De-Creation and the Covenant Ark Text: Genesis 6:13-22
Introduction: The World That Was
We come now to one of the most foundational and cataclysmic events in human history. The modern mind, soaked as it is in a watery solution of uniformitarianism and skepticism, has a hard time with the Flood. It is too big, too stark, too absolute. Our age prefers its judgments to be metaphorical and its sins to be therapeutic. But the God of Scripture is not a therapeutic God; He is the Holy One of Israel. And the judgment of the Flood was not a metaphor. It was a global baptism of the world in the wrath of God.
Before we can understand the grace of the ark, we must first grapple with the reason for the de-creation. The text tells us plainly that "the earth is filled with violence." This was not a world with a few bad apples. This was a world where the entire orchard was rotten to the root. The great sin that precipitated this judgment was a profound rebellion against the created order. As we saw in the preceding verses, it was a time of perverse unions, a monstrous attempt to crash the gates of heaven and seize immortality by corrupting the very image of God in man. This was a world-wide, satanically inspired project to pollute the human race so thoroughly that the promised seed of the woman could not come. When God looked at the world He had made, He saw a genetic and spiritual monstrosity. The violence was not just man against man; it was a violent, cosmic rebellion against the Creator Himself.
And so God determined to un-make the world. The Flood is a terrifying reversal of the creation week. The waters above and the waters below, which God had separated on Day Two, were commanded to collapse back together. The dry land, which appeared on Day Three, was ordered to vanish. The creatures that filled the earth on Days Five and Six were to be blotted out. This is not just a punishment; it is a de-creation. It is God hitting the reset button on a project that had been utterly hijacked by evil. But in the midst of this righteous un-making, God remembers mercy. And that mercy has a name: Noah. And it has a shape: an ark.
This story is not just about a boat and a great deal of rain. It is about the holiness of God, the reality of judgment, the nature of covenant faithfulness, and the glorious pattern of salvation that God would fulfill completely in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. The ark is a type, a foreshadowing, of our salvation. Peter tells us plainly that the flood waters are a picture of baptism, which now saves us. We are either in the ark, which is Christ, and are saved through the waters of judgment, or we are outside the ark, and are drowned by them.
The Text
Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and you shall cover it inside and out with pitch. Now this is how you shall make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and complete it to one cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. As for Me, behold I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall breathe its last. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.” Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.
(Genesis 6:13-22 LSB)
The Divine Verdict and Sentence (v. 13, 17)
God begins by speaking to Noah, not as a consultant, but as a sovereign Judge delivering a verdict and sentence.
"Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth... As for Me, behold I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall breathe its last." (Genesis 6:13, 17)
Notice the stark finality. "The end of all flesh has come before Me." God is not reacting impulsively. He has seen, He has weighed, and He has judged. The reason is explicit: "the earth is filled with violence." The Hebrew word for violence, hamas, means more than just physical brutality. It carries the idea of corruption, injustice, and a complete breakdown of moral order. This was a world saturated with lawlessness because it was saturated with godlessness.
And God's response is one of active, personal judgment. "Behold, I am about to destroy them." And again, "Behold I am bringing the flood." God is not a passive observer of natural disasters. This flood is not a freak of nature. It is a deliberate act of divine justice. God is the one opening the windows of heaven and breaking up the fountains of the great deep. To strip God of His agency here is to turn Him into a cosmic bystander and to render the story meaningless. This is a story about God's righteous wrath against sin.
The scope of the judgment is total. "All flesh," "with the earth," "everything that is on the earth shall breathe its last." This was not a local flood in Mesopotamia, as some timid commentators suggest. A local flood does not require an ark of this magnitude to save birds. A local flood does not require a divine promise, sealed with a rainbow, never to do it again. The judgment was as global as the sin had become. God was wiping the slate clean.
The Divine Blueprint for Salvation (v. 14-16)
In the face of this universal sentence of death, God provides a very specific means of escape.
"Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and you shall cover it inside and out with pitch. Now this is how you shall make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and complete it to one cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks." (Genesis 6:14-16 LSB)
God does not give Noah a general idea. He gives him a detailed blueprint. This massive vessel, roughly 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high, was not a sleek ship for sailing but a stable barge for surviving. Its proportions are those of a modern cargo ship, designed for maximum capacity and stability. God is a master engineer.
The instructions are precise. Gopher wood, rooms or nests for the animals, and pitch inside and out. The word for pitch is the same root as the word for atonement (kaphar). Just as the pitch sealed the ark from the waters of judgment, so the atoning blood of Christ seals us from the wrath of God. The ark is a floating sanctuary, a vessel of salvation covered in a picture of atonement.
There is one window, near the top, and one door, in the side. The window looks up, toward heaven, the source of both judgment and deliverance. The single door is profoundly significant. Jesus said, "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved" (John 10:9). There are not many ways into the ark. There is one door. You are either in or you are out. There is no middle ground when the floodwaters of judgment are rising. This is a severe mercy. God provides a way, but it is His way, singular and exclusive.
The Divine Covenant and Promise (v. 18)
Here we find the theological heart of the passage. The ark is the instrument, but the covenant is the foundation.
"But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you." (Genesis 6:18 LSB)
The word "but" is one of the most beautiful words in Scripture. The world is under a sentence of death, BUT God. "But I will establish My covenant." This is the first time the word covenant (berith) appears in the Bible, and it is foundational. A covenant is a solemn, binding agreement. But this is not a negotiation between equals. God establishes it unilaterally. This is a covenant of grace.
Notice who is included. The covenant is with Noah, but it extends to his entire household. "You and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives." This is the principle of covenantal succession, of federal headship. God deals with families. The faith of the father is the umbrella of protection for the household. This does not mean automatic, individual salvation for every member, but it does mean they are brought into the sphere of covenant privilege and promise. This is why we baptize our children. We are bringing them through the door of the ark with us, placing them under the sign of the covenant, and trusting God to be faithful to His promise to be a God to us and to our children after us.
The Divine Commission and Provision (v. 19-21)
God's plan for salvation is not just for humanity, but for the whole of creation over which man was given dominion.
"And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you... two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself..." (Genesis 6:19-21 LSB)
Noah is commissioned to be a new Adam, a steward of the animal kingdom. He is to preserve the created kinds. This is not about preserving every species, but the foundational "kinds" from which the diversity we see today could develop. But notice the beautiful interplay of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. God commands Noah to "bring" the animals (v. 19), and then He says the animals "will come to you" (v. 20). Noah is not chasing down squirrels with a net. God, the Lord of creation, brings the animals to the one door of the ark. Noah's job is to obey, to build the ark, and to receive what God brings him. This is how our salvation works. God commands us to come, and He gives us the grace to come.
And God provides for them. Noah is to gather food. This is a practical and logistical command. Faith is not impractical. Faith builds, faith gathers, faith prepares, because faith takes God at His Word. God promised a flood, so Noah built a boat. God promised to save them, so Noah packed lunches. This is earthy, robust, practical faith.
The Human Response: Total Obedience (v. 22)
The final verse is the summary of Noah's response. It is simple, profound, and the very definition of true faith.
"Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did." (Genesis 6:22 LSB)
The author of Hebrews tells us, "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household" (Hebrews 11:7). For 120 years, while the sun shone and the scoffers mocked, Noah was engaged in this massive, seemingly absurd construction project. Every swing of the hammer was an act of faith. Every board planed was a sermon. Noah was a "preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5), and his primary sermon was the ark itself. It stood as a silent, wooden testament to the coming judgment and the available grace.
His obedience was complete. "According to all that God had commanded him, so he did." There was no negotiation, no editing, no partial compliance. He built it to God's specs. He didn't decide to make it two stories instead of three, or leave off the pitch because it was messy. True faith obeys. It doesn't just assent to a set of doctrines; it acts on the commands of God, even when those commands seem foolish to the world.
Christ, Our Ark
This entire narrative screams the gospel. We, like the world in Noah's day, are under a just sentence of condemnation. The earth is still filled with violence and rebellion against God. And a final judgment is coming, not by water, but by fire. The proud waters of humanism, secularism, and rebellion are rising, and they will overwhelm all who are not in the ark.
But God, in His mercy, has provided an ark. That ark is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our refuge from the storm of God's wrath. He was "pitched" within and without by the atonement of His own blood. He has one door, and all who enter through Him are saved. He is the fulfillment of God's covenant promise.
Just as God brought the animals to Noah, so the Father draws us to the Son. "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him" (John 6:44). Our salvation is His work from beginning to end. And our response must be that of Noah. When God commands us to repent and believe, to enter the ark of Christ, our only sane response is to do so. To obey completely. To get on the boat.
The world will mock. They will call your faith foolish, a relic of a pre-scientific age. They will point to the clear skies and say, "Where is the promise of His coming?" They said the same to Noah. But the rain came. And the fire will come. The question for each one of us is simple and stark. When the final judgment falls, will you be in the ark, or out of it?