Chapter 7: And the LORD Shut Him In

Being a thesis on a very specific objective, to define the fundamentals of Biblical Christianity, we will not discuss every verse in the Bible. We will pick up our discussion in Genesis 6:9, and read portions of the next several chapters to demonstrate our hopelessness to save ourselves before the creator God, and how He saved a man named Noah.

Genesis 6:9-22: These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. (10) And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (11) The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. (12) And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

(13) And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (14) Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. (15) And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. (16) A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. (17) And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. (18) But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. (19) And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. (20) Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. (21) And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. (22) Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Let us examine some of the themes we see in this portion of the Scriptures.

1. Noah was just, perfect, and walked with God. These are very noble terms to describe a man (Genesis 6:9). Noah was born in sin like everybody else. However, by these terms we can see that he was a man, like Abel, who believed the promises of God concerning the coming Savior. Noah knew of his sin, and knew that God had to save him from his sin.
   
   By “just” the Bible means that this Noah was righteous. As with Abel, he was declared righteous and perfect only because of his trusting in God. Moreover, Noah “walked with God.” We see that this righteous man was close with God. Elsewhere in the Bible, Noah is referred to as a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), meaning he was exhorting others to trust in God’s promises, or there would be a great judgment upon them.
2. Noah had three sons. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Genesis 6:10). Ham was the youngest of the three (Genesis 9:24), and Japheth was the oldest (Genesis 10:21). Shem is listed first, as he is the one from where the line of the Savior will derive.
3. The world was filled with violence and corrupt. We see that the world “was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11). God hates violence. When humanity is left to its own without God, we see that it devolves into the most sordid state. In another part of the Bible, we see how that, without God, people...

   Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. (Romans 1:29-32)

   Before we proceed with the discussion, do not think for a moment that we as human beings have changed in the slightest. Look in the mirror: the above passage is you and me apart from the grace of God. Given the right circumstances, and apart from the mercy of God, any one of us can turn into this. “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth” (Psalm 11:5).
   
   The world was “corrupt” (Genesis 6:12). It was anarchy, and had decayed into a very miserable place. It had become a place where God knew that there was no hope for humanity to trust in Him. The promises of God were folly to them. Except for Noah, every single person was violent and corrupt.
   
   Also notice that “the earth was filled with violence.” The population of the world was not merely in the hundreds or even in the thousands. If the earth was “filled,” that means that people were everywhere, covering the whole face of the earth.
4. God would destroy the earth with everyone in it. The world had reached a point of no return. God knew that nobody was going to trust in Him, and there was nothing to do to save them. God was going to destroy the world with everything in it (Genesis 6:13). He was going to do this by sending flood waters upon the earth (Genesis 6:17).
5. God provided a way for Noah and his family to be saved. God commanded Noah to build an ark, which is an archaic word for “box.” So this giant box was going to serve as a boat to protect Noah and his family from the coming flood. God had very specific instructions on how it was to be built. This giant ark was how God was going to preserve Noah, his family, and a pair of each of the land animals.
6. Noah obeyed God and built the ark exactly as God had specified. Noah did exactly as he was told (Genesis 6:22). If Noah had not trusted God and did not do exactly according to the specifications, the boat could have sunk, not have been big enough, or any number of disasters. Noah had to trust that God knew better than he did, and that God, who is perfect and good, was his only hope to be saved from judgment.

Let us read further about what happened:

Genesis 7:10-8:4: 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.

(8:1) And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; (2) The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; (3) And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. (4) And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

1. God had said there would be a flood, and there was. When God promises something it always comes to pass. The flood came from above and from beneath. Recall that in Genesis 2:5-6, there was an implication that it had never rained before.
2. Noah, his family, and the animals all went into the ark. Noah did all that he was told, trusting God to save him from the flood.
3. The LORD shut him in. Noah and the rest entered into the ark, but it was God Himself who shut them all in. Once He closed the door, nobody was getting off, and nobody else was getting on. The salvation of Noah’s family was sealed, and the damnation of the world was sealed. Just as when Adam and Eve were thrown out of the garden and God had placed His angels at the entrance to keep them out, the people of the world could not enter into the ark by the door that God had closed.
4. The flood was a global flood and destroyed all land animals and people outside of the ark. This flood was not any localized flood, but rather covered the entire world (see Genesis 7:19-20). It was not merely pouring rain, but we see fountains of water also erupted from beneath the surface of the earth. All of the floods and landslides in history do not compare to what happened in those days.
5. God remembered Noah. God knows everything, and is all-powerful and perfect. God had not forgotten Noah; rather this was a way to say that God was about to fulfill His promise to deliver Noah and his family from the flood waters. With a strong wind passing over the earth, the waters of the flood were subdued.
   
   If you remember correctly, we saw earlier how “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2), after the time where Lucifer possibly rebelled against God. The word “wind” in Genesis 8:1 is the same word as the word for “Spirit” in the Hebrew language, the original language in which this part of the Bible was written. Just as the Spirit of God was subduing the waters after judgment upon Satan, God made a wind to pass over the judgment waters, and was about to make a clean start with the human race. The ark eventually sat atop the mountains of Ararat, in modern day eastern Turkey.

After Noah and his family got off of the ark, God made a covenant with them and made them a great promise:

Genesis 9:8-11: And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, (9) And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; (10) And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. (11) And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

Noah believed that God would send the floodwaters, and that he had to build the ark according to God’s directions. Noah was a sinner deserving the same judgment as the rest of the world, but he trusted God’s promises. Because he sought God and trusted in him, he was considered “a just man and perfect in his generations” (Genesis 6:9) and “found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8). God therefore kept His promise to save Noah and his family.

God promised that He would never again destroy the world by a flood. When God makes a promise, He always keeps it. Millennia later, we see that no global flood has ever come again upon the world. There have been plenty of floods, but never one that destroyed in such a wide scope as this one. We do know, however, that God again will destroy the world, but in that day, it will be by fire (Revelation 20:14-15). As Noah believed God that He would judge the world, and moved in faith to build an ark that would keep him safe, we also need to believe God that He can save us from the lake of fire. We will see how God provided a way of salvation.

Next: Chapter 8: He Was Wounded for Our Transgressions

Previous: Chapter 6: And the LORD Had Respect

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