After the Flood, a New Beginning

This chapter is based on Genesis 7:20 to 9:7. 

The waters rose above the highest mountains. It often seemed to the family within the ark that they would die, as for five long months their boat was tossed about. It was a terrible ordeal, but Noah’s faith did not waver. 1TC 57.2

As the waters began to subside, the Lord caused the ark to drift into a spot protected by a group of mountains preserved by His power. These mountains were only a little distance apart, and the ark moved about in this quiet area. This gave great relief to the weary, storm-tossed voyagers. 1TC 57.3

Noah and his family longed to go out again on the earth. Forty days after the tops of the mountains became visible, they sent out a raven to discover whether the earth had become dry. This bird, finding nothing but water, continued to fly to and from the ark. Seven days later a dove was sent out. It found no footing and returned to the ark. Noah waited seven days longer and again sent the dove out. When she returned at evening with an olive leaf in her mouth, there was great rejoicing, but Noah still waited patiently for special directions to leave the ark. 1TC 58.1

At last an angel opened the massive door and told the patriarch and his household to go out on the earth and take with them every living thing. Noah did not forget the One by whose gracious care they had been preserved. His first act was to build an altar and offer sacrifice, expressing his gratitude to God for deliverance and his faith in Christ, the great sacrifice. This offering was pleasing to the Lord, and a blessing resulted not only to Noah and his family, but to all who would live upon the earth. “The Lord said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake. ... While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night, shall not cease.’” Noah had come out onto a desolate earth, but before preparing a house for himself he built an altar to God. His stock of cattle was small, yet he cheerfully gave a part to the Lord to acknowledge that all was His. Likewise, we should acknowledge His mercy toward us by devotion and gifts to His cause. 1TC 58.2

The Rainbow—Sign of God’s Kindness

So that people would not fear another flood, the Lord encouraged the family of Noah through a promise: “I establish My covenant with you ... never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. ... I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ... When I bring a cloud over the earth, ... the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ... and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature.” 1TC 58.3

How great the condescension of God, and His compassion for His wayward creatures! 1TC 59.1

This does not imply that God would ever forget, but He speaks to us in terms that we can understand. When the children would ask the meaning of the arch that spans the heavens, their parents were to repeat the story of the Flood and tell them that the Most High had placed it in the clouds as a promise that the waters would never again overflow the earth. It would testify of divine love for humanity and strengthen their confidence in God. 1TC 59.2

In heaven a likeness of the rainbow encircles the throne and arches over the head of Christ (Ezekiel 1:28; Revelation 4:2, 3). When humanity’s great wickedness invites divine judgments, the Savior, interceding with the Father, points to the bow in the clouds, to the rainbow around the throne, as a token of mercy toward the repentant sinner. 1TC 59.3

“‘As I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. ... My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,’ says the Lord, who has mercy on you” (Isaiah 54:9, 10). 1TC 59.4

As Noah looked at the powerful beasts of prey as they came out of the ark, the Lord sent an angel with the assuring message: “The fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move upon the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.” Before this time God had not given permission to eat animals for food; but now that every green thing had been destroyed, He allowed them to eat the flesh of the clean animals that had been preserved in the ark. 1TC 59.5

The entire surface of the earth was changed at the Flood. Dead bodies lay on the ground everywhere. The Lord would not permit these to remain to decompose and pollute the air. A violent wind, which was caused to dry up the waters, moved them with great force., In some instances it even carried away the tops of mountains and heaped up trees, rocks, and earth above the bodies of the dead. By the same means the silver and gold, choice wood and pre cious stones, which had enriched the world before the Flood, were concealed. The violent action of the waters piled earth and rocks upon these treasures and even formed mountains above them. God saw that the more He enriched and prospered sinners, the more they would corrupt their ways before Him. 1TC 59.6

The mountains, once beautiful, had become broken and irregular. Ledges and ragged rocks were now scattered on the surface of the earth. Where once earth’s richest treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones had been, the heaviest marks of the curse were seen. And on countries not inhabited and those where there had been the least crime, the curse rested more lightly. 1TC 60.1

More terrible manifestations than the world has yet seen will be witnessed at the second coming of Christ. As lightnings from heaven unite with the fire in the earth, the mountains will burn like a furnace and pour forth terrific streams of lava, overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities. Dreadful earthquakes and eruptions will be everywhere. 1TC 60.2

So God will destroy the wicked from off the earth, but the righteous will be preserved, as Noah was preserved in the ark. Says the psalmist: “Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you” (Psalm 91:9, 10; see also verse 14 and Psalm 27:5). 1TC 60.3