Bible Commentaries
Genesis 7

Verses 1-24

XIV

LESSONS OF THE FLOOD

Genesis 7

Before we go on I wish to impress very solemnly on your minds certain great lessons connected with the deluge.

The first question is: Is this history, this account of the destruction of the world by a flood? My answer is: In all the rest of the Bible the back references to it treat it as plain matter of fact; no allegory about it.

The next question is: What was the extent of the deluge? Your record says that the water prevailed fifteen cubits, or twenty-eight feet, over all the mountains under the whole heavens. The natural impression made upon the mind by reading this account is that it was intended to be a complete destruction of the world that then was; that the world was to make a new start. When we come to the New Testament it will tell about the second deluge that is coming which will be a deluge of fire; certainly that will be universal. A great many people, who imagine that what they call science is always true and what we call the Bible is never true unless science vouches for it, seem to think it impossible that the deluge covered the whole world. But notice how slight the elevation of the land is over the sea, that in a body 8,000 miles thick and 25,000 miles around, the difference between the water level and the highest mountain is so slight that in a globe representing the earth the height of the mountain would not be any more than the rind of an orange, or not so much as that, hardly as much as a coat of paint. There would have to be only a very slight elevation of the bottom of the sea, or a very slight subsidence of the land in order for the water to cover the whole thing. We know that at one time the water did cover it all. Listen to this account in the first chapter of Genesis: "And the earth was waste and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep." It was all liquid. It was only later that the waters were separated from the land. We study bow that separation took place by the creation of the atmosphere so as to take above a great deal of the water and a subsidence of the land so as to provide sea beds for the rest of the water. Now, just reverse that process and the earth is covered with water again. The windows of the heavens are opened and the water up there is let down. The fountains of the great deep are broken up. There you have the storm above and the upheaval below that will bring about the prevalence of the water over the whole globe. It seems that it would be just as easy for God to cover the whole earth with water again as it was to take it from a state where it was covered with water and to bring the land up. He can do one wonder just as easily as the other. A great many of them try to make out that the deluge covered only a small part of the earth, the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, touching the Black, Caspian, and Mediterranean seas. In order to test that, Mount Ararat is 17,260 feet high. Now, add twenty-eight feet to that, for the water stood above Mount Ararat. Yet the water did not go beyond the Caspian and Black seas. That is a greater miracle than the other, a great bulk of water there does not fall down and does not obey the law of gravitation. I have always had less difficulty in believing just what the Bible says about this flood than in trying to believe it less than the Bible says.

The second thing is the style of this account. I have been reading history all my life. I commenced at four years old. I never read a piece of history that is more vivid in its eyewitness style than this account of the flood. Nothing is as circumstantial as that. Take the history of the conflagration of Rome written by an eyewitness. It is not nearly so definite and particular in all its parts as this is. Take the accounts of the earthquake in San Francisco. The style in which that account is written by any of the men who have tried to describe it does not approach this in clearness of the statements and minute exactness.

Notice, for one thing, the dates. He evidently wants to he understood that this occurred at a particular time. I will read you some of the statements about dates. "And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth." That gives you the year. In v. II it says, "In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, and on the seventeenth day of the month the same day were all the fountains of the great abyss broken up and the windows of heaven opened." It says that the rain fell forty days and nights, but it does not mean to say that no rain fell after that. Dr. Conant’s translation says, "And the heavy rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights."

Listen to the description as to how these waters gradually rose and gradually fell; see if you can remember anything in literature more vivid. "And the heavy rain was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased and bore up the ark. It rose up from the earth. And the waters prevailed and increased mightily upon the earth and the ark went upon the face of the waters." First it floated, then it moved. "The waters prevailed mightily upon the earth and all the high mountains that were under the whole heavens were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail and the mountains were covered." That tells you how it rose. "And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days." Notice this circumstantial account. He is going to describe now how they began to fall. "And God caused a wind to pass over the earth and the waters subsided." The fountains of the abyss and the windows of the heavens were closed. The heavy rains from the heavens were restrained, the waters returned to the earth continually, and the waters abated from the end of one hundred and fifty days, and the ark rested in the seventh month on the seventeenth day of the month on the mount of Ararat. And the waters were continually abating until the tenth month. On the tenth month and on the first day of the month the tops of the mountains were seen. It came to pass at the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark and sent forth a raven. And he went, going forth and returning, but he never came back into the ark, just going to and fro. He sent forth a dove to see if the waters were lightened and he waited "another seven days." Notice again that I am just calling dates. "It came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first of the month, the waters were dried up." No man living could be more particular about every specification. "In the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dry." There is the full account of the year divided into its parts. I have never read anything that impressed me as this I have just quoted. One of my examination questions will likely be: What have you to say about the graphic description of the gradual rising of the waters and the gradual subsidence of the waters? The literary style is perfect.

Now I have another question I am going to give as a general question. Those of you that have been about farm yards have noticed that hogs begin to run around and pick up straws to make a bed, and you just know that cold weather is coming. You see flights of the birds as winter approaches, going south. Rats leave a ship before it begins to sink. Now the question: Was it instinct that got these animals into the ark? These were wild animals, elephants, lions, tigers, snakes, birds: were they warned by instinct of the approaching storm, and knew that the ark was the only safe place? And if not, how do you account for their getting there? You don’t suppose that Noah could go out and drive up those wild beasts. There is an answer that is absolutely correct, but I will pass it for the present.

The lessons concerning this deluge to which I call your attention, first, gather around the name of Noah, one of the most remarkable names of the times. As Adam’s name stands out as the head of the human race, so this man’s name stands out as the second head of the human race. The Adam world is all gone. This man is going to start on a new earth and make a new beginning for the human race. There were only this man and his wife, his three sons and their wives – eight people. What is said about the character of this man? The Scripture testimony is that he walked with God and was perfect in his generation. What is said about his faith? I will read you what is said. Hebrews 11:7, "By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became the heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." The chapter commences by saying, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Now, no man could foresee that flood. God said it would come in 120 years. The first time he limited it, he said it should come at the death of Methuselah. The next time he limits it, he says 120 years. The next time he says, "yet seven days." There was not a sign in the sky above nor in the earth beneath to warn anybody. But God told Noah that it was coming, and, moved with godly fear, taking hold of the invisible things that had been made known to him, by faith he built that ark. You think that was a small undertaking. Well, suppose one man and his three boys, and as many people as he could hire, should start out to build a ship as big as the Great Eastern. It cost an immense amount of money. Those people who did not believe that the flood was coming would not contribute anything to it. Noah had to put his own money into it. That faith means a tremendous financial sacrifice on his part, to put everything in the world he had in it. It meant to put the labor of his hands. The people who were working for him would laugh at him and call him a crazy old fool. Of course, they would take his money, as carpenters want work, but they had no faith in it. I call the attention of the class to a sermon by Dr. Andrew Fuller of England, "The Faith of Noah in Building the Ark," as one of the finest sermons ever preached on faith in all homiletics. Faith does not stop at a mere intellectual perception of a truth, or the assent of the heart to a truth. Faith steps out and works and does everything in the world that is necessary to be done.

Notice the strength of Noah’s faith in this. He stood alone against the judgment of the entire world. He is the only man that believes that the flood will come. One of you start out today in any community and let nobody in that community believe in what you are doing. Let them laugh at you and make fun of your work. How long would you hold your faith? It is one of the most sublime demonstrations in all the Word of God; that he would stand as Elijah did later against the whole world and maintain that what God said was true and work to it.

What is said about his preaching? All the time he was work ing he was also preaching. In 2 Peter 2:5, he is called a preacher of righteousness, that is, he preached that men should do right and do what God tells them to do. 1 Peter 3:21, says that Christ by the Spirit went and preached to the antediluvians in the days of Noah. That is, Christ, not in person, but in the Spirit through Noah, preached 120 years. Noah did the preaching as Christ’s representative, the Holy Spirit bearing witness to the truth of it. 1 Peter 4:6, has this strange expression – if you want to see commentators stalled consult them on this scripture: "For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit." In other words, as Paul says, this means that the gospel has been preached all over the world and they have not heard. "Their line has gone out to the ends of the earth." "Jesus Christ lighteth every man that cometh into the world." There is a sense in which the truth of God in some form has reached every heart and conscience that there is in the world. Why was the gospel sent to these people that are now dead and lost? God had in view when it was preached to them that they might be judged in the flesh and live according to the spirit, but rejecting it they were lost in both body and spirit. You must get fixed on your mind that old man’s faith, standing there by himself and continually pleading with his neighbors and telling them that 120 years from now, 119 years from now, 100 years from now, fifty years, ten years and the end comes. All that was the space for repentance, and at last when you come down to seven days the ministry stops. The Lord says, "Noah, you move in," and he moves in and the door is shut. Then, "Where is Noah?" "He is inside." "Where is the rain?" It has not come and another day passes. "Where is your rain? Hallo, old man, where is that storm you were talking about?" No rain. Yet seven days, and the day of grace is ended. No chance for anybody to be saved in that seven days because the door is shut. God shut him in. He is shut up; they are shut out. A whole week passes just that way. It is one of the most suggestive and impressive lessons that I know of.

Such was the man’s preaching. There is a reference to him in Ezekiel 14:14, where he speaks about a certain wicked city, and he says, "Though Noah, Job and Daniel were in this city they could save only themselves by their righteousness." Whenever the number of righteous men gets so small that the salt cannot preserve the world, or whenever the testimony of the righteous becomes so low that it ceases to conserve, then doom comes and that doom is irretrievable.

Let us see what the lessons are about the flood itself. In 2 Peter 3:4-7, we have: "Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God; by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." Just as certain as the flood came and swept away the first world – it came by the word of God, though the crowd did not believe it – just so certain the world that now is will be destroyed by fire. Peter goes on to describe that fire in this same connection. "The day will come that the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up." If God could destroy the first world by a flood of water, and according to his Word that first destruction did come, we have the same Word of God to assure us that the world next time will be destroyed by fire.

The second lesson is Matthew 24:37-39, and Luke 17:26. Jesus is talking: "And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man." That is, its suddenness and their unpreparedness for it. It comes like a thief in the night when they are not looking for it. When Jesus comes again there will be some people at the ballroom, just like Byron describes it:

There was a sound of revelry by night

And Belgium’s capital had gathered then

Her beauty and her chivalry and bright

The lamps shone o’er fair women and brave men.

Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again

And all went merry as a marriage bell.

But hush. Hark! A deep sound strikes like a rising knell.

"What is that sound?" "It is the cannon’s opening roar." And the Battle of Waterloo snatched those gay dancers from their partners and hurried them to the feast of death. They will be dancing just that way when the lightning flashes from one end of the heavens to the other when Jesus comes. There will be two fellows quarreling over the price of a mutton chop, others quarreling over taxes. There will be men building pigpens; boys going in swimming in the creeks. And the judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ will come like a flash of lightning. That is a very solemn lesson. Those people right up to the time when heaven’s windows opened and the fountains of the great deep burst up, in utter disbelief of any end of the world, so it found them and they went down…

With a bubbling groan,

Unwept, unhonoured, and unknown.

The next lesson is found in 2 Peter 3, describing why the second coming of Christ is deferred. Some people say, "He made us suspect that he is coming soon and he has not come." Peter says that Christ is not slack about his promises. That if he has not come his object is that his long-suffering might lead men to repentance. Just like through that period of 120 years and throughout the whole life of Methuselah. Why didn’t that boy die at five years of age, etc.? It is God suspending the judgment. God is holding that awful penalty hair-swung, nothing but the breath of the Almighty to send it down in a moment, in order that man might have space to repent.

The next lesson is Isaiah 54:9. This is not so dark a picture. I will commence at Isaiah 54:7: "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In overflowing wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting love and kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith Jehovah, my Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." God has said to his people that he will never destroy the earth by another flood. "I swear to thee that though thou hast forsaken me many a time, that I will never, no never, destroy thee." It is one of the greatest doctrines on the final perseverance of the saints in the Bible. A very sweet lesson. That is all I have to say about the lessons of the flood. Let us look at

THE LESSONS OF THE ARK
The first lesson about the ark is that it was intended for a perfectly sure means of escape from that doom, pitched within and without, water-tight, perfectly safe, everybody and everything within it was safe. No matter how it rained. No matter how high the water stood; that the mountains disappeared. That ark represents Christ. If we get in Christ, shut in Christ, as Paul puts it, "I am dead and my life is hid with Christ in God," then let the storms come.

Notice that to get into that ark there was only one door. Noah did not have a door put at the top for the birds to come in, and a little hole under the floor for the snakes to crawl under, and a great big gate for the elephants to get in. No matter whether you are a big beast or a little beast, you have to go in at the same place. You could not exhibit any pride about it. The eagle swooping from his eyrie on the top of the mountain had to come in at that door, the very door through which the snail crawled. That is a point for you in your preaching. Christ says: "I am the door. I am the way. I am the truth and I am the life, and there is no other way known under heaven or among men."

In the next place, that ark of Noah’s is reproduced in the covenant at Mount Sinai. As the first ark was made of cypress wood, this ark is made of acacia, that is, an indestructible and long-lasting wood. This ark has the mercy seat and the Shekinah. This ark has the throne of grace and the only way to get into paradise is to come to that place.

We come to the last lesson on the ark in Acts 10. Without reading I will tell it to you. Peter was just as narrow as the edge of a knife in his Jewish prejudices, and he held the key that would open the door of the kingdom of heaven to the Gentile world, and he was letting it get rusty in his girdle. On the day of Pentecost he opened the door and let in three thousand Jews at a jump, but not a Gentile. God brought him to Joppa where he could look out from the housetop upon that sea whose waters washed the shores of the Gentile world, alien, without God, and without hope in the world. Peter fell into a trance and God let down an ark. You can call it a great white sheet held up at the four corners, if you want to. But it was an ark, just as curious a sight as Noah’s old ark, and in this ark was every manner of beast and bird and creeping thing, clean and unclean. The world had almost forgotten about that ark into which hawks and doves and tigers and lambs and snakes and men went in together. God shows Peter that sight again and says, "Arise, Peter, kill and eat." Peter says, "I have never eaten anything unclean." God says, "What I have cleansed do not thou call common or unclean. I want to teach you the lesson of the ark, the symbolism of that ark in the days of Noah." The entrance of those birds and animals into the ark was a foreshadow of the reception of all people and all nations, tribes and kindred into Jesus Christ.

I have only to present the sabbath, and I am through with the special lessons about the ark. The sabbath day runs all through, as "another seven days," showing that long before Moses put into the Ten Commandments "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy," the seventh day was an institution that began when God created the world and for man as man.

QUESTIONS
1. Is the Genesis account of the flood history?

2. What was the extent of the flood, upward and outward?

3. What was the process of the flood?

4. How high above the sea level are the loftiest mountain peaks of Armenia where the ark rested?

5. What is the theory of the critics and what is the scientific difficulty in accepting it?

6. What evidence from the style of the account in general?

7. What in particular from the dates mentioned?

8. What of the description of the rising and falling of the waters?

9. How did Noah get the animals into the ark? Give reasons for your answer,

10. What four lessons from Noah’s life?

11. What is said about the character of this man?

12. What is said of his faith?

13. What shows the strength of his faith?

14. What is said about his preaching?

15. With whom does the prophet Ezekiel rank Noah and on what characteristic?

16. What four lessons for the flood itself?

17. What four lessons from the ark?

18. What lesson here on the question of the sabbath?

QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND RESEARCH (Inferential and otherwise.)
19. What double test of faith did God prove Noah by?

20. What New Testament proof of his meeting the test and what great Baptist preacher has a sermon on the text?

21. What was the financial difficulty to be overcome by Noah’s faith?

22. What scientific difficulty?

23. What social difficulty?

24. What labor difficulty?

25. What waiting difficulty?

26. What several time divisions are found in the account of the deluge?

27. Who else in the world besides Noah’s family ever saw such an assemblage of animals as were in the ark?

28. Why did not this strange gathering change the wicked?

29. Cite Isaiah’s comparison of man’s stupidity with the intelligence of the beasts.

30. Cite Job’s description of the absorption of the wicked in worldly pleasures till death suddenly smites them.

31. The significance of one door to the ark and a type of what?

32. The meaning of "Jehovah shut him in"?

33. According to the New Testament, who is vested with power to open and shut?

34. How long did the heavy rain continue?

35. What the extent of the destruction?

36. Cite three great proofs that the deluge was universal.