Daily Devotional Thursday 7th January 2021
by William Moody
Genesis 7
7:1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals,1 the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs2 of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing3 that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5 And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9 two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14 they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. 15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in.
17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits4 deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
Footnotes
[1] 7:2
Or seven of each kind of clean animal
[2] 7:3Or seven of each kind
[3] 7:4Hebrew all existence; also verse 23
[4] 7:20A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters (ESV)
In Noah taking all these animals on board the ark to be saved, there is a contrast with Genesis 1. Genesis 1 is about creation and here Noah is part of a work of new creation. Out of the sin of this world, God was starting a new world. The world in the years after the flood would revert back to very sinful behaviour, but what is happening here points forward to God’s final and perfect work of new creation. A time will come when out of this world of sin and corruption, God is going to save His people for a new world, which will not be a short term solution but for all of eternity.
This chapter goes into great detail about Noah and his family entering the ark (v1, 7, 13), all the animals who were brought in (v2-3, 8-9, 14-16) and then the flood coming and the length of the rain (v4, 10-12, 17-24). The flood is presented here as a real historical event. It is here to teach us that sin really did bring judgment and also that God really did provide a way of salvation.
In a world today of such apparent doom, it is wonderful to know that God will provide a way for his people to continue in a far better world. We need to look at what is happening in the world around us with faith in God’s plans. We also need to be sure that as Noah entered the salvation provided that we too enter the salvation provided in Jesus.
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