Why were only eight people saved on the ark?

The Bible tells us that before the flood, people lived for many hundreds of years. Therefore the population of the earth was probably in the hundreds of millions, or even billions.¹ The Bible also tells us that God saved only eight of these people, Noah, his sons, and their wives.

It is astounding to consider that in the tenth generation from Adam the human race had become so wicked, evil, violent and corrupt that it was not fit to go on living. Weren't there other people worth saving? The answer is, that all of us, "have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)  By His standard, God would have condemned each and every person. So it is even more astounding that He did not! God chose to save Noah and his family, even though like all of us, they fell short of God's absolute standard of righteousness.

As Russell Grigg explains in Noah's Flood—why?:

God's mercy regarding the Flood is just as evident as His judgment, and is seen in the fact that God provided a way of escape for those who were prepared to believe what He had said, heed the warning He gave, and avail themselves of the means of salvation which He provided by instructing Noah to build the Ark (Genesis 6:14-16).

Noah is described as ... 'a preacher of righteousness' (2 Peter 2:5). His messages, perhaps preached from the platform of the partially completed Ark, included warnings of the coming judgment and invitations to his listeners to avail themselves of the one means of escape, which he was constructing. In the event, Noah and his family alone had regard to the wrath of God, and only eight people boarded the Ark in faith and were saved—Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their three wives.²

Noah and his family survived physically. As portrayed in The Coming Wrath, there were probably others who came to believe in Noah's prophecy. They wanted to reach the Ark, but they were killed before they could get there. They were sinners just like Noah, but like him, they repented and turned to God. From the testimony of the entire Bible, those who were killed in this way were also saved, not physically in this life, but toward eternal, everlasting life.

How is this relevant to us today?

The warnings given to Noah's generation are terrifyingly relevant today. When God's mercy is rejected, then His judgment must and will fall. But, as in the days of Noah, so now God has both given warning of the judgment to come and provided a way of salvation. The Ark was the only refuge from divine judgment then and it had to be entered by faith. As such it speaks to us of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Saviour for sinful mankind today, whose death on the Cross must be appropriated by faith. 'For by grace are ye saved through faith' (Ephesians 2:8); 'Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved' (Acts 4:12). As the Apostle Paul declares, 'I declare unto you the Gospel...By which also ye are saved...how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that He rose again the third day' (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).²

(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 39: Sechiall Strikes of The Coming Wrath)

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References

1. Lambert Dolphin, World Population Since Creation, retrieved October 13, 2012.

2. Russell M. Grigg, Noah's Flood—why?, Creation Ministries International, retrieved October 13, 2012.