1.
And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
2.
Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
3.
Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
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.
5.
And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
OBEDIENCE TO GOD
‘Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.’
Genesis 7:5
‘Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him.’ A world goes to wreck. Sin ruins rapidly. Sin is death. Only one family is fit to survive, and that not on account of known excellence in the family, but in the head, and he far from perfect.
I. The one saving element left in the world is Noah’s obedience to God. Therein lies the possibility of his being taken out of the catastrophic ruin, and of his taking others with him. This is the last lingering conformity to conditions of best existence left in the world. His obedience is based on a prodigious faith. He spends vast sums and one hundred and twenty years building, on land, such a ship as was never known, for seas never seen. He was to gather animals and food, was to enter himself, and be shut in from the storm, when as yet the sky was clear.
II. What way had men of knowing God’s will then, that we have not to-day? None that prevented the exercise of a supreme faith. And the faith of the ancient worthies left unreached the better things reserved for ours. Did their faith ever compass the eternal salvation of the families of the whole earth? Noah’s faith only reached to the temporal salvation of one family. Could not the ark that saved beasts have saved more than eight persons, if Noah could have asked for them? God is always ready to do more than we can ask, or even think.
III. What a wonder that God should take such pains to save eight grains of wheat from a world full of chaff! The bruised reed He will not break. God’s plans are infinite; it is not to be expected that we should understand, but His agencies are omnipotent, hence we can obey. Luther said he would rather obey than work miracles. But whoever obeys does work miracles; for ‘God’s biddings are enablings.’ Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.
Illustration
(1) ‘The moral of this whole story of Noah is very evident. This history enforces the necessity of instant repentance and obedience to the commands of God. Now is the day of salvation. God will not wait always. Eternity calls. Events are rushing on, and men are caught in their rush. Destiny must be decided now. Time flies. The Judgment is coming. Yet still the door of mercy is open. Enter into the ark.’
(2) ‘We want faith not only to stand against evil, but to enter the Ark of Safety. This we do when we come to Jesus Christ, and give ourselves right up to Him, in an act of complete self-surrender. To have been outside the ark, even if seeing it and touching it, would have been of no avail when the Flood came. Another day of retribution is coming. The wrath of God will again be revealed against all unrighteousness. Flee to the one Ark of Safety. A man to whom a Bible had for the first time been given, eagerly read it. Turning to his wife he said: “Wife, if this Book be true, we are lost.” Then he read it for days more earnestly than before, till he exclaimed, “Wife, if this Book be true, we may be saved!” ’
6.
And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7.
And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8.
Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9.
There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10.
And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12.
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13.
In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14.
They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15.
And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16.
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
17.
And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
18.
And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19.
And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20.
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21.
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22.
All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23.
And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
24.
And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.