Was there or was there not a world-wide flood about 6,000 years ago? This is one of those watershed questions which have divided people for two centuries now. Religions divide over the answers to this question, and so do eminent scientists. Sociologists categorize societies based on this question. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that some psychologists define people’s mental state by their answers to this question. But even if psychiatry determines that I am insane, it will not change my answer – Of course there was a world-wide flood in the not too distant past, because the Bible declares it. If the Bible says it, that settles it whether or not the world believes it.
The early chapters of Genesis are easily understood, if someone has a heart to believe them. And yet there are some really difficult questions, and there are verses difficult to explain. I wish that I could tell you that I am going to answer all your questions about the scriptures we have just read, but I am not that foolish. But hopefully, I will be able to suggest a few things which the Holy Spirit might use to speak to those of you who have been regenerated. The heart of the unbeliever is not going to assent to anything I have to say this morning. Except in the case where that same Holy Spirit is already working to awaken that unbelieving heart.
“God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” The more things change, the more they stay the same. This world today has more technology than it has ever had – our cars are smarter than my first computer. Today we travel more and are more closely linked to cultures on the other side of world. We have more lawyers, more PhD’s, more cardiologists, cosmotologists, proctologists and philanthropists than any previous generation. But the nature of man is exactly as it was 6,000 years ago. “There is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not,” and except for a few moments at the very genesis of humanity that has always been the case.
“BUT Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” That is an interesting combination of five Hebrew words – “Noah found grace eyes Jehovah.” I searched through my library looking for an expert who would expound the sentence literally. I found lots of theological explanations, but not an analysis of the words, grammar and syntax. Was Noah looking for grace in order to be saved? NO, that is not the meaning of verse 8. Were the eyes of the Lord looking for grace in Noah? NO, that an even worse explanation. Better perhaps is the suggestion that when NOAH looked into the eyes of the Lord, he saw GRACE. He didn’t find wrath; he didn’t see pity; there was no disgust in the eyes of Jehovah. While true, the best explanation of the verse is that God looked upon Noah with grace in HIS eyes.
This reference to “grace” is the first mention of in Bible. One of the greatest of all human words is found – not in the first chapter of the Bible – but one of the first. And it shines exceedingly bright because it is in a context of extreme darkness. Humanity was at its lowest ebb to that point. Yet one of humanity’s millions of sinners – “Noah” – was looked upon and accepted by the Lord with grace. Don’t think for a moment that this grace was mustered up by Noah himself. No – grace is a gift of Jehovah. The very meaning – “unmerited favor” – demands it. “Unmerited favor” suggests it was something beyond Noah – it is undeserved good given by another. Just as the building of an ark was foreign to that man, so was grace itself. They were both gifts from God.
And that ark, made of gopher wood and tar, is a beautiful picture of deliverance from Divine judgment. In fact, it isn’t just a picture of that deliverance, it was an actual deliverance. It is a PICTURE of salvation from sin by the grace of the Lord. We could talk of its design and Designer, its materials, its occupants and those who were mere on-lookers. We could talk about the work taken to build it, and the time which was taken. But the main thing was that it was a Divine provision for refuge from Divine judgment. “He that believeth on the Son hath ever lasting life and he that believeth not shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
After God gave the invitation, calling Noah and his family to enter that ark – God shut the door. The Lord Jesus once said, “No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” And later He said, “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”
With this as our background we come to our text in Genesis 7:10. The Ark had been designed and built, taking years; after which it was finished, supplied and occupied. Noah, the man who had been building and preaching, building and preaching, preached his last sermon. The door was closed, and all was in readiness. But still there were seven more days to wait before the judgment began to rain down. There were seven days before the windows of Heaven were opened and the fountains of the deep were unstopped. This morning, I’d like you to consider once again the character of those seven days.
From God’s perspective, they were seven days of LONGSUFFERING and PATIENCE.
Taking a step back, Genesis 5 introduces us to “Methuselah” – a very special man. Enoch, his father, was one of greatest servants of God to ever to walk the face of this planet. And it’s not without significance that we have almost no details of his service. The ministry is not about earthy awards, recognition and remuneration. It is not even about the recipients of that service. The ministry is about the Master. The New Testament hints at the importance of Enoch, but almost no details are provided. And perhaps one reason is that his life lacked the characteristics of earthly “success.” Famous modern ministries are vastly different from the ministry of Enoch. He died just prior to one of the darkest periods in human history, and he left a very small point of light. He didn’t build a megachurch; he wasn’t on the best seller’s list; he wasn’t growing wealthy under the weight of men’s tithes and offerings. But he was blessed with a godly family, which is a gift from the Lord of the highest order. And Enoch had a son, to whom gave a very unusual name – “Methuselah.” The meaning of the name is strange. It literally says – “When he dies IT shall happen” or “When he dies IT will come.” Undoubtedly that name was dictated by the Lord, or at least impressed upon Enoch by the Holy Spirit. And being a prophet of Jehovah, Enoch may have known what it meant. God may have told Enoch that when Methuselah dies judgment will come. When this man dies IT shall take place. “God’s wrath will be poured out upon creation.” I believe that was a frequently preached message of the prophet Enoch – followed by “repent.”
Well, Methuselah lived 187 years, and he had a son named “Lamech” – Genesis 5:25. Then Lamech lived 182 years and had a son named “Noah” – Genesis 5:28. People lived very long lives in those early generations – God was very gracious towards them. Methuselah was 369 years old at birth of his grandson Noah. Then Noah was 600 years old when the flood came – Genesis 7:6. Adding Noah’s 600 years to Methuselah’s 369 years we come to 969 years. Many Sunday School children know that Methuselah holds the record for old age at 969 years. Every day of that life was a day of grace for the sinners of the world. When he was a child, the kids probably laughed and talked about his upcoming death. As an adult he may have written letters to the newspaper – explaining what his name meant. When he signed his name people sometimes asked, “WHAT is it that will happen when you die?” He would reply, “God told my father that when I die judgment will come.” For 969 years, not 600 or 800 years, God’s longsuffering pleaded with a gainsaying and disobedient people.
It is very likely that Noah buried his grandfather – for his father, Lamech, had died five years earlier. Then soon after that Noah gathered his sons and their wives and went into the ark. Some say that Methuselah died in the flood, and I suppose that he could have, but then the meaning of his name would have lost its impact. No, more likely, the man died of a heart attack while mountain climbing with Shem and Ham. Maybe it was after a handball game with Japheth. Or perhaps it was after cutting some timber of gopher to help Noah put the last details on the ark. After a very long and full life Methuselah died, and Noah his preacher-grandson buried him. Was the cemetery on a hill overlooking a beautiful valley, or was it down in that valley? It didn’t matter because both were going to be covered with water not many day’s hence.
After the last “amen” at the funeral, the eight family mourners entered into the ark at the invitation of God. Did they carry a bunch of casseroles, pies and cakes offered to them by the neighborhood ladies? Did they carry their luggage, or were their belongings already aboard and stowed? Did Noah have some mechanical device to pull the wide heavy door closed, or did the Lord miraculously do that for him? Either way, everyone who was called to be inside were inside, finding their quarters and bunks and expecting to hear the noise of God’s judgment outside. BUT they waited – and waited – nothing happened that day nor during the next. They waited seven full days before much of anything took place.
Do you see how this parallels the situation today? Hebrews 9:27 says – “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.” But by the grace of God, people are living to ever increasing ages before they come to that judgment. And throughout their lives, what do many people say? “My grandmother lived to be 102; There is still lots of time to do as I please.” Methuselah reached 900 and people said, “Oh, you don’t believe that all that judgment stuff, do you?” A man is 65 and teetering on brink of the grave, but he says, “Even the Bible says, that I’ve got five more years.” Finally Methuselah died, and there were still no people flocking to the Lord, repenting of their sin.
For the last five years of her life, my mother suffered from emphysema – Her lungs couldn’t assimilate the oxygen out of the air that she needed in order to live. So every few days she would have a tank of pure oxygen brought to the house. She had long hoses hooked up from the tank to her nose, so she could move about and still breathe. But watching her die and knowing the cause, do think my Dad would quit his cigarettes? I won’t call COPD or emphysema, the judgment of God, but without a doubt it has one cause – smoking. Like that illustration, the threat of God’s judgment turns very few people toward righteousness. The people of the world at that time had the testimony of Methuselah, the preaching of Enoch and then Noah’s ark building, but there was no response. Centuries later, according to the words of the Lord Jesus, Abraham told the rich man of Luke 16 that even though someone returned from the dead to warn them, his brothers would not respond.
God is still very patient today. He is not wringing His hands hoping that a few people would wake up and suddenly turn to Him. But He gives sinners ample time. He is “gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy.” Nehemiah, after recounting in prayer Israel’s terrible history of sin, said – “Nevertheless, for thy great mercies sake, thou did not utterly consume them nor forsake them, for thou art a gracious and merciful God.”
The ark of salvation was prepared, Noah went in, and grace was illustrated for seven more days. And today, there is a sense in which the Lord may be graciously waiting for you. He has every right to pour a flood of wrath down upon all of us, but He waits, and waits. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.” “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life?” “Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”
Those were also seven days of FAITH and FEAR for Noah.
Noah had never seen a drop of rain; never seen a flood or very likely even a small row boat. God simply said “Judgment, Noah, Judgment is coming – Escape.” And Noah replied with a “where? how?” “A flood, Noah.” “Flood, Lord?” “Build an ark like this.” “An ark, Lord?” I can imagine a skillful comedian getting a lot of laughs out of a conversation between God and Noah, but this was definitely no laughing matter.
Noah was moved by fear and faith – he believed God; he received the message. Noah is a living sermon to us today. You and I have are living in the last days before the return of the Lord. We have the example of hundreds of thousands of believers ahead of us, all trusting Christ. But Noah had no precedent to follow when the Lord said “believe me” and “build for me.” God said it, and that was sufficient for old Noah. Would to God, we could see more of that kind of faith today – saving faith. But then again, that faith isn’t natural – even that is a gift of God, according to Ephesians 2:8-9.
But think of those seven days inside that ark, with nothing but a single open window for ventilation. As they wore on, they became days of fear as well as faith. The first day was filled with excitement and activity with the animals as most of them began a period of special hibernation But then came the first night and still no rain, no mist, no westerly wind and no Weather Channel reports. “Lord, have I made any miscalculations? Have I made any mistakes in construction? Lord, you haven’t changed your mind have you?” I imagine that those could have been seven days of anxious concern. “What if the bears wake up? What if the elephants get fidgety? What if the snakes escape?” That could have been a week of genuine worry. Did Noah’s pride kick in and he begin to wonder about his reputation, if the rain didn’t begin? Was Noah that sort of man? I rather doubt it.
Christian, the days we spend in the ark of salvation can be a time of perfect assurance. I’m not a self-confidant person by nature – I thank the Lord that my personal confidence has nothing do with my salvation. There has not been single error in the construction of the ark of my redemption, because I didn’t build it. Salvation is by God’s grace, and my efforts have nothing to do with the Lord’s success. What if the man who baptized me was not properly ordained, would that invalidate my salvation? No. What if I was attending a church started by a mere man and not by Christ two thousand years ago? What if my gifts to feed the hungry in Afghanistan were diverted to buy rifles? These things cannot affect my soul – because my redemption is based upon Christ, not me or men. This ark of eternal life has been tried and proven for thousands of years by tens of thousands of sinners. It has never leaked in a drop of rain or sea water; and never has a passenger been lost over-board. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” I am confident that “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” “We are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day.” Noah wasn’t steering that ship, and he wasn’t manning the pumps or trimming the sails. Everything necessary for the ship’s safe arrival in the Haven of Rest was accomplished by Christ. “Faith, Noah, that’s all you need, and I give it to you; cast aside that fear.”
Those were also seven days of TORMENT and RIDICULE.
Let’s say that I loose my mind – in the same way a few others have done through the years. Imagine that I write a letter to the Spokesman Review telling all the county that – “God has given me a vision that North Korea will send nuclear missles agains the United States on December 24th.” Let’s say that I sell all my possessions to buy a building with a sub-basement below the basement. Then I stock it with all the food and water that Judy and I will need to last a year. On December 23rd my wife and I enter that fireproof, bomb-proof, well-stocked shelter. Disbelieving reporters might come all the way from Seattle and Los Angeles to witness my lunacy. Someone whispers: “I sure hope that numbskull doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” But then the sun comes up on Tuesday the 25th and the 24th becomes history. And even on the 26th – Boxing Day – there is no destruction – no devastation. December 27th follows right along – how foolish I have made himself. Now just like William Miller of the Seventh Day Adventists, David Oldfield is being ridiculed.
That was the way it was with Noah for a few days – seven days of torment and ridicule. I doubt that he could hear the jeers through the thick walls of the ark, but all kinds of blasphemies were being hurled in his direction. And isn’t that the way it is for some new Christians? “Oh, look at those fools going to church.” “Well I see that you finally got religion.” “There must be money in it somewhere or you wouldn’t be going, right?” “That salvation business is just like old worn out insurance policy.”
There are a lot of true saints who are persecuted to some degree even in these days of so-called religious toleration. You are not alone if you are laughed at and ridiculed. “Hey Noah, where’s the judgment – you’ve been in that cracker box for five days now!” “When are you coming out, we’ve got a nice fine mental institution for you over at Medical Lake.”
Let them laugh, Christian, let them laugh. As the saying goes, “He who laughs last laughs best.” But again, this isn’t a laughing matter; it’s tragic, because the judgment is real, and it is near. Just remember “Him who is able to keep you from falling and who can present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”
Those seven were days of faith, fear, and frustration – but also ANTICIPATION.
The closer a person walks with the Lord, the more he or she usually wants of Him. Genesis 7:1 implies that the Lord was in that ark before Noah ever entered it. Yes, I know that God is omnipresent – everywhere present at once. But He was actually there inside that ark in a special way for that child of God. Those seven days just whet Noah’s appetite for more of the Lord. Idle? Do you think that Noah and family sat there with nothing to do for a year? No, No – there was lots of conversation and meditation if nothing else. “What a great new world this is going to be.” “Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in Christ. In our Father’s house are many mansions, and He has gone to prepare a place for us.”
Christian, these few days we spend in this world are just a drive up to the mansion doors. A few may arrive in expensive new Lincolns, Cadillacs, Mercedes and Lexuses. The rest of us may come up in Hyundas, old Fords and bicycles, but the mansion is the same in either case. “Just a few more days to be filled with praise and to tell the old, old story.” One day soon our faith will be vindicated – all shall be made right.
“And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him: Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
“It will be worth it all when we see Jesus, Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ. One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase, so bravely run the race, til we see Christ.”
Will you join us in our vessel of salvation?
Leave the world of unbelievers and sinners behind. Humble yourself before God – repent and believe the Lord and His Word. “Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”