The Long Obedience and the Sudden Judgment Text: Genesis 7:6-12
Introduction: The Patience of God and the Fury of the Flood
We live in an age that has domesticated God. Our modern sensibilities prefer a God who is a celestial therapist, a divine butler, or at best, a kindly grandfather who winks at our transgressions. We have forgotten the God of the Flood. We have forgotten that our God is a consuming fire. The story of Noah is not a charming tale for a nursery wall, with cartoon animals smiling two-by-two. It is a terrifying account of global judgment. It is a story of de-creation, where God unraveled the world He had so carefully made, returning it to the watery chaos of Genesis 1, because the wickedness of man had become so great, so profound, that it grieved Him to His very heart.
For one hundred and twenty years, God’s patience was preached through the hammering of Noah. Every beam lifted, every joint fastened, was a sermon of impending doom and a call to repentance. But the world was deaf. They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, entirely consumed with the business of their own lives, utterly oblivious to the storm gathering on God's horizon. They saw Noah, this preacher of righteousness, as a fool, a fanatic, a madman building a colossal boat in the middle of dry land. His long, patient obedience was a public spectacle of ridicule.
But then the day came. The day when God's patience gave way to God's fury. The day the door of the ark was shut, not by Noah, but by God Himself. And when that door was shut, the time for decision was over. The time for mockery was over. The time for repentance was over. There are two sides to that door: inside, there is salvation, preservation, and the covenant faithfulness of God. Outside, there is nothing but the rising waters of divine wrath. This passage details the solemn, methodical, and terrifying execution of a sentence passed down from the throne of Heaven. It is a historical account of a global cataclysm, but it is also a stark and eternal warning. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
We must therefore read this not as detached observers of ancient history, but as men and women who are also living in the last days of a wicked age, who have also been given an ark of salvation, and to whom the door is still open. But it will not remain open forever.
The Text
Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, by twos they came to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. Now it happened after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day all the fountains of the great deep split open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. Then the rain came upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
(Genesis 7:6-12 LSB)
The Obedient Remnant (vv. 6-9)
The narrative here is precise and orderly, reflecting the character of the God who is bringing this judgment.
"Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood." (Genesis 7:6-7)
The specificity of Noah's age, six hundred years, grounds this event in history. This is not a myth; it is a datable event in the life of a real man. For centuries, Noah had walked with God. For over a century, he had labored on this ark. His life was a testament to enduring faith in the face of universal scorn. Now, the vindication of that faith arrives. He and his family, eight souls in all, enter the ark. Notice the reason given: "because of the water of the flood." The threat was now imminent. The long period of patient building was over; the urgent moment of seeking refuge had come.
This is a picture of the covenant household. Noah's righteousness, which was a gift of God's grace, extended a covering of protection to his entire family. God deals with us not as isolated individuals, but as families, as covenant units. Seven of the eight people on that ark were saved because of their connection to the one righteous man. This is a principle we see throughout Scripture: the faith of a household head has ramifications for the entire household. It is a sober reminder to every father of his federal responsibility.
The procession continues with the animals.
"Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, by twos they came to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah." (Genesis 7:8-9)
Here we see the quiet miracle of God's providence. Noah did not have to go on a global safari. The animals "came to Noah." The same God who was about to judge the world was also marshalling the remnant of His creation to safety. The Creator was calling His creatures, and they obeyed. The instinct God placed in these animals to seek refuge in the ark was a stark rebuke to the stubborn rebellion of mankind, who saw the open door and refused to enter. The beasts of the field showed more sense than the men made in God's image.
The distinction between clean and unclean animals is mentioned, even before the formal institution of the Mosaic law. This shows that God's principles of worship and sacrifice were known from the earliest times. Noah knew which animals were suitable for sacrifice, which is precisely what he does immediately after disembarking (Genesis 8:20). He took seven pairs of the clean, so that he would have animals for sacrifice without extinguishing a species. God's plan for judgment always includes a plan for worship on the other side of it.
And the section concludes with that crucial phrase: "as God had commanded Noah." Noah's faith was not a vague sentiment; it was active, practical obedience down to the last detail. True faith does what it is told.
The Appointed Time (v. 10)
After everyone is safely inside, there is a pause. A final, solemn week of grace.
"Now it happened after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth." (Genesis 7:10)
Imagine that week inside the ark. The door is shut. The world outside continues its revelry, perhaps pointing and laughing at the silent, sealed vessel. Inside, Noah and his family wait. This was a final test of faith. They were committed. They were enclosed in God's promise, waiting for God's timing. This period of seven days is a picture of God's longsuffering. Even at the last moment, there was a final opportunity, a last call that went unheeded.
When God's judgment comes, it is never capricious. It is always appointed. It is always on His timetable. The world thinks God is slow, that He has forgotten His warnings. But as Peter tells us, the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, but is patient, not wishing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). But that patience has a limit. When the appointed time comes, the judgment is as certain as the sunrise.
The De-Creation (vv. 11-12)
When the judgment finally arrives, it is described in cosmic, terrifying terms. It is the undoing of creation.
"In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day all the fountains of the great deep split open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. Then the rain came upon the earth for forty days and forty nights." (Genesis 7:11-12)
Again, the historical precision is striking. This is not "once upon a time." This is a specific day in history. And on that day, the world was systematically dismantled. In Genesis 1, God separated the waters below from the waters above. He set boundaries. He brought forth dry land from the deep. Now, in an act of cosmic judgment, He reverses the process. "All the fountains of the great deep split open." This is not just rain. This is a geological cataclysm. The subterranean waters, held in check by God's decree, burst forth from the crust of the earth. The tehom, the deep that God subdued on Day One, is unleashed.
Simultaneously, "the floodgates of the sky were opened." The waters above the firmament, which God had separated on Day Two, are released. The world is being returned to its pre-creation state, a formless, watery chaos. This is what sin does. Sin is not just breaking a rule; it is an assault on the created order. It is an invitation to chaos. And in the flood, God gives the world over to the chaos it had chosen. He simply removed His restraining hand and allowed the world to collapse back into the watery abyss from which He had first formed it.
The rain falls for forty days and forty nights. The number forty in Scripture is consistently associated with periods of testing, trial, and judgment. Moses was on the mountain for forty days. Israel wandered for forty years. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for forty days. This was a period of sustained, unrelenting judgment upon the earth, and a period of testing for the family preserved within the ark.
The Ark of Christ
This entire account is a thunderous sermon about Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter makes the connection explicit. He says that in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, "eight persons were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you" (1 Peter 3:20-21). The flood was a global baptism. It was a judgment on the world of the ungodly, and it was the means of salvation for the righteous.
The ark is a type of Christ. It was the only place of safety in a world under condemnation. It was designed by God, built by man in obedience, and it had one door. Jesus said, "I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved" (John 10:9). There were not multiple arks. There were not other ways to be saved from the flood. There was one ark, and you were either in it or you were out of it. So it is with Christ. He is the only name under heaven by which we must be saved.
The world around us is just as wicked as the world in Noah's day. It is just as oblivious to the coming judgment. Men are still eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, building their lives on the sand, mocking the preachers of righteousness. But God has provided an ark. He has provided His Son, Jesus Christ. To be "in Christ" is to be in the ark. It is to be sealed by God Himself, safe from the coming wrath.
The waters of the flood that destroyed the wicked are the very same waters that lifted the ark to safety. This is the nature of God's judgment. The cross of Christ, which was the ultimate display of God's wrath against sin, is for us the very instrument of our salvation. The judgment that fell on Him is the judgment from which we are spared. The waters that should have drowned us are the very waters that lift us up to new life.
The door of the ark is still open. God's call to repentance still goes out. But there will come a day, an appointed day, when God will shut the door. On that day, the fountains of His wrath will be opened, and the time for decision will be past. Therefore, do not trifle with the patience of God. Flee the wrath to come. Enter the ark by faith, before the rains begin.