Just Because: The Story of Salvation for Children (4 page)

world heard about it, and people came to see it.

People laughed at Noah and called him names and

probably thought he was crazy. I guess they might

have thought this especially if it didn’t rain much in

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those days and where Noah was building there wasn’t

any water. It must have looked a bit silly building a

great big boat with no water around. One day, when

Noah and his boys were carting some logs to cut up

for lumber, he met one of his neighbours.

“Hey, Noah, old man, where are you taking those

logs?” his neighbour asked.

“I’m going to build a boat,” replied Noah, sitting

down on the log to catch his breath.

“What?” asked his neighbour. “A boat? Where

did you get such a crazy idea from?”

“From the Lord,” said Noah.

“Who?” asked his neighbour.

“The Lord God,” said Noah. “You know, the

Creator of the world. He told me to build it because

there’s gonna be a big flood and anyone who’s not on

the boat is going to drown.”

“You must be crazy,” said his neighbour. “No one

believes in God anymore since that last crazy guy who

used to run around talking about God. What was his

name again?” His neighbour scratched his head. “Oh,

yeah, I remember—Enoch. That guy just disappeared.

Wait a minute. He was your great-grandfather, wasn’t

he? No wonder you’re nuts, old man.” His neighbour

laughed. “Wel , you build your big boat, and we’ll

soon see if it rains or not, won’t we?”

Noah’s neighbour walked away laughing, and

Noah felt very sad. He had spoken to many people

about building the ark, and every one of them said he

was just a crazy old man.

Over the next hundred years people from all

over the world came to see the ark. It was the only

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big boat in the world, and news about it spread

everywhere. Sometimes when a lot of people were

standing around looking and laughing at Noah and

his sons, Noah would climb up on a high part of the

ark and tell the people about God and why he was

building the ark. This only made people laugh even

more. They would tell their children Noah was just

a crazy old man and there was no such person as the

Lord. In all the time Noah preached about the Lord

not one single person believed his message.

When the ark was finally finished Noah prayed and

asked the Lord to bring the animals. That day Noah

looked up to see a huge line of animals coming down

the road toward the ark. He could hardly believe his

eyes when he saw lions and sheep walking together;

usually the lions were trying to kill the sheep. You

can imagine what everyone else did when they saw

those wild animals coming down the road. They ran

away. Those dudes were scared.

The line of animals stretched as far as you could

see. Elephants and birds, cheetahs, foxes, rabbits,

donkeys, spiders, mice, cats and dogs. Cows and

pigs, hens and horses, gorillas and squirrels, moles

and doves, flies and bees and butterflies and many,

many more. Two of every kind of animal came to

the ark and walked up the big ramp, which Noah had

made like a door on the side.

After all the animals were inside Noah went out

and stood on top of the big ramp. A big crowd of

people was standing there. They had come out of

their houses after the lions and tigers were inside

the ark. They stood there talking among themselves

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about what they had just seen. They were trying to

decide how Noah had made all the animals come to

the ark.

Noah saw them standing there, and he decided

to warn them one last time about what was going

to happen. He had heard them laugh at him for a

hundred years, and now the Lord had made the

animals come. It was a miracle, and Noah hoped the

people would believe God would flood the world.

He would preach to them one last time, and then

they would have no more chances Just Because God

had decided it was time to destroy the Nephilim and

stop the evil in the world.

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Chapter 6

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Noah stood at the top of the ramp of the ark. In

the distance behind the crowd he could see

black clouds in the sky. He wanted to tell the people

again that they could be saved from the flood. He

said something like this.

“For the last hundred years my family and I have

been building this ark for God. Soon it will begin to

rain. It is going to rain for a very long time, and the

whole world will be covered with water. In a few

days the water will fill up your homes, and it will

keep rising until it is higher than the highest moun-

tain. There is room on the ark for any of you who

believe me and want to come and be saved from the

flood. Please believe me,” Noah pleaded. “This is

your last chance. You saw how the Lord brought the

animals into the ark, so believe me when I tell you

the world is going to flood.”

“It’s a trick!” someone yelled from the crowd.

“You cast a magic spell on the animals, and that’s

how you got them into your stupid boat. You’re a

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liar, Noah. It’s not going to rain, and there’s no such

person as God.”

“No! Listen to me!” shouted Noah. “I’m telling

you the truth. Surely there is one person who believes,

only one. If anyone believes, then just walk up the

ramp and you will be saved. We have room and food

for you. Don’t worry about what other people think

of you,” said Noah. “It will be too late after God

closes the door.”

Not one person came forward and walked up

the ramp to be saved. They laughed when Noah said

God would close the door, but then it was so heavy it

would need twenty men to lift it.

Standing in the crowd was a Nephilim. He roared

at Noah and yelled out terrible things about God. He

told Noah he would come over and close the door

himself and lock him inside. Noah was not afraid; the

Nephilim had been trying to stop him for a hundred

years, but the Lord had always frightened them away.

Noah was very sad. The people were shaking their

heads and laughing at him. He felt sorry for them.

Noah turned and walked inside the ark, and as he

disappeared from sight the huge ramp began to lift up

without anyone touching it. The Nephilim who had

stepped out to walk to the ark stopped. The Nephilim

felt the presence of the Lord and was afraid. Some

people screamed and ran away, and some people

shouted out to Noah that he was lifting the door by

magic. After a few minutes the people turned and felt

less afraid. They started to say horrible things.

“Hey, Noah!” someone yelled in a loud voice.

“There is no God, and it’s not going to rain. How

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long are you going to stay inside your stupid boat,

old man? We don’t want your God. We have our own

god and. . . .”

Suddenly there was a loud booming sound, and

the person yelling could not be heard. It was thunder.

The crowd of people turned around and saw big black

clouds rolling across the sky toward them.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The thunder pealed, and

lightning flashed across the sky. The people became

afraid. They ran home to hide, and just as most of

them reached their doors the first big drops of rain

began to fall. Suddenly there was a small earthquake,

and the ground began to move. Some of the braver

people who had not run away started to scream. They

had never felt an earthquake before. They had stayed

beside the ark to laugh at Noah, but now they were

not laughing. When they looked down they saw some

small cracks in the ground, and water began to come

up and wet their feet.

Inside the ark Noah and his family could hear the

rain on the roof. Noah went away from the others and

down into a small room in the ark, and there in the

corner he got on his knees to pray. There were tears

rolling down his face as he cried to the Lord.

“I tried my best to warn them, Lord,” he prayed.

“I did my best to make them believe, but they were

too proud, too arrogant, and they just wouldn’t

believe in You and be saved. You gave us all the ark

so we could be saved, and we kept room for anyone

who would come. But not one person came.” Noah

wept as he prayed. He was not angry that people

had laughed at him; he was only very sad the people

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would drown in the flood. “Oh, Lord,” he said. “I

wish they had listened to me. I wished they had

stopped doing evil and obeyed You. But now it is too

late for them because You have closed the door, and

they are left to die.”

It rained and rained. The cracks in the ground

became bigger, and water gushed up into the sky and

poured onto the land. After a few days the people’s

homes flooded, and some of them waded through the

water or floated on things and swam to the side of

the ark. They banged on the ark with their fists and

called out to Noah.

“Noah!” they screamed. “Let us inside! We

believe you now.”

“I can’t,” said Noah. “God has closed the door.”

They yelled and screamed, but Noah could not

help them. Other people went to higher ground and

told the people not to worry because it would soon

stop raining and everything would be okay. After

about ten days the ark began to float, and the people

were standing on the tops of the hills. There was not

very much room left, and the smaller and weaker

people fell into the water. The Nephilim were prob-

ably standing on the tops of the hills, throwing people

into the water, roaring in anger, shaking their fists at

the ark. The people who were left stood there and

watched the ark float away, but some of those who

were in the water tried to hold onto the ark. It was too

wet and slippery.

After many days there was no room left on the

hills, and even the Nephilim fell into the water. After

forty days the mountains were covered by water,

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and no one was left because there was no dry land

to stand upon. The ark floated above the mountains

toward the land that is now called Turkey. It was very

sad. Only eight people were still alive in the world:

Noah and Mrs. Noah; their three sons, Shem, Ham

and Japheth; and their three son’s wives.

If the people had listened to God and not to

Satan, then God would not have brought the flood

to take away the evil in the world. There would not

have been killing and stealing and murdering their

children if they had loved the Lord, but they refused

to believe in Him.

Satan was very pleased with what happened,

even though the children of the demons were dead.

Although the people worshipped him and his demons

he still hated people because they were made in the

image of God, and God loves His creatures. Inside

the ark it was warm and dry. Noah, his family and the

animals were safe. They were saved from drowning

Just Because they believed the Lord and obeyed Him.

They had faith to do what the Lord said.

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The ark floated around for about seven months

and finally came to rest on top of a mountain.

Noah opened a window and sent out a raven to see

if it could find a dry place to land. That raven never

came back. A little while later Noah sent a dove out

the window of the ark, and it came back because it

couldn’t find anywhere to land. Sometime later Noah

sent the dove out again, and this time it returned with

a new green leaf in its beak. Noah knew then that the

water must have gone down far enough for them to

leave the ark. When he asked the Lord, the Lord told

him he could go outside.

Outside the world was becoming a beautiful

place again. Now there were large lakes, seas and

oceans. On the land flowers were growing, and there

was new grass for the animals. The animals came out

of the ark, and the wild ones ran off into the hills,

glad to be back on dry land again. So Noah thanked

the Lord for keeping them safe, and the Lord told

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him to look up into the sky. There he saw a beautiful

rainbow.

“What does it mean, Lord?” he asked.

“Whenever it rains,” said the Lord, “I will put the

rainbow in the sky for you to remind the people that

I will never again bring a flood which will cover the

whole earth. The rainbow is the sign of my promise

to the world.”

After another 350 years Noah died, and he was

950 years old when he died. Of course by this time

many people were on the earth again. After Noah