Wednesday 03/22/17
Message – Noah & the Flood
Series: Thru the Bible – Genesis 6-8
Podcast: Download (115.8MB)
Worksheet – HERE.
Genesis 6:9-7
“Noah was a JUST man”
- JUST = Conformity to a given standard.
- Blameless = It would be hard to have found fault with Noah, given the current understanding of righteous behavior.
Righteousness and Justice – As we have already discussed. Righteousness and Justice as WE understand them was NOT the standard from the fall to the law or as Romans puts it from Adam to Moses.
Rom. 5:14, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
That is why you have “righteous people” doing unlawful, ungodly things. They had no idea what ‘godly’ looked like.
The law was called “the Torah” which means “the mark”. The word “Sin” means “to miss the mark” or “to miss the standard of God’s character outlined and illustrated in the law”…but where there is no mark to hit – sin is not accounted AS sin.
Rom 4:15b, “…for where there is no law there is no transgression.”
The full quote from above in Romans 5 is this,
Rom 5:12-14,
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (13) (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (14) Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
An overly simplistic way of understanding this is that people were committing acts which bring death for generations before they understood A leads to B which brings C. So even though sin still brought the consequence of death, God did not hold sin against them because they had no knowledge. In our Kingdom, ignorance IS an excuse – just not a good one!
So as long as man offered sacrifice in faith, didn’t murder and did what was best in their own eyes it was accounted to them for righteousness.
IMPORTANT NOTE which effects this study of the pre-flood world:
God through His people and His word, has Had a profound impact on the morality of the entire world.
Anyone who doubts this need only to look at the morality of man outside of the influence of the law.
Before humanity had the law and even today in cultures where it has been more than a generation since they heard it, even people who loved God and had a desire to do what was right committed acts, which by today’s standards even among the lost, is viewed as reprehensible.
The entrance of His Word gives LIGHT and it HAS in fact brought a bright light into the world.
Right now we are in a time where people’s lusts for having their own way, has compelled them to lay aside the Justice outlined in God’s word, and as a result they have set aside the provisions for safeties that spring out of that Justice, and they do this just to be able to enjoy their particular brand of sin without restraints.
It is literally a type of moral insanity!
How does this apply to our study on the flood?
Jesus said statements like this, “You are the light of the world” “If you were of the world – the world would love it’s own, but you are NOT of the world, therefore the world will hate you even as it hated me.”
John 3:18-20,
“(18) He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (19) And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (20) For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”
(V9) Noah WALKED with God
Just like Enoch. The word “walked with” could be translated “flowed with” since it is used that way with water to indicate the idea of movement.
Q> When we use “flowed” with rather than walked with what new thoughts about their relationship spring to mind?
(v11) The earth was corrupt
Meaning spoiled, perverted, ruined and wiped out morally. (The Flood then was the physical manifestation of their inward corruption). The punishment met the crime!
Filled with violence = Meaning cruelty and injustice.
(v13) God speaks to Noah
“The space of time for all flesh has come before Me” – THIS may be a reference to the 120 years we talked about before. It may simply mean that man’s wickedness had reached it’s tipping point.
“I will ruin, destroy and wipe out both them and the earth” So not only was all of evil mankind destroyed, something about the earth would never be the same. It would be ruined.
(v14) Gopher wood covered with pitch
This may be a type of wood or a way of processing wood.
- If it is a type of wood it is probably from a type of Cypress tree.
- If it is a process then it would have been a type of laminating process. Lamination is the technique of manufacturing a material in multiple layers, so that the composite material achieves improved strength, stability, sound insulation, appearance or other properties from the use of differing materials. A laminate is a permanently assembled object by heat, pressure, welding, or adhesives.
Pitch is essentially a type of tar similar to asphalt. Crude bitumen is easily obtained in the right areas and has the consistency of cold molasses. Refined bitumen can be obtained simply by heating it to about 977 degrees F. We know they had the ability since they were making things with brass which must be heated to 1652-1724 degrees F.
(v15) Sizing up the ark, it’s passengers and cargo
- 547’ long / 91’2” wide / 47’ 2” high.
- Each deck was nearly 50,000 square feet (an actual football field (not including end zones is about 48,000 square feet) – so 3 of those!
- Each floor was nearly 12.5 times larger than the entire floor space of this house!
- Estimated weight is between 4k-6k tons.
- It’s estimated carrying capacity is about 15k tons or 32 million lbs.
- Had 3 total internal stories with many rooms.
- Was vented with a type of window at the top which presumably ran the entire length of the boat. The word translated window is usually translated as noonday – broad, daylight. Later in 8:6 Noah is said to OPEN this “light” so it is typically understood as a window which could be opened and shut.
- Was designed for floating NOT sailing.
- Due to shape and construction it is estimated to have been capable of surviving 3x the intensity of hurricane force winds – without danger of capsizing.
- Two of every bird, cattle and creeping thing. (In other words all flying and land-dwelling animals).
- Two of every – with no qualifiers. So this is most likely referring to sub-families. We determine this based upon the lists of animals given in Leviticus. Ironically “science” makes this more difficult because taxology is based upon morphology and NOT the closure of the gene pool. In the end the most conservative figure of necessary animals on the Ark would be about 2,000 and the most liberal being about 16,000 – BOTH of which the Ark could easily accommodate.
- IF no animals hibernated or entered into any form of suspended animation then a fair approximation of 4 million liters of water would have been necessary for the entire voyage. This would weigh about 8,800,000lbs (which is about a 1/4th the total carrying capacity of the Ark).
- It is very likely that the amount needed would be MUCH less due to torpor and hibernation.
- Of the 375 days they were in the Ark only 40 days were stormy, during an additional 110 days water increased upon the earth but may not have caused much turbulence and the remaining 225 were relatively calm.
- SO at very least 225 of the days, the upper portion of the flood waters would have had less than 5ppt of salinity – our government defines fresh water as 1,000 ppm salinity. SO the needed amount of on board water “may have been” much less.
- Hibernation, torpor and reduced feeding…ALL animals will enter into a state of lowered activity where they will eat FAR less than normal when less food is available. Many animals (including mammals and marsupials) will go dormant from a day at a time to weeks between times of activity and eating. With 8 people on the Ark and a fair estimate of 4,000 animals to care for – a daily feeding regimen would not exceed 250-500 animals daily per person and was MOST likely considerably less than this!
(v17-18) God claims responsibility for the flood judgment and promises to establish His covenant with Noah
(v19-22) General instructions for animals and food.
Chapter 7
(v1) Call to the Ark
You and household because “I have seen” that YOU are righteous before me in this generation.
(v2-4) 7 clean and 2 of unclean in a week’s time
- This “MAY” mean each 1 – represents 2. So this may be 14 clean and 4 unclean. OR 3 pairs of clean with one additional male for sacrifice, though the former is most likely given the wording in verse 3, “also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth.”
- They will come to him – (6:20) A divinely inspired migration. (Is it any wonder than animals have an instinctive awareness of approaching storms?)
- Ironically MOST animals died because of man’s disobedience NOT their own.
- Isa. 1:3, “The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not consider”
(v5) A testament to a life well lived
Gen 7:5, “And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him.”
(v6-10) All aboard!
(v11) Precise date
- Began – 600 2nd month 17th day
Notice what happened…
- ALL of the fountains of the great deep were broken open and the windows of heaven were opened!
(v16) God shut HIM in
(v17-23) The Scope & Duration of the flood
This was a GLOBAL FLOOD….everybody say it with me “GLOBAL FLOOD”. There is absolutely no way to hold the word of God with any degree of integrity at all and claim this to be anything smaller than a total global event which covered the highest mountains at the time with 25+ feet of water!
“And the mountains were covered”
This took a lot of water, but there is plenty of water on the earth today to do this – but because of the topography of the earth, the water is collected into oceans. If the earth were a perfect sphere, the oceans would cover the land to a depth of two-and-a-half to three miles.
Before the flood, the earth was definitely one large landmass with mountains being considerably smaller than they are today. Following the flood there was MUCH tectonic upheaval. Entire continents hydroplaned on massive layers of water until the water was depleted or until one landmass collided with another. When this happened the land buckled and created HUGE mountain ridges which correspond to the deep ocean gulfs and ridges.
Also if this had been a local flood then God lied because…
- He presents it as a global flood
- He said it would never happen again and local floods of colossal proportions have happened MANY times since the flood.
- If this were not a global flood, then the ark itself would have been unnecessary. In 100 years Noah could have easily walked to where the flood waters would not have prevailed.
- If this were only a local flood, the Bible is wrong when it traces all of humanity back to Noah’s sons and other passages that speak of a universal flood such as in Psalm 104:5-9 and 2Peter 3:5-6).
One thing you will find once you begin to accept compromise into the reading of God’s word is that inconsistencies begin to crop up everywhere and you need more lies to cover your first one.
Literally hundreds of people groups have their own accounts and legends of the flood. One of the most remarkable is the Babylonian account, which is similar to the Genesis account in many ways and is clearly drawn from it. Since all mankind came from Noah’s sons, all mankind remembers the flood.
You can specifically cite
- the legends of the Samo-Kubo tribe of New Guinea
- the Athapascan Indians of America
- the Papago Indians of Arizona
- Brazilian tribes
- Peruvian Indians
- African Hottentots
- natives of Greenland
- native Hawaiian islanders
- Hindus
- Chinese
- Egyptians
- Greeks
- Persians
- Australian natives
- the Welsh
- Celts
- Druids
- Siberians
- Lithuanians
- …etc.
For accounts of a global flood which destroyed the earth and mankind.
Of the more than 200 cultures that have their own account of the flood the following aspects of the story are common:
- 88% describe a favored family
- 70% attribute survival to a boat
- 95% say the sole cause of the catastrophe is a flood
- 66% say that the disaster is due to man’s wickedness
- 67% record that animals are also saved
- 57% describe that the survivors end up on a mountain
- Many of the accounts also specifically mention birds being sent out, a rainbow, and eight persons being saved
The Flood
- Began – on the 17th day of the 2nd month of the 600th year of Moses’ life
- Ended – on the 601 yr. 1st month – 1st day of the month.
- They Exited the Ark – on the 601 yr. 2nd month – 27th day of the month.
- Total time on the Ark was 1 year and 10 days or 375 days!
Chapter 8
(v13) coverings – possibly animal skins. Same wording as in Exodus 26:14 for the coverings of the tabernacle which were made from animal skins.
(v20) 1st thing Noah did was offer sacrifice to the Lord
(v21)
“It was soothing to the Lord! Then He said within His Own heart “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; not will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
…Blessings!
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Blessings!
