Session 4: Week 4 – Genesis 7:1-24
7 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.
Upon reading this first verse of Genesis chapter 7 we have to stop and think about this. God called out to Noah and invited Noah and all his family into the ark for protection. Why? Because God saw that Noah was righteous before Him. What does this mean to you? How can we be righteous in God’s sight?
This is a profound mystery – that we’ve been made the righteousness of God in Christ. 2 Cor. 5:21 It’s something that we need to grasp hold of every single day of our lives and do everything we can to walk it out. It’s what we need to understand to help guide our daily choices in what we say and do.
What are you doing in your life right now that demonstrate that you are the righteousness of God in Messiah?
What areas of your life do you know you have to change in so that you demonstrate this truth more fully?
There’s an incredible promise in this first verse. God saved Noah’s entire family because God saw that Noah was righteous. It doesn’t say that Noah’s family was righteous. I don’t know about you but that brings me great hope with regard to the eternal destiny of my family, even though some don’t know the Lord right now.
There’s a verse in the New Testament Acts 16:31 that we cling to to see the salvation our families. Yeshua/Jesus is often seen as the eternal “ark of God.” We come into Him for protection and safe passage.
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
The Greek word here for “believe” is πιστεύω pisteúō, pist-yoo’-o; from G4102; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well-being to Christ):—believe(-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.
One of our main goals as people of faith within our family is to continue to press into to thoughts, prayers and declarations of faith in Messiah regarding the salvation of our loved ones. God help us not to stand in agreement with the enemy (the accuser) with regard to the salvation of our families. Let’s ask for the Holy Spirit’s help to guide our thoughts, prayers and declarations regarding our pre-believing loved ones!
How does this change your perspective regarding the salvation of the members of your family?
2 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; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 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.”
There’s a lot of numbers going on here: 7 sets of clean animals; 1 set of unclean animals and 7 sets of birds – all male and female.
God was giving Noah and his family 7 days to accomplish getting all these creatures into the ark to keep them alive. Then it would rain 40 days and every living thing on earth would be destroyed.
What does this show you about God?
5 And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. 7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 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. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
What a scene! In my last e-newsletter I encouraged everyone to read Scripture and see the pictures in your mind like you were watching a movie. Let’s re-read this with that instruction.
5 And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. 7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 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. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
What do you glean from this passage by envisioning it actually happening?
13 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— 14 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. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.
Moving on to verses 13-15 it seems like the Lord wants us to see the picture too because He reiterates it in verses 13-15. Verse 16 is interesting. The Lord shut them in. What’s interesting here is found in the Hebrew:
טז וְהַבָּאִים, זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה מִכָּל-בָּשָׂר בָּאוּ, כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה אֹתוֹ, אֱלֹהִים; וַיִּסְגֹּר יְהוָה, בַּעֲדוֹ.
16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.
Noah obeyed Elohim’s commandments and Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey shut him in. What does that mean to you based on our studies thus far?
Let’s read the next verses and remember to picture it in your minds. Be careful not to trivialize what we’re reading because you’ve heard the story “a million times.” That’s my tendency, but we have to remember that every time we read the Scriptures God has some new illumination to impart to us.
17 Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
Do you get anything from the Lord from that verse?
18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters.
How about from that one?
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 21 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. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died.
The the extra resources for this week’s study I’ve put a link to the ministry of “Answers in Genesis” all about the flood. I hope you’ll enjoy exploring more, as the Lord leads you.
23 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. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.
150 days… hmmm. I wonder what God was saying by having the flood last 150 days. Let’s look at the numbers 5,3 and 10.
Five appears in the table of punishments, of legal requirements,
- Exodus 22:1
- Leviticus 5:16
- Leviticus 22:14
- Leviticus 27:15
- Numbers 5:7
- Numbers 18:16
Three was regarded, by both the Jews and other nations as a specially complete and mystic number. Ten as a preferential number is exemplified in the Ten Commandments and the law of tithe.
Now what do you see from the number 150?
As another reminder of things we’ve talked about in our studies so far, numbers in scripture have meaning. I’ve also included in this week’s extra resource an online resource for you to learn more about the significance of numbers in scripture.
Remember too, that if you’re new to our study you can go back and read the notes for all our lessons thus far.
Let’s pray.
