The ark was lift up above the earth, high above the mountains and the hills, it could not founder. Verses 18 and 19 use a strange word – ‘The waters prevailed.
How overwhelmingly terrifying this must have been for those outside the ark, and how awesome for Noah and his family within the ark! Man was faced with a threat he was powerless to stave off. Originally, God created the earth as a safe habitation for mankind, and provided every good thing that he needed for life and happiness. When man fell and sin came into the world, the world was profoundly changed in ways which we do not fully understand, but which included the introduction of the principle of suffering, and decay, and death. God introduced miseries into our world which were not there at the beginning. Nevertheless life continued and man learnt to live under these conditions. He now had ample tokens of God’s anger towards him, and yet the Lord did not altogether take away the possibility of children being born and new generations growing up and spreading across the globe. And so he again trusted in the fabric of the world and its structures: the sun, the moon, the seas, the dry land, and the clouds and rain. These things were given to him, and were far beyond his ability to provide for himself. Even so, unbelieving man received them, as always, not as gifts from God as they are in truth, but as brute facts of nature. But this did not alter his sense of dependence on them. He adjusted his outlook to receive these things as necessary for life, but he still refused to give thanks and to acknowledge his Creator. But now the earth was turning against him. What could he do to defend himself? What could he do to ward off this judgment? Nothing! He was taught how powerless he is. All cries to God remained unanswered. Now it was too late to pray to God, for the day of repentance was past, and God would not now reverse the destruction of the earth which had been threatened so long. Let men and women consider the final judgment which Scripture makes equally clear; let them consider it before it comes and not harden their hearts against the Lord. ‘Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him’ (Psalm 2:12).