Noah's Ark (Genesis Chapters 7-9 The Flood Part 1)

The Flood as a Picture of the Gospel and Baptism

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Did you know that the story of the flood and Noah's Ark is actually a picture of the gospel and even baptism?

It's true. Go ahead and turn to Genesis chapter 7. We're going to be looking at chapters 7 through 9 this morning. And it's interesting, this idea that a flood once destroyed the earth, this is found in many different cultures.

The Native Americans have their flood story. It's found in ancient civilizations in South America and in Africa. Islam has their version of it. This idea is found in Hinduism, also in Chinese mythology and even Greek mythology.

So if civilizations all over the world have a similar story, you might think to yourself, huh, maybe this actually happened. Maybe it's all based on an actual event. And of course, as Christians, we do believe that the flood actually occurred.

And here's what people sometimes miss, because normally this is a Sunday school lesson. It's directed at children. It's all about the animals being brought on the ark two by two. And people miss the main point that to date, this is the clearest expression.

The flood is the clearest expression of God's wrath anywhere in the Bible. But thankfully, along with that judgment story, there is also alongside of it a story of grace and deliverance. So before we begin reading, remember how things ended last time in Genesis chapter six.

The godly line of Seth began to intermarry with the ungodly line of Cain. And over time, the earth became totally corrupt. Men became so violent and things got so bad that the Lord decided he would start over.

And in chapter six, it tells us that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So God tells Noah his plan. He makes a covenant with him to take the animals, both male and female of all the species onto the boat.

And afterward, the purpose of that is so that once they got off the ark, life could continue as normal. But as far as humans go, Noah and his family would be the only ones that were spared. So with that as background, let's look at Genesis chapter seven, verses one through five.

It says, 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 of each of the animals that are unclean, a male and his female.

Now, the instruction to bring more of the clean animals was likely for the purpose of sacrifice. Verse three, 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 40 days and 40 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.

Verse 11 says, in the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, the 17th 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 40 days and 40 nights.

Now, I forget whether or not we touched on this already, but if you read the first few chapters of Genesis, it's clear that prior to the flood, rain was not a thing. Genesis chapter two, verses five and six says that the Lord had not caused it to rain upon the earth.

Rather, a mist came up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. So it was these fountains of the deep that were broken up, likely when the continents were separated. We'll talk about that more in a moment.

But the water didn't just come from above. It also came from below. And remember, back in chapter one, on day two of creation, God had separated the waters. There were the waters above and the waters below.

And he set the firmament in the midst. So the fountains of the deep, that's the waters below, they were broken up and then the windows of heaven were opened. So this is more than just normal rain. The waters above or the canopy of water that filled the atmosphere or was above the atmosphere, it all emptied out onto the earth.

That is how there was enough water to flood the entire world. We talked about this before, how originally when the earth was created, before the flood, this was a completely different place. The landscape, the environment, completely different.

So the flood is drastically changing the entire planet. Second Peter chapter three, verse six, talks about how the world that then existed perished. Another thing, how many of you have looked at a globe or a map of the earth?

And you can see how some of the continents, it almost looks like a puzzle, like puzzle pieces. South America can fit into Africa. And you can see how, yeah, it looks like they probably all once joined together.

There's only one continent. Yeah, that's especially true with South America and Africa. So it's likely the continents were all together as one continent and then at this time broke up. And here's the thing.

Modern atheistic scientists, they agree with that, that this probably happened. They just believe that it happened over billions of years. They believe this because they refuse to accept the possibility of an almighty God who sent a cataclysmic judgment because of man's sin.

That's the one thing they cannot accept. Because if they accept that, if that's true, then that has implications on the way we should live. And man, if there's one thing that's true, it's that natural man does not want anyone, nevertheless God, telling him how to live.

People want to live life based on their own terms. So what has man done? Because mankind knows inherently that there is a God and man knows also that he is guilty. So the atheists and the unbelievers have basically come up with this myth of evolution and the Big Bang as a way to try to escape their guilt.

If you think about it, Christians and atheists, if you'll bear with me for just a moment, Christians and atheists actually agree on many things. You probably never heard a preacher say that before. But atheists and Christians agree on some things.

We both agree there was a time when the universe didn't exist. We both agree that there was a time when there were no human beings on the earth. We agree there was probably at one point only one continent and now there's seven.

The difference between us and them is how you get from there to here. We say that the universe didn't exist until God created it. They say the universe didn't exist until it exploded into being in the Big Bang.

I don't doubt there was a Big Bang. I just question how long ago it happened and what caused it. We say that God created man 6 ,000 years ago in the Garden of Eden. They say that man evolved over millions and millions of years.

We say God changed the landscape of the earth in a sudden, more cataclysmic manner. They say that it just happened slowly over time. The other thing that we both agree on, although they may not want to admit it, we both agree that man is guilty.

We both agree that man is deeply flawed. We seek forgiveness from God through Jesus Christ. They seek to escape their guilt by denying that God even exists. Or these days there's postmodernism where they deny that there is no such thing as absolute truth.

There's really no such thing as right and wrong. So they try to wiggle out of their guilt that way. So in that sense, we actually agree with the way things were and to some extent the way things are. Again, it's just a matter of how you get from point A to point Z.

Noah in the Ark as a Picture of Christ

So what's happening here in Genesis? Things are radically changing. The earth's crust is breaking up. The canopy of water in the atmosphere is emptying out. The day that these things began to happen, look at verse 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, they entered the ark. And then the detail is given in verse 16. It says that the Lord shut him in.

So if you haven't seen the connection by now, Noah and his family being in the ark, being saved from God's wrath and judgment in the flood, this is a picture of the gospel and how we can be saved through God's judgment if we are in Christ.

So being in the ark is symbolic for being in Christ. Here's what we should all understand by now. The Old Testament is all about Jesus. The things we read about in the Old Testament, these are types and shadows.

Christ is the substance. For example, the animal, thou has sacrificed to clothe Adam and Eve in the garden. That was a picture of the Lamb of God slain to take away the sin of the world. Adam himself, Christ is called the last Adam.

And now Christ is being pictured by the ark. Even the water represents baptism. You say, well, how is that? Well, in 1 Peter 2, or excuse me, 1 Peter 3, verses 20 and 21, Peter, speaking of the flood, he writes, eight souls were saved through water, and there is also an antitype which now saves us, baptism.

Now that's a big subject, another sermon for another day, but the connection obviously is water. So an antitype is something that resembles something else, water being the connection. Okay, look at verses 17, starting in verse 17 of Genesis 7.

It says, now the flood was on the earth 40 days, and the waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. Just one quick note, the number 40 in the Bible represents a time of testing, something like a probationary period, if you think about it.

The children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. Jesus was tempted by the devil after fasting in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights. And now it has rained on the earth 40 days and 40 nights.

Verse 19 says, and the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed 15 cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. So not only does it say all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered, it goes on to say that every living creature on the earth died.

So again, the flood is the most clear example anywhere in the scripture, at least to date, of the wrath of God. The point of that last verse that we read, and the point I want to stress, this is a global flood.

The entire earth, everything living on the whole earth died. Now, liberal scholars have tried to make it out that no, no, no, this was just a localized flood. It only affected this one area in the Middle East.

Well, that's problematic for several reasons. Number one, it denies the plain reading of the text. If it was a localized flood, there'd be no need to take the animals on board. They would have just lived on and existed elsewhere all over the earth.

At this time, well, Noah could have just migrated. It took a long time to build the ark. Noah could have just migrated to another region. He didn't have to build the boat. But the biggest evidence, the strongest support of a worldwide flood, what did God do?

After the flood was over, he set the rainbow in the sky, and that was a sign of the covenant that God would never again flood the earth again. What's the promise? He would never again bring a worldwide flood.

Because we've certainly had floods. So, if this is a localized flood, the promise and the rainbow, it just doesn't make any sense. So, here's the point. God's judgment came upon the whole world, just as the curse back in Genesis chapter 3 came upon the whole world.

And the thing that we're concerned about today is the gospel, that Jesus Christ died for the sins of what? The whole world, not just for one people group on the other side of the earth. Thanks for listening.

I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, with the grace of God, be with you.