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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Now notice, secondly, the arrival
of the floodwaters in verses 6 to 24. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
