The Open Door and the Coming Wrath Text: Genesis 7:1-5
Introduction: Beyond the Felt Board
We live in a sentimental age, an age that has reduced the global deluge to a children's story fit for a nursery wall. We see a smiling Noah, a cartoonish ark, and pairs of giraffes and elephants peeking cheerfully over the side. But this is a profound domestication of a terrifying reality. The story of the flood is not primarily about animal preservation. It is about cosmic judgment. It is the story of God un-creating the world because of the intractable rebellion of mankind. It is a story of holy violence.
If we strip the terror and the holiness from this account, we are left with a meaningless fable. But if we take it as the Word of God, we are confronted with a foundational truth about the character of God and the nature of our world. God is not a doting, celestial grandfather who simply cannot bring himself to punish. He is a holy God, and His wrath against sin is as real as His love for His people. The flood establishes the great antithesis that runs through all of Scripture: there are two humanities, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. There are two paths, the broad way that leads to destruction and the narrow way that leads to life. And in this story, there are two locations: inside the ark of salvation or outside in the waters of judgment.
The modern mind chokes on this. It wants a God of grace without a God of wrath. It wants salvation without any danger from which to be saved. But the Bible will not allow it. The grace offered to Noah is glorious precisely because the judgment awaiting the world was so absolute. In these five verses, we see the final instructions before the de-creation begins. This is the final call, the last chance. The door of the ark is open, but it will not remain so forever.
The Text
Then Yahweh said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this generation. You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean, two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep their seed alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made." And Noah did according to all that Yahweh had commanded him.
(Genesis 7:1-5 LSB)
The Gracious Summons (v. 1)
The final act begins with a personal word from the covenant Lord.
"Then Yahweh said to Noah, 'Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this generation.'" (Genesis 7:1)
Notice the name for God here is Yahweh, the personal, covenant-keeping God. This is not some abstract deity; this is the God who has been in fellowship with Noah. The command is "Enter the ark." This is the gospel invitation in its most primal form. God has provided the way of salvation, and the only requirement is to get in. You must come inside.
And who is invited? "You and all your household." Here we see the principle of federal headship. God deals with families and nations through their representative heads. Noah is the head of his house, and because of his standing with God, his family is brought into the ark with him. This is a beautiful picture of the way God saves His people. He saves us in Christ, our great federal head. We are saved because we are "in Him."
But on what basis is Noah invited? "For you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me." We must be crystal clear about this. This is not the righteousness of sinless perfection. Noah was a sinner, as his later behavior demonstrates. This is the righteousness that comes by faith. Hebrews tells us plainly: "By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith" (Hebrews 11:7). Noah believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. God declared him righteous, and this righteous standing was the basis of his salvation. It was a gift, not an achievement. And notice the standard: "righteous before Me." Public opinion polls are irrelevant. What your neighbors think is irrelevant. The only verdict that matters is God's.
The Liturgical Provision (v. 2-3)
Next, God gives instructions that look beyond the judgment to the new world that will follow.
"You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean, two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep their seed alive on the face of all the earth." (Genesis 7:2-3)
Here we encounter the distinction between clean and unclean animals for the first time. This is long before the Law of Moses. This tells us that God's standards for worship are not arbitrary or invented later. Why take seven pairs of the clean animals? Because after the flood, the first thing Noah does is build an altar and offer sacrifices (Gen. 8:20). God is not just preserving a zoo; He is preserving a worshipping community. He is ensuring that when Noah steps out onto the cleansed earth, he will have the provisions necessary for proper worship.
This is profoundly important. In the midst of impending global catastrophe, God's mind is on worship. He is planning for the sacrifices that will atone for sin and restore fellowship. This demonstrates that the center of human existence, the very purpose of our preservation, is the worship of the true and living God. The world thinks religion is a nice hobby for when times are good. God says that worship is the central reason for saving the world at all. The goal is "to keep their seed alive," not just for biological continuity, but for covenantal continuity.
The Final Countdown (v. 4)
God then puts a timestamp on His judgment and a finality on His warning.
"For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made." (Genesis 7:4)
There are "seven more days." This is a final week of grace. For 120 years, Noah had been a preacher of righteousness, his hammer blows on the gopher wood a constant sermon of impending doom. Now, the invitation is closing. The door is open, but only for seven more days. This is a picture of God's patience, but also the certainty of its end. God's patience is not infinite. There comes a time when the door shuts.
The judgment is described with divine precision. Forty days and forty nights, a number associated throughout Scripture with testing, trial, and purification. And the agent is God Himself. "I will send rain... I will blot out." This is not a freak weather event. This is a personal, deliberate, judicial act of de-creation by the Creator. The word for "blot out" is the same word used for wiping a dish clean. God is wiping the slate of creation clean of the filth of human rebellion. This is a terrifying thought, and it is meant to be. A God whose wrath is not terrifying is not a God who can save.
The Obedience of Faith (v. 5)
The section concludes with the simple, profound response of the righteous man.
"And Noah did according to all that Yahweh had commanded him." (Genesis 7:5)
This is the recurring refrain of Noah's life. "Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did" (Gen. 6:22). True faith is not passive. It is not mere intellectual agreement. True, saving faith acts. It obeys. Noah's faith was demonstrated by a century of costly, counter-cultural, and what must have seemed to his neighbors, insane obedience. He built a massive boat on dry land because God told him a flood was coming. He gathered the animals because God commanded it. And now, he enters the ark because God summons him.
This is the faith that saves. It hears the word of God and it does it. It does not argue. It does not delay. It does not do 90 percent of what was commanded. It does "according to all that Yahweh had commanded." This complete obedience is the fruit, not the root, of his righteous standing before God. Because God had declared him righteous, God then worked in him the grace to obey.
Conclusion: Get in the Ark
This historical account is a stark and eternal paradigm. The Apostle Peter tells us that the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment (2 Peter 3:6-7). Another judgment is coming. It will not be by water, but by fire. The world continues on, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, mocking the warnings of God, just as they did in the days of Noah.
But God has again provided an ark. That ark is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our only refuge from the coming wrath. The invitation of the gospel is the same one Yahweh gave to Noah: "Enter the ark." Come to Christ. Get into Him by faith. All who are outside of Christ will perish in the judgment, no matter how respectable, religious, or accomplished they are. All who are inside of Christ are perfectly safe, not because of their own righteousness, but because they are hidden in Him who is our righteousness.
The door of the ark is open today. The call is to repent and believe. But the Scriptures warn us that there will come a day when, just as in the days of Noah, the Lord Himself will shut the door (Gen. 7:16). And once that door is shut, it will never be opened again. The time for decision is now. The seven days are running out. Hear the word of the Lord, believe His warning, and in the obedience of faith, enter the ark.