Genesis 7A (2011) As last week ended, we came t the end f Gd s instructins t Nah Gen. 6:22 Thus Nah did; accrding t all that Gd had cmmanded him, s he did. What a remarkable testimny t the faith f Nah In the entire stry f Nah, there is never a mment when Nah is recrded speaking t Gd Nah is a man wh listens and beys He desn t questin, he desn t argue, he desn t make excuses Nah heard prbably the mst difficult assignment in all the Bible And he said nt a wrd t questin the instructins And he beyed ding all that the Lrd cmmanded him The nly thing the Bible ever says abut Nah s respnse is what we see in v.22 (repeated tday in 7:5) Nah did all that the Lrd cmmanded him In fact, the Hebrew in this verse is repetitive t emphasize Nah s utter bedience Nah is arguably the mst bedient man in the OT Other men received much easier instructins Like Jnah, r Giden And thse men questined Gd r even rebelled entirely I think Nah amazes me s much because the cmbinatin f what Nah hears frm Gd and what little he des t questin it seem s impssible Even when facing the mst extreme and difficult instructins 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 7A! 2 In a wrld that had never seen rain, Nah was called t build a giant bat And Nah beyed withut hesitatin And nw add this fact...there is n evidence that Gd spke t Nah again during the intervening 120 years Can yu take Gd s instructins and bey them withut questining fr decades if nt millennia? There is an example f faith! We culd d wrse than t mdel ur wn bedience after this man Especially since bedience isn t valued tday the way the Bible values it A father had a rugh day, and when bed-time finally came fr his yung daughter, he laid dwn the law: "We're putting n yur p.j.s, brushing yur teeth, and reading ONE bk. Then it's lights ut!" Her bttm lip began t quiver, and she put her arms went arund his neck in a gentle embrace, and she said, "We learned in Sunday schl abut little bys and girls wh dn't have mmmies and daddies." The dad s attitude immediately began t sften. He thught t himself that even after he d been s stern and strict with his daughter, she was still grateful t have him as her father. He felt tears beginning t well up in his eyes, and as he began t rethink his cmmands, she whispered, "Maybe yu culd g be THEIR dad?" S bedience just isn t as appreciated much, but Nah mdels it perfectly Gen. 7:1 Then the LORD said t Nah, Enter the ark, yu and all yur husehld, fr yu alne I have seen t be righteus befre Me in this time. Gen. 7:2 Yu shall take with yu f every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and f the animals that are nt clean tw, a male and his female; Gen. 7:3 als f the birds f the sky, by sevens, male and female, t keep ffspring alive n the face f all the earth. Gen. 7:4 Fr after seven mre days, I will send rain n the earth frty days and frty nights; and I will blt ut frm the face f the land every living thing that I have made. Gen. 7:5 Nah did accrding t all that the LORD had cmmanded him. Gen. 7:6 Nw Nah was six hundred years ld when the fld f water came upn the earth. Gen. 7:7 Then Nah and his sns and his wife and his sns wives with him entered the ark because f the water f the fld. 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 7A! 3 Gen. 7:8 Of clean animals and animals that are nt clean and birds and everything that creeps n the grund, Gen. 7:9 there went int the ark t Nah by tws, male and female, as Gd had cmmanded Nah. The time has cme t enter the Ark In chapter 6 Gd said He wuld nly strive with man fr 120 years Since the fld is nw abut t begin, we knw it s been 120 years since Gd made that declaratin in Gen 6 Nw that the Ark is ready, Gd gives Nah new instructins fr entering Earlier, Gd had instructed Nah t bring in tw f every land animal Here Gd adds new instructins t Nah that he shuld bring additinal numbers (7) f clean animals While the Msaic Law had yet t be established, Gd has bviusly revealed t Nah what were clean animals S Gd s Law while nt yet fully revealed still existed and Nah was aware f it t sme extent Why des Gd ask Nah t bring these additinal clean animals? We can jump ahead in the stry f Nah t see the answer After Nah leaves the Ark, we read Gen. 8:20 Then Nah built an altar t the LORD, and tk f every clean animal and f every clean bird and ffered burnt fferings n the altar. The mment Gd speaks t Nah in v.1, we have reached a pint n earth when there is nne righteus but Nah and his family The line f Seth, the seed f the Messiah, has been reduced t nly Nah Methuselah must have died at the mment f v.1 s nw the fld can cme withut jepardizing the righteus Only Nah is left Cnsider the patience f Gd and the wisdm f His wrk thrugh men 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 7A! 4 969 years ag, Gd directed a father t name his sn Methuselah, which means when he dies, it will cme Gd was at wrk planning a fld Then 600 years earlier, Gd brught Nah int the wrd with the name rest And 120 year earlier, he directs Nah t begin building 20 year after Nah begins building, he receives his three sns Gd has set in mtin all these events s that n a day He appinted, they wuld culminate in the fld and the destructin f ungdly men What is Gd ding in yur life even nw in preparatin fr smething years frm nw? The Lrd may nt d what we want when we want Him t, but His timing is always perfect He is always at wrk in ur lives, and He invites us t participate and jin Him in that wrk He calls us int a relatinship with Him and then He brings us an awareness f His wrk arund us and calls us t jin Him Obedience is defined as wrking Gd s plan instead f ur wn But as Jesus said, we must be willing t set dwn ur wn wrk first, befre we can pick up His crss and fllw Him Luke 9:59 And He said t anther, Fllw Me. But he said, Lrd, permit me first t g and bury my father. Luke 9:60 But He said t him, Allw the dead t bury their wn dead; but as fr yu, g and prclaim everywhere the kingdm f Gd. Luke 9:61 Anther als said, I will fllw Yu, Lrd; but first permit me t say gd-bye t thse at hme. Luke 9:62 But Jesus said t him, N ne, after putting his hand t the plw and lking back, is fit fr the kingdm f Gd. Speaking f timing, in v.7 Gd annunces that Nah and his family f seven must enter the Ark because He will bring rain in seven days This is the first time rain will have ever fallen n the Earth 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 7A! 5 Until nw, the earth has been watered with a mist, as was described in Gen 2 But Gd is abut t change that pattern in a dramatic way, which we ll examine mre in a minute But first ntice that Nah and his family are entering the Ark well befre the rain begins Seven days befre hand They haven t seen anything change yet, nthing that wuld indicate that the disaster Gd predicted will actually cme abut Can we imagine hw difficult it might have been fr them t enter this giant bat filled with animals while the sun was still shining? What cmpels smene t enter under thse cnditins? Faith The wrld is filled with peple, but Gd has declared nly 8 are righteus And we knw that righteusness is nt earned It can nly be given t us by Gd n the basis f ur faith in the One Wh earned it n ur behalf, Jesus S Nah and his family are righteus because they believed - had faith in - Gd s wrd S what did they believe in? Did they believe in the Gspel f Jesus Christ? N, they believed in the wrd they had been given by Gd They believed in the reality f a cming judgment by fld waters Heb. 11:7 By faith Nah, being warned by Gd abut things nt yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark fr the salvatin f his husehld, by which he cndemned the wrld, and became an heir f the righteusness which is accrding t faith. Rain had nt yet been seen n the earth, yet Nah and his family entered seven days early 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 7A! 6 Why did Gd call them in s early? S that there might be a visible prf f their faith If yu didn t believe in the prmise f Gd, yu wuldn t enter that Ark Yu might cnsent t help build it But if each member f the family hadn t persnally accepted the truth f Gd s wrd, they wuld have never entered that bat under clear skies Faith brings a respnse t Gd s wrd, and the respnse by Nah and his family was t enter this Ark It was a harder step than I think we can imagine, and it n dubt brught great ridicule by thse in that day And each f thse wh saw them enter heard Nah s testimny that the end was near, but there was n lnger any hpe fr them Here we find anther parallel and picture fr the future judgment In a future day, perhaps a day very sn, thse Gd has declared righteus will be remved frm the wrld fr a shrt time Seven years t be exact And thse seven years will be a time f waiting fr the wrld befre judgment falls at Christ s return The entering f Nah and his family - the wrld s entire righteus ppulatin - int the Ark pictures the rapture f the Church All the wrld s righteus are remved in an instant, gathered tgether with Christ, Wh is pictured by the Ark itself And we are hidden frm the wrld fr a perid f seven And we are taken early as testimny t the wrld and s that we can escape the cming judgment 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 7A! 7 Gen. 7:10 It came abut after the seven days, that the water f the fld came upn the earth. Gen. 7:11 In the six hundredth year f Nah s life, in the secnd mnth, n the seventeenth day f the mnth, n the same day all the funtains f the great deep burst pen, and the fldgates f the sky were pened. Gen. 7:12 The rain fell upn the earth fr frty days and frty nights. Gen. 7:13 On the very same day Nah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sns f Nah, and Nah s wife and the three wives f his sns with them, entered the ark, Gen. 7:14 they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps n the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all srts f birds. Gen. 7:15 S they went int the ark t Nah, by tws f all flesh in which was the breath f life. Gen. 7:16 Thse that entered, male and female f all flesh, entered as Gd had cmmanded him; and the LORD clsed it behind him. True t His wrd, Gd brings the fld We will study this event frm a cuple f perspectives First, let s examine the facts as they relate t the pictures and shadws that Gd is presenting thrugh the stry Next week, we ll lk at the nature f the physical events themselves and hw Gd accmplishes this remarkable mment In v.11, the mnumental significance f this event is emphasized with Mses careful accunting f the day n the Jewish calendar It was the secnd mnth, the seventeenth day f the mnth Mses seems t be impsing the Jewish civil calendar nt the events f Nah s day, based n divine inspiratin By that same calendar, Jesus resurrected frm the grave n the seventeenth day f the secnd mnth Again, Jesus is the Ark, the ne wh saves us frm the cming judgment And that saving wrk was dne fr us when Jesus raised frm the dead, prving His pwer ver death And Nah and his family were saved the day they entered int the Ark Thugh the fld water didn t cme fr anther seven days, Nah and his family were saved n the day they entered 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 7A! 8 It mattered nt what day the fld actually arrived, it nly mattered that they be in the Ark Having entered, they were immediately saved frm any future judgment, whenever it came And ntice that everyne entered n the same day, a particular day There is a specific day appinted fr them t enter It s nt enugh t stand near the Ark, f lean against it We can t cme up shrt...yu can t be half in and half ut Heb. 4:1 Therefre, let us fear if, while a prmise remains f entering His rest, any ne f yu may seem t have cme shrt f it. The call f the Gspel is an invitatin t enter, but the invitatin is all r nthing And it cmes with the same assurance that Nah s family received Having entered ur Ark, Christ, we have been saved frm the cming judgment This is why Paul can s cnfidently declare: Rm. 8:1 Therefre there is nw n cndemnatin fr thse wh are in Christ Jesus. Once we are in ur ark Jesus, we can never see cndemnatin, fr ur ark receives all the battering f Gd s judgment waves As Jesus tk ur penalty n the crss But there is nly ne way t enter this prtectin, thrugh it s ne and nly dr We can t make ur wn entrance r devise ur wn plan We can hang n the side f the ark r climb abard in ur wn way The dr is the nly way in, and nce that dr is clsed there is n secnd chance 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 7A! 9 Jesus made the cnnectin between the ne dr and Himself in Jhn 9-10 Jhn 9:39 And Jesus said, Fr judgment I came int this wrld, s that thse wh d nt see may see, and that thse wh see may becme blind. Jhn 9:40 Thse f the Pharisees wh were with Him heard these things and said t Him, We are nt blind t, are we? Jhn 9:41 Jesus said t them, If yu were blind, yu wuld have n sin; but since yu say, We see, yur sin remains. Jhn 10:1 Truly, truly, I say t yu, he wh des nt enter by the dr int the fld f the sheep, but climbs up sme ther way, he is a thief and a rbber. Jhn 10:2 But he wh enters by the dr is a shepherd f the sheep. Jhn 10:3 T him the drkeeper pens, and the sheep hear his vice, and he calls his wn sheep by name and leads them ut. Jhn 10:4 When he puts frth all his wn, he ges ahead f them, and the sheep fllw him because they knw his vice. Jhn 10:5 A stranger they simply will nt fllw, but will flee frm him, because they d nt knw the vice f strangers. Jhn 10:6 This figure f speech Jesus spke t them, but they did nt understand what thse things were which He had been saying t them. Jhn 10:7 S Jesus said t them again, Truly, truly, I say t yu, I am the dr f the sheep. Jhn 10:8 All wh came befre Me are thieves and rbbers, but the sheep did nt hear them. Jhn 10:9 I am the dr; if anyne enters thrugh Me, he will be saved, and will g in and ut and find pasture. Jhn 10:10 The thief cmes nly t steal and kill and destry; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. The Pharisees were the type f men wh lked fr their wn way t enter Gd s kingdm They weren t men with humble hearts and a true faith They were impstrs, wlves and hypcrites They tried t take what they wanted by stealing it in a spiritual sense Rather than cme t Gd with humble hearts that desired t bey His wrd, they lied and schemed They sught the apprval f men and the self-satisfactin f thinking themselves righteus 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 7A! 10 In Jhn 9 calls them blind men, men wh think they see but wh are actually ignrant f Gd and His ways S Jesus cmpared them t thieves wh try t enter the sheep pen by climbing ver the fence rather than entering thrugh the dr as hnrable men These men wn t be recgnized by the sheep, wh nly fllw the shepherd The sheep, Gd s peple, will sense the difference and flee the false leaders like the Pharisees Because there is nly ne way in t Gd s kingdm, thrugh the dr that is Christ Himself And there is nly ne true shepherd wh can direct Gd s peple, Christ s Spirit Peple the wrld ver have imagined cuntless ways t reach Gd and enter heaven But like the Pharisees, they are thieves and rbbers, trying t gain fr themselves what cannt be taken It can nly be gained by Gd s grace thrugh faith in Christ, Wh is ur dr Just as Nah s salvatin was nly available thrugh a single dr Gal. 1:3 Grace t yu and peace frm Gd ur Father and the Lrd Jesus Christ, Gal. 1:4 wh gave Himself fr ur sins s that He might rescue us frm this present evil age, accrding t the will f ur Gd and Father, Once the whle family was in the Ark, there is the matter f the huge dr still laying n the grund There was n way fr the dr t be clsed frm inside, apparently, s Gd clses the dr f the Ark Himself It wuld have been dramatic t witness, surely And it als had the effect f lcking the family in the Ark There is n ging back nw The family isn t leaving the Ark 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 7A! 11 Nthing can remve them, even their wn dubts r secnd thughts Our salvatin in Christ is equally assured Fr we are in Him and Gd has sealed us with His Spirit Eph. 1:13 In Him, yu als, after listening t the message f truth, the gspel f yur salvatin having als believed, yu were sealed in Him with the Hly Spirit f prmise, 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.