Bible Commentaries
Genesis 7

Verses 1-24

Chapter 7

And so the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all of your house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Now of the clean beast thou shalt take by sevens, male with his female ( Genesis 7:1-2 ):

So seven pair of the clean beasts.

and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of the fowls of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep the seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For in seven days, I will cause it to rain upon the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. And of the clean beasts, and the beasts that were not clean, and the fowls, and every thing that creeps upon the earth, There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened ( Genesis 7:2-11 ).

Now you remember back in the first chapter of Genesis there God set a space-the raqiya-the heavens separating the waters, which were above the heavens, and the waters which were upon the earth. These waters now condensed and fell to the earth. But with that, the great fountains of the deep being broken up, there were great upheavals, no doubt, upward thrust of mountain ranges.

It could be at this time that the Himalayas did rise out of the sea. As former mountain ranges collapsed into the sea, the pressure of the water as the body, the ocean bodies were moved. The pressure pushing downward upon the new ocean beds would thrust upwards mountain ranges and would create a whole violent change in the geographical surface of the earth. And I have no doubt but that there were many dramatic changes, as far as geography is concerned at the time of the flood, as mountain ranges would disappear, the great fountains of the deep broken up, the rain descending, the pressure of the new oceans and the changing of oceans, and so forth, would of course create great changes.

There used to be a vast ocean up in the area of middle northern America, up in the area of Salt Lake and they feel that that's all that's left of which of what was once a very vast ocean. You go over to the south rim of the Canyon there and you find at the eight thousand foot level fossil remains of sea fish, shells, mollusks and so forth, so that area was once covered by a vast ocean.

Dinosaurs lived around its edges. The Painted Desert is an interesting area to search for dinosaur artifacts. I have a very interesting vertebrae of a dinosaur from the Painted Desert there. And it's very interesting to go and search for the remains of the dinosaurs that were once around the shores of the vast ocean that was up in that area or the vast sea, whichever the case may be. But there have been great cataclysmic changes; upward thrust, pressures by the water changing its beds and so forth.

And all testify to the truth, the biblical account of there one time being a great cataclysmic upheaval in which the fountains of the deep were opened. Changes of the ocean floors. Changes of mountain ranges. Upward thrust, other areas sinking and disappearing. It could be that the lost continent of Atlantis, that there is in reality a basis of fact that this did exist and they could have been eliminated by this great flood, by the whole change of the structures.

They have found in the middle Atlantic vast beds of sand. You only have sand on the seashore. It's caused by the action of the movement of the water wearing down the rocks and so forth, the granite. Much of the sea is covered by silt through the centuries, just the silt settling down to the bottom of the ocean. But these great beds of sand are something they can't explain out in the middle of the Atlantic showing that it was once a beach, a seashore. Why isn't it covered by several feet of silt? How did it get there? All interesting things that the scientists have not yet figured out. But the flood with the changes of the surface of the earth would easily explain all of these things.

So "the great fountains of the deep were broken up, the windows of heaven were opened."

And the rain was upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. And in the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort ( Genesis 7:12-14 ).

I only wish that he could have gotten those two fleas at that time.

And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all the flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. And the flood was for forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the water prevail; and the mountains were covered ( Genesis 7:15-20 ).

Now there are some who try to make this a local flood. That it only happened in the Babylonian plain. Well then, why would God put Noah to the job of building such a big boat? Why didn't He say, "Move out of this plain, Noah, over to the next mountain, you know, range and all and get into that valley over there cause this thing is going to get flooded"?

And how could the ark be deposited on Mount Ararat and how could the waters cover Mount Ararat fifteen feet above which is seventeen thousand feet high? How could the waters just be piled up in that one area without being dispersed around the face of the earth? So those who try to just make this a local flood have many problems. Why bring all the animals in? It would not at all be necessary if it were just a localized flood.

But evidence, of course, the Scripture declares it was a worldwide flood and evidence would seem to go along with the Scriptures on this. That is the whales being found here in Vermont, five hundred feet above sea level and the cavern in Maryland, and things of this nature with the various animals thrust in and broken up.

"The flood was forty days upon the earth; the waters increased, bare the ark, it was lifted up above the earth. The waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered." That is, fifteen feet above the highest mountain.

And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and cattle, and beast, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, creeping things, the fowl of heaven; they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth for a hundred and fifty days ( Genesis 7:21-24 ).

Almost a half a year the waters prevailed upon the earth, during this time of great cataclysmic upheaval. Now Jesus, when talking to His disciples about the signs of His coming and the end of the world said, "as it was in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of man be" ( Matthew 24:37 ).

The days of Noah were days of rapid population explosion. "It came to pass in those days, when men began to multiply upon the face of the earth" ( Genesis 6:1 ), population explosion during Noah's day. The days of Noah were days of abnormal sexual behavior. "The sons of God seeing the daughters of men." Jesus says that they were days in which marriage vows were cast aside and men were marrying and giving in marriage, or live-in type of relationships, not honoring the marriage vows, casting them aside.

The days of Noah were days of wickedness, man's mind being evil continually. They were days of corruption and they were days of violence. As it was in the days of Noah, so it is today. Noah was to be a sign of the coming of Jesus Christ. I believe that Noah also gives to us another sign of sorts, for Noah was upon the earth at the time of God's great judgment of the earth because of the wickedness. And God is going to again judge the earth because of wickedness. But I do not believe that Noah is the type of the church that God preserves during His period of judgment.

There is a group that God is going to preserve during the period of coming judgment that will be sheltered by God, these are the 144,000, the Israelites who will be sealed by God and be sheltered from many of the judgments of God that are coming. That seal upon their forehead, the name of God upon their forehead will be, as it were an ark.

But I believe that Enoch is a type of the church who walked with God and was not for God took him. But before God took him he had this testimony that he pleased God and Enoch was taken up before the flood, before the judgment of God, being a type of the church. And Noah, the type of the 144,000 Israelites that are sealed, is protected by God and taken through the judgment of God that is coming upon the earth, even as the 144,000 will be protected and taken through.

The interesting thing to me is that God placed Noah in the ark and He shut the door. The Bible says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He was preaching to these people during the hundred-year period that he was building the ark, warning them of God's impending judgment that was to come. But the people no doubt scoffed at Noah and laughed at his warnings and mocked the crazy old coot building a big boat out in the area where there is no water.

But Noah by faith built the boat to the saving of his family. It brought salvation because he obeyed God and God shut him in. At that point, the die was cast; Noah, his family, safe inside. The others, on the outside; it's too late. That marked an interesting day between the mercy and the grace and the patience of God and now the necessary judgment. For God said, "My spirit shall not always strive with man."

God's spirit does strive with man. That in itself is a miracle and a marvel. Why should God strive with me? Who am I that God should strive with me? Who are you that God should strive with you? What a miracle of grace that God would even strive with man! What a marvelous demonstration of His condescension and of His love and of His concern that God would even bother to strive with man.

But what an awesome and solemn warning. God's spirit won't always strive with you. In Hebrews we read of those "who have done despite to the spirit of grace. Who have counted the blood of the covenant wherewith Jesus was sanctified an unholy thing. Done despite to the spirit of grace." And there remains for them that "certain looking forward to the fiery indignation of the wrath of God by which His enemies shall be devoured. For if he who despised Moses' law perished in the mouth of two or three witnesses: how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, he should be counted worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, counted the blood of his covenant an unholy thing, done despite to that Spirit of grace" that's been dealing with his heart ( Hebrews 10:27-29 ).

"God's spirit will not always strive with man." There is a time we know not when, a line we know not where; that marks the destiny of men twixt sorrow and despair. There is a line though by man unseen, once it has been crossed, even God Himself in all His love has sworn that all is lost.

It's possible for you to say "no" once too many times. It's possible for you to do despite to the spirit of grace. It's possible for you to cross that line between the grace and the mercy and the patience and the long-suffering of God, and the judgment of God. There came that day when Noah went in and God shut him in. What a glorious day when God shuts us in to himself, to that ark of refuge that He has provided for us through Jesus Christ, and I become a part of His beautiful kingdom through faith.

May God by His Holy Spirit speak to each of us as we continue our journey through Genesis.

Father, we thank You for the privilege of studying Your Word together, looking over these interesting things. Thank You for the record, Lord, that leads us to Jesus Christ and to eternal life in Him. Lord, let Thy Holy Spirit now implant upon our hearts Thy truths. In Jesus' name, Amen. "