Genesis 7

¹ Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. ² Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, ³ and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. ⁴ For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” ⁵ And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. ⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, ⁹ two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. ¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. ¹² And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. ¹³ On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, ¹⁴ they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. ¹⁵ They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. ¹⁶ And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. ¹⁷ The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. ¹⁹ And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. ²⁰ The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. ²¹ And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. ²³ He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. ²⁴ And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

There is a naïve belief held by some that ancient people were more naturally religious whereas modern people are more skeptical. In truth, the whole spectrum of belief and disbelief has been around in every age. Consider, for instance, the following comment by Tertullian, the 2^nd/3^rdcentury Christian writer, who wrote, “We get ourselves laughed at for proclaiming that God will one day judge the world.”[1]Imagine that: people have been laughing at the concept of divine judgment since the beginning of the Christian movement. And, tragically, many churches have capitulated to a desire to not be laughed at by simply jettisoning beliefs, like the reality of divine judgment, that some find off-putting. Thus, you can now find ostensibly Christian churches and Christian individuals who would “laugh” at the idea “that God will one day judge the world.”

This is unfortunate, because the thread of divine judgment has its rightful place in the tapestry of divine truth and it is excised only to the detriment of other doctrines that detractors profess to love. Think, for instance, of what it does to the cross itself if you cast out the idea of divine wrath of judgment. Why on earth would Christ come to die if not to save us from coming judgment? What is more, jettisoning divine judgment undercuts Christology as well insofar as it makes Jesus, who clearly believed in and taught the reality of judgment, a liar.

Yes, Jesus taught the reality of divine judgment. In fact, in Matthew 24, He pointed to the flood as the case study we should consider when trying to understand what His final judgement will be like.

³⁶ “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. ³⁷ For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

This is most telling! It means that we should pay special attention to the realities and details of the flood in order to craft our theology of divine judgment, for the second coming of Christ will be like “the days of Noah.” What, then, can we conclude about divine judgment by considering the flood?

Divine judgment is against human sinfulness.

The first lesson has to do with the divine rationale for judgment. Why did God pour judgment out upon the earth? In Genesis 6, we see two explanations of God’s reason for the judgment of the flood:

⁵ The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.¹² And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. ¹³ And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

Why does God pour out judgment? Because of humanity’s “wickedness,” “evil,” “corrupt[ion],” and “violence.” That is, God’s judgment is poured out because of divine wrath against sin.

It is really interesting to note that many ancient cultures have a memory or story about a great flood. Oddly, some liberals use this fact as an argument againstthe historicity of the flood. That has never made sense to me! If numerous cultures with differing religious systems had a belief or memory that the world was once deluged, then does that not argue for the exact opposite conclusion skeptics reach: that the flood actually happened? But I digress. Comparing these early pagan flood stories to the biblical account can be fascinating. For instance, the Epic of Gilgamesh depicts one of the gods as chastising the god who sent the flood. Thus, Ea says to Enlil, “How could you, unreasoning, bring on the deluge?” Furthermore, Victor Hamilton explains that in “the Atrahasis Epic, twelve hundred years after man’s creation his noise and commotion has become so loud that Enlil starts to suffer from insomnia.” After trying to deal with the noise by sending a plague, drought, and famine, he sends the flood “which Atrahasis survives by building a boat.”[2]The biblical account is most decidedly notlike this. God does not pour out the great flood because He is irritated. On the contrary, He floods the earth because of man’s pervasive depravity and wickedness.

And He is just to do so. Why, because sin is serious. Sin distorts and perverts. Sin seeks to undo what God has created and called good. Sin is a perversion, a tragic rejection of the way forward. Sin brings death (Romans 6:23)! What is more sin is corrosive and tends to further and further depravity. When God judges there might be many reasons He does so, but certainly one reason is to stem the tide of wickedness before it casts the world into utter debauchery and evil.

Jesus told us to consider the flood as we think of the coming judgment. When we do so the first thing we find is this: God’s judgment is against sin.

Divine judgment, on this side of eternity, is measured, even if cataclysmic, but points to a greater judgment to come.

When we observe the flood we also note that God’s judgment, while severe and cataclysmic, was still yet measured. That is, while it covered the earth and killed almost all human and animal life, a remnant was still preserved. Furthermore, we see that all judgment on this side of heaven points to a greater judgment to come. In Genesis 7 we read:

¹ Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. ² Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, ³ and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. ⁴ For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” ⁵ And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. ⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, ⁹ two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

Two things are clear: (1) God’s judgment is severe and (2) God’s judgment is measured. The severity of it can be seen in God’s description of what will happen: He will send a forty day and night rain and “blot out from the face of the ground” “every living thing.” This is terrifying to hear! The severity of God’s judgment is itself a statement about the seriousness and tragedy of sin. Sin is no small thing, for no small thing could call forth such great judgment from an utterly just God! We may be sure of this: with God the punishment always fits the crime, for God alone knows all and sees all and is capable of meting out justice. The flood was sent because mankind’s sin was that serious.

Even so, amazingly, the flood was measured and restrained? How so? In that God (1) saved Noah and his family and (2) saved pairs, either one pair if unclean or seven if clean, of all animal life. In so doing, did God not demonstrate His restraint? You might protest, “But He destroyed almost all life!” Yes, almost, but not all.

However, when the final judgement comes, God’s will not restrain His hand and the whole earth will be destroyed, save His own people. Peter points to the flood and, through it, to the greater judgment to come, in 2 Peter 3:

⁵ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, ⁶ and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. ⁷ But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

At the judgment of the flood, water was the chosen instrument. At the final judgment, the world will be flooded with fire and the restraints will be loosened for total destruction. This is why the picture of salvation for God’s people always includes a “new heaven” and a “new earth.” In that same chapter, 2 Peter 3, Peter writes:

¹³ But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

This new heaven and earth assumes the destruction of the old. So too in Revelation 21 we read:

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

Just think of it: as devastating as the flood was, it falls short of what the final judgment will be. All of God’s judgment on this side of heaven and hell is measured, even if cataclysmic, and points to a greater judgment to come.

Divine judgment is complete and exhaustive against the recipients of it.

Yet for the recipients of divine judgment, both in Noah’s day and in ours, the judgment is complete and exhaustive. Which is to say, that while the judgment was restrained in Noah’s day insofar as the waters did not destroy the whole earth or all animals or all humans, but only most, for those who rejected salvation the judgement was indeed complete and exhaustive. Consider the exhaustive terminology of Genesis 7’s account:

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day allthe fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. ¹² And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

¹⁷ The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. ¹⁹ And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that allthe high mountains under the wholeheaven were covered. ²⁰ The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. ²¹ And allflesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, allswarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and allmankind. ²² Everythingon the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. ^23a-c He blotted out everyliving thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth.

²⁴ And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Ah! How horrific for those outside the ark!

All!

Whole!

All!

All!

All!

Everything!

Every!

We can conclude from this that if you are the recipient of final judgment, you will not be able to escape the judgment put upon you! You will receive the judgment intended for you!

Jesus communicated this chilling fact most effectively in Luke 16, in the story of the rich man and Lazarus. After the rich man dies under the judgment of God, we read this:

²³ and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴ And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’

Notice (1) the torment of divine judgment (“I am in anguish”), (2) the finality of judgment after death (“but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish”), and (3) the inescapability of divine judgment (“a great chasm has been fixed…and none may cross from there to us.”).

Hear me: if you die without Jesus Christ, you will die in judgment and you will be cast into hell, an inescapable place of lostness and torment and separation. I have heard men and women who have been in prison before say that the worst sound in the world is the sound of the cell door locking behind you. But here at least we have some hope of getting out of earthly prisons. Imagine the sound of the gate of hell locking behind you! Imagine the realization that you will never get out! Imagine the terrible seriousness of sin and the just judgment of God upon it! Imagine being lost, lost, lost, and cast out forever!

Divine judgment will not fall upon those who are covered by God’s grace.

But church, see this as well: God saves His people out of the flood! God saves His remnant! See:

¹³ On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, ¹⁴ they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. ¹⁵ They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. ¹⁶ And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.

^23dOnly Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.

Noah and his family, the remnant of God’s people, are sealed and shut into the ark. They are safe. “And the Lord shut him in.” His security was not result of exceptional craftsmanship on the ark. No, his security was in his Savior God who sealed Him in.

The judgement of God is righteous and just. The love of God is gracious and secure. The judgment of God, once it falls, cannot be sidestepped. The love of God will not be broken. God is able to save His people out of the flood! Peter makes this exact point in 2 Peter 2:

⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly…⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

Yes, the Lord does indeed “know how to rescue the godly.” He will “preserve” us as He “preserved” Noah. He will keep us safe in His loving arms!

The reality is this: the ark of God’s salvation is safe and secure. In Noah’s day, it was a literal ark, a boat. What then is the ark today? The cross of Christ! Better to say that Noah’s wooden boat was a type of the cross of Christ to come! In the ark, Noah and his family were safe. In the cross of Christ, we too are safe.

Why is this so? It is so because on the cross Christ took the judgment due us onto Himself and paid the price for all of our sins! The debt has been canceled. The price has been paid! This was foreseen so long ago by Isaiah in Isaiah 53:

⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. ⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

What does this mean? It means that we should run to the ark of the cross and be sealed therein by the love and mercy of God!It means that we must turn from our sins that justly deserved dying wrath and turn instead to the open and loving arms of our great God!

Run into the ark! Run to the cross! The arms of Jesus are open…and the arms of Jesus are safe.

 

[1]Jones, Brian (2011-08-01). Hell Is Real (But I Hate to Admit It) (p. 20). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.

[2]Victor Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Gen. Eds., R.K. Harrison and Robert L. Hubbard (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), p.273-274.