements so that he could wipe out all life on earth, the same act that He would utilize later on when He destroyed the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is also suspected that He is about to do it again. Tune in to the findings in "Revelation unsealed", in the presentation that has been labelled, "End time prophecies". You will also discover that God is about to do it again, perhaps sooner than anticipated.

As I mentioned previously, the ark into which Noah and his family entered into was not big enough to contain a pair of each of the animals which existed on the earth at that time. Also Noah would have had to travel all around the world in order to fetch all the different species which existed in those days and I suspect that they were very numerous. It would have required an ark to house them which would have to be at least ten times the size of the given dimensions and perhaps even bigger than that. Therefore, we have no choice but to say that the story of Noah has to have other meanings. Perhaps it has symbolic meanings.

It is quite possible that Noah did build an ark for himself and for his immediate family in order to escape a physical flood which some scientist say we were the recipients of sometime in the past. It is also possible that the animals which Noah brought aboard the ark were domesticated animals. Noah was told to bring only a male and a female of every specie to insure that those animals reproduced their own species. However, Noah was also told to bring seven pairs of every type of bird to insure that life continues on earth.

We have to remember that chickens, ducks, geese, pheasants and many other varieties of birds are also good eating and most of those birds, which I mentioned, can reproduce themselves very fast. Could the flood symbolically represent a flood of events, perhaps a very catastrophic event such as a war that was followed by fiery meteors raining down on them?

Some of the events could have been very bad weather conditions while others could have been man-made whereby man had turned satanic and had created all kinds of harmful situations for others like himself in the world of man. Perhaps man also went to war against one another for no apparent reason. Does it not represent some of the situations that are existing in our world presently whereby some countries are warring against other countries, some of them are also warring amongst themselves trying to destroy one another for reasons that are unbelievable in this day and age in which we live in.

The story mentions the fact that, after Noah and his company went into the ark, the Lord closed the door on him. It does not say that Noah or that the Lord closed the door of the ark but it does say that the Lord our God closed the door on him. Was it the door of the ark or was it the door of history which the Lord closed?

The story has to be symbolic because it says that Noah and his family entered the ark, then the rains began. It rained for forty days and forty nights which represents a period of forty years. I doubt very much that anyone could have survived in an ark for a period of forty years. I am certain that the ark would have sprung a few leaks before that time and I also doubt that they could have repaired the ark properly while living inside of it. Could Noah and his family have kept a food supply for his family and for the animals that would last them for a period of forty years? That sounds like an impossibility, does it not?

Did you notice that the flood covered the highest mountain with 22 feet of water. Could this perhaps be referring to a single continent which sank beneath the waves of an ocean?

The following presentation pertains to events that occurred when the flood ended.

The end of the continental flood