Refuge from the Waters Genesis 7:1-24

Noah’s Flood as Real History, Not Myth

Noah's Flood Sunday, as we have the help of Aletheia's visual aid here, many people ask the question, did the flood really happen? And you might wonder this also. It's a good question to ask. Most of our culture knows that the Bible tells of a flood that destroyed the entire Earth.

But many write it off as one of many myths in the ancient world. People who believe this are not intellectually superior like they might think. But there is a deeper issue going on here, and that is an issue of the heart.

This is unbelief. When an unbeliever who does not have the Holy Spirit reads the Bible, they see the Bible as a solely human book and not divine. They don't realize that what they are reading is an inerrant account of world history right before their eyes with a meaning that is extremely important to be understood.

Skeptics of the Bible say that the flood story of the Bible is a myth. They say this because there are many other flood accounts in the ancient world written in mythical form. The most famous one is the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was written by the Babylonians that describes the boat as a large cube.

This obviously is not believable. A cube could not float like that. But when you read the Epic of Gilgamesh and you read the Bible, you can see that one is written as a myth and one is written to convey the actual events that occurred.

The biblical account is written as history. The existence of the Epic of Gilgamesh actually supports the biblical account because it suggests that this myth was written because there really was a flood.

In fact, what is incredible is that there are 200 accounts of the flood in different cultures all over the Earth. So everywhere you go on planet Earth, there's a flood story. And these accounts have a man who builds a boat to protect himself from a coming flood.

Each of these writes of this flood to fit their culture. So each has their own flavor, but each of them has some similar characteristics. Now, if the flood is actual history, we would expect to see some more evidence than this.

And you know what? We do. And here are a few specific pieces of evidence that we see on planet Earth. Now, there are seven continents. Scientists believe that there used to be one landmass known as Pangaea.

So how do you explain how we go from one landmass to seven different pieces of land known as continents? Well, the answer is a global flood with the tremendous amount of pressure of water below the ground broke apart this landmass to bring it to these seven different pieces of land.

Another piece of evidence is that there are billions of dead things below the ground. And these are known as fossils. Everywhere you go on Earth, there are fossils. And a global flood perfectly explains why this would be.

All these animals and even humans died during this flood. Still another piece of evidence is the existence of canyons and divisions in rock formations all over the world. Now, this is interesting. If you go outside during a rainfall and you look at the dirt on the ground, you will notice that there are many canyons in the dirt.

Just little mini canyons. Now, an enormous amount of water cuts large divisions in the land. The best example of this is the Grand Canyon. So, lots of water. An indescribable amount of water comes down in the land and it forms this huge canyon.

So, without the flood, there is no Grand Canyon. Nor is there the splitting of the rocks at Interstate Park. In our backyard, we see evidence of the flood. Now, the last reason I will give is the Ice Age.

Everyone agrees that there has been an Ice Age that happened long ago. And the flood adequately explains why there was an Ice Age. The global catastrophe causes the climate to change drastically. That doesn't just happen in a normal weather pattern.

Something major has to happen to the Earth to cause an Ice Age to happen. So, when we ask the question, why don't people believe in the global flood? It's not because it's not believable. It is believable.

And there's evidence all over the place. It's because people are spiritually blind to what the Bible has to say. It's a heart issue. Today in this sermon, we are going to see the flood account. And as we go through this, realize that this is history.

We need to understand this. And our world needs to understand this because there is a message in here that we need to see. And that's what we're going to look at today. What is the message of the flood?

How does this relate to our lives? That's what we're going to see. So, please turn the Bible to Genesis chapter 7 as we continue our sermon series through. And if you don't have a Bible with you, there's Bibles in your pews.

And Genesis chapter 7 is just a few pages in because this is the first book of the Bible. And our big idea this morning is the global flood shows us God's judgment along with provision of the world. The global flood shows us God's judgment along with his provision of the world.

And we're going to see three ways in our text why this is. The first is the Lord's careful instructions to Noah. We saw these instructions first last week as the Lord told Noah to build the ark. So, this might help you visualize what this might have looked like.

Now, this is meant to be a little bit light-hearted, obviously. The ark is nothing like this. But it will help you visualize it a little bit. So, verse 1 here of chapter 7. It says, Now, in this verse, it is assumed that Noah has finished building the ark.

And last week, we talked about how the ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. This was all made out of wood, so it would have been very big. And it probably took Noah years to make this.

And the Lord once again reminds Noah why he has placed him and his family in the ark. And I already read this here. It says, He was counted righteous. And the result of this was that he actually bore fruit in his life.

He had a holy character. Anybody who is counted righteous in God's sight, you're counted righteous when you believe in God. And then, the fruit of your life that comes from that is good works. This is seen in your life.

Noah shined as a light in his generation. And the application I gave you last week is that you, as a follower of Christ, shine in your generation as well. In this generation. Now, in verses 2 and 3, the Lord becomes more specific with the animals.

They are to bring in the ark. Last week, we saw in verses 19 and 20 of chapter 6, that Noah was to bring two of every kind of animal. Okay, so we see this here. Monkeys, elephants, kangaroo, zebras, pigs, and so on.

And of course, we can't forget the giraffes on top there. Now, we get more specific today. Noah is instructed to bring seven pairs of clean animals and two pairs of non-clean animals. This is what he says in verses 2 and 3.

Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate. And seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

So, there's clean animals and there's non-clean animals. This is the first time we hear about this in the Bible. This distinction between clean animals and non-clean animals. Noah is instructed to bring seven pairs of clean animals and only one pair of non-clean animals.

The clean animals include animals that walk on the ground and birds. Now, most insects were considered unclean. And we can all say amen to that, right? None of us like insects. In fact, all insects that walked on the ground would later be forbidden in the Mosaic Law.

And I hope that Asian beetles would be in that group. After this fall, I've had enough of them. The first question we need to ask is, who are the clean animals? The answer is, we don't know. The text is not specific on this.

Later on, as you go through the Old Testament and as God gives these instructions to Moses, we're going to see who the clean animals and the non-clean animals are. The second question we need to ask is, why more clean animals than non-clean animals?

Now, I mentioned the Mosaic Law. God would make this distinction later on. And what God told Moses in Leviticus 11 is that Israel may eat of these animals, but may not eat of the non-clean animals. So it was a diet restriction that he gave them, diet instructions.

But here in this account, it's not referring to diet, but more to sacrifice. In the Mosaic account, the animals that were clean were not only able to eat them, but they also sacrificed these animals. And after the flood, in Genesis 8 -20, Noah offered a sacrifice to the Lord with a clean animal.

So if they're sacrificing these animals to the Lord, they need more of them than the non-clean animals. So that's why they have to have seven pairs of clean animals and only two of non-clean animals.

But what's incredible about this is that God not only preserves the clean animals, but he preserves all animals. Whether clean or non-clean, the Lord planned to bring these animals on the ark to preserve their life.

I know that next week is the hunting opener, right? I know a lot of the guys here, we were talking yesterday about they're going to go out hunting next week. And you can be thankful that these animals that were brought on the ark, now you can hunt them because they were preserved.

That's one encouraging thing. Also, this is food for us to eat. That would be a later instruction that God would give to Noah. And in addition to that, we also get to enjoy animals. There's something about this joy that comes from seeing animals.

Yesterday, Gordy and I were walking towards the garage, and I saw these footprints in the ground. And I'm thinking, I wonder what animal walked through our driveway. I'm thinking maybe a deer, maybe a bear.

And I pointed out the footprints, and Gordy looked at it, and he said, that's a rabbit. I'm like, oh, okay, that's not very spectacular. And then there's another footprint. I'm thinking, okay, what's this?

He's like, that's a dog. I'm like, okay, that's it. And so, yeah, but we enjoy animals. We have this joy. And God enjoys them too. He preserves them. Now, in verse 4, what we're going to see is what's going to happen here.

Noah only had to get these animals on the earth. He only had seven days. That's it, one week, as it says here. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth, forty days and forty nights. And every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.

So my guess is here is that God providentially brought all these animals to Noah, because if you look at the wide range of animals, obviously all these animals wouldn't just be in one place. So the Lord brought these animals to him so they could get on the ark.

You might be wondering, were there dinosaurs on the ark? Clearly Tyrannosaurus Rex was left off the ark, and we can all be grateful for that, because of his eating ability of humans. And actually Brianne and I saw this meme one time.

There was these dinosaurs on the shore, and there was this boat floating away, and the dinosaurs said, rats, that was today? And so they missed the boat and were therefore extinct. And the Lord tells us in verse 4 how long it would rain.

The rain would come forty days and forty nights, and during this time he would blot out all living creatures. Noah once again proved faithful, as verse 5 says, and Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

So the Lord gave Noah all these different instructions, and Noah listened to these instructions perfectly, and he did this. And this is a theme that we have seen. Noah continually does what he has been called to do.

Noah was not perfect. Don't misunderstand me here. Noah was not perfect. But his righteous deeds in his life were recognizable. Now in verses 6 -10, we get an overview of the conclusion of the preparation.

So if you look with me, verses 6 -10, Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood of clean animals and of animals that are not clean, and of birds and of everything that creeps on the ground two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah as God had commanded Noah.

And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. The Lord was kind in preparing Noah for the destruction that was coming on the earth. We shouldn't look at this passage as mere judgment on the earth.

We need to look at his grace in this as well. That he not only preserves Noah and his family, but he preserves the animal kingdom by bringing a male and a female of each kind so that we can populate the earth again once the flood is over.

So this is the first way that the global flood shows us God's judgment and provision of the world. The Lord's instructions to Noah. And these instructions show his provision. The second way that the global flood shows us God's judgment and provision of the world is the Lord's judgment by water.

And this is the judgment piece of his character. Now after all this build-up, we finally get to the flood. There's been a lot of preparation here. And I want you to notice here how detailed this passage gets.

If you think that the Bible is not concerned with details of history, you would be wrong. Verse 11. In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the 17th day, in the month on that day, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth.

As I was reading that this week and studying that, it made me pause to think, wow. Look at how concerned Moses, the author here, is concerned with the details of this account. Now Noah was old when the flood happened.

It's 600 years. And to say that Noah was old would be an understatement. But he actually still had over 300 years to live after this time period. And look at how specific this gets. I love historical dates.

Historians pay attention to the small details of when things happen. Think about our country. We talked today about the sacrifice that those who serve in the military, the sacrifice that they have made for our country.

Think of July 4th, 1776. That was the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Think of December 7th, 1941. Anybody know what that date is? December 7th, 1941? Pearl Harbor, very good. November 22nd, 1963?

What's that date? Anybody know that one? Yeah, yeah, very good, yeah. It's Kennedy assassinated. And for those of you who were at the Harvest Festival, I hope you know this date now, the Battle of New Orleans.

Mark and I played this song, 1814. I thought I'd throw that in there just for fun. What we are reading here today is not a myth. This is history. Historians are concerned with the details of the accounts.

And that's what the author is doing here. Now we are going to read about how the Lord flooded the earth. People often assume that God sent rain for 40 days and 40 nights and that was it. Well, that is a big part of it, but there's more than that.

He also did something else. Now this is the second half of verse 11. In the second month, on the 17th day of the month, on that day, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth. So the water did not just come from the clouds and the sky.

It also came from below the earth. And we know this as people who live in this area, that water is below the ground. We have wells that pump the water up so that we can drink it. And in order for earthy life to happen, we need water.

Our bodies are made up of about 60 water. And the earth itself is 70 water. And there's not only water in the oceans, but also in the ground. So when the text says that the great deep burst forth, this is referring to fountains of water below the ground.

You can see how this world became so flooded. There's water coming from above and there's water coming from below. It comes from both sides. So the water comes from below and in verse 12 it says that the water comes from the clouds also.

And rain fell upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights. Verses 13 through 15 tell us that on the same day the waters were released on the earth is the same day that everyone went on the ark. So this is an accurate picture, as accurate as we can get, right?

Of what it might look like. So they're getting on the boat. Noah and his wife are over here, you can see them. They're getting on the boat as well. And they're getting on the ark. And the waters are coming.

The end of verse 15, I'm going to read here. I'm going to read verses 13 through 15. On the very same day, Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Jephtheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark.

They and every beast according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every winged creature, they went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh, in which there was the breath of life.

So they're all on the ark. And the breath of life here highlights humans and animals have the breath of life. God breathes into their nostrils and gives them the breath of life. Now in verse 16, we get some strong language here.

And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in. Imagine for a moment the door being slammed shut while the whole earth was dark, as it was covered with storm clouds.

We can all think of times in our life where a storm approached, dark clouds approaching, you can see the lightning in the distance, and it's kind of scary. You're thinking, okay, we need to get inside.

We need to be secure from this. When my dad was 19 years old, he was in the military at that time. He served in the Air Force. He was in Biloxi, Mississippi. This would have been the late 60s, and there was a hurricane approaching, and it was a big hurricane, Hurricane Camille.

Some of you may remember that. He was only a half mile from the coast. In order to be safe from the storm, they were in an aircraft carrier in the basement, and the storm was approaching. My dad says all he could hear was the sound of a freight train.

That's what it sounded like outside. They could hear rollings of thunder and the sound of a freight train. He actually said that when the storm ended and he walked outside, what he remembers is that there were no leaves on the trees.

All the leaves were gone, and there was a big, giant boat that was about, I think, a quarter mile to a half mile long that was on the road that had been pushed up from the shore. Just to think about the strong force of this storm.

It was a Category 5 hurricane. But what he remembers is this loud noise as he's inside, and so it might help you picture what it might have been like for Noah and his family as the storm approached, as they could hear the sounds approaching.

I know that some of you have been to the ark in northern Kentucky, and I've heard from you that they have simulated what it might have sounded like on the inside with all the noise, and it would have been terrifying.

But Noah and his family and all these animals were shut in. They were secure as God's judgment on the earth was shown by sending this deluge of water. Now, I will come back to what I said last week, right now.

In John 10, 9, it says that Jesus is the door, and that any who enter by him may be saved. So we can't just see this as physical deliverance here. This whole story is pointing to something more than just physical deliverance.

It's pointing to a spiritual message. The Bible always has a spiritual message, because this is God's word to mankind. And God's judgment will once again come to this earth, and it's not going to come by water.

It's going to come by fire, as 2 Peter 3, 7 says, as I read in the opening this morning. And that will be quite a wake-up call for those who are living at that time. And you know what? It could be in our lifetime.

Jesus could come back at any time. The day of the Lord is not a specific day. Like it's one day. The day of the Lord is a time period. The day of the Lord means the end. It means the end of the world.

All the events that lead up to the return of Christ, and then the return of Christ itself, and then the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. But it is a fearful thing to not be allied with God when this day comes.

But for those who belong to Jesus, you will be safe. And today, you who are here, who belong to Jesus, you are safe. You are secure. By taking refuge in him, you will go to heaven when you die. And you will not face God's wrath in hell.

And if you're here on earth when this future judgment comes, you are safe as well. Remember, God sent this flood because he was not going to put up with this wickedness on earth forever. He is just, and therefore he was right to judge the world by sending the flood.

And he's right to judge anyone of us who doesn't belong to Jesus Christ. And if you do not enter the door, that door being Jesus, you are not safe. Just as those in the days of Noah who were taken away by the water.

And I don't say this because I just want to scare you. I say this because this is the truth. And I say this because I want to warn you that you must be secure in Christ. You must enter this door. And my prayer is that everyone in this room will be shut in by the Lord to Christ.

So that you are secure forever. If you belong to Jesus, you can hold on to this promise of God's firm grip over your soul. One of my favorite verses is John 10, 27 through 30. My favorite verses list keeps getting longer because I think I say that every week.

But it says, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. The Father who is greater than all has given them to me.

And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. That's the promise of the word of God. If you belong to Jesus, you have that security. As a child of God, you can have that confidence. This is the second way that the global flood shows us God's judgment and provision of the world.

His judgment by water. The third and final way that the global flood shows us God's judgment and provision is the completeness of the judgment accompanied with hope. The completeness of the judgment accompanied with hope.

Now we get back to the flood account and we see the picture of God's just judgment. Verses 17 and 18. The flood continued 40 days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark and it rose high above the earth.

The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth. And the ark floated on the face of the waters. As the waters came on the earth, the waters began to rise. Just imagine the waters rising. Some of you maybe have seen a flood where you can't even see the signs on the road anymore because the waters have gone so high.

Sometimes you can't even see a house because they get so high. It's a frightening sight. So as the waters rise, the ark is rising with it. In order for the ark to withstand the strong force of the currents and the waves crashing against it, this needed to be well built.

So we know that Noah was an excellent craftsman to be able to put all of this together. And if you are wondering how high the waters rose, the answer is very high. Very high. With modern day floods, people who are on higher ground are safe.

If the St. Croix were to flood over, we would be safe up here because we're on high enough ground. But here, there's nowhere to go. There's no safety. You can go on the highest mountain and you're not safe.

Verse 19 tells us this. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. When God created the earth, he created it for his glory. And mountains are meant to display his glory.

When you see a mountain, you think, wow, look at that mighty strength. That's meant to point to God, to his strength, to his power. But when God first created them, they would not have been as high as they are today.

The flood did that. What happened is that during the flood, the tectonic plates below the ground shifted, pushing the land to be much higher than it was before. Now this is fascinating. Animal fossils have actually been found on the Himalayas.

The Himalayas are the largest mountain range in the world, located in Asia. Mount Everest is one of the mountains, and it's 32 ,000 feet above sea level. So I ask the question, how could fossils have gotten on top of mountains like the Himalayas unless something violently placed them there?

It makes perfect sense that a flood has occurred on this earth. I mentioned in the introduction that most of the fossils that we see today are because of the flood. And what would have happened is, in that part of the world, India would have crashed into Asia, which would have pushed the mountains up even higher.

And I was talking to one of my friends about this this week, and he said that the Himalaya mountains at one time would have actually been even smaller than the Appalachian mountains, which are in the eastern part of the United States, about 10 ,000 feet high peaks.

So you can see how planet Earth was completely changed from the flood. It would be unrecognizable if we were to look at a map before the flood and a map after the flood. It's completely different, and the flood did all of this.

So the evidence is all around us. You just need to look to see it. And what these verses are indicating is the certainty of this judgment. Unless one is on the ark, it is impossible for anyone to survive.

Verse 19 mentions that the mountains were covered by water, and verse 20 says by how much they were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them 15 cubits deep. 15 cubits equals 20 feet.

So if you were to fly a plane over the earth at this time, you wouldn't be able to see anything. Water covered the highest point. And that's what the author is highlighting here. And everything was wiped out, verse 21, and all flesh died that moved on the earth.

Birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarmed on the earth, and all mankind. Sometimes the word all in the Bible, in an all language, may refer to a group of people, but not everyone. Some have tried to explain here that the flood was not a global flood, but actually a regional flood.

But the text in no way suggests that. The whole text is suggesting, no, this is the entire planet. Because nobody is spared. The word all is mentioned numerous times. It's actually mentioned eight times in this context.

And the last two mention everything and every creature. Verse 22, everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. And then verse 23, 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. And notice here how fish are not mentioned. I mentioned this last week. As God destroys the earth with water, only the land animals perish. Fish have fins, they don't have lungs, and so they breathe just fine in water.

But the emphasis here is that these words could not be more certain. Everyone perished. The rest of the text details the only survivors. The second half of verse 23, only Noah was left and those who were with him on the ark.

Okay, so the only survivors, Noah, his wife, the six other family members, and two of every kind of animal. Seven pairs of the clean and only one pair of the non-clean animals. Those are the ones who made it on the ark.

And so I mentioned that this judgment here, if we just say judgment, we've missed a major theme here, and the theme here is hope. Hope accompanies judgment because there is a future for the human race.

I remind you what I said a few weeks back. Through Noah's line would eventually come Jesus who would save the world from their sins. Anyone who believes in Jesus will be safe with God forever. So God has a glorious future for the human race.

And he knows that and he preserves it so that this future would happen. And think about it today. We have over 7 billion people on the planet. And that happened from 8 people starting all over. We have 7 billion people who cover the globe.

Now this widespread judgment led to the waters staying around a long time. Verse 24 mentions this. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. In America we had a flood that happened recently in Houston.

It was a big flood. The waters stayed at a high level, I think about a week. And then they began to subside. But here the waters covered the earth 150 days. That's 5 months. That's almost 2 seasons. That's almost half a year.

So this shows how massive the destruction was. So this is a passage I can't sugarcoat. This is ugly. All mankind, all animals wiped out. This is a complete annihilation of all flesh on the earth. This is the third way that the global flood shows us God's judgment and provision of the world.

The completeness of the judgment accompanied with hope. The hope of preserving the human race and animals and God's plan of an incredible future for humanity. That starts with Noah and eventually leads to Jesus.

Where Jesus is the hope of the world. He is the savior of the world. When he died on the cross and was raised from the dead, that if we believe in him we have eternal life. The global flood shows us God's judgment and his provision of the world.

And we saw three ways. The Lord's careful instructions to Noah. The Lord's judgment by water. And the completeness of this judgment accompanied with hope. All of this happened because mankind plunged into deeper and deeper darkness.

The sins were many and violence was rampant all over the earth. Because of mankind's sinfulness, God was right to do what he did. God is right in all of his judgments, including deciding to send a flood on the earth.

And so how does this impact your life? Well, I've already explained this. The application is what I mentioned earlier and what I mentioned last week. Are you secure? Are you in Jesus Christ? Because if you are secure, then you're ready for what is coming on this earth.

If you look at the world we live in, there's so much evil. But God is not going to let this go on forever. Just like he didn't let it go on forever, we can sometimes presume upon his mercy, upon his patience.

And we need to recognize that there's an event in world history that points that judgment will come. And the Lord of all the earth does right. And if you're here today and you don't know Jesus Christ and you might say, Well, how do I become a Christian?

How do I enter safely into Jesus? You pray. You ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your life. You say, Lord Jesus, I know that you died on the cross for my sins. I know that you were raised from the dead.

And I invite you to come into my life to forgive me so that I am safe and I am secure in you. John 3 .16 says, For God so loved the world that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

So that when you believe in Jesus, you have this security with God forever. He has this future hope of heaven with him forever. So let us thank God for our refuge, our safety, our ark, Jesus Christ. The Lord spares his people as he spared Noah.