Genesis 7--The Flood

​Genesis 7 English Standard Version (ESV)
LISTEN:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Gen.7
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7 Then 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. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5 And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9 two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14 they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. 15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.

17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

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Notice it is God who is in complete control here.  He calls Noah and tells Noah both to build the ark for him and his family to get inside the ark.  God then gave specific instructions for the work that Noah was supposed to do, though we will see that this this task was too big for Noah and his family to accomplish in the seven days they had and God did nearly all the work to bring the animals to Noah and make them get on the ark, and God was also in complete control of when the Flood would come and how long it would last.  There was not a single detail that God had not ordained and planned out.

Notice the phrase "And Noah did all the the Lord had commanded him."  Is that something that can be said of us?  Would we be the ones of which Go would say, "For I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation." (7:1) and "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation." (6:9)?  If we were too live to be six-hundred years old and God told us to build an ark to save the animals and our family would we willingly do it?  While we aren't told the exact amount of time here, we can assume Noah also spent a lot of time working on the ark, and while it seems that things were different back then as he gave birth to children at the age of 500, I wouldn't imagine that it would be easy for someone between 500 and 600 years old to build an ark--but God usually doesn't call us to do the things that are easy, He usually calls us to the impossible so that we call on Him and He gets the glory.

The amount of specificity here on exactly how old Noah was let's us know two things.  First, this is real history happening to real people.  You don't put this kind of detail into a myth or legend.  Second, that history would probably have to be eyewitness testimony to get that level of detail.  It was the very same day that God made sure that His elect were safe that the judgment came.  We'll see this again further in Genesis with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah where the angels tell Lot, "We can do nothing until you are safe."  God's elect will not be caught up in His wrath, but we should not expect God to wait any longer to pour out His wrath once the righteous (those who are in Christ) are safe.

Do not miss this key phrase in verse 16, "And the Lord shut him in."  The Lord shut the door to keep both the rain and the other people out and to keep the elect safe inside.  There was a time for getting on the ark and there was a time when that decision had been made and it was a time for judgment and no more would enter the ark.  Once everyone and everything was on the ark that belonged it was God who closes the door behind them.

We then see that the flood happened exactly as God had prophesied, and although the storm was furious, the ark had been built to weather the storm and not capsize.  The flood was global in scale--don't let anyone tell you otherwise--and was total.  There was not a single "safe space" left from God's total judgment.  You couldn't even escape by making your way to the highest mountain because all of the highest mountains were covered with water.  As a famous pastor used to say, "'All' means all and that's all 'all' means."  God sees all and knows all and would not say "all" if that's not exactly what was the case.  Not only were the mountain tops covered, but there was enough water above them (15 cubits) so that the ark would not run aground until it was time.

Then we see that just as God prophesied, the death that was the wages of sin was total and affected every kind of living thing, not just the men who had sinned.  When Adam feel, all of creation fell with him.  The only thing we don't see mentioned as being taken onto the ark or being blotted out is the marine life (the animals that lived in the sea).  But even these animals would experience great amounts of death as we see evidence of many sea creatures dying all around the same time and being quickly buried and fossilized, and we even see fossils of fish up on the tops of mountains.  That shouldn't be possible unless the waters covered every high mountain as this passage tells us that they did.  Only those who were inside the ark were saved.

We are again told specific details that the waters prevailed (rose) for 150 days.  While the rains only lasted for 40 days and 40 nights, "the fountains of the deep" and "the windows of heaven" would have to be closed by God for the floodwaters to stop rising.  And why did God do this?  We see that it is because He remembered those that were inside the ark.  We'll study that next time as we talk about God's faithfulness and mercy even in the midst of His judgment.

I'd like to say one more thing here before we leave this topic.  Many people who are Christians try to simply not talk about Genesis 1-11 in order to avoid talking about Creation, the Fall, and the Flood, but these are not topics that Jesus Himself avoided.  Jesus and the authors of the New Testament quoted Genesis not only as historical fact but authoritative on the issues of God's eternal nature, the fact that He was the Creator of all things, the fact that Adam and Eve were created as male and female for the purpose of being united in marriage and to have sexual relations and build a family, that just like in the days of Noah another day which is called "the day of the LORD" in the Old Testament will come and will destroy all those outside of God's plan of salvation.  We do not have any basis for Christianity if it is not for these first few chapters of the Bible.  If there is no special creation, then there is no God to be a Law-giver, and no such thing as "sin," but then we are left without answers to why we believe in the concept of "evil" and "justice" and why would even bother to try and impose order or rehabilitate people--why do this if there is not intrinsic value from them being made in the image of God?  The Naturalist point of view (molecules to man evolution) cannot explain why man has a conscience or why he can philosophize or is concerned with aesthetics or many other things that Evolution (the worldview) simply can't explain.

We are told in Romans that both sin and death entered the world through one man (Adam), so how could we believe in a system of millions and billions of years of death that existed before sin?  If we did not have a "first Adam" then how could Christ be "the Second Adam"?  If there was not an original creation, then why would be believe in a new creation at the end of this age?  If we don't believe in the Flood, then why would we believe in the coming Day of the LORD where the elements will melt with fervent heat and all of creation (not just life on earth) will be destroyed (everything created in Genesis 1)?  If the first part of the Bible can't be trusted, how can any of it be trusted?  If the first part of the Bible is not authoritative and something we can use to divide truth from error and build sound doctrine upon.  How could Paul say in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." when the word he uses for "Scripture" would clearly include the book of Genesis?  Remember what I said about the word "all" just a little bit ago.

We cannot have a coherent worldview if try and believe in an "XACTO-knife Bible" where we get to cut out the parts of the Bible that we don't like.  We have then set ourselves up as the authority over Scripture, and it is no longer God's Word, but our words.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 English Standard Version (ESV)Preach the Word4 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

I believe we are living in just such a day as described by 2nd Timothy 4 and Romans 1 as well as some other passages when men--even some who call themselves God's elect--have exchanged the truth of God for a lie and will no longer preach the word and use it as the source for all teaching, reproof, rebuke, exhortation, and training in righteousness.  They would prefer to surround themselves with teachers who say what their itching ears want to hear and believe in a modern form of idolatry where they make their own "god" for themselves that they believe is worthy of their worship and they make God in their image instead of them being made into the image of God.  They substitute the wisdom of this world for the Word of God and choose to love sin and darkness and they try to make some other way of salvation that is more palatable to them and their friends in the world.  There is no other way.  There is one Way, and that is Jesus, the Ark of our salvation.  It is only in and through Him that we will survive the coming judgement and it is only through the Word of God that we will learn who God is, what He requires of us, and what His plan of salvation is that we must all follow in order to escape the coming wrath as well as what the future holds for those who refuse to enter into the salvation offered in and through Jesus.  Only those who are found in Christ and clothed in His righteousness alone will escape the wrath of God.
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