Genesis 7 | The Flood
Junior High chemistry might be one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. As a teacher, you are asked to let 11- to 13-year-olds play with chemicals and expect that everything will turn out all right. To trust that you and they will survive! For that reason, I remember being convinced that my Junior High chemistry class wouldn’t be that interesting. The teacher clearly wasn’t going to let us do or be a part of anything very cool.
Yet, that first day, my teacher blew my mind. He had three beakers on the counter. And after some discussion, and I think a little story, he began mixing beakers, and they started changing color! Now, kids, this was before the internet, so there was no way to see cool experiments like this, elephant’s toothpaste, Mr. Beast, or anything else on video. If you hadn’t seen it in person, you likely would never see it any other way.
And this experiment was amazing! What looked like three clear beakers began changing colors to yellow, then red, then green, depending on how he mixed everything. I didn’t know that was even possible! Now, as an adult, I know he was likely just messing around with pH indicators: mixing an indicator with acids and bases to get different colors depending on the solution's pH. But as a junior high student, this was entirely unexpected and unbelievable, and it intrigued me.
However, it wasn’t unexpected for the chemistry teacher. He knew what was coming. He knew what he was doing. He had made a plan. And through that plan, he helped me love chemistry—so much so that I minored in chemistry in college. He MADE me want to love chemistry!
Much of what God is doing in Scripture is helping us to fall in love with him and HIS plan. And sometimes, he even does it in weird, amazing, intriguing, and unbelievable ways!
Review
Last week, we looked at the beginning of the flood narrative and the Nephilim. And we talked about the many things in Scripture that we don’t want to get stuck on. Age of the Earth, numerology, genealogies, and the Nephilim are all examples of the things that we don’t want to get stuck on. Not that it is wrong to wonder, study, and see if we can come to an educated answer on any of those, but they really are a fourth-level issue (remember theological triage?). These are things to consider, but not things to worry about.
First Level:
Doctrine and understanding that makes you a Christian.
Second Level
Doctrine and understanding that rightly divides churches.
Third Level
Doctrine and understanding that should be lightly held and with charity.
Fourth Level/Other
Fun or random ideas from Scripture we like to follow.
As we then stopped last week and looked again at the beginning of the flood narrative, we noticed in Genesis chapter six that God hates sin and its consequences. Sin deserves death. So much so that God is willing to wipe out ALL things that have breath, not just humanity, to stop sin. Yet we also see that God shows favor. Specifically, he shows favor to Noah and to his family. Then, and only then, after showing favor, does God give Noah commandments to build the ark. And Noah does what God has asked him to do.
God saving people through their sin by showing them favor and rescuing them is the gospel message we will come to know fully in Jesus! If we get stuck on things like the Nephilim, we might miss how much of Scripture—even the Old Testament—is all about the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what we would have missed in chapter six. But even then, it is way more than just a ‘hint’ at the gospel that we see here in Genesis chapters six through nine. There is much here in the flood narrative that screams “gospel” if we are listening!
God’s Plan & His Follow-through
As we look more closely at this flood narrative, we see many other details about what Noah is asked to do and how he is to do it. Commands for Noah as he was taking on this task. If we go back to chapter six, we see many specifics for the ark and the animals:
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.”
Genesis 6:14–22 ESV
This thing is huge! It is approximately 510’ long, 85’ wide, 51’ tall. That still might not mean much to you. It is 1.5 football fields long. It is half as wide as a football field. It is five stories tall. Can you imagine how many gopher-wood trees this took? Estimates are that about 14,000 to 30,000 trees were used to make the ark! Can you imagine how much sap it would take to line the whole thing? How many months do you think Noah likely spent coating the entire thing in pitch?! Noah was going to spend a huge portion of his life building this ark, and much of it simply cutting down trees, trimming out boards, nailing them together, adding pitch, and then doing it again. 14,000-30,000 times!!
We see that God also wants two (mating pairs) of every “type” of animal to be on this ark. Now, this means there isn’t necessarily every single version of every animal that we know. For example, there are nine subspecies of tigers. Noah didn't necessarily bring nine tiger species with him (18 tigers in total). He may have, but he likely brought just two tigers, from which all the species we know today came. Even then, estimates suggest it would have been around 1398 to 6744 animals on the ark with Noah. That is crazy! Think of the noise. Think of the feces! Think of the supplies to keep all these animals alive. How do you even get them all in the first place?
It is clear from these descriptions in chapter six that God has a plan! God isn’t going to just tell Noah to build a boat, get some animals, and hope it all turns out well. If he had done that, he might have come back and found Noah with a small yacht-sized boat ready for his family, their household pets, and their backyard chickens, but not at all prepared for the scope of what God was about to do in the flood. Likely not ready for elephants and giraffes. God had a plan, and he was bringing Noah into this plan. God has a plan, and he will make sure it happens!
As we talked about last week, what we are really seeing here is the gospel story in a seed form. And one aspect of the gospel story that we see repeatedly throughout Scripture is that:
God Has a Plan, and He Will Make It Happen
We will see this again and again through every major interaction that God has with his people. God has a plan, and God will make it happen. Abraham and Sarah? Yep! God has a plan and will work through them even if they are barren at the start of the story. Israel in Egypt? Yep! God will work through them even if they are in slavery under a cruel Pharaoh at the beginning of the story. Flooding the entire earth and need to bring a family and animals through it to repopulate the earth and start over? Yep! God can do that.
God clearly has a plan in Genesis six and seven. Not only does God have a plan, but Noah keeps doing what God asks of him. Look at the start of chapter seven that we have already read:
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. 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, 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. 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.” And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 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. Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.”
Genesis 7:1–10 ESV
We repeatedly see God’s plan and Noah’s obedience.
In Genesis 6:8, God’s plan starts as he shows favor to Noah. And from there, God commands, and Noah does whatever he asks:
Favor
“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”
Genesis 6:8 ESV
God Commands, Noah Does
“Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.”
Genesis 6:22 ESV
“And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.”
Genesis 7:5 ESV
“[A]s God had commanded Noah.”
Genesis 7:9 ESV
This is a small glimpse of God’s gospel (his good news), and he is getting us ready for how the gospel of Jesus will work. The more important part here is not how large the ark is, exactly how many animals there are, or the time it takes Noah to build it. The important part is that God has a plan; He will share it with us and ensure it happens. We just need to accept the plan and get with the program! It makes you wonder why that is so hard for us, then?
Well, there may be a reason. You may have been thinking this as I listed all the ways we see the gospel imaged in God’s interactions with his people. When you think about Abraham and Sarah, Israel out of Egypt, Moses, David, and others, you may be thinking to yourself, sure:
God Has a Plan, and He Will Make It Happen
…Even If The Plan May Sound Crazy (Unbelievable)!
God’s Unbelievable Plan
That’s the problem for most of us. It’s not just that God has a plan. It’s that plan that often seems unbelievable. Like clear liquids changing into different colors depending on how you pour them together. Or building a nation from an old, barren couple. Or creating a people group from slaves in Egypt. Repeatedly, maybe almost always, God’s plans look impossible.
And that is the point! Without God, they are impossible. Only God—only the all-powerful creator and sustainer of all things—only He could make these things happen. This is part of the gospel story God is preparing all his people and us for. He has a plan. He will make it happen. It will seem impossible—but not for God!
That means Noah is the first tin-foil-hat man (as one of my GC members mentioned the other day)! He believed the impossible and lived it every day of his life, even if he looked a little crazy. This means you and I must be somewhat willing to be tin-foil-hat people if we are to follow our God! Some of you love that idea! It fits right into your conspiratorial and quirky ways! But for many people, this is THE hurdle to Christianity. It seems weird. And part of faith is walking in the impossible with our God, who makes it possible. The weird is part of righteousness, part of following God.
We want to be like the tin-foil hat Noah. Can you imagine what his neighbors must have said, repeatedly, over the years? Can you imagine how much teasing, doubt, sarcasm, and discouragement Noah must have received? That is often part of the path of faith in a God who does the impossible. And we want to be like Noah in that regard, because Noah is described in many places throughout Scripture as being a righteous man! Like Ezekiel 14:
And the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.”
Ezekiel 14:12–14 ESV
Here, Noah is lumped in with Daniel and Job as having great righteousness, but even so, their righteousness couldn’t stop God’s impending judgment that Ezekiel was to prophesy.
As we look further, we see that Noah’s righteousness wasn’t because of anything he DID! It was because of his faith. As we noted last time from Hebrews 11:
By faith, Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
Hebrews 11:7 ESV
For Noah, there is no way he could have done any of this without God, and especially without faith. God knew what needed to happen and provided for Noah. God started by favoring Noah, brought him into his plan, and Noah believed. God was going to make everything happen regardless of how impossible or unbelievable it looked. Noah trusted and found that God really was caring for him!
God has a Plan, and He Will Make it happen.
…Even if the Plan May Sound Crazy (Unbelievable)!
Both of these two statements are true about Noah, and they are also true about the gospel. Here, with Noah, God states the problem from the beginning and declares his solution for Noah and his family. The world is so sinful that God is going to wipe out all life that breathes, including mankind. But God will save Noah and his family through an ark.
It is similar to God’s good news of salvation. From Genesis 3, God has declared he will solve the problem. Humanity has sinned and deserves death, but God will send one to save us from sin AND death. He promises a seed of the woman—a future, holy, saving descendant. And here we begin to see an image of what will happen. We will be brought THROUGH the judgment by God in a miraculous way. That we might reach the other side on a new earth and see God start over.
That may all seem so familiar to us this side of the cross, but the solution is unbelievable! God tells Noah something unbelievable. An Ark? With thousands of animals on board? THAT is what will save him? God also tells us something unbelievable. A savior, God himself has come, and we are saved through a great exchange of our sin for his righteousness.
God is preparing us through each of these stories in Scripture for THE Gospel story of Jesus Christ. In fact, each of these major examples of people’s lives in Scripture is preparing us for the grand story.
Note what God says right at the beginning in chapter six:
But I will establish my covenant with you,
This is an interesting phrase. Establish here means to uphold, renew, or demonstrate. The idea is that God has already revealed his covenant with his people (at creation), but now he will show that he, and he alone, will keep the covenant and care for his people. God’s plan to save Noah and his family and animals THROUGH the flood in the ark is a sign of his covenant commitment to his people. God made that covenant with Adam and Eve when He created them in the garden. Now God is renewing his covenant, proving to Noah and to all of humanity that he will continue to care for us even amidst sin and destruction.
In fact, we see a great imagery of the gospel in this middle section of chapter seven:
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. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 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, 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. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in.
Genesis 7:11–16 ESV
We get a summary here of Noah and his family entering the ark before the start of the deluge and then, at the end, a beautiful statement of the gospel:
And the LORD shut him in.
After all of that work, after all the animals are there and the ark is ready, Noah and his family enter the ark. Yet there is one big problem. The door. The door, which was likely a massive drawbridge or double-doored structure to get the animals in and out of the ark, needed to be closed. And God himself closed it. God did not leave Noah stranded at the last. God started the project by favoring Noah, and God completed the project himself. God gave Noah the plans, God provided for Noah, and God protected Noah—even at the very last moment by closing the door himself.
Some scholars think this is the door we should be thinking about when we think about Jesus and his analogy of being the door in John 10:
“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture”
John 10:9 ESV
God Has a Plan, and He Will Make It Happen
…Even If The Plan May Sound Crazy!
Application: Seeing & Knowing God
In Genesis chapters six and seven, God is already expanding our understanding and knowledge of the gospel. Before we even know of the idea of the Messiah and Christ, we see Noah. Noah is a type and image of the plan God has and HIS ability to make such plans come to pass, even if it seems unbelievable and crazy.That means, in the background, we are also learning about God through these gospel stories. I would say that today THAT is our application—to see and know God more through the ark and the flood and how it is preparing us to understand the gospel. We should notice two things about God here:
God will provide.
God will protect.
God Will Provide
Our God provides all you need. His plan also includes his provision.
The gospel doesn’t just come with the final answer; it comes with the provision and means to get to the end.
Think about all the ways this was true for Noah. God provided forests of trees for Noah to make an ark. He provided 50 to 120 years to complete the project. He somehow migrated 1300 to 7000 animals to Noah to put them into the ark. He provided health, stamina, and most importantly, he provided faith!
God does the same for you…but just not usually in wood and animals! God’s provision is much larger than even the ark and the flood throughout Scripture. God provides for our physical needs (Matt 6:31-32). God gives us rest (Psalm 23:2). He provides guidance and direction (Prov 20:24). He provides grace in any instance (2 Cor 9:8) and the ability to escape temptations (1 Cor 10:13). He gives us peace (Phil 4:7, Rom 5:1). He saves us (John 14:6). When we stop and think about it, we find that God provides everything we ever have needed:
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 ESV
God’s provision is not just for our theological knowledge and the answers to our questions. God’s provision is for the journey—for this life. God is going to care for me and you, through these 50 to 70 to maybe 120 years, that we might make it through the waters of the flood of this life.
Is that something you need to ponder more today? Perhaps you have stopped trusting that God will provide for you. Perhaps there are areas that you don’t feel like God is providing for you? Take courage from Noah. Imagine what it must have felt like to have a half-finished ark in your backyard. You have cleared thousands of trees and spent decades on this project. To still see no sign of the flood you are preparing for, and still won’t see it for decades yet. Noah didn’t lose faith. Don’t you lose faith either!
God is there, and he still has a plan for you, whether you see it yet or not. The fact that you are here this morning means he is clearly working in and through you, and that he has much he wants you to be a part of. God primarily wants you to be part of the family he is creating through his saving grace, and he wants you to participate with him in bringing others into HIS provision through Jesus Christ. God is providing; you may not yet see the final goal, as Noah did those many years ago.
God Will Protect
More than just provision, God will also protect us. That is what we are meant to see in this last section of chapter seven today.
The flood continued for forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of life, died. 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 and those who were with him in the ark were left. And the waters prevailed on the earth for 150 days.
Genesis 7:17–24 ESV
Notice the language here of “prevailing.” The water prevails over the earth, over the mountains, over the livestock. So much so that this section ends with saying:
And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
The waters prevailed, meaning destroyed. Everything.
All flesh died. But not Noah and his family.
All the living were blotted out. But Noah and his family were still alive on the ark.
If you have wondered about the scope of the flood, the language here suggests it is global, prevailing over the earth, which would seem to imply every place. All mountains are covered by 15 cubits, 22.5 feet, of water. More than deep enough that no one and nothing would be left after 150 days.
But more importantly, this is about the gospel and about God. It is about our God who protects!
I think our life sometimes feels like this. Floods are coming from every direction. The entire world around us seems to be destroyed. The problems of sin seem to cover everything completely. I see that often in this sinful world. I imagine you do too. But, if we stop and think about it, we are still standing. That is true for all of us here today. That means, just like Noah, we want to notice that God has protected us despite the waters of life prevailing all around us.
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV
[Israel as they are about to go over the Jordan and enter the land]
But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 ESV
God is our great protector in the midst of his provision. God protects us as our refuge (Psalm 46:1, 18:10). He guides our steps (Psalm 23:3, Proverbs 3:5-6). He is a constant presence and peace for us (Psalm 23:4; Isa 41:10). He defends us in spiritual battles (2 Thes 3:3; Rom 8:31).
Do you need to look to God, your protector, today? Maybe you see that he is providing for you, but maybe it doesn’t seem like he is protecting you? I hI have to imagine there were moments on that ark when Noah was not sure God was truly protecting him! We'll talk more about that next week…the patience that Noah and we all need to have with God’s plan.
But today, if you are struggling with God’s protection more than his provision, remember Noah. Remember that God sustained Noah’s faith through nights of rain and waters breaking loose from the entire earth. Days, weeks, and months of uncertainty. Uncertainty everywhere except knowing that he and his family were still there when no one else was.
You are still here. God is clearly protecting each and every one of us here today. That means you and I are still part of his plan. We are part of his provision, and he is protecting us because there is more for us to do. We need to have faith that this—this crazy life that we are all living—may seem like the flood is all around us, but God is still protecting us. He is our refuge. He is our constant presence and peace. HE will fight all our battles.
Conclusion
Noah, like all of God’s covenantal stories, is first and foremost about the gospel. Here, we see that God has a plan and will make it happen, even when the plan looks incredible or even inconceivable.
God Has a Plan, and He Will Make It Happen.
…Even if the Plan May Sound Crazy!
And through all the different images of God’s gospel plans, God is showing us he will protect. He will provide. Ultimately, it is he alone who shuts us in and takes us through judgment to salvation on the other side.
God will provide.
God will protect.
Let God’s incredible story of Scripture do what it is meant to do: let it make you fall in love with our God and his plan! Come to Noah today and see not just an unbelievable story of something God did a long time ago, but see instead a picture, an image, of the kind of love God HAS and still IS demonstrating to me and you and all those we know in the unimaginable, incredible protection and provision he has given us through Jesus Christ.
His plan, unlike my junior high chemistry experiment, was dangerous, and he knew it. It cost God his life. Yet in his power he raised again that he might give his righteousness to us, and that he might invite us into HIS salvation through this life of sin and death. Come to the God who counted all the costs that he might love us.
Marvel at the unbelievable grace of God in the Gospel of Jesus.
Embrace the impossible through faith in the God who has shown us so much, through so many lives, over so much time.
Thank God for his provision in the midst of this incredible faith.
Thank God for his protection in the midst of the storm of life.
