The Flood Recedes
1But God remembered Noah and all the animals in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear. 2The underground water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rains stopped. 3So the flood gradually began to recede. After 150 days, 4exactly five months from the time the flood began, the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5Two and a half months later, as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks began to appear.
6After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat 7and released a raven that flew back and forth until the earth was dry. 8Then he sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground. 9But the dove found no place to land because the water was still too high. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside. 10Seven days later, Noah released the dove again. 11This time, toward evening, the bird returned to him with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Noah now knew that the water was almost gone. 12A week later, he released the dove again, and this time it did not come back.
13Finally, when Noah was 601 years old, ten and a half months after the flood began, Noah lifted back the cover to look. The water was drying up. 14Two more months went by, and at last the earth was dry! 15Then God said to Noah, 16"Leave the boat, all of you. 17Release all the animals and birds so they can breed and reproduce in great numbers." 18So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat. 19And all the various kinds of animals and birds came out, pair by pair.
20Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and sacrificed on it the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. 21And the LORD was pleased with the sacrifice and said to himself, "I will never again curse the earth, destroying all living things, even though people's thoughts and actions are bent toward evil from childhood. 22As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night."
Dig Deeper
Once the underground water sources stopped flowing and the rain stopped, God sent a wind to push back the flood waters. Evidently, the water pressure and the faults created from the underground water, thrust areas of the earth’s crust upwards to create the mountains we have today. Explorers have found seashells and other marine fossils near the top of Mt. Everest indicating that it was under water at one time. As the mountains rose up, the wind pushed the waters into what we now know as the oceans.
The Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. This lies on the north-central border of modern Turkey and Armenia about 17,000 ft. above sea level. Many explorers over the years have claimed to have seen Noah’s Ark, but no one has ever offered conclusive proof. It is possible that it is above the ice cap on the mountain and is only visible every couple of decades. Very recently, a group claims to have potentially found pieces of Noah’s Ark in the mountains of Ararat in Iran.
As soon as Noah exits the Ark he offers up thanks and a sacrifice to God. It quickly becomes clear why God commanded Noah to bring seven pairs of certain animals rather than just two pairs. They were brought so that they could be sacrificed to God and still have enough left for reproduction purposes. God never commands us to do things without providing the means with which to do it.
Sacrificing to God and giving offerings to God went hand-in-hand in the Old Testament. They were both forms of worshipping God. Up through the life of Abraham, the Old Testament gives several examples of the natural order of the life of the righteouss including the act of worship through offering to God: Cain and Abel, Noah, and Abrham's offerings to the priest Melchizedek. Why is that important? Because it is clear that God has always expected man to worship Him through offerings. Many people today try to argue that a New Testament offering is unnecessary because it was a part of the law and not commanded in the New Testament. The fact is, however, that giving offerings to God was before the Law, but included in the Law for the benefit of man. Part of worship always has been giving God offerings, and it should continue today.
If we do the math given to us in the Bible, we find that Noah and his family spent about 371 total days on the Ark. The rain fell for forty days; the waters of the Flood rose for an additional 110 days; the waters receded over the next 74 days; after another 40 days, Noah sent out a raven; Noah sent out a dove after 7 days; 7 days later he sent out a second dove; 7 days after that he sent out a third dove; Another 29 days go by; Finally 57 days pass between Noah lifting the cover to their final day aboard. That means that Noah was on the Ark for just over a year.
Devotional Thought
The first thing that was on Noah’s mind after a year on the Ark was to build an altar and praise God by offering a sacrifice to Him. Is your first thought when something good happens, to praise God? Think of at least three things that you need to specifically praise God for and do so in your prayer time.
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