The Tupelo journal., 1913-01-31

The first great fact recorded in the
book of Genesis is hat of Creation,
which may be divided into several les
ser facts. The second great fact is
that of the Fall, which began with the
temptation and ended with the exclu-
sion from Paradise. In this lesson we
come to the third great fact, the
Flood. the account of which embraces
the fifth to the ninth chapters. Chap
ter five gives us Noah's %genealogy;
six, the history of the building of the
ark; seven, the occupancy of the ark;
eight, Noah's departure from the ark.
and nine, Gods covenant with Noah.
In this lesson sin flourishes like the
proverbial green bay tree. Every
imagination of the thoughts Of mans
heart was only evil continually" v. 5.
These thoughts were ~crystallized into
the lives of men, for we read that
the earth was filled with violence"
Viewing this awful development Of
sin, God was 80 deply grieved in his
heart hat he turned aside (repented)
from his plan and purpose thus far, to
a determination to destroy man ".
y. Noah, however, found grace in
Gods sight, as we see from v. 8, even
in the midst of these adverse circum-
stances. Environment is powerful but
not all-powerful, and it is never a
match for Gods grace. We must not
gather from this verse that Noah was
faultless, but rather than he sought
to conform his life to Gods will and
mo- to the standards Of those among
whom he dwelt. Noah gave himself
to a whole-hearted service to God.
We are told that the foundation Of
Noah's acceptance before God was his
faith, Heb. 11:7, like his great grand.
father Enoch, he had walked with
God" (5:22). Noah stood absolutely
alone and was thus thrown upon com
partnership with God, compare v. {
with | John 1'3.
Given Due Warning.
God could no longer endure the
sins of men, their iniquity was full,
therefore God determined to destroy
them. He did not, however, cut them
off, for we read that they had 100
years announcement Of tho coming OF
the flood ". 49,, time enough in
which to repent. They also had a
faithful preacher to warn them dur
ing this time, 2 Peter 2:5. But their
apostasy was complete and they
would have none of Gods mercy mol
heed his warning, Prov. 1871. Noah's
obedience as he built the ark was a
daily reminder of the impending
food.
The ark was a fat-bottomed chest
$50 feet long, 75 feet broad and As
feet deep, built Of cyprus Gopher
wood) and coated with pitch. Under
the caves of the roof was an open
space for ventilation and its three
decks were divided into compart
ments.
AS to the "eight souls" Il Peter
1920 who entered the ark we need
to remember that usually children and
servants are understood without men.
ton in such enumerations. We are
not to infer that of all created animals
two Of each entered the ark. The
food certainly was not universal ant
hence such a miracle was uncallet
for.
Race Swept Away.
At last the flood arrived at the e2
act moment prophesied. It's cause
seems to be twofold, a subsistence OF
the ground and a downpour Of rain
The Euphrates valley where this
event took place fills all the necessary
conditions. Subsistence would allow
an %inundation from the sea. Such an
i%nundation took place in 1911 in the
Yangtse valley and another in 1901
rendered more than ten million people
homeless; the water rising from so tc
90 feet. All that the account de
mands, however, is that a corrupt
race IA swept away and that God
saved his righteous servant and his
household. 1t is the privilege Of ev
cry believer in God to save his house
hold. See Acts 16: 81, 2:9; /. Cor. TIA
The only way God could insure the
purity of the rae was to destroy ir
revocably the impure.
Skeptics have read into the story
of the food much extraneous matter,
Some have sought to prove that be
cause nearly every a C under the sun
has a food tradition therefore the
writer Of Genesis is merely passing
on a "Babylonian tradition" 1t is fan
more reasonable to believe that these
traditions are corrupted forms of the
true account found in the Bible.
For the younger pupils get the
story Of the flood as told by Dean
Hodges and tell a connected story OF
what has already happened in the past
lessons and tell them that the story
will be continued next week Some
good live questions for class discus
sions would be: What does 1t mean to
walk with God? OF the four-igno
rance, indifference, consent or con
demnation Of sin-which one must