“And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.” (Genesis 7:1-5, KJV)
The ark has been completed, the time of the flood is at hand, and God beckons Noah into the ark. Have you ever noticed the words he used? He does not tell Noah to go into the ark, nor does he tell him in a cranky way to stop wasting time and get inside. God invites him to “come” into the ark.
This statement denotes that God was beckoning him from inside the ark. The sentiment reinforces the idea that the ark was the place of safety, it was the place where the righteous were. God asked Noah and his family, as the righteous upon the Earth, to come under his wings of protection.
God still does the same thing for the righteous today in a world that is flooded with sin. “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), is the call of Jesus. Will we come, being obedient in righteousness, according to God’s commandments like Noah did? Or will we perish in our sins because we refused to hear the word of the Lord?