Beyond The Basics

Transcript:

Welcome to the Beyond the Basics Bible Study Podcast. My name is Dan Snyder and I am your host. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Beyond the Basics, where we are exploring the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, one chapter at a time.

Well in this episode, we will be going straight into the flood narrative. Noah was introduced in the last chapter. We find out that the earth is filled with wickedness and God was grieved at the wickedness that was on the earth and decides to send a flood. But he finds that Noah is righteous and so he chooses Noah to build an ark for the remnant of the human race that will remain and survive the flood.

So now we’ll get into chapter 7 where God commands Noah and his family to enter the ark in the first verse there. So Noah obeys God, he brings all the animals with him, he brings seven pairs of all the clean animals and one pair of animals that are unclean.

And the Bible tells us that in Noah’s 600th year the flood came. It says that the fountains of the deep burst forth. It says that the windows of the heavens were opened and rain fell for 40 days and 40 nights. And it tells us that every living thing remaining on the earth was destroyed. And then at the end of the chapter, we find out that the waters stayed on the earth for 150 days because there was so much water on the earth.

So back to verse one. It says that the Lord says to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.”

So the question is, or at least the question that I have is, were Noah’s sons righteous? Or his sons’ wives? Or is this just saying that Noah himself is righteous? And were Noah’s sons counted righteous because Noah was righteous?

In other words, God found Noah to be righteous, and as a result, God gave Noah’s entire family a chance to be the survivors of the flood. Because if he had just saved Noah, and Noah was the only one who was righteous, well, who would restart the human race? Even if it was just Noah and his wife, he was already 600 years old. I don’t know how long childbearing age was back in those days, but I have to think that would be a bit late to start a family based on the ages of the other patriarchs in Genesis 5.

So, interesting question. I don’t know if it matters. But then again it might, because it could have an effect if you are a father in a household and you live humbly and follow the Lord and are righteous in God’s sight. What effect does that have on your family? What kind of mercy does God show the rest of your family who may or may not follow the Lord if you do? How much mercy does God show your kids if you parents are following the Lord? I think that’s an important question. And I think this is an important question that we can ask of the text right here.

So another interesting observation here is that Noah obeyed every word that God said to him without question. In fact, there are no words that are recorded from Noah to God. It’s all God’s words to Noah. This tells us that Noah simply listened and obeyed. He didn’t question, he didn’t argue, he didn’t even converse. God said something and Noah did it without question and without fail.

And in fact, in Genesis 6, Noah hears the word from the Lord to build the ark. And for all we know, God did not speak to Noah for another 120 years. Noah obeyed faithfully. And it says in verse 1 of chapter 7 that he is still righteous before God. He obeyed God for 120 years without hearing God’s voice that entire time.

So God gives Noah the command to go into the ark. We find out later in verse 10 that this command was given seven days before the flood. Now if you remember in Genesis 1, creation was completed in seven days. Now we have de-creation starting in seven days. So this is important because it is portrayed as the opposite of creation. In seven days the earth is created, now in seven days the earth is de-created.

In verse 2, God says to Noah, take with you seven pairs of all clean animals. Now the question I have, and I have a lot of questions in this chapter, there’s a lot of things that I just, I don’t know if any of us will ever really truly understand some of these things. Maybe there’s somebody out there, if there is, please drop me a message, direct me to somebody who knows these answers, because I sure don’t know them.

How did no one know that these animals were clean? Because the law had not yet been given. God details what animals are clean and what animals are not clean later on when he gives the law to the Israelites in the wilderness and at Sinai. But Noah hadn’t been given the law yet. So how did he know these were clean animals? I think that’s an interesting question. I don’t have the answer to that. If any of you know the answer, let me know.

And another question here is how did Noah get them to come on the boat? Again, I have no idea other than God seems to be at work here in a very significant and very distinct way. Isaiah 1:3 says: The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.

And so this verse is telling us it’s not animals that have the problem listening, it’s humans. Humans are the ones that have a difficult time obeying God. Animals have no problem. The ox knows its owner. The donkey knows its master. The sheep knows the shepherd. God doesn’t have a problem with animals.

And I think that’s part of the interesting contrast of Genesis 6 and 7 is that the animals seem so civilized. They peacefully go onto the ark at Noah’s command. And yet humanity has lowered itself to a beastly state. Humanity has lowered itself to the level of animals where they are murdering each other. There is wickedness. They look out for themselves and themselves only, each man for himself. I think that’s an interesting contrast that these two chapters are trying to make. That humanity has lowered itself to less than animals. After being made in the image of God, humanity is now lower than the animals.

Down to verse 12, the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. So that number forty symbolizes trial, symbolizes testing, it symbolizes judgment and purification. We’re going to see that number forty all through the Bible.

And it’s some of the most prominent and well-known stories in the Bible that many of you already know. It’s going to be shown in the 40 years in the wilderness that Israel spends wandering after leaving Egypt. There is 40 days in the wilderness that Jesus spends being tempted while he’s fasting. 40 is a very prominent number of testing, trial, and then the eventual purification coming out of the end of that, whether it’s 40 days and 40 nights or whether it’s 40 years or whatever it is, it results in purification.

So this flood, in verse 17 it says, the flood continued 40 days on the earth. So flood paired with this word 40, it’s now become a symbol of judgment. Obviously this is real judgment. This is not symbolic. This is literal judgment coming from a literal flood in this chapter.

But we’re going to see this throughout the Bible that the word flood is often used as a metaphor or a symbol for judgment. We can see this in Egypt, in the Red Sea, we’ll see it in the final judgment. Even many of the prophets, they’re going to use the word flood to describe armies that have come to judge Israel. So that word flood is going to be an important metaphor that we recognize as we go through the rest of the Bible.

Alright, so in verse 18, we see this phrase, the waters prevailed, and this is going to be repeated four times. In verse 18, it says, the waters prevailed and increased greatly. In verse 19, it says, the waters prevailed so mightily that all the mountains were covered. In verse 20, it says, the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them 15 cubits deep. And then in verse 24, it says, waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

So there’s a progression in those phrases and there’s an increase in those phrases. Let me go through them again so you can notice that progression. First, it says the waters prevailed and increased greatly. Then it says they prevailed so mightily that all the mountains were covered. Then it says they prevailed above the mountains covering them 15 cubits deep. Then it says they prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Notice the increase, that progression of more and more and more and more water. And it’s repeated four times. And that number four is important because it reveals that this is done by God’s authority. Remember the four rivers that came out of Eden that watered the entire earth. was God’s authority, God’s life. God’s living water spreading throughout the entire earth. So that’s what that number four symbolizes.

And so what this is telling us is that the prevailing waters, the increase of the prevailing waters is done by God’s authority. He has the authority to do this. There should be no question that God is right and just for sending this flood.

In verse 21, it says, all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth and all mankind.

And verse 23, it says again, he blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth.

So this phrase saying that all flesh died and every living thing died, listing the birds, the beasts, the swarming creatures, the creeping things is repeated twice to emphasize that everything is destroyed. And then right in the middle of those two phrases it says, everything on the dry land and whose nostrils was the breath of life died.

So this is intended to emphasize that literally everything is destroyed. There should be no question that God destroyed everything on the earth. But it says only Noah was left and those who were with him in the ark.

Now it’s important to note that God did not remove Noah from this judgment. He provided Noah a way through the judgment. I have seen some use the flood story as precedent for a pre-tribulation rapture where God takes his church out of the world before a seven-year tribulation. There is no precedent of God doing that anywhere in the Bible. This is not an example of God removing somebody from judgment.

Let me tell you that being on an ark, turned out to be, we’ll find out in the next chapter, it turned out to be well over a year. That was a trial. That was tribulation in that ark. There is no easy life on that ark surrounded by stinky, smelly, pooping animals that are loud and probably trying to fight each other all the time and eat each other. Trying to keep the peace with your family cooped up on the same boat for a year. No showers. Hopefully enough to eat. I mean, who knows? It would be miserable. Imagine being on that for a year. You really think that’s not a trial? You really think that’s not tribulation? Of course it is.

So, so God didn’t remove Noah from this judgment. He was every bit involved in this judgment. Noah lost everything. Noah lost his friends. He lost his extended family. He lost everything except for his immediate family. He lost his home.

God didn’t remove Noah from the from the judgment. But he provided Noah a way through the judgment. Noah still experienced some of the negative effects of God’s judgment on the earth. There was still heartache. There was still sorrow. This is not a precedent for a pre-tribulation rapture.

Now what it is a case for is baptism. This is the first picture that we have in the Bible of baptism, least as far as I know. The reason is because we see that Noah passes in and out of the waters. It is Noah that enters in the ark. The ark takes him upon the waters and then he emerges from the ark after the flood. So this is a picture of baptism. Water is being used to wash away sin and what we have on the other side is a new creation.

So during the flood earth is covered in water just as it was at the beginning of creation. When we read Genesis 1 it says that the spirit was hovering over the waters. Now once again the earth is covered in water, just like it was a creation. And so, after the waters depart, now we have a new creation. And wickedness has been washed away.

That’s exactly what baptism is. When a person repents of their sins and gets baptized, that baptism washes away their sin, and a person emerges from the water as a new creation. That’s exactly what’s happening here.

This is the first picture of that happening. We see it several other times. I will point it out as we get there. Probably the next most prominent time that we’ll see it is the Exodus when Israel passes through the Red Sea. That’s another picture of baptism.

So what we see here now is that we have a new creation on the earth. Noah emerges from the waters as a new Adam, a chance to restart the human race and new creation and in the next chapter we’ll find out how that went.

So how does this chapter point to Jesus?

As we just mentioned, obviously baptism is a very important way. Jesus was baptized. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came and hovered over him, just like he hovered over the waters of creation and pointed to the new creation found in Jesus through baptism. This very first picture we have of baptism does point to Jesus in that way.

And then of course, Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. Again, when we get baptized, when we repent, we’re baptized, we’re baptized in the Holy Spirit. It’s the same exact picture. The Holy Spirit is hovering over the waters, over the waters of the new creation. So, baptism with water, baptism with the Holy Spirit, it’s the same exact picture.

And then we see in this chapter that Noah subdued creation and he ordered creation. This points to the redemptive work that Jesus will do one day as he returns. He’s going to subdue all of creation and he will one day bring order back to creation. And eventually, again, one day the whole earth will be a new creation. There will be a new heavens and a new earth. And Jesus will subdue everything under His feet, even death. And He will order creation into a new world order, His world order.

So some questions for reflection.

First, why did God need to completely destroy the earth? Isn’t this excessive? Why was it so necessary for God to destroy everything? Couldn’t he have just destroyed some things and not destroyed everything? But what does this tell us about God?

Why did no one else join Noah and his family in the ark? And what does this say about the human condition?

Why did God choose Noah? Why did God consider Noah to be righteous?

In a wicked world, do we catch God’s eye like Noah caught God’s eye? In this wicked world, do we stand out like Noah did?

And how did Noah’s obedience prepare him for what God would do in the future? And how does our obedience help prepare us for an unknown future?

All right, well, thank you so much for listening to this episode. I want to remind you, if you would like to support the podcast, you can do it in several different ways. You can support by clicking subscribe, by clicking like, by sharing the podcast. Whatever you use to listen to the show, it’d be a huge support to help bump this podcast up in search results, to help more people notice it. The more people that can find it, the more people that there are that will hopefully be able to access this study and hopefully be drawn to Jesus.

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