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Genesis 6:14-7
"Arky Types!" • 12.10.09 • Thursday Night Bible Study
Intro
- Last week we covered the first portion of Genesis chapter 6, where we learned of the conditions that led to the drastic measures that we examine tonight.
- There was a population explosion, resulting in billions of people. The text points either to godly men intermarrying with godless women, or women seeking to fullfill their wickedness by engaging themselves with fallen angels or demons.
- We don't want to be dogmatic with either view. The early church adopted the demonic view, while the Sethite/Cainite view took precedence later. Either way, God is thoroughly displeased.
- The Bible also reports that the Nephilim were on the earth at that time. That word generically refers to giants bent on destruction, mighty men whose claim to fame was death and domination.
- Throughout this time, God warned them through His Spirit to turn back to Him. He contended, literally begged men, to no avail.
- In His mercy, God gave them 120 years to repent from their godlessness. They would not.
- God looks down and proclaims that judgment has come because the thoughts and intents of their hearts were only wicked continually.
- God decrees that judgment be full and final, but not before recognizing His promise. There was a seed that needed to be carried through judgment onto the other side.
- Enter Noah, the single representative person who found favor in God's eyes. God communicates with Noah and gives Him the blueprint for how his life will be spared.
- The beauty of this story is that God found one and chose to rebuild with Him. God still desires relationship and He will have it through Noah's descendants.
- Let's look at Genesis 6:14.
Text
• Genesis 6:14-17 : "Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. 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. 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." - Here is God's idea. He decrees simply what Noah is to do.
- He's to make a vessel. A hallow chest. A large box with waterproof rooms. The word for rooms is literally "nests," appropriate given the cargo.
- Interesting, the word gopherwood comes from the same root term for "atonement." Literally, it's the wood of covering.
- The dimensions are fairly impressive. Most scholars believe that a cubit was measured by the length between your elbow and the top of your middle finger. Or about 18 inches.
- Using that as our rule, the length of the ark would be 450 feet. It would be 75 feet wide. It would 45 feet tall.
- How big is that? Let me try to give us some sort of idea as to the scope of this project. The length would be about 1 and a half football fields.
- I thought of it like this: a railroad stock car is 44 feet long. You could fit 569 railroad stock cars in the ark. [i]
(EXPLANATORY NOTE: I misread the quote and thus misrepresented the facts about the length of the ark when I spoke. Math is not my strong suit! The length of the ark would not be 569 cars end to end. The quote should be that you could fit 569 cars within the ark on all of the decks. End to end, you could only fit 10 cars to equal the length of the ark. Sorry...I'll be sure to double check my math from now on!)
- You could fit 21 standard college basketball courts in the ark.[ii] Or if you are into tennis, you could put 36 lawn tennis courts on the deck area![iii]
- About 18 inches from the top, Noah was to construct a window. It's presumed that this window went along the top of the ark for the sake of ventilation.
- With a bunch of animals on board, this little provision was likely Noah's favorite!
- The door was to be on it's side and there were to be 3 decks.
- This must have been quite an impressive sight to see for 120 years!
• Genesis 6:18,19 : "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. 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." : This floodwater judgement would impact all flesh, and everything that is on the Earth.
- Turn with me to Hebrews 11. The writer of Hebrews shares some insight into this verse.
• Hebrews 11:7 : "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."
- Noah had not seen rain, never seen or heard of a flood and had not seen a boat before. Noah however, believed in God and moved with godly fear to complete this ark.
- Was this a universal flood? Was this world-wide? What we need to believe and understand is that God says here plainly, that everything on earth would die.
- Wherever life extended to on the planet, that area would now become a desolate graveyard.
- God's judgment would extend to every human life on the inhabited earth.
- As for Noah, He and His family would be the recipients of God's covenant. This is the first time we see the word "covenant" in the Bible, though, the concept has been seen before.
- There is an implicit covenant with Adam as He takes on the responsibility of the garden.
- Here we see the actual word. It means "to make a promise" or contract. God will establish His covenant. It's not Noah's covenant. It's God's covenant, His alliance with Noah and his family.
- God is making a commitment to Noah and his family.
- Of the untold billions, we are looking at 8 people total that God is making a covenant with.
• Genesis 6:19-22 : "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. 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." : God has chosen an entire family who are responsible for the restart of God's redemptive program.
- They were to bring male and female land animals along with them to fill the earth once again.
- Note that God tells them that these animals will come to them. God put the homing mechanism into them and when the time was right, they started coming by.
- "Look here comes Mr. and Mrs. Giraffe." Mr. and Mrs. Lion. "Don't step on it: That's Mr. and Mrs. Cockroach! They're our guests!" Really, we have to take along Mr. and Mrs. Rattlesnake!?
- The barge was now going to be a floating zoo!
- How much room would such a zoo take up in the ark? One study I read this week put it in this kind of perspective. Most animals are roughly the size of a large sheep.
- There are some that are bigger of course, but the majority will not be larger than that.
- Based on those figures, zoologists presume that there were 40,000 animals that represent the various animal families. Based on those figures, it's figured that the animals would only take up 1/3 of the space of the ark.[iv]
- Figure also that many of these animals may not have been full grown animals. Perhaps they were all young versions of themselves. This would further diminish the amount of room needed.
- The rest of the ark could be used for the food that they had gathered, as well as the food that was needed for the animals. Even then, there woul be plenty of space available.
- Noah, showing his great faith, did all that God commanded him. We read this and just skip over what that means.
- That means he worked hard everyday to complete his task. He shunned other activities. He stayed focused despite circumstances around him.
- He fought through discouragements and distractions. He kept moving and working based on the call that he had. Think about this: He did this for 120 years! That's a long time to wait on God!
- Have we done the same? Have we been attentive to what God is calling us to do? Have we given ourselves totally over to that which we know?
- This is a heavy statement. Will God be able to write over our lives that we did all that God commanded us to do?
• Genesis 7:1-5 : "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. 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; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 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.' And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth." : God decreed the beginning of the project and here he declares when it ends. It was time for Noah to come into the ark. This is an invitation from the Lord. God is in the ark already.
- The picture is wonderful. The storms are all around, but the righteous are in Christ and God is with them in the boat as well!
- Why did he get to go? Notice the phrase: I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation!
- Let's break that one down a bit. God has seen. He has observed. He has made a declaration about this man.
- It makes me want to say to us: Who are we living in front of? Who is our audience? Who do we need to impress? We might look good on the outside, but are we equally concerned with what God sees about our lives?
- What did He see in Noah's life? He was righteous. He was just, right, both in conduct and in character. This gave him passage onto the one boat that existed!
- God commands now that he take on seven each of every clean animal, two each of unclean animals, and seven of each of the birds of the air. What's happening here?
- These animals are marked out for sacrifice. He notes the time. This is one week before God was going to bring calamity to pass.
- I am continually amazed at God's mercy. When we look back at the markers that led to His judgment, we can see Methuselah, whose name points to judgment.
- He lived the longest among all other men, clocking in at 969 years old.
- Then looking back into chapter 6, God announced that in 120 years, He would bring judgment upon the earth. In those 120 years, there is a large boat being constructed for all to see.
- II Peter 2:5 calls Noah, "a preacher of righteousness." You can bet that with every hammer stroke, Noah proclaimed God's love and mercy for 120 years.
- Now we come to Genesis 7:4 and God again announces that there is one week left! At this point, Methuselah has gone critical. These are his last days on earth.
- All the signs are pointing toward impending doom and God still gives a 7 day warning!
- For those who would point the finger at God and speak erringly about His lack of mercy, PLEASE show them this passage! How much more merciful can God possibly be!?
• Genesis 7:7-9 : "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." : God ordered this family in 7 days before the flood started.
- They went in orderly, quietly. Imagine the somber attitude that must have prevailed over them. Yes, they were escaping judgment. Yes, they were chosen for salvation.
- However, as they walked into the ark, the amount of space was overwhelming. With the ark only a little more than half full, there was a spacious reminder that humans had rejected God's mercy.
- Their neighbors. Their extended family. Their friends. None would be alive in just a short time. For all the preaching and convincing, Noah's ministry will have garnered the fruit of just 8 souls!
- Turn with me to Matthew 7. Jesus is talking about the realities of this concept.
• Matthew 7:13,14 : "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."
- We wish that the majority of the world would know Christ and come to life. Jesus indicates that what Noah experiences might be more like it really is!
• Genesis 7:10-15 : "And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark— they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in." : I wonder if this was the exact day of Methuselah's death.
- This was no ordinary California rain shower. This was an instant deluge! The faucet was turned onto high immediately!
- Notice the time stamps. Verse 11 has the year, the month and the day! This is God's way of showing us that this was a measured response. This was not the capricious act of a spoiled deity!
- "On that day..." Such ominous words. Every day prior to that day was an occasion to mock God. Every day prior was a day of questioning whether God would ever do anything!
- Then "that day" came and men fell into the hands of the judge.
- The waters came from every direction. The fountains of the great deep and the windows of heaven, likely the water canopy that was over the earth, combined to inundate the known world.
- The Spirit of God repeats for us over and over again that they went into the ark. There is the real faith. They went in, showing that their confession bred real action.
- And then the Lord shut them in. The door that had been their salvation, now marked the doom of every person within sight.
- This judgment was now final. Noah could not get out and nobody additionally could get in.
- There is a time in everyone's life when the door is shut. We don't know when that day is, but when God shuts the door, there is no other hope.
• Genesis 7:17-21 : "Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered." : The deluge was continuous for forty days. Non-stop, no break. The ark however rose above it all!
- This is really a beautiful picture. The waters of judgment all around, but the ark rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed, but the ark moved about on the surface.
- God did not allow His people to even once drop beneath. He carried them safely along.
- You will again want to note that God's judgment was severe and all encompassing. Notice, that high hills and the mountains were covered. There was no safe place to escape.
• Genesis 7:22-24 : "And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days."
- The key word in these last few verses: All. All flesh died. All in whose nostrils are the breath of life, died. All living things: Destroyed. Only Noah and those who remained in the ark were alive.
- The flooding had stopped actively, but the waters remained on the earth. Specifically, the waters remained on the earth for almost 6 months. According to scripture, this planet was one large ocean.
Conclusion
- As we close tonight, we are stunned with the reality of God's judgment. It's difficult for us to bear the thought that there will come a time when God says, "No More Mercy!"
- As a group of believers, we assume responsibility to preach as Noah preached, that God would rather be merciful. He would rather be known for His grace.
- And what is the sign of that grace? The ark, which is a picture of Jesus Christ. He is waterpoof, a vessel that will withstand the storm of God's judgment.
- Like the ark, He is the only vehicle that is given to man that provides sure passage.
- Like the ark, the believer in Christ is safe inside.
- Like the ark, God stands at the door and invites people to come in.
- May we be wise and bold and faithful to make this our life's message.
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