Noah’s Family to be Saved

God designed the earth to follow certain principles.  Originally all the animals and man were vegetarians, and they were designed to live forever.  Because of Adam’s choice to disobey God, man gained a conscience, but he lost that capability to live forever.  People began to ignore the principles God set, eating the animals and killing each other, and fighting over food, land, power and mates, just as they do today.  Even the animals were forced to change to survive.   As Genesis 6:11-12 says, “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.  And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.”  Everything on earth had been affected by man’s rebellion. 

Only one man, Noah still considered God’s plan important and followed his principles.  God is a just God who will not destroy those who do what is right.   God spoke to Noah, telling him what was going to happen and what Noah needed to do, in Genesis 6:13-21.  “And God said unto 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, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.  And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.  A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

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.  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.

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.  Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.  And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.” 

God had given authority over his creation to mankind, but man had chosen to follow Satan in rebelling against God and ignoring his principles and messing up every living creature, almost like a cancer spreading in one’s body.   In order to fix the problem, God was going to surgically remove all the infected animals and people, and regrow the population starting with Noah’s family and a few of each species of animal, much like a surgeon removing part of a cancerous organ in hopes of saving the person’s life.  Noah was to build an ark or watertight box larger than any ship built before about 1900 AD to preserve his family and the animals.    He was to stock it with every kind of food that would be required.  Since all the animals had originally been designed as vegetarians, there would be no need for meat to feed the carnivores, and no problems storing it. 

Noah believed God, and he obeyed God’s command, according to Genesis 6:22.  “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.”  It was an enormous undertaking although it appears to have taken far less than the  hundred twenty years tradition claims.