Noah.....
                                                                                        By Pastor F. M. Riley
                                                                                        October 30, 2017
     "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith,"  Hebrews 11:7.  
Introduction
     By God's grace, I have been permitted to write several Bible studies pointing out, and expounding upon, a repetition of "the days of Noah," as predicted by the Lord Jesus Himself in Luke 17:26-27.  
     I do earnestly pray about what great truths in His Word the Lord would have me to write on.  After sending out my last study, I was praying about what the Lord would have me to write on next.  During the night, I was awakened in the wee hours of early morning with "Noah" on my mind.  I spent the remainder of the night wide awake meditating on this beloved man of God.  What follows in this study is some of my thoughts and Scriptural insight about the man, "Noah."
Noah's Numerical Significance
     The Hebrew and Greek words translated as "Noah," occur fifty-eight times in the inspired Word of God.  However, only fifty-four of these words actually refer to the patriarch, Noah.  There are four Scriptures in God's Word, three in the Book of Numbers, and one in the Book of Joshua, which are translated as Noah, but actually refer to people other than Noah of the flood.  
     Noah is directly referred to forty-six times in the Old Testament.  Then Noah is referred to eight times in the New Testament, making a total of fifty-four times Noah is referred to in the Bible.  This is highly significant, for "54" is the number in the Bible which signifies "eternal security;  the security of the believer."  Noah entered the "ark of safety," a type of the believer in Christ, so it is not just "coincidence" that his name appears exactly 54 times in God's Word.     
Noah's Name
     Noah is first mentioned in Genesis 5:29, where the Scripture states, "And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed."  This is a fascinating statement, in as much as the Hebrew word translated as Noah literally means, "rest or comfort."  
     In reading this Scripture, also notice that God's Word had been carefully regarded as inspired truth, and passed on from generation to generation  by Noah's ancestors during the first thousand years of human history.  Read Genesis 3:17-19.  
     Since the Lord Himself clearly stated that there would be a repetition of "the days of Noah" at the end of this present age, then the days we are living in today surely indicate that rest and comfort are just ahead for all true believers.  Glory!  Glory to God!  Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord!
Noah's Birth and Geneaology
     Noah was the tenth generation from Adam, being born 1,056 years  after the creation of Adam.  Count up the years and generations for yourselves in Genesis 5.  "10" is the number in the Bible signifying "Law; fulfillment of God's Law; keeping of God's Law; violation of God's Law."  The exact meaning is determined by the context, and what is being discussed.  At the time of the birth of Noah, mankind on the earth was going into a time of great apostasy, in which the Law of God was being ignored and violated, Genesis 6:1-6.  
     Noah was born into that lineage of Adam, which retained and passed on to their children and descendants the knowledge of God and His Word.  From this same lineage in the future, Christ Jesus would come into the world.  See Matthew 1:1-25 and Luke 3:23-38.  
     Don't fail to notice that Noah was born only three generations after the great man of God, Enoch, Genesis 5:18-24.  Enoch was Noah's great, great, grandfather, and Methuselah was Noah's great grandfather.  With a lineage like this, how could Noah fail to be taught to fear, love, respect, and serve the Lord God who created us all?  Glory to God!  
     And fear, love, respect, and serve the Lord, Noah certainly did.  When
all the rest of pre-flood mankind turned away from God their Creator, the Lord God Himself said to and about Noah, ".....Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous  before Me in this generation," Genesis 7:1.  What a statement!
The Population of the Earth
     I have no idea how many people were alive on the earth preceding the flood.  The year of the flood was 1,656 years after the creation of Adam.  This means that the population of the earth could have been a few hundred people, a few thousand, or a million or more.  This "guess" depends on how many children were born to each family before the flood, and then how many of their children also produced children, and so on and on.  
      If families were the traditional three or four children to a family, as it is today, then the population would not have been that great.  However, since mankind before the flood lived to be hundreds of years old, then the families could have been extremely large, perhaps with many children in every family.  In that case, then there could have been millions of people on the earth at the time of the flood.  
     Regardless of how many people were on the earth, the Lord God singled out Noah as being "righteous before Me in this generation," Genesis 7:7.  Other than Noah and his family, just eight souls,  all of the rest of mankind was destroyed in the waters of the flood, 1 Peter 3:20.  But folks.......
      We today are living in a repetition of "the days of Noah," Luke 17:26.  It should be glaringly obvious to every reader, that when the Lord comes, it will be only the righteous that the Lord rescues from "...this present evil world" and takes to Heaven above, Galatians 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.  Then has the reader been made righteous and ready for the Lord's coming?  We are not born righteous, nor do we become righteous by doing "good works."  If we attain righteousness, then it must come by a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, receiving Him by faith as our own personal Savior.  Read Romans 10:1-10 and Ephesians 2:8-10, and take heed!  
Noah's Life
     This brings us to the life and conduct of Noah himself.  The inspired word makes it very clear that Noah was a "righteous" man.  I do not find in the Scriptures, nor claim to know, the exact age when Noah was called of God to become one of the Lord's ministers.  Perhaps, as some assume, it was when the Lord God gave Noah the 120 year warning, Genesis 6:3.  Or perhaps it was when the Lord God told Noah to build an ark, Genesis 6:13-18.  Of course some assume that both of these events occurred at the same time; that is, that the Lord God gave the 120 year warning and also commanded Noah to build the ark on the same occasion.  Perhaps they are right.  I just don't know!  And in view of Revelation 22:18-19, I refuse to read something into the Scriptures which is not specifically stated.  
     But at some point in Noah's life, the Lord God called Noah into His ministry.  We know this to be true, because it is explicitly stated in 2 Peter 2:5, "And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly."  So here we find Noah was preaching the "righteousness" of God.  Since all of preflood mankind was destroyed in the flood, except for Noah and his family, who was it that Noah preached to, and what kind of response did Noah receive?  
     I think it is obvious that Noah preached to his own family; his wife and three sons and their wives, for they were permitted to enter into the ark with Noah.   But  I also suspect that Noah preached to the wicked during the time he was building the ark, trying to warn them that the judgment of God was coming.  Why?  
     Because Noah was a true "man of God," and God Himself wants the wicked warned.  See Ezekiel 18:23, 18:32, 33:11, and 2 Peter 3:9.  See also Isaiah 58:1.  However, it is obvious that the people in "the days of Noah" were not paying attention to Noah's preaching.  Well...???  How many lost people today are paying attention to the preaching of soon coming judgment, being given them by the Lord's true preachers?    
The Response to Noah's Preaching
      One of the characteristics of our loving and merciful God, is that He always gives a warning to peoples and nations before bringing judgment upon them.  Then how was Noah's preaching received by the wicked preflood peoples?  
      Not graciously at all!  They not only refused to pay attention to his preaching, but I am personally convinced they set out to shut Noah's mouth by killing him.  This is almost always the final response of Satan and his followers to the teaching and preaching of God's Word by dedicated true believers, when the incorrigible wicked just cannot stand to listen to the truth of God's Word any longer.    Proof?  Gladly!
     When men such as Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin rose to power in their countries, one of the first things they did was to close the churches, and imprison or execute the true "men of God" who were pastoring those churches.  The followers of Satan simply cannot stand the "light" of God's Word shining on them.    
     Remember that we today are presently living in a repetition of "the days of Noah."  Are our readers aware that those today who are working to establish a New World Order one-world government, have already advocated removing God and the Bible, and all Bible believing Christians when they succeed in establishing their New World Order?  Oh well, some reader may shrug.  It will never happen!   Oh?  Have you read Revelation 13:7-8 lately?  This New World Order is exactly what is waiting for those left behind on the earth following the rapture.  I will also point out that every person left behind on the earth following the rapture, who turns to Christ for salvation during the coming Tribulation period is going to be martyred.  See Revelation 20:4.  Murdering God's people is now, and always has been, the response of the incorrigible wicked to the preaching of the true gospel.  
     In carefully studying Hebrews 11, do our readers notice that the reference to Noah in 11:7 follows immediately the reference to "Enoch.....not being found" in 11:5-6?   This statement strongly suggests that some person or persons were looking for Enoch, possibly to do him bodily harm, but the Lord God removed him from the earth just in time to keep him from being destroyed by the wicked.  We believers today are living in a repetition of "the days of Noah."  Let it comfort you, that our Lord is coming for us believers just in time to keep us from being destroyed by the wicked today.  Hallelujah!  Revelation 22:20.  
Noah and the Ark
     Why did the Lord God even save Noah and his family, when He had determined to destroy the whole preflood world?  Have our readers ever pondered over this question?  The answer is found in Ecclesiastes 3:14.  
     In order to preserve mankind, whom God had created, upon the earth, the Lord God gave instructions to Noah to build a boat; an Ark, Genesis 6:13-16.  Noah obeyed the Lord and built the Ark, exactly as the Lord God had given him instructions.  Whether it took him 120 years to build the Ark or not, as some teach, I do not know!  But he did build it before the flood,  and what a boat it was [and is].    
     The Lord God gave specific instructions as to the size and shape of the Ark.  It was to be 300 cubits in length, fifty cubits in width, and thirty cubits in height, Genesis 6:15.  It was to contain rooms, obviously for Noah and his family, and for various sizes of animals, and for storage of food for Noah's family and the animals, 6:14.  It was to be sealed with "pitch," both on the inside and outside of the Ark, so there would be no danger of it ever leaking and sinking, 6:14.  There was to be a window in the Ark, and it was to be built at the top of the Ark, 6:16.   A door was set in the side of the Ark, and the Ark was built to contain three stories.  Then counting the deck on the top of the Ark, there would have been four floors in the Ark, 6:16.   "4" is the number in the Bible signifying "man; created being; the natural man."  The word "pitch" with which the Ark was to be sealed within and without is the exact same Hebrew word translated as "atonement" in other Scriptures in the Old Testament.  Therefore the Ark sets forth a vivid type of the "atonement" of fallen mankind.      
      It is likely that most of our readers have never taken the time to really meditate on these exact instructions for the building of the Ark.  But the instructions given to Noah are spiritually significant, and were meant to be studied by true believers.  
     The actual measurements of the Ark in modern terms are approximately 450 feet in length, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet in height.   This would have been a boat as long or longer than a modern football field, and would have the capacity to hold thousands of animals, exactly as the Lord God desired.  So now let's discuss.......
The Ark Today.......
     Due to information about the Ark, which has come to light since the flood in "the days of Noah," I personally believe that the Lord God designed the Ark to be a "visible witness" to mankind living in this end-time repetition of "the days of Noah," Luke 17:26.  I remind our readers that there was an Ark in existence in "the days of Noah" preceding the flood.  Therefore, shouldn't there be an Ark in existence in a repetition of "the days of Noah?"  Well...???  Think about it!
     The inspired Word tells us that when the flood ended, the Ark came to rest "upon the mountains of Ararat," Genesis 8:4.  Notice that the word, "mountains," is plural in this Scripture.  The Lord God is very precise in His Word.  The mountains of Ararat are located in the country of Armenia, between the Caspian and Black Seas.  There are two peaks on what is called Mount Ararat.  One peak is about 12,000 feet above sea level, and is in what is called the "temperate" zone.  The other peak is 17,260  feet above sea level, and the upper 3,000 feet of it is perpetually covered in ice and snow.  The two peaks are joined by what is called a "saddle" between them, in other words a valley high up the mountains between the two peaks.  I relate this information to our readers so they may form a mental picture of where the Ark landed after the flood.  
     When the flood ended, the Ark transporting Noah and his family landed on the higher peak of Mount Ararat, just below the top of the mountain.  At the time, the top of the mountain was dry, as the flood had caused all ice and snow to melt away, Genesis 8:4-14.  Noah and his family then left the Ark and descended to the plain at the foot of the mountain, Genesis 8:15-22.  
     After Noah and his family had descended from the mountain the snows began, and eventually covered and encased the Ark in snow and ice, causing the Ark to be preserved for future generations of mankind to discover.  The Ark then serves as a "visible witness" to mankind on the earth today, testifying to the fact that Almighty God is real, and that His wonderful Word is true; that there was a flood that once covered the entire earth, and destroyed all of preflood mankind, except for Noah and his family.  Read again 2 Peter 2:1-9 and believe what the Scriptures say!  
       Yes, I am writing in the present tense  as I speak about the Ark, for the Ark is very much in existence right to this present day.  It has been preserved by God to be a "visible witness" to those today who are right now living in a repetition of "the days of Noah," just as predicted by the Lord Jesus Himself, Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27.  Glory to God!  Praise the Lord!  Hallelujah!  How great and precious is our God!  
 The Discovery of Noah's Ark
    I was saved by God's mercy and grace when I was eleven years of age.  As a young boy growing up I then began listening to preachers on the radio [no TV back then].   There were a number of fine "men of God" who preached on the radio on a daily or weekly basis.  
     Among those radio preachers was a true "man of God" by the name of A. J. Smith.  He preached for a number of years on the radio.  I recall his preaching during the time of the Second World War.  One could listen to him and get their soul fed, for he fervently expounded the Scriptures in truth.  To this day, I recall him preaching an entire series of sermons on The Book of Genesis.  In that series, when he came to Genesis 6 - 9, he spent a lot of time on Noah and the flood, going into great detail.  
     He also wrote a book on the subject, entitled, "The Reported Discover of Noah's Ark."  And yes, I did order and buy his book.  I still have the book in my personal library to this day.  Later this brother made an actual expedition to Mount Ararat in search of the Ark, and wrote another book entitled,  "On the Mountains of Ararat in Quest For Noah's Ark."  I feel sure that some of our older readers will remember Brother A. J. Smith's preaching, and may even still have copies of his books.
     I took the time and space to mention this brother in Christ, because he listed in his books the documented facts about the discoveries of Noah's Ark.  Now I want to share these facts with our readers.......
     Josephus.....Some of our readers have likely studied the writings of Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian who wrote a  history of his Jewish people.  His book is entitled, "The Life and Works of Flavius Josephus."  His history was written in 93 A.D., just a few years after the personal ministry and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.  
     In his writings, Book One, Chapter 3, Paragraph 5, Josephus explicitly stated, "However, the Armenians call this place, The Place of Descent; for the ark being saved in that place, its remains are shown there by the inhabitants to this day."         
     Now unless some want to call Flavius Josephus a liar, and his great history a lie, then the Ark was still in existence, and was being seen by people, preserved in the ice and snow of Ararat, during the time of Christ and the life of Josephus.  This would have been some 2,400 years after the flood.  Glory to God!  Praise the Lord!  Hallelujah!  
     Marco Polo.....The great explorer, quite familiar to every reader living today, who studied history in school.  In his book, "The Adventures of Marco Polo," he clearly stated that the Ark of Noah was still in existence.  Those readers who want to check this out will find his statement on page 23 of his book.  
     This means that the Ark of Noah was still in existence and was being seen by people,  in the year 1269 A.D., when Marco Polo wrote his book.
This was only 748 years ago.....2017-1269 = 748.   
     Now is our God, the God of all true believers, GREAT, or what?  Glory!  
     Jean Struys.....This man guided a party of people up Mount Ararat to find a religious hermit who lived on the side of the mountain.  This hermit claimed to have seen and been inside the Ark, and gave to Struys a piece of wood he had cut from the Ark and a piece of rock taken from the rocks on which the Ark was resting.  The year was 1670.  
     New York Herald - New York World - Chicago Tribune.....All three of these newspapers printed news articles about the discovery of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat during the year of 1883.  Were all three of those national newspapers lying to the American people?  Or did someone actually once more discover the Ark still preserved on Mount Ararat in 1883?  
     Be careful how you answer this question, for the Lord God is listening, Matthew 12:36-37.  
The Year of 1917
     The year of 1917 was a fantastic year in view of Bible prophecy.
     The year of 1917 was.......
      .....exactly 20 years after the regathering of Israel and the Jewish people began with the convening of the First Zionist Congress by Theodor Herzl in 1897.  "20" is the number in the Bible which signifies, "redemption; to redeem."  
     .....the final year of World War One.  
     .....the first time airplanes were used in warfare, and they were used to defend and deliver the city of Jerusalem out of the hands of the Ottoman Turks.  See Isaiah 31:5.  
     .....the year the Ottomon Turks were driven completely out of the Holy Land which they had occupied for 400 years.  
     .....the year the Balfour Declaration was made public, favoring by Great Britain the right of the Jewish people to reestablish their own nation and regather their scattered people.  
     .....the year the Holy Land was placed under British Mandate by the League of Nations; predecessor of the United Nations.
     .....was exactly 100 years before this present year of 2017, the final year of this present dispensation of grace, and the year of our Lord's coming to resurrect and rapture His Church and New Covenant believers to glory.  Hallelujah!   Glory to God!   Thank you Lord Jesus!
     If any reader objects to my statement about this being the year of the Lord's return and the year of the resurrection and rapture, perhaps you should read again 1 Thessalonians 5:4, and believe what it says.  The Lord's church and true believers are not supposed to be "in darkness."  Rather, we are supposed to know the "time frame" of the Lord's coming for us.  Do you really believe God's Word?   Well...???
     Any way our readers want to look at it, 1917 was a great pivitol year in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.    
     The Russian Aviator.......It was also in the summer of 1917 that a Russian aviator stationed at an airbase in far southern Russia flew right over the top of Mount Ararat.  He was suddenly shocked to see a huge boat sitting in the ice and snow on top of the mountain.  He could not believe what his eyes were seeing.  He circled and flew over it again to make sure he wasn't seeing things....and he wasn't.  He then speedily went back to his base and reported to his commanding officer what he had just seen.  
     In reports of this incident, the name of the aviator was deliberately  left out or changed to protect his identify.  However, the names of his commanding officer and others mentioned in reports are accurate.  I am emphasizing this for a reason which will become clear as I continue to write.  
      The commanding officer of the Russian airbase was Colonel Alexander A. Koor.  The aviator reported to him, what he had seen in flying over Mount Ararat.  A military expedition of about 100 men  was then quickly assembled, and they then went up the mountain to investigate the report.   
     It had been a very hot summer, and much of the ice on the glacier on Mount Ararat had melted away.  Their military expedition easily found the Ark.  [I wonder if the Lord God had anything to do with this?]  Colonel Koor and his men approached and entered the Ark, taking precise measurements and dozens of photos.  There was no question in their minds that this was indeed the Ark of Noah.  
     After descending the mountain, all of the information they had collected, including wood samples from the Ark, and soil and rock samples, etc.  were sent to the Czar's government in Moscow, along with dozens of photographs, to be placed in government files.  I understand that a recommendation was even included by Colonel Koors, urging the Russian government to take advantage of this discovery, by internationally  proclaiming Russia to be the discoverer of the Ark of Noah. This discovery should have become world wide news.  But it didn't, because of other events also taking place at that same time.    
      All over the nation of Russia, the Bolsheviks were demonstrating and protesting the Czar's government at that very time.  Then in October of that year, 1917, the Bolshevik demonstrations broke out into open rebellion and  warfare  against the Czar and his government.  The Czar and his family were deposed and brutally murdered,  and a new Communist government was established over Russia, with Vladimir Lenin as the ruling monarch.  [I wonder if Satan had anything to do with this?]  
     This new Russian Communist government immediately adopted as it's official governing policy, Evolutionary Atheism.  That is still the official governing policy of  Communist Russia today.   Sic!  
     If anyone knows what happened to the information about the discovery of Noah's Ark, which had been sent to the government in Moscow by Colonel Koor, it has never been made public!  Not a word of that information in the files of the government in Moscow, to my knowledge, has ever been released.  However, some good has come out of it all.....
     When the Bolshevik Communist took over in Russia, hundreds of Russian people fled the country.  At least some of them made their way to America, for I have personally met some fine Russian people who fled Russia as refugees in 1917, and the years following.   
     One of the refugees who fled was Colonel Koors, the commander of the Russian airbase located near Mount Ararat.  He finally succeeded in making his way to America, and settled in Seattle, Washington.  He lived in Seattle for nearly thirty years before his death in the 1940's.  I understand that he became a devout Christian believer, and  spent the rest of his life telling everyone who would listen about the discovery of Noah's Ark.  According to reports I have received, when he died his remains were unclaimed, and his body was buried or otherwise disposed of somewhere in Seattle; staying in his adopted country.   
The Record of Discoveries
     Folks, all of these records of historical discoveries of Noah's Ark cannot be explained away or ignored.  The Lord God has graciously preserved this Ark for the past 4,000 plus years since the flood to serve as a "visible witness" to those living in these "last days" which are a repetition of "the days of Noah."   
     Since the Ark has been repeatedly discovered over the centuries, then it stands as absolute proof that the Bible is indeed the Divinely Inspired Word of the Living God, contains absolute truth, and is the only book on earth which sets forth God's way of salvation for fallen mankind.  
Conclusion
     Now will you believe it, or will you join the ranks of the "willingly ignorant" and spend eternity in "the lake of fire and brimstone?"  Read 2 Peter 3:1-7 and Revelation 20:15.  My earnest and sincere prayer is that every unsaved person who reads this study will repent of their unbelief and give their heart to Christ, while there is still time for you to be saved.  How does one do that?  I'm so glad you asked!  
     Just read and believe Matthew 11:28-29, John 3:16, 3:18, 5:24, 14:6, Acts 4:12, 16:30-31, Romans 10:8-10, Ephesians 2:8-10, Luke 13:5, and Revelation 20:15.   
     For any reader who may be uncertain about assurance of salvation, I urge you to read 2 Peter 1:10-11 and act upon it.  
     Folks, I really do want to meet every reader of my studies in Heaven at the coming of our Lord.  Please don't disappoint me!  
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     Yes, I did say in my recent study, "Winter Has Come," that I would not be sending out studies as often as in the past, and I gave the reasons why.  And folks, I don't claim to be a Jeremiah, or even close to being the great "man of God" that he was, but I do claim to  serve the same God.  "But His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay," Jeremiah 20:9.  
     I truly thank God for every reader who has held me up in prayer.  I have been going through a trying time, and some of what I have to face every day will not go away until I receive that new body, made in fashion like the glorious body of our Lord, Philippians 3:20-21.  But I am very grateful for your prayers for me, and for the kindnesses shown to me.  Thank you so much.  
     Please address all comments, questions, and correspondence to me at:  Pastor F. M. Riley, 14275 County Road 8120, Rolla, Missouri 65401.  I know some have given up trying to call me on the phone, as I live in a low area and have tremendous signal problems with my cell phone.  But if you want to speak to me personally, just keep trying.  My phone number is still 573-201-0491.  
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An Added Note:
     Brother A. J. Smith's books were written back in1943 and later.  I am sure the old brother is with the Lord by now, for I haven't heard of him in many years.  I have no idea who holds the copyright to his books, or whether they are still available or not.  If any reader knows, I would appreciate hearing from you.  
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