Noah’s Ark: God Shut the Door

Noah built the ark.

But who shut the door?

Violence had spread across the earth as people turned toward evil.

Yet God showed favor to Noah.

Among the people of his generation, Noah lived an upright, blameless life.

He walked with God.

Noah followed God's instructions for the ark.

He built it from gopherwood, with many rooms, and sealed it with pitch, inside and out.

The ark was three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.

It had three levels, a window near the top, and an entrance in its side.

Eight people boarded the ark: Noah and his wife, their three sons, and each son's wife.

Animals of different kinds came to Noah and entered as well, both male and female.

Noah had done everything God had told him to do.

And once they were all inside, "the LORD shut him in."

Water burst from the depths below.

Above them, the heavens opened, and the rain began.

It fell for forty days and forty nights.

The water rose until even the highest hills were covered.

For a hundred and fifty days, the floodwaters remained strong.

"Then God remembered Noah."

God sent a wind, and the waters began to recede.

The ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat.

Later, after more waiting, a dove returned one evening with a freshly picked olive leaf.

In time, the ground dried completely.

Noah built an altar and offered burnt offerings and God promised that a flood would never again destroy the earth.

And the rainbow became the sign of that everlasting covenant.