My five-year old son: Why did God destroy the unicorns?
Verse: Genesis 7:23
Unicorns are a trend today (or at least here in the US). Almost every day, my three toddlers ask me if unicorns are real. Taking into consideration the kind of creature they are referring to — the ones with majestic form — I always answer them, “No, they are not real.” Although the King James version mentioned the word “unicorn” several times, the Bible does not give specific description of the appearance of the creature referred to as unicorns. The Hebrew text for that specific translation (unicorn), was described in a Jewish encyclopedia as “a wild, untamable animal of great strength and agility, with mighty horns.” Experts have different views on this and whether or not they existed, and I am not getting into it here.
The next question my little boy asks is why God destroyed the unicorns during the Great Flood. Personally, I don’t believe that the kind of unicorn they are referring to existed even before the flood. (If they existed, there should have been two of them in the ark. Or if they really existed but were not in the ark, it was probably impossible for them to be in the ark, just like how those gigantic dinosaurs were impossible to be in the ark if they also existed before the flood. Of course, I don’t know all the answers). However, just for the sake of ending the conversation, I just say that every creature that was not in the ark perished. Then he interprets what I said as, “Jesus killed the unicorns???” How do we, then, argue against that kind of interpretation? It is a common scenario when people do not fully understand the context of something in the Bible that they interpret it the way my little boy did. (But this is not what this devotional is about.) 😊
So, let’s just stick with the story of the flood and the destruction of “unicorns.” I would tell my son that the animals and people that were not in the ark did not survive, and that God flooded the earth because the people’s sins are too much. As a mother, I put in a little effort to try to explain it to him in words he could understand.
In the beginning of Genesis chapter 7, the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.” We know that besides Noah, seven more people were in the ark. These eight people survived the global flood. However, prior to this chapter, there was nothing that tells of the righteousness of Noah’s family members. Chapter 7 only tells that the LORD has found Noah righteous, and because of Noah’s righteousness, those who were in his “household” were also saved.
This scenario is clearly a foreshadow of how Jesus, the TRUE ARK, will save those who are in His “household.” Just like Noah’s family members, God can save the unrighteous people like us only because of Christ. So when God looks at us, it is no longer our sinful selves He sees but Christ Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer, since He clothed us with His righteousness when we believe in Him.
Unfortunately, a lot of people are not aware that their parents’ faith won’t save them. A belief that a person is a Christian because he/she was born into a Christian household is a common misconception. As a Christian, one should be a follower of Christ; he/she must be in Christ. A strong Christian faith of parents, of course, can be caught by children and can also lead them to believe in Christ as their Lord and Savior. The concept of Noah’s righteousness covering his family members so they could be saved does not apply to us today. Our salvation is through Christ and Christ alone.
God will one day destroy this earth again, but that will be a total and absolute destruction prior to the establishment of the new heaven and new earth. On that day, Satan and his army, together with everyone who are not in the True Ark, Jesus Christ, will be cast into hell for all eternity.
Let’s share the Gospel with the people we love and even with strangers. As believers in Christ, let us allow God to work in us so that others will not be like those “unicorns” that perished because they were not in the ark. Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Get in the “Ark” now! May God give us the grace to do so.
-Odette Maagma-Green