Recently my Pastor mentioned Genesis 6:22 in passing while preaching. He used the verse to help make a point. Yet this simple verse struck me in a new way. Many Christians today pick and choose the commands they want to follow. Yet we read in Genesis 6:22 that Noah did all God commanded when building the ark.
Genesis 6:22 (ESV)
22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
From verses 14–21, God gives Noah a list of commands on about the ark he is to build. He also gave instructions as to what all to bring into the ark with his family. As we see in the above verse Noah did not just follow some of God’s commands. He followed them all to the tee. Emphasis on all, every single thing God commanded Noah did.
Noah was faced with a decision similar to the one that we have today. Obey the commands of God and live. Or choose not to listen to God and ultimately perish. This decision may sound easier than the one we have today, trusting in heaven we have not seen. But you must remember that up until this point it had never rained on the earth.
Genesis 2:5 (ESV)
5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,
Hebrews 11:7 (ESV)
7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
Even though Noah had never seen the rain God described. Just as we have never seen the heaven described to us. He still did all God commanded not just some. Not just the easy low hanging fruit. No, Noah did it all, no matter how hard it was. Or how strange or even unnecessary it may have seemed to him.
You see Noah was able to be saved because he was righteous and faithful. Yet had he not followed all God’s commands in building the ark, we cannot believe it would have floated. Because he followed all of God’s commands he waw able to bring his family and the animals safely through the storm. It was only by Noah’s obedience in building the ark that he received the salvation he was promised.
Christians today are expected to follow all the commands presented to us by God in His word. Just as we see Noah did in his time. So the question arises If you were to build the ark the same way you live your life for Christ would your ark float? Or would it remain on the ground as the waters rise around it?
Matthew 28:20 (ESV)
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Luke 11:28 (ESV)
28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
2 John 6 (ESV)
6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.
Revelation 14:12 (ESV)
12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
Don’t follow the trend of our culture and choose not to follow all God’s commands. It is plain in the verse above that we are expected to follow all God commands not just some. The things you choose to leave out may be the exact thing needed to keep your ark floating. Bringing you safely through the storms of life into salvation.
Hopefully, you are looking at the way you are living a little different than the way you were before. The good news is that if you are reading this the floodwaters have not overtaken you yet. There is still time to patch the holes in your ark by deciding now to obey all God’s commands.
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