#7 Noah and the Last Week: God’s Great Invitation and Noah’s Great Obedience, Genesis 7:1-9

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be." (Matthew 24:36-39, NASB.)

These words of Jesus might serve as a good summary plot for the most successful movie to date in Hollywood history, Titanic. In the movie life was going on as expected, people assuming their right to happiness and frivolity, the rich assuming they could enjoy their riches. Then in a moment of awful surprise, terrible events took place, and suddenly hundreds of passengers were drowning. Titanic is the story of a surprise flood and of a great ship. This ship was impressive, filling the screen with its remarkable qualities. It was a showpiece ocean liner, fast, elegant, richly appointed to pamper wealthy passengers. For its day, it was the height of luxury and technology.

The Biblical account of an unexpected flood also centers on a water craft, the ark of Noah. You can picture it in your imagination. It was completely different from the Titanic, but remarkable and impressive in its own way. It was a hulk of a boat, made out of wood and covered with pitch on the inside and outside. Within the structure of the boat there were three decks, dimly lit, we can imagine. And in among these decks were built homes for animals-stalls, nests, warrens-so they would survive. There was a great storehouse of food that would be needed during the months that the ark floated on the flood.

These two giant water craft are more compelling because the stories about them are true. At the bottom of the Atlantic, the wreckage of the Titanic has been discovered, and efforts have been made to bring up relics of the lost lives of people who were on that ship. And there are tantalizing tales of the discovery of the ark, perhaps encased in ice, on the top of Mount Ararat in Turkey. Over the last hundred years or so many have reported seeing a large wooden boat there. Whether its remains are discovered or not, the ark was a real boat, with real passengers-just like the Titanic.

It's difficult to know how the Genesis story of the flood was accomplished in scientific terms. The early chapters of Genesis have many questions of this type. All the questions aren't answered. We don't know everything that the Biblical literature is teaching. Modern science has great gaps in its understanding as well. But there is abundant evidence of a catastrophe on the earth. Geologists tell of a period in earth's history when something extraordinary took place. There is evidence, for instance, that the land mass in Antarctica, now covered with ice, was once tropical.

We also know that cultures all over the world have legends telling the story of an awful deluge that inundated ancient peoples. The stories are different in detail, but remarkably similar in at least the outline. The account of Genesis took place with real people, real cries of terror, real loss of everything. We won't be able to read all of Genesis 6 and 7 in this message. I urge you to read them in your own Bible. As you do so, view these events as not just some sort of myth or story, but as history, and try to imagine what it would have been like to be there.

The other similarity between the contemporary movie Titanic and the ancient account of the flood in the Bible is the focus on individuals. The Titanic was filled with people, but the two young lovers form the heart of the story. They had a different set of values from everyone else. In their case, romantic love conquered all. That's a theme of the movie. In the Bible text we find one man and his family who are the focus of the story. It's not just the terrible events, but the story of Noah and his family that become the fascination. Noah took a stand on faith in God that set him apart from everybody else in the world he lived in, a life that stood out uniquely in his day and time.

We return to the story of the Flood from the seventh chapter of Genesis, to set this Old Testament passage in the light that streams from a New Testament passage. The Apostle Peter, in his second letter, says that scoffers will appear in the last days raising doubts about the return of Jesus Christ, and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming?" {2 Pet 3:4}. That is, what grounds have you to expect this to be fulfilled? The basis for their scoffing will be that "all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation," {2 Pet 3:4b RSV}. Their claim is that Christians have no right to expect a supernatural intervention of God in the physical operation of the earth.

This is nothing more nor less than what we call today the theory of uniformitarianism, i.e., the scientific theory that what exists in the natural realm has been produced by laws that have operated in the past as they are observed today, and that these have never varied. Certainly much can be explained in this way, though not all, yet rigid uniformitarianism is the basis, as you know, for much of the approach of physical science to the study of the earth today. The Apostle Peter says that those who argue on this basis deliberately ignore a contrary fact. The essence of science is to deal with facts, but Peter's charge is that those who claim that there can be no supernatural intervention into the affairs of nature have deliberately ignored a fact, the fact of the Flood.

Here is the way he puts it,

They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. [Then he goes on to show how the past points to the future.] But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. (2 Pet 3:5-7 {RSV})

As Christians, who believe that the apostles of Our Lord Jesus spoke by divine inspiration and were given a special word of authority about matters beyond human ken, we must read the story of the Flood in the light of this declaration. From this word of Peter there are three things very evident to guide us in our study of the Flood:

First, this was not an ordinary flood, involving the ordinary forces that produce floods in our day. It involved unusual and distinctive forces which had perhaps never been employed before, and (we have been given great assurance of this in Scripture) have never been employed since. Second, its effects were literally world-shaking, for the whole structure of the earth was altered by this Flood. Third, it points to a future physical disturbance of the earth, this time not by water but by fire.

It is clear that the whole point of Peter's argument is that God does intervene dramatically in nature as well as in human affairs. He does so to produce sudden and quite abrupt changes in natural affairs, unanticipated, except by revelation. He did this before, and he will do it again. As we read Chapter 7 of Genesis we must note the parallels that occur between the Flood and the judgment which Peter says awaits this present world and which will be similar in many ways to the flood, but different only in the agent involved, fire instead of water.

Now, in Chapter 7 we notice first that this section brings before us the basis on which salvation occurs. After all, that is the heart of this whole story in Genesis. It is not attempting to give us scientific aspects of the Flood, although what it says is scientifically accurate. What it is trying to get across is a picture of something which is also happening in your life and mine, and which involves an important issue -- that of salvation, deliverance from an overwhelming judgment. This is what we must emphasize in this account. It is brought out clearly in the first five verses:

Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pair of all clean animals, the male and his mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive upon the face of the earth. For in seven days I will send rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground." And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him." {Gen 7:1-5 RSV}

(7:1-9) Introduction: there is a great gap of time between Genesis 6 and Genesis 7, probably a gap of 120 years. Genesis 6 ended with God telling Noah to build the ark; Genesis 7 begins with God telling Noah to enter the ark. Imagine! Noah had been building the ark for 120 years. For 120 years Noah had been preaching the coming judgment of God while building this monstrous box-like structure.

Again, imagine the neighbors, community, and public at large. Think of their curiosity, and how strange they thought Noah was, this man who was building this boat-like structure out in the middle of dry land—all because he thought God was going to judge the sins of man by sending a flood of waters upon the earth. Sometimes the unbelief and the jokes, ridicule, mockery, and persecution must have been almost unbearable. But Noah was faithful and enduring to the Lord and to the great call God had given him, faithful to the end.

Noah preached, and he finished the ark despite all the trials and abuse of the people. This he did in the midst of a godless society, a society that had turned completely away from God. There was not a person—not a single person—who followed God and lived like God said to live. Noah and his family alone followed God and obeyed His Word. Now, God reappeared to Noah and gave him additional instructions.

Note: these are the last seven days—the events of the last week—right before the rain began. This is the great subject of this passage: “Noah and the Last Week: God’s Great Invitation to Noah and Noah’s Great Obedience.”

1.  The great invitation of God: to enter the ark (v.1).

2.  The great reasons for God’s invitation (v.1-4).

3.  The great obedience of Noah (v.5-9).

(7:1) Ark— Invitation— Come— Justification— Righteousness— Parents: there was the great invitation of God. God spoke to Noah and told him to “come—enter into the ark.” These words must have been both comforting and terrifying to Noah. Comforting because Noah knew that he was now to be vindicated and delivered from all the trials of this evil world and from the abuse of the ungodly. Terrified because he knew that the earth and every living thing upon it was now to be destroyed. Just picture the thoughts that were bound to be flashing across Noah’s mind: every friend, relative, neighbor, and person upon earth was to be destroyed, wiped off the face of the earth; every animal, house, building, tree, shrub—all the earth and everything upon it was to be destroyed.

Þ  What was the earth to look like?

Þ  What was it going to be like to be the only living family upon earth to survive, only one of eight souls?

Þ  What was it going to be like living locked up in the ark for so long a time?

Þ  What was it going to be like facing a storm so ferocious that it was going to flood the whole earth?

Since the rains started on the seventeenth day of the second month (Gen. 7:11), it was on the tenth day of the second month that Noah and his family moved into the ark at God’s instruction (v. 1). During that final week before the Flood, they finished gathering the animals and putting in their supplies. They followed the Lord’s instructions, trusted His covenant promise, and knew that there was nothing to fear.

David watched a thunderstorm one day and from that experience wrote a hymn (Ps. 29) telling how he had seen and heard God in that storm. As he pondered what happened, David thought about history’s most famous storm in the time of Noah, and he wrote, “The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, and the Lord sits as King forever” (Ps. 29:10, nkjv).

The sweeping rain, the echoing thunder, and the flashing lightning reminded David of the sovereignty of God. No matter how great the storms of life may be, God is still on the throne causing everything to work together for good. That’s why David ended his hymn with, “The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace” (Ps. 29:11, nkjv).

At the end of that final week of preparation, Noah and his family obeyed God’s command and entered the ark, and God shut the door and made it safe (Gen. 7:16). They didn’t know how long they would live in the ark, but the Lord knew, and that’s really all that mattered. “My times are in Your hands” (Ps. 31:15, nkjv). One year and ten days later, the same God opened the door and invited them to come out to live on His freshly cleansed earth (Gen. 8:16).

The emotions and thoughts that Noah was experiencing would surge through the body of any person who was about to go through such an experience as Noah was. But Noah had God and His comforting presence, and God knows how to comfort and carry His followers through frightening and terrifying experiences, even the experience of death itself. Note how God comforted and assured Noah.

1.  God said, “Come—enter into the ark.” The Hebrew word is come, enter. These were tender words, like the words of a father who calls out to his children to come into the house when he sees a storm or night approaching (Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Vol.1, p.58). God was assuring Noah...

·    that He was within the ark as well as outside the ark.

·    that He would be with Noah no matter where Noah went.

·    that He would look after Noah within the ark as well as without the ark.

Several pictures can be gleaned from this great invitation from God to Noah.

1) There is the picture of Christ, of the safety and security from judgment which man can find in Christ. Noah found safety and security from judgment by entering the ark. We can find safety and security from the coming judgment by entering Christ, that is...

·    by placing our lives into His hands.

·    by approaching Christ and following Him into the safety of God’s presence.

·    by approaching the safety and security of God’s presence through Christ.

·    by approaching God through Christ.

2) There is the picture of the great “come invitations” of God’s Word. God invites people time and time again to “come.”

2.  God told Noah that his whole family was to enter the ark. This was bound to help ease the heart of Noah, for those whom he loved the most—his immediate family—were to be saved along with him. Does this mean that Noah’s sons and their wives were followers of God? Probably, for Noah was a godly man, and as a godly man, his duty was to lead and instruct his children to follow God. Year after year of living with and being taught by a godly father like Noah was bound to make an impact upon the three boys and eventually upon their wives. The very fact that God would choose them to be saved and the fact that they entered the ark point to their being true believers, true followers of the only living and true God. It is doubtful they would have entered the ark if they had not believed.

Noah’s godly example before his children shows us the critical importance of godly parents. Remember: there were no other godly people upon earth, not a single person followed God. There was only Noah and his wife and three sons. Imagine what it was like being the only young person who followed God, the only young person who lived righteously and godly, who obeyed one’s parents, who stood against the crowd and did not curse, drink, cheat, or go too far sexually. These were Noah’s sons. They apparently followed God and stood right beside their father in living and preaching righteousness to their ungodly generation. What a lesson for the fathers of the world: to live godly lives before their children and to teach their children to follow God, to follow Him above all else.

Righteousness is an absolute essential for a person to enter God’s presence. God invites no unrighteous person—allows no unrighteous person—to enter and live in the safety of His presence. A person must approach God through the righteousness of Jesus Christ—must take on, clothe himself in, the righteous-ness of Jesus Christ—to be acceptable to God. A person must become righteous in Jesus Christ to be invited to enter the ark of God’s security from the judgment to come.

(7:1-4) Invitation— Righteousness— Judgment: there were the great reasons for God’s invitation to enter the ark of safety and security.

1.  God invited Noah to enter the ark because Noah was righteous before God (Genesis 7:1). Noah believed God, believed what God said, and did what God said. Believing and obeying God always pleases God. It pleases Him just like it pleases us when people believe us and follow our advice and counsel. Noah pleased God; therefore, God wanted to save Noah. God wanted to look after Noah, and God wanted to use Noah in His great purpose for the earth. This is the reason Noah was saved and used by God to carry on the human race: he was righteous before God. Noah simply believed God and did what God said.

2.  Noah was to save the animal life of the earth (Genesis 7:2-3). Note that seven of all clean animals were to be saved and two of the unclean animals. Originally, some 120 years before, when God first told Noah about the coming flood, God said that Noah would be saving two of every animal. Why the switch to seven animals now? Because it is now time for the details to be spelled out. When God instructed Noah 120 years before, only general instructions concerning the animals were needed. Now, in entering the ark, the details are needed: some clean animals would be needed for sacrifice and worship; therefore, more were naturally needed. Also, the clean animals would provide food for Noah and his family (cp. Genesis 9:3).

Note the clearly stated purpose for two of every kind of animal, both a male and a female: to reproduce offspring and to keep their kind alive upon the earth (Genesis 7:3b).

3.  Noah and his family were invited into the ark because judgment was imminent (Genesis 7:4).

a. God gave man a final chance to repent, a last act of grace. God gave Noah seven days to make final preparations and to continue preaching to the lost of his generation. Just imagine the fervor of his preaching as he proclaimed that the judgment of God was to fall within seven days. Imagine the scene as he did just what every true preacher would do: preach day by day and count down the days one by one: seven, six, five, four, three, two, one—only one more day—and then, at last, this is the day of climactic judgment.

God gave the earth one final week—a whole week of grace, even telling them when the judgment was to fall—yet the people still disbelieved. They still rejected God and refused to repent. The people just did not believe that God was going to judge them and destroy the earth and begin all over again.

b. God spelled out the judgment that was to fall upon the earth: there was to be a deluge of rain never seen before. A flood of rain was to fall upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

Throughout history God has used the number forty to symbolize a great period of trial that ends in great victory and triumph over evil. (This is pointed out both by “The Pulpit Commentary,” Genesis, Vol.1, p.114; and H.C. Leupold. Genesis, Vol.1, p.291.)

Þ                 Israel wandered about in the wilderness for forty years before entering the promised land (Numbers 14:33).

Þ                 The spies who were sent to scout out Canaan before Israel entered the land stayed and scouted out the land for forty days (Numbers 13:25).

Þ                 Moses was in the mountain receiving the law of God for forty days and nights (Exodus 24:18).

Þ                 Elijah fasted for forty days and nights (1 Kings 19:8).

Þ                 Nineveh was given forty days to repent (Jonah 3:4).

Þ                 Jesus Christ fasted for forty days before He faced the onslaught of the devil’s temptations (Matthew 4:2).

Þ                 Jesus Christ was on earth for forty days after His resurrection and phenomenal ascension into heaven (Acts 1:3).

c. God Himself pronounced the terrible destruction of the judgment: He was going to destroy every living creature He had made. In the Hebrew God literally said that He was going to wipe or blot out every living creature from the face of the earth.

We marvel at the unbelief of people in Noah’s day. But they were no different from the people of our day. Look at the unbelief of our world. Few believe; most disbelieve. In fact, many people even deny that the great flood ever took place. Many persons do not believe that God ever destroyed the earth. But they are wrong. God did. And the great tragedy is this: God is going to be forced to destroy the earth again. People are still rejecting God, even cursing and denying Him. Just think of the times throughout the day when God’s name is cursed. Think of the people who deny and reject God.

Just think how few people we know who really believe and follow God, who really live for Him. This is the reason God declares that judgment is to once again fall upon the earth. In fact, God declares that both the earth and the heavens—the whole universe—will soon be judged and destroyed. But this time, it will be final. God is going to stop human history as it now exists: sinful, evil, and imperfect. God declares that He is going to remake the earth and the heavens, recreate them in perfection. He declares that He is going to populate them with angelic beings and with those people who have believed and followed Him down through the ages. Note how clearly God declares this:

(7:5-9) Obedience: there was the great obedience of Noah. The stress of these verses is the explicit obedience of Noah: he did exactly what God said to do.

Note: it had not yet begun to rain. Noah was still acting by faith. All he had was what we have: God’s Word and the warning of judgment to come. He had nothing else other than God’s Word. He had built the ark with nothing other than God’s Word to go on, and now, he enters the ark with nothing but God’s Word to go on. Not a drop of rain had yet fallen; nothing had yet happened to indicate that judgment was about to fall upon the earth. God alone had spoken to Noah, and Noah had acted on God’s Word alone.

Three facts are clearly stated in these verses.

1.  Noah was 600 hundred years old when he entered the ark and the flood of water began (Genesis 7:5-6). Compare Genesis 6:3, 13 and note that Noah spent 120 years building the ark. This means that Noah was 480 years old when God first told him to build the ark and prepare for the coming judgment. Just think of the great faith and obedience of Noah: he did the most strange and unbelievable thing imaginable. He built a huge box-like structure out in the middle of nowhere, and all the while he preached the righteousness and coming judgment of God. The ark was roughly the size of one and one half football fields. Noah did this—worked at building the ark and at preaching—for 120 years, all in obedience to the Word of God. All he had to go on was the Word and warning of God. Again, just think of the great faith and obedience of Noah: 120 years doing the strange and unbelievable, all based solely upon the Word of God.

2.  Noah went into the ark and took only those whom God had said were to enter (Genesis 7:7). Only Noah and his family, which included his wife and his three sons and their wives, were allowed to enter the ark—only eight persons altogether. Think how difficult this was: isolating himself and his family from the rest of mankind, thinking—yea, knowing within his heart—that he and his family were to be the only survivors left from the coming holocaust, the only survivors upon the whole earth.

Þ  Just imagine the emotions—the effect upon you—if you knew that only eight people had survived a world-wide holocaust and you were one of the survivors.

The apprehension, fear, sense of loneliness and of the unknown must have been almost unbearable. But Noah acted, and his action was based solely upon the Word of God. God had said to enter the ark with his family, and he obeyed. He did exactly what God said to do. Note why: to escape the flood of waters, the coming judgment (Genesis 7:7b).

3.  Noah followed God’s instructions to save the animals (Genesis 7:8-9). He took two, a male and a female, of all animals (Genesis 7:9). Note that Noah’s great obedience is restated: he did exactly as God commanded. He disobeyed in nothing. He obeyed God completely and fully. He followed the Word of God, did exactly what God said to do. As Scripture says: “[God] saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5).

Noah and the Flood: God’s Great Judgment of the Earth, 7:10-24

(7:10-24) Introduction: this is the record of the great flood that swept over and covered the earth in Noah’s day. God sent the flood upon the earth as a judgment upon man’s immorality, lawlessness, and violence. Man had become so sinful and evil—so immoral, so lawless, so violent—there was not a godly person left upon earth. No one truly followed God except Noah and his dear family.

The Bible is not the only book that reports the flood. It is a surprise to most people when they hear that most cultures have traditions about a worldwide flood that swept the earth. In fact, there are hundreds of flood traditions around the world. They differ, of course. This is expected because of the passage of time and local customs and languages. Nevertheless, this very fact—that hundreds of cultures and peoples have these stories—is evidence that the stories have all come from one original source. They have come from a source that existed not just centuries but millenniums ago, come from the very survivors of the flood. (Tim LaHaye and John Morris have done excellent research on the flood and the traditions of the flood in their book, The Ark on Ararat. Nashville and New York: Thomas Nelson, 1976. Also see James Montgomery Boice, Genesis, An Expositional Commentary, Vol.1, p.285-287.)

The point of this tragic passage is not only to record the great flood and judgment of the past, but to lead us to ponder the final judgment and salvation yet to come. This is the study of “Noah and the Flood: God’s Great Judgment of the Earth.”

     1.  The great power of God in judgment (v.10-12).

     2.  The great salvation of God in judgment (v.13-16).

     3.  The great fulfillment of God’s Word in judgment (v.17-23).

     4.  The great time that the water flooded the earth in judgment (v.24).

(7:10-12) Judgment: there was the great power of God in judgment. Note three significant points about the power of God to judge the earth.

1.  God’s power had the traumatic day fixed in history. The day of judgment had been predestined. One week before the flood, God had told Noah that he had seven days to prepare, that seven days from then He would send a terrifying flood of water to wipe man from the face of the earth (Genesis 7:4).

Now, on the seventh day, the terrifying flood waters began to pour forth. The event was so significant—so important, so momentous—that it must never be forgotten. The time has been recorded forever. The judgment of God fell; the devastating flood waters began to pour forth...

·    in the 600th year of Noah’s life.

·    on the 17th day of the second month.

The day of our judgment, the day when we are to stand before God in judgment, is also fixed in history. The day for our judgment is already predetermined. No person knows when the day will be: one hundred years from now? Five years? One year? Tomorrow? Later today? Only God knows. Christ clearly said this:

“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is” (Mark 13:32-33).

“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 25:13).

“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matthew 24:42).

“The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:50-51).

“Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (Luke 12:40).

“The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers” (Luke 12:46).

2.  God’s power violently broke up the earth’s crust and burst loose all the earth’s subterranean waters. Earth-quakes must have taken place all over the earth. Note exactly what Scripture says...

·    “All the fountains of the great deep [were] broken up” (Genesis 7:11).

The idea is that all the waters underneath the earth’s crust—all the caverns, springs, rivers, lakes, and perhaps seas of water—were violently broken up. The crust of the earth cracked under the violence of quake after quake and the waters burst loose and shot forth from under the crust of the earth. The picture is this: the subterranean water from beneath the earth and the water from the great oceans were violently discharged by quake after quake and hurled from their beds, churning and surging forth in huge, gigantic tidal waves. It would have been the raging and surging of the water that destroyed all those who tried to escape in other boats and ships of the day.

Þ  Leupold says: “The ‘great deep’ must be subterranean water of which there is still much and of which there may have been more in early days. It seems to be an established fact that ‘outbursts of subterranean water are a frequent accompaniment of seismic disturbances [earthquakes] in the alluvial districts of great rivers.... There must have been vast upheavals on every hand, for these fountains of the great deep ‘were broken open’ ” (Genesis, Vol.1, p.295-296).

Þ  Leupold says again: “Note should be taken of the tremendous geological possibilities that lie behind the breaking open of the fountains of the great deep. The vastness of these eruptions must be in proportion to the actual depth of the Flood.... The Flood was of astounding power and magnitude.... Such eruptions from subterranean sources must have caused a rush of waters upon the earth comparable to the highest tidal wave. Such waves in turn must have been capable of producing effects of almost incalculable magnitude. So, then, the effects caused by the waters of the great deep (Genesis 1:2), as they surged about on the earth in process of formation, together with the effects brought about by this great Flood, seem to us an entirely adequate explanation for geological formations of every kind, as they are now to be observed” (Genesis, Vol.1, p.296).

Þ  The great Pulpit Commentary says: “The earth and other obstructions were broken up, and so a passage opened for the fountains [or subterranean waters]...this denotes violent changes in the depths of the sea, or in the action of the earth” (“The Pulpit Commentary,” Vol.1, p.117).

Þ  Derek Kidner says: “A vast upheaval of the sea-bed” took place (Genesis. “Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries,” p.91).

3.  God’s power opened up the floodgates of heaven: a violent torrential downpour fell from the sky. Heavy rains—torrential downpours never witnessed before nor since—fell upon the earth. The torrential downpours continued, without any break whatsoever, for forty days and forty nights.

Note this: the torrential rain apparently stopped after forty days, but the waters flooded the earth for 150 days (Genesis 8:2-3). This is significant, in particular when considering the core and surface of the earth. The breaking up of the earth’s crust and the violent quaking of the earth’s surface, and the churning and surging of the waters continued for 150 days, even over the highest mountain peaks. It would continue for almost a year over the rest of the earth. This kind of violent, quaking movement, and erosion of the earth’s core and land masses would drastically affect the shape and geological formations of the earth. The surface and inner core of the earth was apparently so changed that it was like a new earth. Absolutely nothing—no mountain, no valley, no body of water, no island, no continent, no land mass—could possibly be the same after so violent a quaking and flooding of the earth.

Þ  Just imagine the force required to break up all the subterranean waters around the world, the enormous quaking of the earth’s core required to burst loose and shoot forth all the underground water under the earth’s crust.

Þ  Just imagine the change throughout the earth’s crust as the torrential rain fell for forty days and nights without stopping: all the erosion and washing away of mountains, all the valleys that filled up with the sediment from higher ground.

Just imagine the change within the earth’s core and over the earth’s surface as the force of the subterranean waters burst forth and as the force of the torrential rains flooded the earth. Imagine how drastic a change must have taken place...

·    as mountains and hills eroded and literally washed away from the onslaught of the rushing water.

·    as valleys and crevices were filled up with the soil and debris from the higher elevations.

·    as quakes shifted and shot up mounds of dirt and hills and, most likely, even mountains.

Again, nothing could ever be the same, not after such a violent quaking and forceful burst of water shot forth both from beneath the earth and from above the earth. Most if not all of the earth—both the core and the surface, both the rock formations and mineral deposits—was changed forever. As stated, two sources of water had changed it:

Þ  All the subterranean water had been broken up and shot forth by quake after quake—broken up by the power of God Himself.

Þ  Torrential downpours had fallen upon the earth—the very floodgates of the sky had been opened by God Himself.

“Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth” (Job 12:15).

Think of the shifting and changing of the earth’s core and surface that must have taken place under the violence of the surging and raging of the flood. The appearance—the geological change—of the earth must have been so drastically changed that the earth was totally different from what it had been, just like a brand new earth, both within its core and without on its surface.

But that was not all: Genesis 7:24 tells us that the waters flooded the earth for 150 days. The waters—the world-wide oceans—actually rose and surged and raged to their highest peak for 150 days. (Note: the aftershocks of such massive earthquakes that were necessary to burst loose the subterranean waters would continue on for days and months. This probably means that the core of the earth was also undergoing eruptions for 150 days. The impact of this violence upon the earth—upon the geological and fossil formations—would be tremendous.)

Any person who has ever worked around the pressure and force of water knows that it drastically changes its environment. The pressure and force of the great flood, the world-wide torrential rain and bursting loose of the earth’s crust and shooting forth of all the subterranean waters—the awesome judgment of God—was bound to drastically change the earth forever thereafter, both its core and surface. This was the awesome judgment of God upon the earth in Noah’s day.

The Flood was God’s judgment of a wicked world. God opened the floodgates of heaven so that torrential rains came down, and “all the springs of the great deep burst forth” (v. 11, niv), so that even the highest mountains were covered by water (v. 20). God had waited for over a century for sinners to repent, and now it was too late. “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near” (Isa. 55:6).

The rain stopped after 40 days, which would be on the twenty-seventh day of the third month (Gen. 7:12). However, the water continued to rise for another 110 days and reached its peak after 150 days (v. 24). At that time, the ark rested on a mountain peak of Ararat (8:4). It would take 150 days for the water to recede (v. 3), which takes us to the twelfth month, the seventeenth day. Two months and ten days later, Noah and his family left the ark and set the animals free (v. 14). From the day that God shut them in, they had been in the ark a year and ten days.

A universal judgment. In recent years, people who want to accommodate Scripture to the views of modern science have opted for a flood that was “limited” and not universal. They suggest that the writer of Genesis used “the language of appearance” and described only what he could see.

There are problems with both views, but the “limited” interpretation seems to be the weaker of the two.^8-3 The clear language of the text seems to state that God was bringing a universal judgment. God said He would destroy humans and beasts “from the face of the earth” (6:7),^8-4 and that “every living thing” would be destroyed (7:4, 21-23; 8:21). If the mountains were covered to such a height that the ark could float over the Ararat range and eventually settle down on a peak, then the entire planet must have been completely immersed (7:18-20). A person reading Genesis 6–9 for the first time would conclude that the Flood was universal.

But if the Flood was not universal, why did God give the rainbow as a universal sign of His covenant? (9:11-15) Why would people in a local area need such a sign? Furthermore, if the Flood was a local event, why did God tell Noah to build such a big vessel for saving his family and the animals? Noah certainly had enough time to gather together his family and the animals in that area and lead them to a place where the Flood wouldn’t reach them.^8-5

God promised that He would never send another flood like the one He sent in Noah’s day (vv. 8-17). But if the Flood was only a local event, God didn’t keep His promise! Over the centuries, there have been numerous local floods, some of which brought death and devastation to localities. In 1996 alone, massive flooding in Afghanistan in April left 3,000 people homeless; and in July, flooding in Northern Bangladesh destroyed the homes of over 2 million people. In July and August, the Yellow, Yangtze, and Hai rivers flooded nine provinces in China and left 2,000 people dead. If Noah’s flood was a local event like these floods, then God’s promise and the covenant sign of the rainbow mean nothing.

The plain reading of the text convinces us that the Flood was a universal judgment because “all flesh had corrupted His [God’s] way upon the earth” (6:12). We don’t know how far civilization had spread over the planet, but wherever humans went, there was sin that had to be judged. The Flood bears witness to universal sin and universal judgment.

Both Jesus and Peter used the Flood to illustrate future events that will involve the whole world: the return of Christ (Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27) and the worldwide judgment of fire (2 Peter 3:3-7). If the Flood was only local, these analogies are false and misleading. Peter also wrote that God did not spare “the ancient world” (nkjv) when He sent the Flood, which implies much more territory than a limited area.

A patient family. In spite of the devastation on the outside, Noah and his family and the animals were secure inside the ark. No matter how they felt, or how much the ark was tossed on the waters, they were safe in God’s will. Patiently they waited for God to complete His work and put them back on the earth. Noah and his family spent one year and seventeen days in the ark, and even though they had daily chores to do, that’s a long time to be in one place. But it is “through faith and patience” that we inherit God’s promised blessings (Heb. 6:12; 10:36), and Noah was willing to wait on the Lord.

Peter saw in Noah’s experience a picture of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:18-22). The earth in Noah’s day was immersed in water, but the ark floated above the water and brought Noah and his family to the place of safety. This was, to Peter, a picture of baptism: death, burial, and resurrection. The earth was “dead” and “buried” because of the water, but the ark rose up (“resurrection”) to bring the family through safely.^8-6 Jesus died, was buried, and arose again; and through His finished work, we have salvation from sin. Peter makes it clear that the water of baptism doesn’t wash away sin. It’s our obedience to the Lord’s command to be baptized (Matt. 28:19-20) that cleanses the conscience so that we are right before God.

The British expositor Alexander Maclaren said:

For a hundred and twenty years the wits laughed, and the “common-sense” people wondered, and the patient saint went on hammering and pitching at his ark. But one morning it began to rain; and by degrees, somehow, Noah did not seem quite such a fool. The jests would look rather different when the water was up to the knees of the jesters; and their sarcasms would stick in their throats as they drowned.

   So is it always. So it will be at the last great day. The men who lived for the future, by faith in Christ, will be found out to have been the wise men when the future has become the present, and the present has become the past, and is gone for ever; while they who had no aims beyond the things of time, which are now sunk beneath the dreary horizon, will awake too late to the conviction that they are outside the ark of safety, and that their truest epitaph is, “Thou fool.”^8-7

(7:13-16) Ark, The— Salvation: there was the great salvation of God even in the midst of judgment: the ark of safety. These verses tell us who went into the ark. Note that this information is given three times: in Genesis 7:1-4, 7-9, and now on the very day when the flood broke loose (Genesis 7:13-16). Why is this information—who entered the ark—stressed so much by Scripture?

There is one primary reason: it stresses the salvation of God, the eternal mercy and grace of God. Even in the midst of judgment—even as judgment fell—God was merciful. God was saving some, and here is a list of who they were:

Þ     Noah

Þ     Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s three sons.

Þ     Noah’s wife and the wives of his three sons.

Þ     The animals: at least two, a male and a female, of every kind of animal.

It was these that God had mercy upon and saved in the ark. Noah believed and followed God and taught his family to seek after God, and it was these—Noah and his dear family—who were the only people upon earth following God. Noah had lived in the midst of a lawless and immoral society, but he had stood firm for God and bore strong testimony to the righteousness and judgment of God. Therefore, God had mercy upon Noah and his dear family. God saved them and two of every kind of animal, saved them through the terrifying judgment, saved them through the ark of safety and security.

     Note this: the Lord Himself shut the door to the ark. The idea is that God sealed the door to protect Noah from a leaking boat. There is a possibility that God was also protecting him from the violence of the people who might attack the ark and try to gain entrance. However, it is doubtful that any person had time to do anything with the torrential downpour that began to fall and with the violent wall of water that shot up from the subterranean caverns, rivers, lakes, and ocean beds. When God broke up the heavens and earth’s crust with quake after quake, the people were bound to panic and have little if any time to do anything before the crushing waters swept them away to their death.

     The point is this: Noah was now in the ark. Noah was in the ark of safety and security from the storm of coming judgment. The ark was Noah’s vessel of refuge, the place appointed by God to save Noah and his family from the terrifying judgment that was about to fall upon the earth.

Thought 1. The ark was a type or picture of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the believer’s refuge from judgment, the terrifying judgment of hell and eternal separation from God. Note how clearly the ark symbolizes what Christ does for us.

(7:17-23) Judgment: there was the great fulfillment of God’s Word in judgment. This is the point of these verses, to show that God means exactly what He says, and He will do exactly what He says. When He warns us against sin and judgment, He means it. He will judge us if we reject, curse, and deny Him—if we do not live for Him. God fulfilled His Word; He did exactly what He said in the days of Noah.

1.  God flooded water upon the earth for forty days, both the raging, surging water from underneath the crust of the earth and the torrential rains from the sky (Genesis 7:17-20). This is exactly what God had said He would do:

“And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth” (Genesis 6:17a).

“[After] seven days, I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:4).

God fulfilled His Word, did exactly what He had said: He flooded the earth for forty days and forty nights (Genesis 7:17). The greatness of this act of God—of the flood—is beyond comprehension. It is an act of unparalleled magnitude, an enormous act, an act of immense power, strength and might, an act that God alone could do, the Sovereign Lord and Creator of the universe. Note how the magnitude and might of the waters are described:

Þ  The water increased. The Hebrew says, grew greatly and mounted up.

Þ  The waters prevailed, that is, rose more and more, increased greatly, grew mightily, and mounted up upon the earth.

Þ  19. The waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; that is, rose and mounted up more and more and grew mightily over the earth, grew so mightily that “all the high mountains” were covered, all the mountains that were under the whole sky.

Þ  20. The waters rose and mounted up to a height of twenty feet (fifteen cubits) above the mountains. The ark was 45 feet high, so the water had to rise twenty feet in order to keep the ark from running aground upon some mountain peak. Again, the stress is the surety of God’s Word and warning: God always means what He says, and He will fulfill His Word and do exactly what He says. He warned man against judgment if man continued in sin and rejection. Man continued; consequently, God had no choice. He had to judge man and flood the earth for forty days.

Note that the ark floated upon the water. It was not destroyed.

God judges man because of man’s selfishness and corruption, his self-sufficiency and rejection of God, his immorality and evil thoughts, his lawlessness and violence.

2.  God destroyed all life (Genesis 7:21-23a). This is a tragic scene, yet it is a righteous or just act by God. God had no choice: He had warned man, warned him time and again, but man refused to heed God’s warnings.

Despite God’s warnings, man continued to curse, reject, deny, and rebel against God. Man continued to live immoral and lawless lives, filling the earth with violence. The tragedy of man’s terrible evil and the justice of God are so significant that the judgment is repeated three times.

Þ  21. All flesh perished, every living thing that moved upon the earth, both animal and man.

Þ  22. Every living thing upon dry land, every living thing that had the breath of life in its nostrils, perished.

Þ  23. Every living thing upon the face of the ground was “wiped out” (Heb.), both man and animal.

Remember what the Lord Jesus Christ said about the people of Noah’s day and of Lot’s day: that the last generation upon earth would be just like their day. The people of Noah’s day were living selfish, indulgent, and materialistic lives right up until the end. They were eating, partying, drinking, marrying, and divorcing time and again, buying and selling, planting and building. This they were doing, not heeding the warning of judgment against sin.

The people of Noah’s day were drowning long before the flood came upon the earth, drowning in...

They rejected God, even denied and rebelled against Him, even cursed and swore against His name. They wanted nothing to do with God, and they had nothing to do with God. They rejected God even up until the very day that the flood waters burst loose. No wonder they had to face the judgment of God; no wonder God broke loose and burst forth seas and the subterranean caverns, rivers, and beds of water under the crust of the earth; no wonder God sent torrential rains never seen before nor since upon the earth; no wonder God swept them all away in the raging, surging bursts of water upon the earth. They were an immoral, self-centered, indulgent, lawless, violent, evil, and sinful people. God had warned the people, and now He was fulfilling His Word. He was doing exactly what He had to do: judging the people.

3.  God saved Noah and all those in the ark with him (Genesis 7:23b). This, too, was the fulfillment of God’s Word. God had promised to save Noah.

Picture the scene: Noah is sitting there in the ark while thousands outside are being swept away by onrushing floods and bursts of water, screaming out in fright and terror, but their voices could not be heard because of the roar from the onrushing waters. There was no one to save them, not now. They had waited too late. But there sat Noah and his family in the ark, safe and secure, saved from the terrifying, but just, judgment of God.

Noah is a living example of the mercy of God. He and he alone had believed and followed God. He and he alone had obeyed and based his life upon the Word of God and the warning of God. Therefore, God saved Noah and his dear family, saved them through the terrifying judgment.

God will save any person who believes and follows Him, any person who fully obeys and bases his life upon His Word and His warnings.

(7:24) Flood, The— Judgment: there was the great time that the waters flooded the earth in judgment, 150 days. This means that the waters stayed at their full height or peak (elevation) for 150 days. Just imagine these facts:

Þ  All the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. This is a Hebrew superlative, that is, Scripture is declaring that the whole earth was flooded, not just a part of the earth. The flood was a universal flood. Again, the word all is a Hebrew superlative (H.C. Leupold, Genesis, Vol.1, p.301-302).

Þ  The water rose twenty feet above the mountains.

Þ     The water flooded the earth at its full peak for 150 days.

The point is this: only God could do such a thing. No matter how much scientific proof is ever gathered for the flood—and the scientific proof is great—the flood was caused by God. All the explainable and unexplainable features of the flood were caused and worked out by God. For example:

Þ  One theory says that before the flood a canopy of clouds and fog always hung above the earth. The clouds and fog filtered the rays of the sun and delayed aging and decay as we know them today. Those who hold this position say this is the reason people lived so long and why grape juice or wine did not ferment until after the flood (cp. Genesis 9:20).

Þ  Another theory says that God tilted the earth on its axis to its present 23 1/2 degrees. This caused violent quakes and eruptions of the earth’s crust and oceans. It is also said to account for the change in seasons and climate after the flood.

Again, whatever happened, God was behind it all. He was the Person who caused and worked out both what we can explain and cannot explain. The flood was the judgment of God upon an immoral, lawless, and violent world.

The flood took place too long ago for us—both scientists and theologians—to be able to work out all the details. Where we cannot work out the details, God expects us to believe His Word. We should continue to investigate the details and discover the facts, yes; but first and foremost, we should believe God and believe His Word while we seek the answers to our questions. As we all know, despite our great intelligence and resourcefulness, we are far more ignorant of past history and of the universe than we are knowledgeable.