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Patriarchs and Prophets
beheld the sun shining in its glory, and the earth clad in almost Eden
beauty, they banished their rising fears by boisterous merriment, and
by their deeds of violence they seemed to invite upon themselves the
visitation of the already awakened wrath of God.
God commanded Noah, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark;
for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation.” Noah’s
warnings had been rejected by the world, but his influence and example
resulted in blessings to his family. As a reward for his faithfulness and
integrity, God saved all the members of his family with him. What
encouragement to parental fidelity!
Mercy had ceased its pleadings for the guilty race. The beasts of
the field and the birds of the air had entered the place of refuge. Noah
and his household were within the ark, “and the Lord shut him in.” A
flash of dazzling light was seen, and a cloud of glory more vivid than
the lightning descended from heaven and hovered before the entrance
of the ark. The massive door, which it was impossible for those within
to close, was slowly swung to its place by unseen hands. Noah was
shut in, and the rejecters of God’s mercy were shut out. The seal of
Heaven was on that door; God had shut it, and God alone could open
it. So when Christ shall cease His intercession for guilty men, before
His coming in the clouds of heaven, the door of mercy will be shut.
Then divine grace will no longer restrain the wicked, and Satan will
have full control of those who have rejected mercy. They will endeavor
to destroy God’s people; but as Noah was shut into the ark, so the
righteous will be shielded by divine power.
For seven days after Noah and his family entered the ark, there
appeared no sign of the coming storm. During this period their faith
was tested. It was a time of triumph to the world without. The apparent
delay confirmed them in the belief that Noah’s message was a delusion,
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and that the Flood would never come. Notwithstanding the solemn
scenes which they had witnessed—the beasts and birds entering the
ark, and the angel of God closing the door—they still continued their
sport and revelry, even making a jest of these signal manifestations
of God’s power. They gathered in crowds about the ark, deriding its
inmates with a daring violence which they had never ventured upon
before.
But upon the eighth day dark clouds overspread the heavens. There
followed the muttering of thunder and the flash of lightning. Soon large