How long did it take Noah to build the ark after God commanded him to do so? (One hundred and twenty years.) During these 120 years, Noah did one thing: He built the ark and collected various kinds of living creatures. And though this was but one thing, not many different tasks, this one thing involved a tremendous amount of work. So what was the purpose in doing this? Why did he build this ark? What was the aim and significance of doing this? It was so that each type of living creature might survive when God destroyed the world by flood. So, Noah did what he did to prepare, prior to God’s destruction of the world, for the survival of each kind of living creature. And for God, was this a very urgent matter? From the tone of God’s speech, and the essence of what God commanded, could Noah hear that God was impatient, and that His intention was pressing? (Yes.) Say, for example, you are told, “The plague is coming. It has started spreading in the outside world. You have one thing to do, and be quick about it: Hurry up and buy food and masks. That’s all!” What do you hear in this? Is it urgent? (It is.) So when should this be done? Should you wait until next year, the year after that, or several years from now? No—this is an urgent task, an important matter. Put everything else aside and take care of this first. Is this what you hear from these words? (Yes.) So what should those who are submissive to God do? They should immediately put aside the task at hand. Nothing else matters. God is very impatient regarding that which He has just commanded to be done; they should waste no time in doing and carrying out this task, which is pressing to God and which preoccupies God; they should complete it before carrying out other jobs. This is what submission means. But if you analyze it by thinking, “A plague is coming? It is spreading? If it’s spreading, just let it spread—it’s not spreading to us. If it does, we’ll deal with it then. Buying masks and food? Masks are always available. And it doesn’t matter whether you wear them or not. We still have food now, why worry about that? What’s the hurry? Wait until the plague gets here. We have other things on our plate right now,” is this submission? (No.) What is this? This is collectively referred to as rebellion. More specifically, it is indifference, opposition, analysis, and examination, as well as having disdain in one’s heart, thinking this could never happen, and not believing it is real. Is there true faith in such an attitude? (No.) Their overall status is this: In regard to the words of God, and toward the truth, they invariably have an attitude of dragging their heels, of indifference, of carelessness; in their heart, they don’t see this as important at all. They think, “I’ll listen to the things You say that relate to the truth, and to Your lofty sermons—I won’t hesitate to note these down so I don’t forget them. But the things You say about buying food and masks don’t relate to the truth, so I can reject them, I can ridicule them in my heart, and I can treat You with an attitude of indifference and disregard; it’s enough that I listen with my ears, but what I think in my heart is not Your concern, it is none of Your business.” Was this Noah’s attitude toward God’s words? (No.) What shows he wasn’t like this? We must talk about this; it will teach you that Noah’s attitude toward God was completely different. And there are facts to prove it.

In that pre-industrial era, when everything had to be carried out and completed by hand, every manual task was very strenuous and time-consuming. When Noah heard God’s commission, when he heard all the things God described, he sensed the seriousness of this matter, and the severity of the situation. He knew that God would destroy the world. And why was He going to do this? Because human beings were so evil, didn’t believe in God’s word, and even denied God’s word, and God loathed that humankind. Had God loathed that humankind for just a day or two? Did God, on impulse, say “Today I do not like this humankind. I will destroy this humankind, so get to it and make Me an ark”? Is this the case? No. After hearing God’s words, Noah comprehended what God meant. God had not loathed that humankind for just one or two days; He was eager to destroy it, so that humankind could begin anew. But this time, God did not wish to once more create another humankind; instead He would let Noah be fortunate enough to survive as the master of the next era, as humankind’s forefather. Once he comprehended this aspect of God’s meaning, Noah could feel, from the depths of his heart, the pressing intention of God, he could sense God’s urgency—and so, when God spoke, aside from listening carefully, closely, and diligently, Noah felt something in his heart. What did he feel? Urgency, the emotion that ought to be felt by a true created being after appreciating the pressing intentions of the Creator. And so, what did Noah think in his heart, once God had commanded him to build an ark? He thought, “From today onward, nothing matters as much as building the ark, nothing is as important and urgent as this. I have heard the words from the Creator’s heart, I have felt His pressing intention, so I must not delay; I must build the ark that was spoken of and asked for by God with all haste.” What was Noah’s attitude? One of not daring to be neglectful. And in what manner did he execute building the ark? Without delay. He carried out and executed each detail of what was spoken of and instructed by God with all haste, and with all his energy, without being at all perfunctory. In sum, Noah’s attitude toward the Creator’s command was submission. He was not unconcerned with it, and there was no resistance in his heart, nor was there indifference. Instead, he diligently tried to understand the intention of the Creator as he memorized every detail. When he comprehended God’s pressing intention, he decided to pick up the pace, to complete what God had imparted to him with all haste. What did this mean, “with all haste”? It meant completing, in as little time possible, work that would previously have taken a month, getting it done perhaps three or five days ahead of schedule, without dragging his feet at all or the least procrastination, but pushing ahead with the whole project as best he could. Naturally, while carrying out each job, he would try his hardest to minimize losses and errors, and not to do any work such that it would have to be repeated; he would also have completed every task and procedure on schedule and done them well, guaranteeing its quality. This was a true manifestation of not dragging one’s feet. So, what was the prerequisite for his being able not to drag his feet? (He had heard God’s command.) Yes, that was the prerequisite and context for this. Now, why was Noah able not to drag his feet? Some people say Noah was possessed of true submission. So, what did he possess that allowed him to achieve such true submission? (He was considerate of God’s heart.) That’s right! This is what it means to have heart! People with heart are able to be considerate of God’s heart; those without heart are empty shells, fools, they do not know to be considerate of God’s heart. Their mentality is: “I don’t care how urgent this is for God, I’ll do it however I please—in any case, I’m not being idle or lazy.” This kind of attitude, this kind of negativity, the total lack of proactiveness—this is not someone who is considerate of God’s heart, nor do they understand how to be considerate of God’s heart. In which case, are they possessed of true faith? Definitely not. Noah was considerate of God’s heart, he had true faith, and was thus able to complete God’s commission. And so, it is not enough to simply accept God’s commission and be willing to make some effort. You must also be considerate of God’s intentions, give your all, and be loyal—which requires you to have a conscience and reason; it is what people ought to have, and what was found in Noah. What do you say, to build such a big ark at that time, how many years would it have taken if Noah had dragged his heels, and had no sense of urgency, no angst, no efficiency? Could it have been finished in 100 years? (No.) It would have taken several generations of constant building. On the one hand, building a solid object like an ark would take years; what’s more, so would collecting and looking after all the living creatures. Was it easy to collect these creatures? (No.) It was not. And so, after hearing God’s commands, and comprehending God’s pressing intention, Noah sensed that this would be neither easy nor straightforward. He realized that he had to accomplish it according to God’s wishes, and complete the commission given by God, so that God would be satisfied and reassured, so that the next step of God’s work could proceed smoothly. Such was the heart of Noah. And what kind of heart was this? It was a heart that was considerate of God’s intentions. Judging from Noah’s behavior in building the ark, he was absolutely a man of great faith and did not hold any doubts toward God’s word for a hundred years. What did he depend on? He depended on his faith in and submission to God. Noah was able to submit absolutely. What are the details of his absolute submission? His consideration. Do you have this heart? (No.) You are able to speak doctrines and call out slogans, but you can’t practice, and when faced with difficulties, you can’t put God’s commands into effect. When you talk, you talk very clearly, but when it comes to actual operations and you are faced with some difficulty, you become negative, and when you suffer a little, you start to complain, wanting to just give up. If there was no heavy rain over eight or ten years, you would become negative and doubt God, and if another 20 years passed without heavy rain, would you continue to be negative? Noah spent more than 100 years building the ark and never became negative or doubted God, he just kept on building the ark. Who else but Noah could have done this? In what ways are you lacking? (We don’t possess normal humanity or conscience.) That’s right. You don’t possess Noah’s character. How many truths did Noah understand? Do you think he understood more truths than you? You have heard so many sermons. The mysteries of God’s incarnation, the inside truth of God’s three stages of work, God’s management plan; these are the highest and most profound mysteries expressed to mankind, and all of these have been made clear to you, so how is it that you still do not possess Noah’s humanity and are unable to do as Noah was able to do? Your faith and humanity are so inferior to Noah’s! It can be said that you don’t have true faith, or the minimum conscience or reason that should be possessed within humanity. Though you have listened to many sermons and on the surface, you seem to understand truths, the quality of your humanity and your corrupt disposition cannot be changed immediately by listening to more sermons or by understanding truths. Without discernment of these things, people feel that they aren’t too inferior to the saints of old, thinking to themselves “We are now accepting God’s commission too and listening to the word of God from God’s own mouth. We are also taking every single thing that God asks us to do seriously. Everyone fellowships on these things together, and then does the work of planning, deploying, and carrying things out. How are we any different from the saints of old?” Is the difference you see now large or not? It is enormous, primarily in regard to character. People of today are so corrupt, selfish, and despicable! They don’t lift a finger unless they benefit from it! They find that doing good things and preparing good deeds requires a lot of effort! They are willing to do a duty but have no willpower, they are willing to suffer but can’t take it, they wish to pay a price but can’t do it, they are willing to practice the truth but can’t carry it out, and they wish to love God but can’t put this into practice. Tell Me just how lacking this type of humanity is! How much truth must be understood and possessed in order to make up for this?

We just fellowshipped in regard to Noah’s consideration of God’s intentions, which was a precious part of his humanity. There’s something else, too—what is it? After hearing God’s words, Noah knew one fact; so, too, did he know what God’s plan was. The plan was not to simply build an ark to serve as a memorial, or to create an amusement park, or to make some big building as a landmark—that was not the case. From what God said, Noah knew one fact: God loathed this humankind, which was wicked, and had determined that this humankind was to be destroyed by flood. Those who would survive to the next era, meanwhile, would be saved from the floods by this ark; it would allow them to survive. And what was the key issue in this fact? That God would destroy the world with a flood, and that He intended for Noah to build an ark and survive, and for each kind of living creature to survive, but for humankind to be destroyed. Was this something major? This was not some trifling family matter, nor some minor matter concerning an individual or a tribe; instead, it involved a major operation. What kind of major operation? One that related to God’s management plan. God was going to do something big, something that involved the whole of humankind, and which related to His management, to His attitude toward humankind, and to its fate. This is the third piece of information that Noah learned as God entrusted this undertaking to him. And what was Noah’s attitude when he heard of this from God’s words? Was it one of belief, doubt, or total disbelief? (Belief.) To what extent did he believe? And what facts prove that he believed this? (Upon hearing God’s words, he began putting them into practice, and built the ark as God had said, which means that his attitude toward God’s words was one of belief.) From everything that was exhibited in Noah—from the level of execution and implementation after Noah accepted what God had entrusted to him, to the fact of what was ultimately accomplished—it can be seen that Noah had absolute belief in every word that God had uttered. Why did he have absolute belief? How did he have no doubts? How is it that he did not try to analyze, that he did not examine this in his heart? What does this relate to? (Faith in God.) That’s right, this was Noah’s true faith in God. Therefore, when it came to everything that God spoke of and His every word, Noah did not simply listen and accept; instead he had true knowledge and faith in the depths of his heart. Though God had not told him the various details, such as when the floodwaters would come, or how many years it would be before they did, or what the scale of these floods would be, or what it would be like after God had destroyed the world, Noah believed that all God had said had already become fact. Noah did not treat God’s words like a story, or a myth, or some saying, or a piece of writing, but in the depths of his heart believed, and was certain, that God was going to do this, and that no one can change what God determines to accomplish. Noah felt that people could only have one attitude toward God’s words and that which God wishes to accomplish, which is to accept this fact, submit to what is commanded by God, and cooperate in the tasks that God asks them to cooperate in—this was his attitude. And it was precisely because Noah had such an attitude—not analyzing, not examining, not doubting, yet believing from the depths of his heart, and then deciding to cooperate in what was required by God, and in what God wished to be accomplished—it was precisely because of this that the fact of the ark’s construction and the collection and survival of each type of living creature was accomplished. If, when Noah heard God say that He would destroy the world with floods, Noah was doubtful; if he dared not completely believe this, because he had not seen it, and did not know when it would occur, there being many unknowns, then would his frame of mind and conviction toward building the ark have been affected, would it have changed? (Yes.) How would it have changed? While building the ark, he might have cut corners, he might have ignored God’s specifications, or not gathered each kind of living creature within the ark as God asked; God said there must be one male and one female, to which he might have said, “For some of them it’s enough just to have a female. I can’t find some of them, so forget about them. Who knows when the flood that destroys the world will happen.” The great undertaking of building the ark and collecting each type of living creature took 120 years. Would Noah have persisted for these 120 years if he had not had true faith in God’s words? Absolutely not. With interference from the outside world, and various complaints from their family members, for someone who does not believe that the words of God are fact, the act of building an ark would be very difficult to accomplish, let alone if it would take 120 years. Last time, I asked you if 120 years was a long time. You all said it was. I asked you how long you would last, and when I eventually asked if you could manage 15 days, none of you said you could, and My heart sank. You are vastly inferior to Noah. You are not the equal of one hair on his head, you do not even possess one-tenth of his faith. How pitiable you are! For one thing, your humanity and integrity are too low. For another, it can be said that your pursuit of the truth is basically absent. And so, you are incapable of producing true faith in God, nor do you have true submission. So how have you been able to last until now—why is it that, as I fellowship, you still sit there listening? There are two aspects found in you. On one hand, most of you still wish to be good; you do not want to be bad people. You wish to take the good road. You have this little bit of resolve, you have this little bit of good aspiration. At the same time, most of you are afraid of death. To what degree do you fear death? At the slightest sign of trouble in the outside world, there are those of you who put extra effort into doing their duty; when things calm down, they revel in comfort, and put far less effort into their duty; they are always attending to their flesh. Compared to the true faith of Noah, is there any true faith in what is manifested in you? (No.) I think so, too. And even if there is a little faith, it is pathetically small, and not able to withstand the test of trials.

I’ve never produced any work arrangements, but I’ve often heard of them being prefaced with words like this: “Right now, various countries are in serious disarray, worldly trends are becoming ever more wicked, and God will punish the human race; we should do our duty to an acceptable standard by doing such-and-such, and offer our loyalty to God.” “These days, the plagues grow ever more severe, the environment ever more adverse, the disasters ever more serious, people face the threat of illnesses and death, and only if we believe in God, and pray more before God, will we avoid the pestilence, for only God is our refuge. Nowadays, faced with such circumstances, and such an environment, we should prepare good deeds by doing such-and-such, and equip ourselves with the truth by doing such-and-such—this is imperative.” “This year’s pest infestation was especially severe, humankind will face famine, and will soon encounter looting and social instability, so those who believe in God should often come before God to pray and ask for God’s protection, and must maintain normal church life, and a normal spiritual life.” And so on. And then, once the preface has been spoken, the specific arrangements begin. Every time, these prefaces have played a timely and decisive role in people’s faith. So I wonder, would the work arrangements not be carried out if these prefaces and statements weren’t made? Without these prefaces, would the work arrangements not be work arrangements? Would there not be a reason to issue them? The answer to these questions is surely no. What I want to know now is, what purpose do people have in believing in God? Just what is the significance of their faith in God? Do they, or do they not, understand the facts that God wishes to accomplish? How should people treat the words of God? How should they treat all that the Creator asks? Are these questions worth considering? If people were held to the standard of Noah, it is My view that not a single one of them would deserve the title “created being.” They would not be worthy of coming before God. If the faith and submission of the people of today were measured by God’s attitude toward Noah, and the standards by which God selected Noah, could God be satisfied with them? (No.) They are a long way off! People always say that they believe in and worship God, but how does this faith and worship manifest in them? Actually, it manifests as their dependence on God, their demands of Him, as well as their veritable rebellion against Him, and even their disdain toward God incarnate. Could all this be considered as mankind’s contempt for the truth and the open violation of principle? That is, in fact, the case—this is its essence. Every time the work arrangements contain these words, there is an increase in people’s “faith”; every time work arrangements are issued, when people realize the requirements and significance of the work arrangements, and are able to carry them out, then they believe that there has been an increase in their level of submission, that they are now possessed of submission—but do they, in fact, really possess faith and true submission? And just what is this supposed faith and submission when measured by the standard of Noah? A kind of transaction, actually. How could this possibly be considered faith and true submission? What is this so-called true faith of people? “The last days are here—I hope God will act soon! It’s such a blessing that I will be here when God destroys the world, that I will be lucky enough to remain, and will not suffer the ravages of destruction. God is so good, He loves people so much, God is so great! He has elevated man so much, God truly is God, only God could do such things.” And their so-called true submission? “Everything God says is right. Do whatever He asks; if not, you will be plunged into disaster, and it will all be over for you, no one will be able to save you.” Their faith is not true faith, and their submission is also not true submission—these are nothing but lies.

Today, virtually everyone in the world knows of Noah’s construction of the ark, right? But how many people are aware of the inside story? How many people understand the true faith and submission of Noah? And who knows—and cares—about what God’s assessment of Noah was? No one pays any attention to this. What does this show? It shows that people do not pursue the truth, and do not love positive things. Last time, after I fellowshipped on the stories of these two figures, did anyone go back to the Bible to read the details of these stories? Were you moved when you heard the stories of Noah, Abraham, and Job? (Yes.) Do you envy these three people? (Yes.) Do you want to be like them? (Yes.) So, did you hold detailed fellowships about their stories, and about the essence of their behavior, their attitude toward God, and their faith and submission? Where should people who wish to be like these kinds of people start? I first read the story of Job a long time ago, and I had some understanding of the stories of Noah and Abraham, too. Each time I read and think in my heart about what the three men exhibited, what God said and did to them, and their various attitudes, I feel like I’m going to shed tears—I am moved. So what moved you when you read them? (Having listened to God’s fellowship, I finally came to know that when Job was undergoing his trials, he thought that God was suffering for him, and as he didn’t want God to suffer, he cursed the very day he was born. Every time I read this, I felt that Job was truly considerate of God’s intentions and I felt very moved.) What else? (Noah went through such hardships when building the ark, yet he was still able to show consideration for God’s intentions. Abraham was granted a child at 100 years of age and was filled with joy, but when God asked him to offer his child, he was able to obey and submit, yet we can’t do that. We do not have the humanity, conscience, or reason of Noah or Abraham. I am filled with admiration when I read their stories, and they are models for us to follow.) (The last time You fellowshipped, You mentioned that Noah was able to persist for 120 years in building the ark and that he completed the things God commanded him to do perfectly and didn’t let down God’s expectations. In comparing this with my attitude toward my duty, I see that I have no perseverance at all. This makes me feel guilty as well as moved.) You’re all moved, right? (Yes.) We won’t fellowship on this topic for the time being; we’ll discuss all this after we’ve finished up with the stories of Noah and Abraham. I’ll tell you which parts moved Me, and we’ll see if they were the same ones that moved you.

We just fellowshipped about Noah’s true faith in God. The established facts of his building the ark are sufficient to show his true faith. Noah’s true faith is demonstrated in every single thing he did, in his every thought, and in the attitude with which he acted toward what God had commanded of him. This is enough to show Noah’s true faith in God—faith which is beyond all doubt, and utterly pure. Regardless of whether what God asked him to do was in line with his own notions, regardless of whether it was what he had planned to do in life, and regardless of how it conflicted with the things in his life, much less how difficult this task was, he had but one attitude: acceptance, submission and implementation. Ultimately, the facts show that the ark built by Noah saved each species of living creature, as well as Noah’s own family. When God brought down the flood and began destroying the human race, the ark carried Noah’s family and various kinds of living creatures, floating upon the water. God destroyed the earth by sending a great deluge for forty days, and only Noah’s family of eight people and the various living creatures that entered the ark survived, all other people and living things were destroyed. What is seen from these facts? Because Noah was possessed of true faith and true submission to God—through Noah’s true cooperation with God—everything God wished to do was realized; it all became a reality. This was what God valued in Noah, and Noah did not disappoint God; he lived up to the important commission that God had given him, and completed all that God had entrusted to him. That Noah was able to complete God’s commission was, on the one hand, because of God’s commands, and at the same time, it was also largely due to Noah’s true faith and absolute submission to God. It was precisely because Noah possessed these two most cherished of all things that he became loved by God; and it was precisely because Noah possessed true faith, and absolute submission, that God saw him as someone who should remain, and as somebody who was worthy of surviving. Everyone apart from Noah was the object of God’s loathing, the implication being that they were all unworthy of living amidst God’s creation. What should we see from Noah’s creation of the ark? For one thing, we’ve seen Noah’s noble character; Noah was possessed of conscience and reason. For another, we’ve seen Noah’s true faith and true submission toward God. All of this is worthy of emulation. It was precisely because of Noah’s faith and submission toward God’s commission that Noah became beloved in the eyes of God, a created being that was loved by God—which was a fortunate and blessed thing. Only such people are fit to live in the light of God’s countenance; in God’s eyes, only they are fit to live. People who are fit to live: what does this mean? It means those who are worthy of enjoying all that which could be enjoyed that God has bestowed upon mankind, worthy of living in the light of God’s countenance, worthy of receiving God’s blessings and promises; people like this are beloved by God, they are true created human beings, and are the ones God wishes to gain.