GENESIS 6:18-22

GOD ESTABLISHES HIS COVENANT WITH NOAH

6:18-21 I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.

Total destruction came upon the ungodly, while grace (God’s undeserved favor) was shown to Noah and his family who displayed a God-given belief and God-produced obedience.

The term “covenant” is a binding agreement between two parties that includes obligations and sanctions.

God promises Noah that, in response to his obedience (faith put into action), He would establish His covenant with him and his seed.

Notice the Lord said to Noah, “you shall come into the ark” not “you shall go into the ark.” God would be in the ark with them, and although the Flood would soon be unleashed in devastating fury, they would be safe with Him.

Psalm 29:1-4, 10-11 Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness. The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever. The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.

Isaiah 43:1-2 Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.

In the midst of a perverse and wicked generation, only Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives were allowed (by grace) to enter the ark. As the Scriptures say:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

What made Noah and his family to differ from the rest of mankind at the time of the flood? It was sovereign grace of God. Left to themselves, Noah and his family would have disobeyed just as the rest.

Due to the volumetric capacity of the ark (1,400,00 cubic feet), one male and one female of every created kind of animal was not an impossible task.

The specified size of the ark seems ideally appropriate for the animals it had to carry. There was of course also ample room for the approximately one million species of insects (many of which could have survived outside the ark), as well as food for the animals (which was at this point in time a vegetarian diet), space for waste, and quarters for Noah and his family.

Animals were not ecologically isolated in different latitudes or altitudes as they are today, but were uniformly distributed around the world. As a result, no great distances were involved when the time came for representatives of each of animal to migrate to the ark.

When the time of the Flood was approaching the animals, instinctively sensing the approaching storm, began to move, God sovereignly urging and impelling them toward the waiting ark.

The ability to hibernate would have enabled the animals to endure very confined quarters, with little or no food intake or bodily excretions. The phenomenon of “estivation” is a similar state of dormancy during very hot weather.

Both hibernation, estivation and migration are instinctive abilities possessed by animals (not man) which enable them to cope with prolonged periods of bad weather. These instinctive abilities laid dormant since creation and then selected and activated by God at the time of the Flood.

NOAH OBEYED THE LORD

6:22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Noah was not only a man of strong faith in God’s word, but he was a man who obeyed God’s word. Faith and obedience go hand and hand. They are two sides to the same coin.

Faith, says James, without obedience is dead faith (James 2:17) and the writer to the Hebrews says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

It is vital to understand that Noah’s faith and obedience didn’t come from his Adamic nature. Nothing in the Adamic nature of man wants to believe or obey God as was demonstrated by the rest of world that perished. No, Noah’s faith was a God-given faith and his obedience was a God-produced obedience.

Philippians 1:29  For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for Him. AND

Philippians 2:12-13 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work according to His good pleasure.

The task God had given Noah to do was monumental. It was extremely difficult and discouraging. Yet Noah never questioned God or complained. He simply believed God and did all God had commanded him. How about you? How about me?

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, obeyed God out of holy fear, and built an ark for the salvation of his household. By faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and received the righteousness that comes by faith.

This last verse of the sixth chapter of Genesis succinctly summarizes a whole century of God’s “long suffering” while Noah “preached righteousness” to those “who were disobedient while the ark was being built.”

We like Noah call on this unbelieving world to repent of their sin, believe on Christ and flee the wrath to come. We tell sinners that God is going to destroy this world not with a flood but with fire from heaven (2 Peter 3).