A Ship with Room for All

Articles

Lance Byers
05/30/25 - Topical Study

“We’re going to need a bigger boat.” ~ Chief Brody in the movie Jaws

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, said that “the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:14) One might think that this seems unfair or is unnecessarily difficult. God had favored the Jew, and now Jesus says that He will no longer favor the Jewish-born people, but those who follow Jesus’ teachings. Those who do God’s will, though, prosper, and find that His will is the best path to follow. What makes it difficult is all the obstacles put in place by the introduction of sin into the world. This was true from the very beginning.

If we look all the way back to Genesis and into the story of Noah, the message was still the same. “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” (Genesis 6:9) The life of Noah would have been even more difficult than Christians today because, back then, “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:11) Noah was doing his best to live in this world filled with evil all around him. Christians do the same in a world filled with selfish, evil desires which undermine what is best for man’s soul. Jesus said that he did not “come to bring peace, but a sword,” (Matthew 10:34) so that we could stand strong with the faith and do battle against evil. To, “take up the whole armor of God so that [we] may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, stand firm.” (Ephesians 6:13) The world is filled with hostages taken by the devil, and it is our job to go out and use the tools given to us to preach and try to convince people. Noah did just that as II Peter 2:5 tells us that Noah was a “herald of righteousness.”

Whatever the words Noah used to preach to the people fell upon deaf ears, unfortunately. When God shut up that great ark, only eight people were inside with all the creatures of the earth. For all the other people in the world, “their end [was] destruction, their god [was] their belly, and they [gloried] in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.” (Philippians 3:19) Outside the ark, only destruction awaited amongst an incredible deluge never seen before nor since that day of the Lord. The same will be for those who do not listen. Jude describes this in the 14^th – 16^th verses of his letter:

“It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of His holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’ These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.”

The animals on Noah’s ark had no choice. Being without souls breathed into them by God, they simply did as they were told, being an example by nature itself. The animals, who normally only follow their beastly desires, were going against their nature, and entering the ark, two by two or seven by seven as directed by God. Only two or fourteen of each animal would survive. Men had another choice, though. They could repent, but only Noah and his family were saved.

Jesus, using the analogy, is Noah. The message is to enter the ark which He provides us. Jesus followed all the instructions and went to the cross for us. The great ship has been prepared for all who wish to enter. The preachers are preaching and giving warnings that the flood is coming. Those who keep scoffing and calling them fools will one day experience, as Ezekiel says in chapter 21 verse 7, that “Every heart will melt, and all hands will be feeble; every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold it is coming, and it will be fulfilled.”

Lance Byers

May 31, 2025