© 14 Colin Melbourne
Ephesians 1:1-2 KJV;
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
God, the Holy Spirit, wrote via the apostle Paul to believers;
Grace be to you…
So terrible was the sight
That’s the exact same Almighty God who blazed atop Mount Sinai issuing the Law, through His chosen messenger, Moses. All else who dared set foot on the mount were struck dead. Heb. 12:20-21 KJV;
For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:
Grace be to you
That is the same LORD who chose Noah and his family, commanding him to build an Ark, symbolic of Christ Jesus, graciously sparing them alone from the coming Judgment.
Not even Noah merited salvation from divine wrath
True science always confirms the Holy Bible, and there’s plenty of scientific evidence for the Flood and Creation. Evidence for Creation and the Flood
Though less wicked than his fellow creatures, Noah inherited Adam and Eve’s fallen nature, and so warranted damnation like each of us.
More righteous than those around him indulging their sinful natures, but his righteousness fell far short of God’s Glory. Rom. 3:23 KJV;
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Polishing Your Halo?
Remind yourself, should you ever feel deserving of God’s mercy because of a puffed-up sense of merit, flushed with good deeds, and Christian service.
Not even the Patriarch Noah, nor the giant of faith Abraham, deserved Heaven.
They were sinners by nature and deed, bereft of the glory of God.
What about you?
How’s your halo?
None is righteous, but Christ alone, who never sinned.
Nobody makes Heaven but by the grace of God in Christ Jesus, even Noah. Gen. 6:8 KJV;
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
End of the World: Act 1
The LORD looked on His fallen Creation, grieved in Heart that He had created mankind; it was time for Judgment, the destruction of every creature on Earth. Gen. 6:5-7 KJV;
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
We salute Noah, Father of this post-diluvian new world, from whom all human flesh has descended.
He stood up for the LORD against the condemned; they ignored God: Noah trusted and obeyed Him.
Noah put his whole heart into keeping the word of the Lord, invested his life in building the Ark to save Creation from the coming Judgment.
Fools derided and mocked whilst he proclaimed God’s message.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD
Oh Glory, what a gracious merciful God we have for our Father!
Despite his valiant obedience, Noah still required God’s grace in order to be saved.
How can we be certain?
Because grace is unmerited favour. If he’d merited salvation, Noah would not have needed to find grace, would he?
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Eph. 2:4-10 KJV;
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
As it ever was, For by grace are ye saved through faith…
The grace that saved Noah and his Family depended on the promise of the coming Christ, who would pay the price for their sins, once and for all.
Noah, Abraham, Moses et. al. lived by the grace of God on the credit of the Coming Christ.
He has since; come, born under God’s Law, obeyed it perfectly, redeemed mankind with His sinless Blood, and sealed the New Covenant under which believers now live in Him: Within God’s Ark.
End of the World: Act 2
An Asian fellowship I know has made their church building shaped like a huge traditional Noah’s Ark*, with planks, decks and rooms. They point sinners to the LORD Jesus Christ to pass the forthcoming Judgment of fire.
Time’s running out. Let’s tell the world before God shuts the door forever. Gen. 7:16 KJV;
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
* Tradition errantly depicts Noah’s Ark as boat-like: It was not a boat shape; the Bible ark-blueprint is a box or coffin-like structure.
Smith Wigglesworth became England’s greatest Evangelist. Mighty signs and wonders accompanied his preaching, just as in Bible days.
Smith’s message was Christ and the power Jesus promised and sent at Pentecost. Read, enjoy and develop Ever Increasing Faith.
© 14 Colin Melbourne