Chapter 7 begins with another reminder of God’s assessment of Noah. It is important to listen to God’s assessment of a person. We need to be sure that we have His blessing on our lives. Noah was seen righteous before Him. He was the only one that was found righteous in that current generation.
If you like the perversions, you cannot know what God approves of and what He does not approve of. The perversions cannot agree with one another and they cause great confusion, so much so that most professing Christians ignore and in fact refuse to talk about doctrine, because it is divisive. Bible doctrine is right teaching. When you use a text that is perverted you cannot have right teaching. You can only have opinions of rebels. Anyone who would dare to change what God said is in line with the devil. He first changed what God said in Genesis 3. His aim is to destroy the truth. Jesus called him a liar.
In our text, God gave His Word regarding Noah. God spoke highly of Noah. Noah did not allow this praise to go to his head. He did not become a proud man. He remained a humble man who received instructions and followed them. He stood apart from the rest of society of that time because he obeyed God. His goal was not to be different or to be ostracized. His goal was to please God.
In verses 2-3 God gave further instructions regarding who would be in the ark with Noah. God spoke of the clean beasts. This is the first time we read of a division of animals into clean and unclean. God taught this prior to the nation of Israel being raised up. Noah was to take the clean animals by sevens. The unclean animals were to be taken by two - the male and his female. Obviously God had given instructions to Noah prior to this about the different animals.
God also talked of the fowls of the air in the same manner. There was a need to keep pairs of sevens in order to keep seed alive upon the face of the earth. God was not going to have a new creation event. He was going to keep enough of the animal types that were created to sustain the future population of them.
In verse 4 we see that in seven days time, God would send the flood. Thus enough time has now elapsed for the building of the ark. The people had time to observe what Noah was doing. The Bible calls him a preacher of righteousness. The people heard the truth during that entire process. Now it would be just seven more days before the time of this greater judgment would begin.
Noah was told that this rain would take place over a forty day and night time frame. It had never rained up until this time. Now there was going to be a steady forty day period of rain upon the earth. This would not be a localized flood. This would be a universal flood.
We have had some very nice rains in our area for the past week. They have been soft rains that can soak into the ground. We did not get much snow in the winter and these rains are welcome to raise the moisture level in the soil. They are also drawing out the frost in preparation for the farmers to put their seed into the ground. Some people do not like cloudy, rainy days. Christians have the Light of the world in their hearts and they can rejoice in the Lord whether it is sunny or cloudy.
The rain that the earth received in the days of Noah was not a gentle rain. It was a deluge of water.
Again, in verse 5 we read that Noah did all that the LORD commanded him. Noah continued to serve God faithfully. He was not a part time follower of God. His testimony was consistent and that is why God could speak so highly of him.
In the end of chapter 5 we read that Noah was 500 years old. Now we read in chapter 7:6 that Noah was six hundred years old. One hundred years have passed since we are last given his age. During that time he had been busy building the ark and preparing the feed that would be needed to place in the ark.
In verse 7 we read that Noah went into the ark with his wife and sons and their wives. In verses 8-9 we read that God brought the animals to him, that were to enter the ark. Noah did not need to spend time trying to round up the animals. We need to remember that after the fall of man, God put the fear of man into the animals. They were not friendly toward man as they had been prior to the fall. However, God can do with His creation as He pleases. He brought the clean and unclean animals to Noah and they entered into the ark. This would have been quite the change for them as well. Most animals do not like to be penned up. They like to be out in the open. Man has been able to domesticate certain animals. Others like to stay their distance from man. However, for the coming of the flood, God changed the nature of the chosen animals so that they would come into the ark and that they would be content to remain in the ark for the duration of the flood. Noah and his family would be reminded of the power and authority of God through this entire event.
In verse 10 we are given the summary statement of the flood. In verse 11 we are given the age of Noah with the year, the month and the day of the month. We read that the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. This was quite an astonishing thing for those outside the ark to witness. They had never seen rain either and they had never seen the fountains of the deep open up. The waters gushed in and they would have been scrambling to find some place to shelter from the rising waters.
In verse 12 we read that the rain lasted for forty days and forty nights just as God had declared it would. God does not make idle threats. There are many who doubt the flood account. Peter was directed to note the scoffers that were in his day. They doubted the flood.
As we have noted before, people can see things are changing, but most refuse to take God’s Word on what is happening. Some would rather believe fools like our P.M. and his puppets who are following the WEF. They would rather assume that we are causing climate change and we need to change our way of living to protect the fragile earth.
There is a new company in B.C. that has developed a hybrid semi truck that drives by electric motors at the wheels and a diesel generator under the hood that keeps the batteries charged. There is nothing wrong with innovation and coming up with new things. What is wrong is when we do these things because we believe the lies being poured upon us by godless people who hate God and His people and His creation. Efficiency is always a good thing. Glorifying God is always the right thing. Following the climate hoax does not glorify God.
Pastor Bartel