Genesis 6:14-7:24

Genesis 6 verse 15, “And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.”

The impression most people have of the ark is that of a silly little houseboat rather than a picture of what it actually was.

To begin with, the instructions for the building of the ark reveal that it was quite a size. “The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.” If a cubit is eighteen inches, that ought to give you some conception of how big this ark was.

The question arises as to how they could make such a substantial construction in that day.

Well, we’re not dealing with a caveman. We’re dealing with a highly intelligent man.

Noah‘s not making an oceangoing ship to withstand fifty–foot waves. All he’s building is a place for life, animal life and man, to stay over quite a period of time. It wasn’t intended for a world cruise but just to wait out the Flood.

For that reason, the ark might lack much of what you’d find on an oceangoing ship but it was a structure with ample room for its purpose.

Verse 16, “You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.”

“You shall make a window for the ark.” The window was not a little slit made in the side of the ark. It was an effective ventilation duct The window was a cubit high and went all the way around the top of the ark. The roof must have overlapped the window quite a bit.

“and set the door of the ark in its side.” The ark had only one door, and that’s important. Christ said, “I am the way” and “I am the door to the sheepfold,” and He’s the door to the ark.

“You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.” The ark had three decks. Was there a fourth open deck on top, basically as a roof of the top deck? Probably.

If a cubit is 18 inches, 300 cubits would mean that the ark was as long as a 30-story building is high (about 450 feet or 150 meters), and it was about 75 feet (25 meters) wide and 45 feet (15 meters) high. It’s not a boat in the true sense of the word, but a well-ventilated barge meant only to float and not to sail anywhere. After all, an ark is a chest, not a ship.

The ark, roughly the shape of a shoebox, was plenty large enough being about the size of the Titanic.

It had a cubit-wide opening (18 inches, one-half meter) all the way around the top which, as we’ve already said would have been an efficient ventilation duct.

Verse 17, “And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.”

God is bringing judgment upon the earth—upon the animal, bird and man.

Now we go to Genesis verses 18 to 20 and we read, “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go 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 after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.

“Two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.” Note that the animals came to Noah. He didn’t go out and muster them.

And then verses 21 to 22, “And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.”

Noah now needs to do something very practical.

It took a lot of hay in the ark to feed these animals. Now you might say, “But some of those animals ate meat. They’d eat each other!” I don’t think so. Up to the time of the Flood, apparently, both men and animals were not flesh–eating.

We’re told of another day like that in the Millennium when the lion and the lamb will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like an ox, see Isaiah 11:6-7. And we probably should look at those verses.

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.”

That was most probably the original state of animals.

So, Noah, his family, and the animals enter the ark.

Genesis 7 verse 1, “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.”

Why was Noah righteous? It was by faith, just as later on Abraham was counted righteous because of his faith as we see in Genesis 15 verse 6 : “And he  (Abraham) believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. ”

Noah believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. “By faith Noah … prepared an ark …” the writer to the Hebrews said in Hebrews 11:7. That’s the reason God saved him, friends, faith. It always comes down to faith. Do we choose to believe God?

Notice how gracious God is to this man through this time of judgment? Both Enoch and Noah preached the coming flood for 120 years. How much time does a man need to believe God? There does come a time when it’s too late!

Here in verse, 1 God says, “Come into the ark….” This is the same invitation that the Lord Jesus gives today to all mankind in Mattew 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Notice that the Lord didn’t say to Noah, ‘Go into the ark,’ but ‘Come,’ this strongly implies that God was himself in the ark, waiting to receive Noah and his family.

Verse 16 of this chapter reads, “and the LORD shut him in. .”

Finally, chapter 8 opens, “Then God remembered Noah.” God never forgets. He remembers you and me. The only thing that He doesn’t remember is our sin if we’ve come to Him for salvation. Our sins He remembers no more. How amazing!

Now, Noah and his family enter into the ark.

Did you know that this story of Noah, just like the story of creation, has wandered over the face of the earth?

Most nations and peoples have an account of both creation and the Flood even though the accounts other than the bible have taken on manmade legends. The Bible tells us that the Flood was a judgment of God upon man for his sin.

Now to Genesis 7 verses 2 to 3, “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;

Gen 7:3  also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth.”

This is another place where the law of recurrence is used. As we’ve pointed out before this is where a basic outline is given and then expanded on in a different place.

In Genesis 6 verse 19 we’re told, “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. Now in Chapter 7 verse 2 and 3 we have an expansion of that.

This was the basis of a lawsuit in 1940 against Dr. Harry Rimmer who had offered a thousand dollars to anyone who could show a contradiction in the Bible.

There were several liberal theologians who testified in a court of law that this was a contradiction. Why would it first say two of each kind and now seven of each kind?

Dr. Rimmer won the lawsuit.

All you have to do is turn over to see that when Noah got out of the ark, he offered clean beasts as sacrifices. Where would they have come from? It was only of the clean beasts that he took seven. Those that were not clean went in by twos, a male and a female.

“Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female”—that is for those that are clean.

Now to Genesis 7 verse 4, “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.”

For seven days after Noah and his family entered the ark the world could’ve knocked at the door of the ark, and frankly, they could‘ve come in—God would have saved them. All they had to do was to believe God.

Verses 6 to 9, “Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ 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.“

Nowhere does Scripture say that Noah went out and drove the animals in. It wasn’t necessary—they came to him. It’s no difficulty for God to miraculously place an urge to migrate to the ark in each pair of animals He planned to be preserved in the ark.

Chapter 10 then tells us, “And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth.“

 

Now to Genesis 7 verses 11 to 12, When Noah was six hundred years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month all the outlets of the vast body of water beneath the earth burst open, all the floodgates of the sky were opened, and rain fell on the earth for forty days and nights. ”

 

The floodgates of the sky were opened. The King James version reads, “the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. “

This is when the heavens containing the great waters that were above the firmament opened up. This is the firmament described in Genesis chapter 1 verse 7. These waters can only be described as a huge so-called blanket of water in the upper part of the earth’s atmosphere since creation.

The fountains of the great deep that were broken up. These are waters that came up from under the earth also, no doubt with great geological catastrophe. This probably caused the Huge mountain ranges and canyons, some far bigger than the grand canyon, that are throughout the oceans. Probably the most well know of these undersea mountain ranges is the huge Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Forty days and forty nights. The number 40 is associated with testing and purification, especially before entering into something new and significant. This is seen in:

• Moses’ time on Mount Sinai see Exodus 24:18 and Deuteronomy 9:25.
• The spies’ trip to Canaan Numbers 13:25.
• Israel’s time in the wilderness Numbers 14:33 and Numbers 32:13.
• Elijah’s miraculous journey to Sinai 1 Kings 19:8.
• Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness Mark 1:13.

Now notice here that we’re actually told 3 times that Noah went into the ark and some people have seen what they think is a contradiction here, but is it really?

In Genesis 7:1 we have the Lord telling Noah to come into the ark. Then the Lord tells Noah that in 7 days He will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Then in verse 7 We’re told again that Noah went in with his sons, his wife and his son’s wives because of the waters of the flood. Accompanying him were the animals. This is an expansion, a more details account of verse 7:1.

Then we have chapters 11 to 12 where we’re again told the exact day the flood began, “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. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”

But now we come to the apparent contradiction.  After seemingly being told Noah entered the ark 7 days before the flood began, we’re told here in verse 13 that, “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;” The selfsame day. Which day is that? Well, the day the flood began. But weren’t we told he was in the ark 7 days before the flood began? It certainly seems that way at a quick glance.

Well, firstly chapter 7 verse 1 doesn’t say that Noah went into the ark. It says the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark”. In verse 4 the Lord is still talking to Noah and He tells him that in 7 days He will cause it to rain upon the earth.

Now I’m sure there’s a back story here, even though we’re not specifically told it.

Noah was building the Ark for 120 years. He must have lived “on site” as there were obviously no cars or buses to transport him to the site every day. 120 years in the same house. Yet it was probably far more than 120 years since Noah was 600 years old at this time. He could have lived in that same house for hundreds of years.

So when God says to him, “Come into the ark”, did he just instantly drop everything and walk into the ark without coming out even once? I doubt it.

Even though this whole venture was 120 years in the making, the time of the invitation to “come into the ark” will still have been at least of some surprise.

There would, I imagine, have been a lot of toing and froing between the house and the ark and of course, all the family had to be organised as well.

I can see that it could have easily been 7 days from God’s invitation to “Come” and there would have been much excitement among the Noah family also. The time they had seen for 120 years by faith alone was now a physical reality.

I can easily see that just as the rain begins to fall on the 7^th day after God’s invitation to come Noah, his family and the last of the animals walked through that door for the last time.

Did Noah take one last look over all the amused onlookers and over what would have been the family home before turning his back to walk through that door for the last time? He would have known full well that the next time he crossed the threshold of that doorway that home and every single laughing onlooker would no longer exist. The entire world, the climate, the vegetation the land the sea, everything would be different and I can easily believe that despite Noah being aware of all this he could never have possibly imagined the magnitude of the transformation.

Now we come to verse 16 and we read, “And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.”

The Lord shut him in. This was a miraculous act by God Himself to preserve all inside the ark both from the violence of the waters and the rage of men.

Noah didn’t have to shut the door on anyone’s salvation; God did it.

In the same way, it’s never our job to disqualify people from salvation. If the door is to be shut on a person’s salvation, God will do the shuttting.

God kept the door open until the last possible minute, but there came a time when the door had to shut.

When the door is open, it’s open, but when it’s shut, it is shut. Jesus is He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens as we’re told in Revelation 3:7.

The ark was salvation for Noah, but condemnation for the world. There were no second chances for those left out. The great preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote about this saying, “When the one hundred and twenty years were over, and God’s Spirit would no longer strive with men, there stood the great ark with its vast door wide open, and still, Noah continued to preach and to declare that all who would pass within that open portal into the ark of safety should be preserved from the coming destruction. Outside that door death would reign universally, but all would be peace within.”

Verse 17 to 23 reads, “And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.

And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.

And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.

Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of 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, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.”

What is the scientific, and historical evidence for the Flood?

Well first let me say that a great many people tend to disbelieve the bible account unless it can be explained in human terms that we can understand with our (very limited) minds.

However, as we grow to know and love God’s Word more we trust it more. We find ourselves using the Word to verify science rather than trying to use science to prove the correctness of the word. In other words, we’re not here to prove the Bible is correct, we already accept that. We’re here to study its truth so we can understand our mighty God more.

With the ark for instance. We’re here. The flood happened and we’re here, the descendants of Noah, so even though the Bible’s short on technical details I believe it happened just like God said.

We’re not going to enter into this subject of proving the flood happened because scientific evidence for the flood is available in countless books that contain deep technical and scientific facts and that’s not the purpose of this study. However, I’d like to mention a personal experience.

For over 40 years I’ve worked in and around the Bowen Basin, the Galilee Basin in central and Western Queensland Australia and the Eromanga Basin in the Jackson oil field which is the largest onshore oil field in Australia.

I’ve always been fascinated with the vast quantities of fossil fuels taken from these areas.

When I first started working there we were taking hundreds of thousands of tons of coal out of these basins per year and vast amounts of oil and gas out of the Jackson oil field.

Now, 40 years later they still are. One mine alone in the Galilee Basin has a production rate peaking at 60 million tonnes per year and its operational life will be approximately 90 years.

Massive 2.3 kilometre long coal trains each with 136 wagons carrying 11000 tonnes of coal travel from the Bowen basin to the coal ports on the coast at the rate 280 trains per week, and that’s only on one of 3 lines!

Now, we know that all this coal and all this gas and oil is a sedimentary rock formed when plant and animal material was covered by sediments faster than it could decay. The weight of the overlying sediments compacts the organic layers, increasing the temperature and pressure, which leads to physical and chemical changes to the plant material. Water, carbon dioxide and methane are produced and escape, so the material becomes enriched in carbon. With increasing time, and higher heat and pressure, the plant material eventually forms coal or gas or oil.

So, the fascination for me is firstly the size of these basins and the almost unimaginable quantities of organic material it took to create them.

Secondly, the equally unimaginable quantities of sediments required to bury this material and thirdly, the cataclysmic forces that were involved to push and move these sediments over top of this organic material quickly enough to preserve it in a gigantic sealed pocket.

It’s obvious to me that our planet was once covered with plants and animals far more densely than it is now and that a force greater than any natural catastrophe we’ve ever witnessed took place.

It’s also obvious to me that the environment we live in today is not as it’s always been such as those who promote uniformism believe. Uniformism is the belief that everything now is as it’s always been. In other words, processes that exist today acting in the same way as today can create all the geological changes that we can see.

For me the obvious answer is as the Bible tells us, a universal flood covering the entire earth.

“And every living substance was destroyed … and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.”

And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days, says Genesis 7:24.

In other words, for a period of approximately half a years, for five months, the waters prevailed on the earth.

There are, of course, many people who believe that there was no such thing as a great convulsion or catastrophe like the Flood.

The Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3:3 – 4, makes it very clear that we should expect these scoffers. This is what he says,“…knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” ”.

This describes the scoffer who holds the uniformitarian view, but you simply can’t hold that view and accept the integrity of the Word of God. This’s very important to see.

May God bless you and keep you until next time friends when we see the flood waters subsiding and the ark coming to rest on the mountains of Ararat.