Flood of the Whole Earth Part 3 Gen. 7:4-24

Introduction

The first major event of the Bible was the foundation of the whole world. God created the world in 6 literal 24 hour days and then rested on the 7th. The pinnacle of creation was day 6 when God formed man with his hands in the image of God and then breathed life into him and made him a living soul, then God took a rib from the man and made him an help meet and God gave man dominion over everything that was created. They were allowed to eat anything in the Garden except for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

This leads to the second major event of the Old testament which is the fall of all mankind in Adam. One day as Eve is walking through the garden and Satan comes to her as a serphant and convinces her to doubt the goodness of God and she eats of the forbidden fruit and then she gives the fruit to Adam and he eats it and immediately their eyes were opened to the good and evil of the world. They try to hide from God, but the fail to realize they can’t hide from God. When God gets them to come out he tells them that because of their sin that women's pain would be increased in child birth and men are going to work the cursed earth from the time they are born until they die. God also promises a redeemer who would pay for the sins of the world in his Son, Jesus Christ.

After they are kicked out of the garden they have cain and Abel. Abel brings an appropriate sacrifice to God and its accepted, while Cain brings an offering that would not be accepted. Instead of bringing an acceptable offering, he rises up against Abel and kills him. While Eve doubted the goodness of God, Cain rejected the goodness of God. Then Eve had another son named Seth, when Seth had a son the Bible tells us that man began to call upon the name of the Lord. Seth rejoiced in the goodness of God

As we began looking at the flood of the whole earth a few weeks ago we saw the condition of the inhabitants of the world, they were doing only evil continually. The perfect world that God created was marred by sin, the bible tells us that it was corrupt, or defiled and polluted. Because of the state of the inhabitants and the state of the Earth, God said he would destroy the earth.

There was one man who the Lord saw was upright and perfect in his generation. His name was Noah and God promised to save Noah on the ark along with his wife, sons and their wives.

God gave Noah the blueprint for an ark that would keep them safe from the flood waters that would come to destroy the earth as they knew it. He also gave them the plan for the animals on the ark 2 of every unclean animal and 7 of every clean animal.

Tonight we are going to look at the final preparation, the beginning of the flood, and the destruction of the world.

Final Preparation vs. 4-9

The Seven day warning vs. 4

God gave them a 7 day warning before the flood would begin vs. 4a

God tells them in 7 days it would begin raining and the rain would last 40 days and 40 nights vs. 4b

Lastly God tells them that every living thing that God had created would be destroyed off the face of the earth in those 40 days. vs. 4c

God is longsuffering towards us, but he can only defer the punishment for mans sin for so long. The time had come for him to destroy the whole world.

Noah’s final preparation vs. 5-9

Notice verse 5

Everything God had commanded Noah to do he did.

When God told him to build an ark, he did it.

When God told him to gather the animals, he did it.

When God told him to get on the ark, he did it.

This is one of the reasons God chose Noah to get on the ark, he did what God had asked him to.

If we want God to use us to do big things for him we must be faithful in the small things.

Noah was faithful in ALL the things God had told him to do, and we should be as well!

Noah was 600 years old when the flood came.

During the pre-flood world the average age was much higher than the average age after the flood.

ex. Noah lived 950 years Abraham lived 175 years

During those 7 days Noah moved in his wife and his sons and their wives. He also moved in all the animals that God had commanded to go on the ark.

The Flood Begins vs. 10-16

In verse number 10 we see that the waters of the flood were coming to earth.

God had given two warnings of the coming flood

120 years Genesis 6:3 “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”

7 days Genesis 7:4 “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.”

What God had told Noah would happen was happening.

The Bible tells us that the fountains of the great deep were opened up

Part of the flood waters would have come up from the ground.

The Bible also tells us that the windows of heaven were opened as well

Water came from the ground and the sky and that would continue for 40 days and 40 nights.

The same day the rain started is when Noah and his family and animals would enter the ark.

As they finished up getting into the ark the Bible tells us the Lord shut them in

There was only one entrance into the ark and that was the door that the Lord shut after they were in.

Jesus is the door of salvation and right now the door is open, but one day it will be too late to walk through the door because the lord is going to shut it

The Ark pictures salvation in Jesus Christ, our “Ark” of salvation. Jesus said in John 10:9 “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

What is significant about God shutting the door of the Ark? It provides a wonderful demonstration of the twin truths of man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty that we see throughout Scripture.

After God shut the door, the time of judgment arrived. Only those who had gone through the doorway would be saved; no one else could enter. Noah and his family had to obey God’s command to build and then enter the Ark for salvation—but it was God who had commanded the Ark to be built as the means of Noah’s family being saved in this time of judgment.

Nothing we can do will save us from our sin—salvation is all of God. Yet our responsibility is to go through the doorway (Jesus), and God will save us.

If you haven’t walked through the door there is still time today!

The Destruction of the world vs. 17-24

The flood was 40 days on the earth and the waters continued to increase for those 40 day

Notice the word prevailed in verse 18,19, and 24

the word prevailed here means overwhelmingly mighty

the closest thing we could compare it too would be a hurricane and the destruction that those bring. Most hurricanes bring destruction to an isolated area with some major and minor damage around it. (ex. Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans) but this water would have been over 20 feet higher than the tallest mountain at that time. Think about the destruction that much water would bring to the earth.

Not only were humans and animals drowning, but the ground would've eroded away, plants and trees would’ve been uprooted and destroyed. Mountains and hills would erode. How traumatic the flood was to the world, but God said he would destroy the earth.

The pre-flood world and post-flood world would’ve looked totally different because of the destructions of the water.

The Bible says everything that had breath in its nostrils died, nothing would survive the flood outside those in the ark.

The high intensity of the flood action continued for 150 days.

God promised to destroy the earth with water and that is exactly what he did.

Conclusion

While God promised to never again destroy the earth with water, their is a coming destruction.

There is only one way to escape that destruction and that is by entering the door of the ark by trusting in Jesus Christ and his death burial and ressurection