Most children learn the story of the flood and Noah’s ark in Sunday school at an early age. It’s a fascinating account about the judgment of God, an extremely evil world, and one righteous man. It is a story about God’s dealing with a corrupt and distorted race, but it is also a story about God’s grace. It is the story of the end of one age and the beginning of another.

After the rains ceased and the water began to recede, we are told in Genesis 8:4 that “the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.” Why are we given this particular detail? Do we really care when this happened? Should we?

Romans 15:4 reads, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” Does this mean every detail of scripture? If so, why did God’s spirit direct the writer of Genesis to record the fact that “the ark rested in the seventh month on the seventeenth day of the month”? Is there comfort and hope for us to be found in this detail of scripture?

Let’s consider the significance of the date. At the time of Genesis, the seventh month was the month Nisan. When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, however, He changed their calendar and made Nisan the first month. It was to signify a new beginning for the nation. This was to be the month of their freedom. In the 12th chapter of Exodus, Moses and Aaron are given very specific instructions. These instructions constitute what has come to be called “Passover.”

The Passover lamb was to be slain on the 14th of Nisan. This was prophetic of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the lamb of God. The gospel of John makes it clear (in chapter 17) that Jesus died on the 14th of Nisan just as the Passover lambs were being killed. According to Leviticus 17, the morning after the Sabbath after Passover is the Feast of First Fruits. The Sunday morning after Jesus died a group of women discovered an empty tomb.

I Corinthians 15:20 says, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you and I have hope and comfort, even at the funerals of those we love. We are told that those who belong to Christ will be resurrected when he returns.

Both the Passover and the Feast of First Fruits then were prophetic. They pointed to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the 14th of Nisan. He himself foretold the fact that he would be in the grave three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40). This means that Jesus was resurrected on the 17th day of Nisan.

Noah’s ark rested on the 17th day of Nisan – the same date that the resurrection of Jesus would take place. God told Israel that the month of Nisan was to be the month of a new beginning for the nation. They gained their freedom that month and a new way of life. In Noah’s day the same date also signified a new beginning, a new age. Noah and those with him in the ark were to start life over. They would live a new life in covenant with God.

Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, on the same date that the ark rested and that the Feast of First Fruits was to be celebrated, you and I are given the opportunity for new life. We can rest in Christ and live a life in a new covenant relationship with God. By God’s grace and mercy, we can become His people.

Some years ago, during a visit to Yellowstone Park, one writer observed that the only animal that the grizzly bear would share his food with was a skunk. It wasn't that the grizzly wanted to share his food but rather that he chose to. With one swing of his powerful paw he could have crushed the skunk. So why did he allow the skunk to eat with him? Because he knew the high cost to getting even.----- Clever bear! Undoubtedly he learned the hard way. Strange that we humans often aren't as smart. Sometimes we carry grudges for years, often repressing them from conscious memory, and end up hurting ourselves more than the ones we would like to get even with. We fail to see how damaging an unforgiving spirit is.

In his book, None of These Diseases, Dr. S.I. McMillen says, "Medical science recognizes that emotions such as fear, sorrow, envy, resentment and hatred are responsible for the majority of our sicknesses. Estimates vary from 60 percent to nearly 100 percent." I read one report of an astonished patient who was told by his doctor: "If you don't cut out your resentments, I may have to cut out a part of your intestinal tract." Fortunately, the man took the doctor's advice. He had been nursing a bitter grudge against a former business partner. He went to see this man, resolved their differences, and forgave him. When he returned to the doctor, his physical condition had cleared up.

That advice isn't new, of course. The greatest physician who ever lived, Jesus Christ, pointed out 2,000 years ago the importance of forgiveness. When he encouraged us to "forgive seventy times seven," he was thinking of our physical as much as our spiritual well being. As Dr. McMillen says, he knew that a forgiving spirit would save us from "ulcerative colitis, toxic goiters, high blood pressure, and scores of other diseases" including ulcers, asthma, arthritis, neuro-dermatitis, and heart ailments - all possible effects of resentment.

Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business. Not to forgive is to yield oneself to another's control. If one does not forgive, then one is controlled by the other's initiatives and is locked into a sequence of act and response, of outrage and revenge, tit for tat, escalating always. The present is endlessly overwhelmed and devoured by the past. But to forgive is to be free from the past.

Jesus Christ pointed out another disturbing truth about an unforgiving spirit when he said, "If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

I believe what Christ meant was that an unforgiving spirit on my part is a sure sign that I haven't truly shown remorse to God for all my failures nor experienced fully his forgiveness. Furthermore, an unforgiving attitude is destructive to personal relationships. It goes without saying that many close relationships, especially marriage relationships, are destroyed not so much by what has been done but by what hasn't been done– forgiving one another. Wherever I fail to forgive my brother or sister, a wall of resentment builds up between us and eventually we become estranged. But once I forgive him or her for the offense towards me, we become close again and feelings of love are restored.

However, forgiveness needs to be genuine and not just a religious or sentimental act because it is "the right thing to do." If our forgiveness isn't genuine, resentment will poke its ugly head out at the most unexpected times–like when a couple get into an argument, they start dragging up events from the past that they still feel resentful about. Obviously those things haven't been forgiven. Forgiveness may not forget the past but it can bury it. Forgiveness can be very difficult if we have been hurt deeply but how do we forgive someone when he doesn't even feel he has wronged us?

According to one author, Susan Jacoby, we can't. She feels that "real forgiveness cannot take place without an acknowledgment of wrongdoing on the part of the person who is chiefly responsible for causing pain." If this is so, some of us are going to carry grudges for a long, long time. True, when a person acknowledges his wrongdoing, that certainly makes forgiveness easier. But when he doesn't, which is often the case, forgiveness becomes a choice. We can choose to forgive or not to forgive.

We need to realize, however, that forgiveness is essential perhaps not so much for the wrong that has happened to us, but because of our resentment towards the one who has wronged us. Lack of forgiveness is caused by this resentment–a mixture of hurt and anger. Therefore, to forgive genuinely, one needs to face and deal with his hurt and anger. To resolve our hurt and anger, we need to be totally honest and admit exactly how we feel. Then we need to get these feelings off our chest–not by lashing out and hurting the other person, but by "speaking the truth in love," or by writing out our feelings until they are completely dissipated.

When God forgives us, he does so, on the basis of both his justice and his love. His justice required a just sentence and confirmed death as the penalty or price of man's sin. But his love paid that price when he gave his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place as the just retribution for our sins and wrongs. Therefore, God can freely forgive us and not in any way violate his divine justice. The important thing is that we respond to God's love and forgiveness by acknowledging our sin and wrongdoing and accepting his free pardon. And then, in appreciation to God for his forgiveness of us, let us freely forgive others as we ourselves have been so freely forgiven.

Lighthouses have historically been a symbol of guidance and security for ships at sea. They provided seafaring ships with a means of navigation, while also sending a message of warning. If bad weather persisted and visibility was poor, the lighthouse stood as a beacon of hope to ships that were lost at sea. Throughout history, lighthouses have kept watch over crowded harbors, heavily traveled sea channels, deadly shoals and potential killer reefs. They played a major role during the American Revolutionary War as a means of communication as well as navigation. After the war, President George Washington and other congressmen understood that America could not grow and prosper without access to sea trade and they recognized that it lacked an adequate system of navigational markers. They envisioned a chain of “beacons of light” extending along the entire length of the east coast of the US. The signal light being emitted from the lighthouses would overlap one another. This way, vessels moving along the coast always had a light to guide them, to point the way to ports and to warn them away from dangerous terrain. A bill was passed in 1791 to begin construction on this project and it lasted until the early 1800’s. However, the project wasn’t without issues. Some of the lighthouses weren’t tall enough to project light over a great distance in bad weather. Some required additional lens technology to make their dim light shine brighter. These problems led to some shipwrecks. However, these lighthouses were fixed by either constructing them to be taller or adding the appropriate lens technology for projecting light across great distances. As the country’s coast grew so did the number of lighthouses. The final result was a system of navigational lights that eventually became the best and most extensive in the world.

The lighthouse was a familiar sight for me as I grew up in southeastern NH. I have childhood memories of family trips, visiting historic lighthouses both on (and off) the coast of Maine and Massachusetts. As a child, they didn’t excite me a great deal; it was more a point of entertainment for my parents. The irony is that I didn’t come to appreciate them and read more about them until I left NH in 2001 for the western suburbs of Chicago. The history behind them is interesting but it’s the spiritual symbolism of the lighthouse that has brought me to a greater appreciation of these historic landmarks.

The Old and New Testaments use the illustration of light to describe the relationship of God and Jesus to those who follow in Christ’s footsteps.

Psalm 27:1(NIV) – “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?” This verse conveys security and strength that comes from the Lord. One of the attributes of the lighthouse was the security it gave a ship’s captain and crew if they were lost or the visibility was poor.

Psalm 119:105(NIV) – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” The verse speaks to the guidance that comes from studying and knowing the Word of God. As discussed a few paragraphs above, the lighthouse was also a symbol of navigation, helping ships find their way to different places.

John 8:12(NIV) – “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” Jesus refers to himself as “the light of the world” which makes perfect sense when you consider what the disciple John states in John 1:4 – “In him(Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of men.”

The recurring theme is that God and his son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, are a light to all mankind. Our heavenly father’s nature is light as 1st John 1:5 states – “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” God is light and Jesus is the perfect reflection of that light. He is the quintessential beacon of spiritual light to all mankind. He stands tall and shines bright. Without Him, we are in darkness. No matter how rough the storms of life or how bad the visibility in the midst of turmoil, Jesus’ light is visible to those who seek it out. A lighthouse was only effective if it was paid attention to by a ship’s captain and crew. If the captain thought he knew how to best navigate a particular channel or port in poor weather conditions (i.e. thick fog, heavy rain, etc.), he risked running his ship aground in shallow water, or worse, navigating his ship directly into rocks or land. In either case, the boat would be damaged and the voyage delayed until repairs, if the ship wasn’t destroyed, was completed. In the same way, if we choose our way over Jesus’ way, then we risk damaging our relationship with Him on the voyage of life. He is our spiritual guide and our protector. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we have the strength to weather the storms of life, and Jesus is always there to guide us and lead us. We simply need to take notice and follow Him.

As followers of Jesus we are to be living beacons of light as well. The light we shine and the qualities we reflect will influence the way others think about us. The qualities that Jesus demonstrated while on earth were an example to those that followed him, and are an example for us today. We are to be beacons of light so that those around us will know where we stand morally and spiritually. Sometimes we will pay a price for standing out in this way, but other times we may be called upon to minister to others. Some verses from the New Testament speak to this point:
Acts 13:47(NIV) – “For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” The apostles were to be living beacons of light for the Gentiles. Similarly, we are to be beacons of light, set apart from the world so that those who have a desire to make a change in their life and follow Jesus have the guidance to do so.

Ephesians 5:8-11(NIV) – “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of light consists of all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them.” By living as “Children of Light” and exposing the evil and worthlessness of the things of this world, people (friends, co-workers, etc.) around us may begin to take notice and question the direction of their own lives. They may seek out Jesus as their Lord and Savior as well, but need our help to do so. If we blend in with the world, then we are not reflecting God’s qualities as Christ did and therefore will not be a living testimony to those around us. We are to be children of light, God’s light. And we should be reflecting that light, those qualities to those around us everyday.

Today, the lighthouse is more a historic landmark, a piece of American heritage, than a navigational tool. Computers, digital maps, global positioning devices and other tools of modern navigational technology have all but replaced the lighthouse. Some are still in use as a backup, in case the technology fails, but for the most part they are being preserved as a historic tourist attraction. While they are a reminder to me of my childhood and where I grew up, I have found them to be a source of inspiration on my Christian walk. They are a real-life illustration of what we are to become: beacons of light and hope for a dark and depraved world. We are to reflect the qualities of Christ, just as Christ perfectly represented and reflected God’s qualities to all mankind. Jesus is our only true beacon of hope that reflects a great light, the very nature of God for all to see. We are to seek him out daily, and in the process, become more like him. As this transformation occurs, hopefully those in the darkness will notice, follow the light, and become part of the family of God.

2nd Cor 3:18(NIV) – “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”