Okay, you can turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 7. Genesis chapter 7. As I've said in the past, for the science behind all of this, you should check Answers in Genesis. They have quite an extensive amount of material on their website, the specifics in terms of the scientific details involved in the Great Flood.
I want to read beginning in Genesis chapter 7 at verse 1 and read to the end of the chapter. Then the Lord said to Noah, Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female, two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female, also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.
And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his son's wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, the 17th day of the month, on that day, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. and the rain was on the earth 40 days and 40 nights. On the very same day, Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark. They and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.
And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh, in which is the breath of life. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. Now the flood was on the earth forty days.
The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth. and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed 15 cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.
Excuse me. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land died. So he destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground, both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air.
They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive, and the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days." Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I've said, this entire section, the section dealing with the flood, chapters 6 to 9, deal first with the decision to send the flood and rescue Noah. We saw that last week in chapter 6, verses 8 to 12. We saw the commandment to build, or the command rather to build the ark, in chapter 6 verses 13 to 22. This third section deals with the command to enter the ark in verses 1 to 5, and then the floods coming in verses 6 to 24.
Next we'll see, God willing, the floods abate in chapter 8, and then the command to exit the ark, and then finally the building of the altar and the establishment of the covenant. Now this is something of a digression in terms of the the genealogy. Remember that the author is tracing the genealogy of Adam. He does so through Cain first, the ungodly Cainites in chapter 4, and then the godly Sethites in chapter 5.
He introduces Noah at the end of chapter 5. He'll record Noah's death at the end of chapter 9, but in between, he details the life of a faithful man in a faithless world. That would be a great way to describe Noah as a faithful man in a faithless world, and hopefully we'll see more of that as we move through the material tonight.
The Command to Enter the Ark
So first, I want to consider the command to enter the ark in verses 1 to 5, and then secondly, the arrival of the floodwaters in verses 6 to 24.
Come Into the Ark
But note first, in verse 1, we have a command. Then the Lord said to Noah, come into the ark. And the person summoned are Noah, his household. That includes his wife, his sons, and daughters.
Now, sometimes in Paedo-Baptist writings, you'll see a bit of an emphasis here on the reality that God deals with households. The Baptists certainly reject the notion of paedo-baptism, but we ought not to reject that reality that God does, in fact, oftentimes work in households. We ought never to come to that place where, in our polemic against infant baptism, we neglect something that is absolutely conspicuous throughout Scripture. God in His mercy, God in His kindness, that really wasn't an allusion to that sermon, but nevertheless God in His mercy and in His kindness does save in families.
God converts a man and his wife and then by grace we oftentimes, not always, but see his children come to the Savior. So this reference to all your household doesn't necessarily validate the practice of paedo-baptism, but it does highlight a reality throughout Scripture that God in mercy and kindness does deal with families. And the reason given by God in terms of the command, notice, come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Now that is conspicuous language.
God says to Noah, because I have seen. Go back to chapter 6 at verse 5. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And then again in verse 12.
So God looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt. for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth." In many respects, we are looking at the application of the collective seed of Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman and the seed of the devil himself. And we see that demarcation between the Canaanites and the Sethites, and we see that demarcation here in chapters 6 and 7 between all ungodly men that populate the earth Contra Noah and his family. So the Lord sees the wickedness of man in chapter 6, and here he sees the righteousness of Noah in this generation. And as we considered Noah's righteousness last week, it bears reminder.
Go back to chapter 6 and verses 8 and 9. It says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.
The text does not indicate that he was just and perfect and therefore merited the grace of God. No, he received the grace of God by God's grace, and that yielded or produced faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as Hebrews 11.7 tells us, which then issues forth in the good works of justness and perfection. The perfection is not sinless perfection. Noah, subsequent to the flood narrative, is going to sin.
Noah, on the ark, sinned. Noah was not a perfect man in terms of sinlessness, but rather he was whole, he was complete, he was an upright man. His uprightness was not the reason that he received the grace, but the grace was the reason for his uprightness. The Bible is clear throughout.
The Bible is absolutely consistent. We're not saved by our works, we're not just and righteous, and therefore we earn or merit the grace of God. It is the grace of God given to us, which produces or creates in us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which seals the deal in terms of our conduct, or it should. In other words, justification precedes sanctification.
What God does in terms of saving us then produces good works that are consistent with that calling of God in the gospel. You have to appreciate that because some people don't. Some people read Genesis 6 this way. They say because of His righteousness, because of His justness, because of His perfection, He received the grace of God.
That's not the way the text reads. It says, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord in verse 8. And then in verse 9, he was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.
That can only be true of somebody who has first received the grace of God. As I mentioned, Hebrews 11.7 is very conspicuous in terms of Noah's faith. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." You see, the author of the book of Hebrews does not say because of his justness, because of his righteousness, he did these mighty exploits. No, it was by faith.
We know that faith is a gift of God, Ephesians 2. That's not true only of New Covenant era blessings, but it's true of Old Covenant era blessings as well. We're only and ever alone saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Noah's not in heaven because of his justness and his righteousness.
Noah's in heaven because of the justness and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. which was imputed to him and received by faith alone." So God sees this, God declares this, and God commands Noah to come into the ark.
Clean and Unclean Animals
Now notice in verses 2 and 3, we have something of amplification of chapter 6, verses 19 to 20. There's an older way of reading the Bible, not the old way, which is the best way, but in between the old and the best way, in our modern era, there was something that came along called the documentary hypothesis, or this idea of higher criticism, where persons did not see one sole author, namely God, and using human instruments, to pen his word. Now, they thought the Bible was a collection of a whole bunch of bits and pieces, and it was just sort of woven together as, you know, so many parts to make up a whole. And they take chapter 6, verses 19 and 20, and chapter 7, verses 2 and 3, and they see this.
There's two different guys, there's two different editors, there's a redactor who's kind of woven this together, and he really didn't do a very good job. I think it's better to understand that in chapter 6, verses 19 and 20, we have a general reference. God says, you're going to bring animals on the ark. Chapter 7, verses 2 and 3, God says, this is the kind or this is the amount of animals that you're going to bring on the ark.
The reference to 7, as we will see later, is so that they can sacrifice the clean animals. This is done in chapter 8 at verse 20. It probably anticipates what's going to come along later in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 in terms of the cleanliness laws with reference to eating clean and unclean animals. But up to this point, we ought to at least assume, or I believe we ought or must assume, that sacrifice was already in play.
God demonstrated sacrifice in Genesis 321 when He killed animals and took their skins and clothed Adam and Eve. On the heels of that, at the end of days, Cain and Abel go to offer up sacrifice. And Abel brings the fat of the animals. He brings the firstfruits of his offerings.
He brings the best of his animals. He knows that blood sacrifice is required by God and accepted by God. Now, knowing that, we see that in Genesis chapter 4, most likely it was passed down by Adam to his sons. Noah would have received this command as well.
So sacrifice was already in play. The idea that clean animals would be utilized for sacrifice was most likely in play as well because Noah does that very thing. He's not an innovator. He's not creative.
Rather, he's operating according to the commandment of God Most High. So it is not the case that we have two different guys and one redactor, one editor who's weaving this all together and he really doesn't know how to do a very good job. Such that it would cause the 18th and 19th century higher critics to come and sort of fix his work with a hypothesis that absolutely positively makes no sense. It is much better to receive the truth that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and that it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness." In other words, one author using various means in terms of human authors, but it's his word, and it is composed as a masterpiece.
The Reason for the Command
Now note the reason they are to come, and that's specified in verse 4. First of all, notice in verse four, for after seven more days, I will cause it to rain on the earth 40 days and 40 nights. Good reason to jump on the ark. It's going to rain a lot.
It's going to flood. And then notice the reason for this or the sort of the meaning of this at the end of verse four. And I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made. He's already told Noah this.
He's already commanded Noah to prepare the ark. That was about a hundred years prior. Remember that interval between the command to prepare the ark and the command to enter the ark, there was a hundred-year period there. We're in the final week now.
It is imminent. The rains are going to come. This is go time, Noah. This is God's instruction to Noah.
Noah is to abide by and to obey the command to come into the ark with the specified persons and the specific animals so that they can repopulate the earth as Noah functions as a new Adam subsequent to the flood. These are the marching orders. This is why it is because the judgment of God is coming. Now notice what we find in verse 5 is similar to what we saw in chapter 6 at verse 22.
And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. Noah could have sung, trust and obey, for there is no other way. You trust God and you do what He calls you to do. This is the way He has designed salvation.
Grace comes, bringing with it faith, so that we may close with Jesus Christ as He's offered to us in the Gospel. And what results from that is obedience to the Lord. That obedience to the Lord ought to mark us out as just men and women. It ought to mark us out as men and women that are perfect in their generation.
It ought to mark us out as those who walk with God. You see, that is the order that is reflected here in the salvation of and in the usefulness of Noah.
The Arrival of the Floodwaters
Now notice, secondly, the arrival of the floodwaters in verses 6 to 24.
The Beginning of the Flood
We have in the first place the beginning of the flood, verses 6 to 12. Note that the time is referenced, verse 6. Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. I don't know that that's so much as a gee whiz, Noah's 600.
No, it's a time to date and root the historicity of the flood. Noah was a real man. Noah reached his 600th birthday. On the occasion that Noah reached his 600th birthday, so this flood came.
Now, if Usher is to be trusted, the world was created in 4004 B.C., which would date the flood at 1656 A.M., not 1656 B.C., but 1656 in the year of the world. If you ever see that designator, we're typically used to B.C. and A.D. B.C. before Christ, A.D. Anno Domini, the year of our Lord, that dating system which comes after the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, Anno Mundi simply means the year of the world. So it was the 1656 year of the world. The specific identification of the time highlights the historicity of the event. You hopefully ought to appreciate that as you move through scripture.
I think one of the prophets that most conspicuously dates himself is Ezekiel. You can pinpoint with certain accuracy the life, age, ministry of Ezekiel because he tells you. The prophet Haggai, scholars are able to date the specific, not only year, but the actually day and month of the reference that Haggai is referring to. You see, the Bible is not a long time ago, in a world far, far away.
It's not a world of fairies and pixie dust. It's not a world with unicorns that fly. It's not a world with, you know, that sort of, that cast to it, where it's all just ethereal. It is concrete.
It is historical. There was a genuine Noah, and in his 600th year, there was this genuine flood.
Entrance Into the Ark
Now note the entrance into the ark in verses 7 to 9. The family enters the ark because of the waters of the flood. Verse 7, so Noah with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. In other words, God's word is coming true.
God had promised, remember, a hundred years ago. We're not dealing with, you know, yesterday God says it's going to rain and you better, you know, fly to it. This was a hundred years span. There were flood or there are flood stories in other civilizations or other, you know, not only religions but among various people groups.
The epic of Gilgamesh, the art took seven days to build and then there was a seven-day flood. Now, with reference to Noah, it took a hundred years and then in this last week, all these final sort of Preparations were made, and now they are brought into the ark. So because of the waters, the family enters the ark. Verse 8, of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
So they went into the ark to Noah. Remember, we saw this. This is grace. This is power.
This is sovereignty. This is supernatural. Noah's not out there with a safari hat and a whip trying to round up giraffes and elephants. God brings them to Noah.
Remember the parallels from last week that we drew out concerning Adam and Noah. God brought the animals to Adam so that Adam could name them. God brings the animals to Noah so that Noah can preserve them. The same sort of order reflected in the creation account is applied to here, so that everything that is created, that is to survive, is now located on the ark.
So that Noah functions again as another Adam when he comes out from the ark, he too receives the command to be fruitful and multiply and populate the earth. And so what we have here is not only creation in Genesis 1 and 2, but we have decreation by means of this flood and then recreation by means of Noah and his calling in a subsequent post-fall world. It's intriguing because the prophets, Jeremiah specifically in Jeremiah 4, use the reversal of creation as a sign of God's judgment. In other words, contemporary judgments, contemporary for the prophet Jeremiah, are described using the language of creation in reverse.
In other words, what God created, de-creation, evidences His judgment. And the same thing is true here. So preservation happens on the ark, devastation happens outside the ark.
Floodwaters Arrive
And then note the arrival of the floodwaters in verses 10 to 12. The statement in verse 10, And it came to pass, after seven days, that the waters of the flood were on the earth. The time, verse 11a, in the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, the 17th day of the month. Again, fable, fairy tale, story, doesn't come with that kind of accuracy.
It doesn't come with that kind of a pinpoint description. But historical detail does. Now again, Moses doesn't compose Genesis the way a modern scholar writes a history book as a text used for a college or a university. But that doesn't mean it's not the same sort of thing.
Because of a stylistic difference vis-a-vis narrative, description, the way that Noah handles things, and the way, say, a technical writer pens a textbook on historical events, It's the same sort of a thing. The approach or the style might differ, but Moses is doing history as well, and that's something very important for us to remember. People want to mythologize the flood. People want to write it off.
People want to say, well, you know, it wasn't really that, but it was simply designed to teach us a story. It was simply designed to teach us... Some go so bizarre as to tell us that ecology was the grand take-home lesson, in the story of Noah. Doesn't God just love the earth and he wants to preserve the earth?
Well, brethren, that might be true, you know, to about, you know, a 15,000th sort of an application down there, but that's not the point of the Noahic narrative. It's the devastation of the wicked in the judgment of God Most High and the preservation of the seed of the woman such that ultimately Messiah can come and carry out the mandate of Genesis 3.15 to crush the skull of the serpent. So any other idea that we bring to the text to try to support, whether it's environmentalism or ecology, not that it's bad to preserve. I'm all for preserving the environment, not the way some of these crazies do it.
But I don't think Christians should be anti-environment. We shouldn't be pro-smog. We shouldn't litter. We shouldn't kick cats.
We shouldn't be the kinds of people that are abusive to the lower creation. But at the same time, we're not supposed to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is God, blessed forever. You see, brethren, we need to appreciate what's happening in the narrative. We need to stay the course and not mythologize it or to put it in the category of myth or fable or story that has a purpose and it's a design to teach us something but a worldwide catastrophic flood.
Oh, no, we just can't go there. As well, the text makes conspicuous that it is a worldwide catastrophic flood. If you look for just a moment in verse 21, verse 21, I'm sorry, verse 19. and the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered." Well, that's a biblical way to refer to everything on earth, everything under heaven. Remember Acts 4.12, there is no other name. given under heaven among men by which we must be saved?
Under heaven includes the entirety of the globe. There are some who suggest that what we're dealing with here is a localized flood. It was only in one specific region. That's not what the text says.
The text is conspicuous that it was a worldwide flood. Again, for the science, Go to Answers in Genesis, they can give you all of the specific details, but for now we need to appreciate the text is highlighting for us a worldwide flood. And that makes sense, doesn't it? The judgment comes upon all flesh.
Wherever there are men, they are sinful men and they deserve destruction at the hand of a just and holy God. And then note the amplification, a bit of description, a bit of science with reference to Moses in verse 11. In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, the 17th day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. In other words, it wasn't just the rain, but there were underground springs, underground bodies of water, and these were split open by the sovereign hand of God, and they shot water up as well.
Remember that in the creation account, God had water, God had earth. and God moved things around to contain the water and to make sure that the earth was a stable environment for His creation. And here, specifically, the language suggests a reversal of verses 6 to 8 in Genesis chapter 1. In fact, you can turn to Genesis chapter 1, the second day, beginning in verse 6. Then God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Thus God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven, so the evening and the morning were the second day." There was this great division or this great separation of waters from earth. What do we have in the flood? We have a reversal.
We have decreation. We have waters overtaking earth. Gordon Wenham says, in releasing the waters pent up below and above the earth, God is undoing his great acts of separation whereby the dry land was created and the waters were confined in the seas, Genesis 1-9. The earth is going back to Genesis 1-2 when the waters covered its face.
You see, this is a conspicuous judgment by God. And as I said, the prophet Jeremiah, Isaiah does it, Amos does it as well. I think it's in Ezekiel also. They interpret judgments of God in history. in a manner that is consistent with what we find here.
It's like decreation. It's like the world itself is being pulled apart because of the justice and judgment of God upon these incorrigible sinners. And then notice, the duration is highlighted in verse 12. And the rain was on the earth 40 days and 40 nights, just as God had stipulated.
Now, there ought not to be any antithesis or rather any idea of contradiction with verse 24. The waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. I think the waters on the earth, 150 days included the 40 days and 40 nights that it actually rained. It would take some time for that amount of water to dissipate and to go away.
So there's no sort of contradiction in the text.
Judgment and Preservation
Now, note, we have, in terms of verses 13 to 24, the judgment by the flood. But judgment in Scripture is always two-pronged. When one body is judged, another is preserved, and the same is the case here. We have the preservation of the family, and we have the judgment of the sinner.
And that, again, reflects what we see in chapter 6 in terms of this separation between Noah, a righteous man in his generations, and the generation in which he dwelt, who were ungodly, who filled the earth with violence, and who were utterly corrupt. Again, reflecting what has come previously to that, chapters 5 and 4. the Cainites, the ungodly of chapter 4, and the Sethites, the godly of chapter 5, which all goes back to Genesis 3.15, and this antithesis between the seed of the woman and the serpent. So all of this continually going forward is actually making way for the coming Messiah. You need to read the Old Testament as a messianic document.
You need to understand that from Genesis to Malachi, we're dealing with anticipation. We are dealing with promise. We are dealing with the prophetic word concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think if you keep that in your mind, it will help you to theologize with reference to these particular passages.
Preservation of Noah's Family
But note the preservation of the family in verses 13 to 16. Now, notice in verse 13, on the very same day Noah and Noah's sons. Now, you might say, well, we just learned that. We just saw that in verse 9, isn't it?
I'm sorry, in verse 7. So Noah with his sons, his wife, and his son's wives went in the ark because of the waters of the flood. Yeah, we did. Repetition is useful.
Repetition shows us the solemnity of the hour. Repetition and detail highlight for us the extraordinariness of the particular event that is in play. Repetition appears very often in Hebrew narrative. Here, specifically, the names are given to us.
More details. Oftentimes, that is a device used. You have repetition, and in the repeated phrase or repeated section, you have a bit more detail given to us. We see that in Genesis 1 and 2.
It's not the case that you have two different creation accounts. You have a bit of repetition, but you have amplification or further explanation. You have the creation of man stipulated in Genesis 1, 26 to 28, and then when you get to Genesis chapter 2, it's not a second creation account, but it amplifies what God did when he created man in his own image. In other words, the focus in Genesis 2 is on the sixth day.
It's on the pinnacle of creation, namely man. And the same sort of thing is highlighted here. On the very same day, Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark. Now John Gill references people that have names for Noah's wife and Noah's sons' wives.
I don't know where they would have got those names. And Gill essentially says the same thing. He says there's no warrant for that. I mean, it was Jewish tradition.
I don't know, maybe they felt the need to name everybody that they didn't have names for. But that's not given to us. It's Noah, his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark. And then note verse 14.
They and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh, in which is the breath of life. So those that entered, male and female, of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in." So you see, they obey. God does what God said He would do in bringing the animals.
Noah does what Noah was called to do in providing provision for the animals, and now God shut him in. Now, that language ought not to be neglected. God shut him in. God preserves the ark.
God protects the ark. God guides the ark. God is sovereign over his kingdom. God is the one who causes the ark to go wherever it will go.
And it's interesting. A couple of commentators. Waltke mentions, God's action marks the climactic conclusion of this frame. In the Mesopotamian parallels, the heroes shot the hatch themselves.
Noah's salvation is due to divine grace. God's act signals the divine protection that keeps the raging flood from capsizing the vessel. God's works of grace are both sovereign and particular. And then Gordon Wenham says, Gilgamesh mentions that Utnapishtim, that was a favorite of the gods and a grandfather of Gilgamesh, who survived the great flood and therefore became immortal.
In that Gilgamesh epic, it is him who shuts the door. Wenham says, Genesis, by ascribing the action to the Lord, reiterates that Noah was saved by divine grace, not by his wisdom or heroic efforts. Now, I will, you know, hopefully go to my grave arguing that Noah was a faithful man in a faithless world. But he's not the hero in the story.
He's an obedient servant to the hero of the story. It's God who preserves the seed of the woman. It's God who keeps the family intact. It's God who causes them not to be overwhelmed by this flood.
The Waters Prevail in Judgment
And then note, in terms of the judgment, the emphasis lies on the waters prevailing. If you notice in verses 17 and following, Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. Now notice, the waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters.
And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered." You see, it is the triumph of the floodwaters under the hand of a sovereign God that brings judgment to bear upon these incorrigible sinners. So the family of Noah is saved. They are preserved.
God shut them in. They are safe and secure, folded under the arms of a blessed Savior. However, the water now comes, and it constantly prevails. Between the windows of the heavens, releasing the rains, and these underground springs springing up, the earth is being saturated, such that the hills, the mountains, are covered with 15 cubits of water above them.
The description is clear and obvious. Nobody could survive this. The animals, the elephants, the giraffes, the Nephilim, the giants, they couldn't survive this. It is a comprehensive judgment from Almighty God.
The reference under the whole heaven again in verse 19 indicates that it was a global flood. And then note in verses 21 to 23, you have the triumph of the waters in verses 17 to 20. You see the effect of that triumph in verses 21 to 23a. It is the destruction of all flesh.
Notice in verse 21, And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and then notice, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the Spirit of life, all that was on dry land died. So he destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground, both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. This is precisely why that sort of child's approach to Noah and the ark.
You know, Noah on this boat, waving, you know, with all these happy animals on the deck, sort of sunning themselves. That's not the point of Noah's ark. Teach your kids what Noah's Ark is about. Yes, it highlights the absolute grace of God in the preservation of Noah and his family, and it highlights the absolute justice of God in the decimation and devastation of everybody that would raise their fist in rebellion against God.
It's not about animals, it's not about a boat, it's not about all that stuff. It's about divine grace and judgment. That's what's being communicated by Moses to us. Every man, verse 21.
All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, verse 22. So he destroyed all living things, verse 23. Note the emphasis. Note the repetition.
Again, repetition is given for a reason. You parents know this. You continually tell your children to put the cap on the toothpaste in the hopes that it will eventually sink in. God repeats Himself to us with the intent that it will eventually sink in.
Matthew Poole made this observation on verse 23. This is so often repeated that it may be more deeply engrafted into the dull minds and hard hearts of men to teach men that they ought again and again to consider this dreadful instance of God's justice against sin and incorrigible sinners. That's what it ought to do. That's what, you know, Genesis 7.
Yes, we sing amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me and Noah. that we praise God for that preservation, we praise God for His kindness and provision in bringing all those animals and allowing us the benefit of going to the zoo and seeing elephants and seeing giraffes and marveling at His good creation, seeing spiders and seeing lizards and appreciating God's handiwork from the big down to the exceedingly small. But praise God Almighty that He preserved Noah. And from Noah comes Jesus. You see, that is the take-home message in our study of Scripture.
It's about Christ. He's the hero. And then note the contrast between all flesh and Noah and those who were with him in the ark. That's conspicuous at the end of verse 23.
They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him and in the ark remained alive. See, it's a beautiful thing that Moses is doing in terms of highlighting this reality. God is gracious to his people, and God brings judgment to bear upon those who reject.
Application
Well, in terms of some practical lessons, first the judgment of God. We should see that. Again, not the animals sunning themselves on the top of Noah's ark and Noah in sandals and holding a drink with an umbrella. That's just not what we should get.
Flannel-graph Noah does not do justice to Genesis chapter 7. Now some of you younger folk may not even know what flannel graphs are. Flannel graphs were something that were used before the internet in Sunday schools. It was a piece of flannel or felt, and then you had other pieces of flannel or felt, and you stuck them on there.
They somehow stuck. I don't know if there was a method to the madness, but there were little images that were portrayed of various Bible things, and perhaps Noah and his ark, and all the little animals, and they all looked so happy. Now, certainly Noah and his family were happy. I'm sure there were struggles on the ark.
I have to think that as sinners confined on the ark for that amount of time with all those animals and all that smell, I doubt that... I would definitely say Noah was not sinlessly perfect on that ark. I'm sure that there were some struggles. But brethren, the point is this, there was a contrast.
There was a distinction. There's grace to be had in our God. John Gill, in terms of the judgment, says, this is a proof of the sovereignty of God, His almighty power, the purity and holiness of His nature, and the strictness of His justice, and shows what a fearful thing it is to fall into His hands. I remember a gospel tract once, and it showed the picture of Noah's ark. and all the rains and all the floods and people swimming, knocking on the ark, trying to get in there.
It's a terrifying image, isn't it? I mean, if you actually stop and ponder what the text is teaching, it's an absolutely terrifying image of the judgment of God. I mean, Peter refers to it that way. In 2 Peter, he tells us that the world that was was destroyed in this flood of waters.
As well, we learn something of the kingdom of God. That ark at that time was the kingdom of God. I think it was a floating tabernacle or temple or sanctuary where God would meet with his elect, but it's also representative of the kingdom. That was the kingdom of God on the earth.
And what is the kingdom of God on the earth at that time evidence to us? First, the protection and preservation of the kingdom inhabitants. And secondly, the exclusion of the wicked from the kingdom of God. Meredith Klein comments on the ceiling, or rather, the Lord shutting him in.
He says, this sealing of the elect under vindication has also a closing of the door of the kingdom on those outside. We ought to appreciate as well the typological significance of this passage. Not only ought we to thank Christ because of Luke 3. Luke 3 tells us that Jesus comes, or Jesus' lineage can be traced through Noah.
If you go to Matthew chapter 1, the emphasis of Matthew, the theological emphasis is to connect Jesus to David and Abraham, and he does that very successfully. The theological emphasis of Luke is to trace Jesus all the way back to Adam. Again, it's not different, it's not competing, it's not completely other people. You know, over here you had Bill, and over here you had Joe, and not Bill, and not Joe.
That's not it. They have theological reasons for the way that they weave together their particular genealogies. And Luke connects Jesus with Noah. He does.
It's very conspicuous. But, look at 7.1 for a moment. Just some other typology we ought to appreciate. Then the Lord said to Noah, come into the ark.
Who says come a lot in the New Testament? Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I think it's Brooks. He has a treatise on something, and the subtitle is an ark, or it might be the title of the treatise, An Ark for All of God's Noahs.
It's about Jesus. Jesus is an ark for all of God's Noahs. It's brilliant, isn't it? It's beautiful.
Absolutely, positively so. But there's a direct typological link with 1 Peter 3. In fact, you can turn there. 1 Peter 3. If you're interested in the specifics of interpretation of 1 Peter 3, you can go way, way, way, way, way, way back.
Actually, it's before we had internet. not before we had internet, but before we stored things on the internet, where we actually dealt with 1 Peter 3, 18-22. Our purpose here is not to deal with 1 Peter 3, 18-22, other than to say that Peter sees a tie between the ark and the waters of baptism. Notice in 1 Peter 3.20, "...who formerly were disobedient, when once the divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water." There is also an anti-type which now saves us, baptism. You see that link between water, which suggests ark, and this anti-typical thing called baptism.
Now he highlights, baptism is not sacramentally to be... or it's not sacramentarian. It's not baptism that saves. It's not sort of baptismal regeneration. Peter makes that very clear.
When he speaks of baptism, he says, not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, and that connected to our Lord Jesus. But the point is, The ark is typological, not only of the kingdom of God, but it's typological of who Jesus Christ is. He is an ark for all of God's Noahs. And we all do well to heed the word of the Lord and come to Him.
The Faith of Noah
And then finally, I want to highlight the faith of Noah. The faith of Noah, a faithful man in a faithless world. Last week we referred to the hardships associated with the 100 years. Remember that?
No, I want you to build this arch. And it's a massive undertaking. And you're not going to get any help. There's no union builders that are going to come along.
There's no divisional labor. You've got these trades, and then these trades, and then these trades. No, it's up to you and your sons. Now, remember, he had to collect the lumber. which would have been a task in and of itself.
He had to transport the lumber. And then he had to actually put the lumber together in the way that would actually cause this ark to not take on water and sink. So it was a sizable undertaking. It was a timely undertaking.
Now, whether it was the whole 100 years or not, some say it was. Others say, no, it probably wasn't. But it wasn't one year. This was a lot of time involved.
And then remember that Peter tells us in 2 Peter 2.5 that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. So while Noah's pounding nails onto the starboard bow or whatever, it's not too nautical here. My dad was retired Navy. It didn't seep into my bones at all.
But while he's doing that, he's preaching righteousness. In other words, he's telling the people down below why he's doing what he's doing. Remember, this isn't the first time Noah's heard about this flood. Chapter 7 is when it's imminent.
Chapter 6, it's still 100 years out, but the Word of God Most High had said it. So Noah's pounding nails and he's telling people about the coming judgment of God. And no doubt, Noah suffered rejection. No doubt, people scoffed.
No doubt, people said, you're crazy. In fact, what did people do during that time just before the flood? They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage. Doesn't Jesus tell us that in Matthew chapter 25, I'm sorry, 24?
He says so, you know, that they were oblivious to eternal things. They were oblivious to the reality of what Noah had preached because they didn't wanna listen. They didn't wanna take heed. And so they're carrying on going about their daily affairs and then the flood comes.
See, Noah sees all this stuff going on. Now, imagine the hardships associated with this last week. Now, if in this hundred years Noah's pounding nails and preaching righteousness, what do you think he's doing in that last seven days? He's probably saying, you really should listen to me.
You really should pay attention. Again, I'm not making this up. Peter does call him a preacher of righteousness. A man who's saved by grace typically wants others to be saved by grace as well.
That's kind of an identifying mark of the people of God. They like to tell people about Jesus. They love to tell the old story. They love to speak of the cross.
And so when it's imminent, when it's seven days out, Noah's probably starting to get more earnest and more fervent and more fiery than he's ever been. But what happens? Does everybody listen? Does everybody say, oh, we should take heed?
Oh yeah, we should listen. Noah, throw that sort of drawbridge down so we can shimmy on up there with the elephants and the giraffes and you people and find our safe haven in this ark which is crushed. No, they don't do that. They continue to reject him and resist him.
Last week, when I pointed out the difficulties associated with the 100 years, I quoted Calvin. This week, when I deal with the difficulties associated with the last week, I'll quote Calvin. He says, I have no doubt that Noah was confirmed, as he certainly needed to be, by oracles frequently repeated. In other words, what Calvin is saying is that God spoke to Noah.
While Noah's doing his thing, he's not doing his thing without the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord comes to him, obviously, in Genesis 6. That's given to us by Moses for our instruction. But Calvin conjectures that God spoke to Noah probably even more.
I don't see any reason to say no. He goes on to say, he had already sustained, during 100 years, the greatest and most furious assaults, and the invincible combatant had achieved memorable victories. But the most severest contest of all was to bid farewell to the world, to renounce society, and to bury himself in the art. Now, I don't know that we fully appreciate that either.
When it says that they were eating and drinking and giving in marriage, now, that could mean it was all wicked and vile and evil, but it could also mean normal daily life. Here is a man that lived amongst the people with normal daily life and he's getting on that boat going into his own grave is basically what Calvin says. I mean it's going to be that for the next 150 days and bidding farewell to everybody around him. It's a very serious and a very sober picture not only of the judgment of God, but also in terms of what Noah himself had to face.
I don't want to, you know, psychologize or, you know, those sorts of book titles like, you know, be a man who builds things like Noah. No, but we ought not to discount the faith of Noah in a faithless time. Hebrews 11.7 sees it as vitally important to bring Noah to bear upon the people of God for their consideration. He had been divinely warned, he was moved with godly fear, and he did what the Lord called him, notwithstanding the difficulties involved.
I think this faithful man in a faithless world speaks to us who strive to be faithful men and women in a faithless world. We need to listen to God, we need to obey God, and we need to do what God says, dependent upon His Word for all things. Well, let's close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for On the one hand, the great simplicity of the narrative. The details are clear, the ideas are easy to follow, and yet, God, it sets forth a terrifying vision of the judgment of God. Help us, Father, to see this in our own lives.
Help us to appreciate these things with a view to the Second Coming of our Lord. where he uses this illustration, where Peter uses this illustration, where we are to be mindful of this in light of what is in the future for all men everywhere. As well, may we appreciate the grace of God displayed in the life of Noah, the preservation of God in the life of Noah, and the fact that this man ultimately would bring forth, or from this man, would come forth the Lord Jesus Christ. And may we see Christ as an ark for all of God's Noahs. May we come to Him.
May we find our refuge and our safety and our security and our salvation in Him and in Him alone. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.