IT'S RAINING

Introduction

-God made a perfect creation, but sin that came into the world through rebellion corrupted all of it. Mankind’s own nature was corrupted worst of all as sin quickly took it’s hold. It took only one generation before the first murder occurred, and even though you wouldn’t think it possible, things just kept getting worse from there.

-Something happened between the Sons of God and the daughters of man (whatever in the world it might be) was the epitome of this corruption. Within ten generations from the originally created man and woman, mankind had become so bad that God said ENOUGH! The wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intention of the thoughts of his hear was only evil continually.

-God regretted that He had made man on the earth and determined to blot man off the face of the earth. But one man and his family found grace in the eyes of God. This man was not perfect. This man was not sinless. But by the work of God within him, he stood out from all of the others—through God’s grace Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah stood out from the rest.

-Even though God was going to give full vent to His wrath against humanity and its sins, God would save a remnant. God instructs Noah to build an ark—a container that would hold all those who would be saved. If we are reading things correctly, God gave the earth a 120 year warning before the destruction. But now the time has come. Mankind continued in their continued downward spiral of wickedness, and God (who is holy and just) would meet out His justice. And we pick things up from there. First, I want you to notice:

1) God Himself gives refuge

Genesis 7:1–10 ESV

1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 2 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, 3 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. 4 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.” 5 And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7 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. 8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9 two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

-God again points out Noah as unique. In the generation that was on the earth, Noah alone was righteous before God. Not sinless or perfect, but Noah has a trust in God like no others at his time. And so God tells Noah that it is time to get into the ark, and invites him to come into the ark. But Noah wasn’t going to be alone. His wife and son’s and daughters-in-law would go with him. But they too would not be alone, God would save a remnant of the land and air animals as well. This was going to be a new start. This is going to be a renewal. Noah is a new Adam and his sons and the animals would repopulate the earth after it was cleansed.

-Now you will notice that it says something interesting. Originally in chapter 6 God said something about bringing a pair of each animal, but now there is a distinction between animals and for some more than one pair would be brought on board. This is not a contradiction, as some might state it, but it is merely a move from the general order to the more specific order.

-Noah is now told to bring aboard (according to the ESV) seven pairs of clean animals. I believe the KJV and NKJV say to bring aboard seven of the clean animals instead of seven pairs. But I believe seven pairs is correct because right afterward it says the male and his mate—that’s a pair. God must have sorted this out for Noah because we aren’t really introduced to the concept of clean versus unclean animals until Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. There may have been a general awareness of what animals were clean and not, otherwise God may have just brought to Noah more clean than unclean. But either way, the clean animals would need to procreate more because it would be from them that acceptable sacrifice could be made as well as proper food could be eaten.

-So, God gives the invitation to enter the ark, and it says in v. 5 that Noah did all that God commanded. With God’s aid, Noah gets all the animals in the ark, clean and unclean, two and two. There was a seven day gap between the invitation and the beginning of the deluge. But everybody who was supposed to get on the ark got on the ark.

-But I want you to notice something—God is the one who provided the refuge from His own judgment. God was grieved and was set to blot man out of the earth, and He could have just swept everybody away in His righteous judgment, including Noah. He had every right to do so and every reason to do so. But God did not do that. God provided a place of refuge through the work of one man—Noah building an ark. The ark was a place of refuge and safety from the flood that was going to come. All who were aboard that place of refuge and safety would be saved and protected and would have their lives spared.

-I think you see where I’m going with this and the connection that is made, because this is a picture, a type, of what God would later do through Jesus Christ. The ark, the place of refuge, pictures for us the safety and security and refuge that is found in Jesus Christ. Just as in Noah’s day, God’s wrath and anger is going to run freely. For Noah it was a flood, for others it is fire.

-But God Himself provides a way of escape. God provided the ark through Noah. No one who was on the ark was ever lost. God closed the door on the ark and no one could get in or out of the ark. It was locked tight and secure. And even though the anger and wrath and judgment was let loose upon the earth, and the ark was lifted and tossed, yet everybody inside the ark had nothing to fear. God’s judgment would not touch them. God had His people in a place of refuge.

-And the same goes now for those who are in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our refuge. Right now in hell the wrath of God is in full force, and there is going to come a day when Jesus returns and all who are not in Christ will be cast into the lake of fire which is God’s place of justice for all of eternity. But those who are in Jesus Christ are safe and secure. They do not need to worry that God’s wrath will reach them. They can’t jump out and no one can pull them out, whatever might be happening on the outside, all of those who are on the inside are in the place of refuge and safety and security and will never be touched.

-That is why it is so important to be in Christ—to believe that He is God the Son, the Messiah, who died on the cross and rose from the dead, because He is our only refuge. God rightly judges the sinner. But God also provides the way of escaping His justice, because His justice was placed on another. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved. And if you are saved, then thank God for the refuge He has provided, and rest in the safety that is for all of eternity. But let’s continue the chapter:

2) The release of God’s wrath

Genesis 7:11–24 ESV

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14 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. 15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. 17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 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. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

-The flood finally comes. We are told that the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. You will notice that the water of destruction comes from below and it comes from above. Beneath the surface of the earth are numerous caverns and nooks and crannies that were places to hide much water. People always wonder where all the water would come from to cause such destruction. We couldn’t begin to fathom that it could rain so much that the land could be covered so high. But that’s because the water not only came from rain.

-I’ve always pictured it in my mind like numerous volcanoes. When a volcano erupts, the lava and smoke and ash burst forth with a great explosion and begin to cover the area. In my mind, all over the place great explosions of water burst forth from the ground, shooting water into the air and the water covering the area. I also think of when main water lines break underneath streets or wherever, and you see water shooting up and just constantly coming—except the great bursts from the deep were much bigger and stronger.

-Those in the ark were shut in by God and were ready to withstand the storm. Those outside the ark were not as blessed. When rain fell like a great storm and great explosions of water came up from the earth, I’m sure the people who had mocked Noah for so many years wished they would have listened to him.

-There has been great debate among scholars whether or not the flood was localized or if it was worldwide. Those who think it was more localized do not deny the destruction and devastation, and they do not deny that every human and creature was destroyed. In their thinking (and they are probably right about this) humans and animals had not necessarily spread throughout the entire globe yet. Humans especially were probably still isolated to what we would call the Macedonia area. So, to destroy humanity would not necessarily need a worldwide flood.

-However, v. 19 & 20 say that the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered 15 cubits. That would only be possible if the whole earth was covered by the waters. And the flood accomplished what it set out to do. In v. 21 it says that all flesh died. In v. 22 it says everything that had the breath of life died. In v. 23 it says that God blotted out every living thing.

-The rains and the bursts from the earth lasted 40 days. We complain about storms that last a few hours. Try a 40 day storm. And the earth remained covered by the flood for 150 days. I believe that many of our geological wonders were created by the flood or were an after-effect of the flood. Maybe the Grand Canyon happened because of the flood.

-But God fulfilled what He set out to do. God’s feelings toward sin have not changed. His justice will still be vented. You need to be sure you are in the place of refuge—in Christ. And we need to pray that those who mock God and mock His refuge would repent...