1 Chronicles 1:4

4 The sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth. (NIV)

They were in the ark for a year and ten days, and along with them, God rescued some of all the animals. Mysterious jumbles of bones in the arctic and elsewhere continue to disturb and confuse many people, but the destruction of the Flood doesn't confuse us. That sin was the cause—that's distrubing, but only because we're amazed that God doesn't just trash the whole thing again and again.

But he promised not to. He promised that he would let it go until the very end, and that even the rainbow would be a reminder that he will permit the world to spin and exist until the very last day, and that he will never again destroy the world in a flood. The next destruction will be final, and it will be in fire.

The way Noah cursed Ham and blessed his other sins (based on their reactions to his own sinful binge of drunkenness) has affected the course of human history. Ham and his Canaanite descendants live under a curse. Japheth dwells in the tents of Shem and God has extended the boundaries of Japheth.

But we are not loved or condemned on a personal basis by our family or our race. God looks for faith in each and every one of us, whatever our family history.

After the Flood, perhaps because of the hydrological changes brought about by the catastrophe, the lifespans of men changed radically. Men were no longer living to be many centuries old. Where men had once lived eight or nine centuries, they would now live eight or nine decades.

But whatever our lifespan, it is what comes afterward that makes a difference. Through faith in Christ, we have been given the gift of eternal life.