The Prevailing Flood

, let me invite you, speaking of baptism, to turn in your Bible to Genesis 7. Genesis. 7, for our time of study and the word, this morning. we're doing a study through Genesis and as we continue in our study of this book, we come this morning to Genesis chapter 7, verse 10.

And my goal today is to try to cover verses 10 through 24. And if you want to give a title to the message, it would be The Prevailing flood, the Prevailing flood. we've been studying in recent weeks the events leading up to the flood, and a lot has been learned, a lot has been said, a lot of anticipation. Today in our passage today, the flood begins.

Water is powerful if you have ever stood even knee-deep in Rapids and tried to walk upstream against the flow of the water. the power of water and the power of water in motion. over the last few years, I have, I have watched probably every tsunami video on YouTube at least twice. and just find myself unceasingly in awe over the power.

Of water coming onto the shore and lifting up houses and cars and buildings and trucks and turning all of them into battering rams and just destroying everything in its path. You might be interested to know that the average cumulus cloud in the sky weighs over a million pounds. The ocean itself weighs an estimated almost 1.5 quintillion tons. That's probably not very helpful for you.

it's just that weighs a lot. And, covering our oceans cover 71% of the Earth's surface of the 10% of the land that is above sea level, 10% of that land mass is covered with water in the form of frozen water, ice. And there's so much ice on our planet that if all of the ice on Earth were to melt, sea levels would rise over 280 ft. Virtually the entire state of Florida would disappear.

If that happened. That's how much ice is on our planet. just in our atmosphere at any given moment, there is 3100 cubic miles of water in our atmosphere. On top of that, there are the waters, the subterranean waters that flow beneath, the surface of the ground.

and you can research this on Google. Go to discovery.com. Just last year, there were discoveries made, 400 miles below. The Earth's surface is hydrated rock that contains anywhere from 1 to 3 times the amount of water that is in all of the oceans of the world combined.

The truth is that the water of our oceans and rivers, the waters underground and the water over our heads in the clouds are always being held at bay by God to one degree or another. If all the earth's water were released by God and allowed to come together, we cannot even begin to imagine the power that it would wield. Actually, we can't imagine it because that's exactly what happens in our passage today. Whatever flood happens.

In Noah's day, in the passage we're gonna be looking at today, God promised that it would never happen again. In Genesis 9:11, God says, after the flood, never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. There have been hundreds of regional floods over the many centuries since the great flood of Noah's day. In 1887, the Yellow River in China.

Overflowed and killed. It flooded and killed as many as 2 million people. In 1931, there were a series of floods in China. That killed anywhere from 2 million to 3.7 million people.

In 1938, the Yellow River flooded again, killing as many as 800,000 people. The tsunami in Indonesia. In 2004 killed over 200,000 people in a matter of a couple hours. Over the centuries, there have been hundreds of floods killing millions of people in total, and yet none of these regional floods are a contradiction of God's promise to never again destroy the earth through a flood.

Apparently, the flood of Noah's day was unlike anything that the world has ever seen since. Before we get into the text, I want to spend a little time doing this. There, there's no way. To read the flood account in chapter 7 without also thinking of the 2nd and the 3rd day of the creation week.

Prior to day 2 of the creation week, the earth was completely covered with water. There was no dry land visible anywhere. We know from Genesis chapter 1 verse 2 that the Spirit of God moved over the faces literally of the waters, and then we see this description in Genesis 1:6 and following. The text says, then God said, let there be an expanse, or an atmosphere in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters, and God made the expanse and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse, and it was so.

And God called the expanse heaven, and there was evening and there was morning, a second day. So based on this description, We see that God created the expanse, which is what we would know today as the atmosphere or the vapor sphere, which is, that's literally what atmosphere means. And in the upper regions of that atmosphere, God placed some of the waters and under that atmosphere, God allowed much water to remain. Amazingly, even after this separation occurs between the waters above and the waters below, all the land masses on Earth are still covered.

As for the waters below, the atmosphere, observe what God does next. Genesis 1:9, says then God said, let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good.

So on day 3, God causes the sinking of land masses or the rising of other land masses to occur, such that the waters of the earth would be pulled by gravity to gather into one place. It was only then on day 3 that the land became uncovered and visible, and God calls the dry land Earth and the gathering of the waters he calls the seas. So if we take Genesis chapter 1, verses 7 through 10 at face value, we would conclude at least two things. First of all, we would conclude that there is more than enough water above the heavens and upon and inside the earth to cover all the land masses on earth because that's the way it was before the end of day 3.

We would also know that before God said, let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear, that the entire earth was once submerged in water during the creation week. We would also conclude that the events of Genesis 7 that we're gonna look at today, amount to a reversal of what God did on day 2. And day 3 of the creation week. By the end of chapter 7 of Genesis, whatever waters were above the expanse are now on the earth, and whatever waters were under the earth are now upon the surface of the earth.

Add to this any seismic activity which served to raise the ocean bed or lower existing land masses, and by the end of chapter 7, we end up with conditions. that are very similar to what the earth looked like prior to day 2 of the creation week. As one writer says, the language of Genesis 7 is deliberately evocative of chapter 1. The waters above and below the firmament are merged again as if to reverse the very work of creation and bring back the featureless waste of waters.

Another writer says it this way in Genesis 7, the Lord sets in motion the un-creation of the world by releasing the powers that always stand ready to overwhelm life. The waters once separated, will now be rejoined for the purpose of destruction. Turns out that the great flood of Genesis 7 is not really so much the miracle. The real miracle was what happened on day 2 and day 3 of creation.

What we see in Genesis 7 is the undoing. Of those miracles. In fact, from one standpoint, you could call the flood the great undoing. Yet amazingly, in this great undoing, going back to this point of creation prior to day two, the way things were then, a group of 8 people actually survived that wholesale reversal, along with animals that are with them on the ark.

That's the miracle. God had told Noah that this great undoing was coming. The wickedness of man was great on the earth as we have seen, and the thoughts of every heart was only evil continually upon the earth. We've learned that violence and evil was the norm.

In Noah's day. And it was so bad that God told Noah that he was going to destroy the earth and wipe everybody out with a flood of water. He told Noah to prepare himself and to build an ark. God knew exactly the kind and the size of vessel that would be needed to survive this great flood.

And so he told Noah how to build it. Noah did exactly what God had told him to do, exactly as God had prescribed it to him. And then 7 days before the flood arrived, God spoke to Noah and told him, you got 7 days, get started, come aboard the ark with all the animals. And we've seen how Noah obeyed the Lord.

And did everything that God told him to do and went into the ark. That's where we left off the last time and now we come to verse 10 where the actual flood begins. Let me read the text to you. And it came about after the 7 days that the water of the flood came upon the earth in the 600th year of Noah's life.

In the 2nd month, in the 17th day of the month, on the same day, all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the floodgates of the sky were opened, and rain fell upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. On the very same day, Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark. They and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds.

So they went into the ark to Noah by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life.

Those that entered male and female of all flesh entered as God had commanded him, and the Lord closed it behind him. Then the flood came upon the earth for 40 days, and the waters increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.

The water prevailed 15 cubits higher and the mountains were covered. And all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth and all mankind of all that was on the dry land. All in his nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life died. Thus he blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things, and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.

And the water prevailed upon the earth 150 days. This is the word of God. And may God help us to understand and to receive His word to us today. We're gonna break down this passage by observing 6 developments in the progression of the great flood as it unfolds in these verses, and we will watch the waters rise and the mayhem unfold as the passage unfolds before our eyes.

The first development in the progression of the great flood. Is that the water of the flood came upon the earth. The water of the flood came upon the earth. The text says it came about after the 7 days that the water of the flood came upon.

The earth Notice the text says it came about after the 7 days that the water came. The 7 days refers to the 7 days that God had specified to Noah. In Genesis chapter 7 verse 4, God 7 days earlier had said to Noah, after 7 more days, I will send rain upon the earth, and here the text says, it came about after the 7 days. Moses, who is writing this, wants us to know that the flood came as God promised that it would, and it came at exactly the time.

That God had said that it would come. God's word is true. He always speaks the truth. We talked about this in Sunday school.

Today, as Mike Barry was teaching us. God's word is true. In fact, we can say actually that God's word is doubly true. It is not only true in the sense that it conforms to reality.

But it is true in the sense that it changes reality to conform to itself. Verse 11. Dates the flood for us, which shows us that this story is actual a recounting of a historical event. This is not some symbolic story.

We're told here that the flood came during the 600th year of Noah's life and it also tells us that it happened on the 17th day of the 2nd month of that particular year. No doubt NOAA is keeping a journal of the details of all of these events, just as a captain would keep a logbook. Of events on his journeys. Observe how the flood event is described here in the passage.

It says all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the floodgates of the sky were opened. This is powerful language here that indicates two sources of the flood waters. One of those sources is from below and one of them is from above. The text tells us that the fountains of the great deep burst open.

So the earth that is containing these fountains, the source of water in the great deep, we're being told, was split open in multiple places, and the waters of the great deep burst forth upon the earth. Obviously, only seismic activity. And heat would cause waters, this cleaving and the waters to burst forth in this way, aside from the miraculous power of God working with these forces to cause this to happen. Some of the water from the fountains of the great deep would have spewed forth from the ground into the air and ended up falling to the earth like rain.

While other waters bursting forth would have flowed like a tidal wave across vast portions of land over the earth. As one writer says, such eruptions from subterranean sources must have caused a rush of waters upon the earth comparable to the highest tidal wave. Such waves in turn must have been capable of producing effects of almost incalculable magnitude. It might be noteworthy that the bursting open of the fountains of the great deep is mentioned first in the passage.

According to some writers such as Henry Morris, this might mean that this event was the initial action which triggered the rest that we see described. As for what else is described, we're told in verse 11 that the floodgates of the sky were opened as well. So the windows literally of heaven are being opened and God is allowing the waters of the heavens to just pour out in a rush upon the earth. The translation floodgates is a great translation that captures the idea here.

So imagine the fiercest downpour. of rain that you have ever experienced in your life, and you're probably coming close to what this downpour would have been like. God isn't just turning on the sprinklers here. He's opening the floodgates of heaven.

There have been two occasions in my life when I was driving on the freeway, once in Indiana and once in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the rainfall was so severe that I had to pull over off the side of the road and stop driving. How many of you has that ever happened to? OK. it was so bad, I couldn't even see the hood of my car, even with my windshield wipers going at full, speed.

and this is, this is what's happening right now. The fountains of the deep are bursting open and the floodgates of heaven have been opened and water is pouring forth upon the earth as the floodgates of the sky are opened and rain falls. So we have here in the passage, water rushing from below and water pouring from above, converging as one for the first time since before day two of the creation week. Bruce Walke in his commentary says it this way, the earth is being returned to its pre-creation chaos by the release of the previously bounded waters above and by the upsurge of the subterranean.

Waters The net result of all of this is in verse 12 that the rain fell upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. Imagine a torrential rainstorm lasting for 40 days straight, constant. Downpour, 40 days and 40 nights. Imagine earthquakes and volcanic explosions and explosions of water from the fountains of the deep happening at the same time along with all of the damage that is being done by the movement of these waters.

That's what these days are like, That's what's happening here. Here in Riverside, we, we get flash flooding after 30 minutes. Of hard rain. Imagine 40 days and 40 nights of intense rain.

This is exactly what God had told Noah. He said, I'm sending rain and it's gonna last 40 days and 40 nights, and that's exactly what happened. Moses, who is writing this, pauses in the recounting of the flood for a moment to make sure that we know. What is happening to Noah and to his family and the animals that had boarded the ark, and that leads us to the next development and the unfolding of the great flood, and that is that Noah, his family, and the animals entered the ark by the day the flood arrived.

Just in case you were wondering, did they make it into the ark in time? Moses wants you to know they made it in time. Just in the nick of time. It says in verse 13, on the very same day, Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them entered.

The ark. The phrase that is translated on the very same day could be translated by this very day. In other words, by the time this day of the flood arrived, Noah and his family and all the animals had just completed the seven day process. Of boarding the ark in obedience to God's instructions.

Verse 14 tells us that entering the ark was they and every beast after its kind and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. Those extra words, all sorts of birds is redundant, but it's the way an eyewitness would talk. Noah clearly was struck by how many types of birds ended up on the ark. They were everywhere.

How did all these animals come into the ark? Verse 15 and 16 says they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh and which was the breath of life. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him. In other words, these animals are coming and Noah is receiving them into the ark and he is directing them to their various rooms, nesting places aboard the ark.

Noah did not have to go and get these animals, they just came in the miraculous providence of God, and Noah is receiving them into the ark exactly as God had commanded him. We're then told. That once they all had entered, verse 16, it says, and the Lord literally closed behind him. Most translations say it or the door.

That's actually a decent translation of the idea. Everyone knows it's talking about the door, but the real emphasis here is that Jehovah God closed it. In other ancient flood accounts such as the Gilgamesh epic, it's the heroic Noah-like figure who closes the door himself, but here we're told that Noah did not close the door. He boards the ark for the last time and Jehovah closes.

The door behind him. One commentator says that this expression beautifully shows God's fatherly touch at the very brink of judgment. God is being very careful so as to protect Noah and his family from the tiniest drop. of his judgment.

All hell is about to break loose upon the world and God Himself closes the door of the ark to make sure that Noah and his family are protected from his judgment that he is about to unleash upon the world. The same is true with all of us who believe in Jesus. When, when you enter into Jesus Christ, God closes behind you. He closes the door behind you.

You are forever protected from his wrath, and you are forever safe inside of Jesus. God has closed his hand around you and no one can pluck you out of his hands, out of the hands of Jesus or out of the hands of the Father. And when God's judgment is unleashed upon mankind, mankind in a future day, God will see to it that you are closed in and not one, the tiniest drop of his wrath will fall upon you. Anyway, the fountains of the deep are broken open and the floodgates of the sky are open and water is unleashed upon the earth, and this all starts happening after Noah and his family and all the animals are safely aboard the ark.

And as the narrative continues, observe the next development in the progression of the great flood, and that is that the water of the flood lifted up the ark. The water of the flood lifted. Up the ark. It says then the flood came upon the earth for 40 days and the water increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth.

We're told that the flood came, we're told how long it fell, 40 days exactly as God had promised in Genesis 7:4. We're told what the water did during the span, it increased. You might want to mark that word increased in your text. The word increased, it's, it's the Hebrew word for multiply.

A good translation would be the waters increased exponentially to such a degree that it says that the water's lifted up the arc. Think about how big the arc is and how heavy it would be. The ark was 30 cubits high, which is about 45 ft high. So the waters of the flood would at least at this point, have to have been at least half of that height.

About 22.5 ft high in order to actually lift the ark up off of the ground. This is already a flood of epic proportions. Wherever the ark was situated, the water is already over 20 ft deep, enough to be able to lift the ark with its buoyant properties. Even after the water was this deep, we're told in verse 18 that the water prevailed.

You might want to mark the word prevail. These are words that we're going to see again. It's a translation of the Hebrew word that means to wax mighty in battle, or even to triumph in battle. The point is that in the battle between land and earth, Oh I'm sorry, between the land and the water, the water is winning that battle big time, waxing mighty and triumphing over the land everywhere.

Additionally, Moses just told us in verse 17 that the water increased or it was multiplied, which is already a powerful enough word, and now he tells us in verse 18 that the water increased greatly. The Hebrew word for greatly is me ode. which means very much. The waters didn't just multiply, but they multiplied greatly upon the earth to such a degree that we're told in verse 18 that the ark floated on the surface of the water.

Think about what this means. The, the, the water has come. God's judgment is being unleashed. Everything under the water.

is experiencing mayhem, being destroyed, any living thing is being destroyed and drowned by these great waters. But this very water that was an instrument of judgment upon everything beneath it is also the very water that is lifting up the ark out of reach of that mayhem and judgment. The water which was God's instrument of judgment. was also the very means by which Noah and his family experienced a lifting and a rescue.

The same water that drowned the world upheld Noah. And his family and the animals aboard the ark with its buoyant properties. The waters prevailed and triumphed over everything, yet all the while the waters are holding Noah and his family and all the animals on its back, where they are protected. From the damage of what the water is doing.

So we can say actually that Noah and his family were saved from the water, by the water. In part, that's one way of looking at it. Obviously, we know God saved them, but he used the water. To lift them Above the destruction.

Well, the flood is not finished. All that we can infer so far from the text is that the waters of the flood are at least half the height of the ark, about 22.5 ft at this point. But Moses wants us to know that the waters went much higher than this, and this brings us to the next development in the unfolding of the great flood, and that is that the water prevailed upon the earth until the mountains were covered. It says in verse 19, the water prevailed more and more upon the earth so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.

The water prevailed 15 cubits higher and the mountains were covered. Observe how the language is growing in its scope. We're told that the waters increased in verse 17, and then in verse 18, we're told that the waters increased greatly. In verse 18, we're told that the waters prevailed, and now here in verse 19, we're told literally that the waters prevailed meo meoud.

The waters literally prevailed greatly, greatly. How much did the waters prevail upon the earth? Verse 19, they prevailed more and more, greatly, greatly upon the earth, so that all the high, which is the word for exalted, all the exalted mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. And the waters did not just cover.

The most exalted mountains, but we're told here that the waters prevailed 15 cubits. Above, higher than the most exalted mountains, so the waters are 22.5 ft above the most exalted mountains on Earth at this time. We don't know how high the mountains were during this time, but we, what we can know from the passage is that there were mountains and then there were exalted mountains. There were mountains and then there were high mountains, and the text here says, All the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.

This is the universal language of global flood in which all the mountains everywhere under the heavens are covered. How did NOAA know that the waters were 22.5 ft or 15 cubits above? The exalted mountains, he probably would have been able to surmise this from the fact that the bottom of the ark never touched anything. The ark would have sat about 15 cubits into the water, under the water, 22.5 ft under the water as it floated, and at no point did the bottom of the ark scrape against anything or get stuck or lodged anywhere during this time.

Some writers would suggest that Moses is adding this detail to explain why the mountains never halted the ark. The bottom never touched even the highest peaks during this time, so Noah would know the water is at least 22.5 ft or 15 cubits above the most exalted mountains. What happens to all of life through this that leads us to our next development. And this is so sad as we see the progressive unfolding of the great flood, and that is every land dwelling creature except the ark's inhabitants died.

Listen to the language of the text and notice how often you see the word all or every in this passage, verse 21, all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth and all mankind. Verse 22, of all that was on the dry land, all in whose Nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life died. Thus he blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.

The text is being very specific about what died.

This is all encompassing language that is given to us in several layers in these verses. In verse 21, we are told that every single one of every single living being, including mankind, perished. In verse 22, we are told that every single creation and whose nostrils was the spirit of life, died. In the first half of verse 23, we're told that every living thing upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things to birds of the sky, they were blotted out by God.

And we're told again in verse 23, they were blotted out. In these statements, we see the word perished in verse 21, died in verse 22, blotted out twice in verse 23. Which makes this a quadruple statement regarding the destruction of every living thing in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life. This is the writer's way of saying, Everything died.

With 4 exclamation points. Everything, everything, everything, everything perished in the great flood of Noah's day. At the end of verse 23, the camera turns again upon Noah and the text tells us that only Noah was left together with those humans and animals that were with him. On the ark It turns out That there was only one way of salvation.

And that was the ark. You can bet that in the early stages of the flood that every living person and animal clamored for life and did everything that they could to survive the ravages of the flood. Some ran for cover, no doubt, some ran for the highest hills that they could get to. Some grabbed hold of anything that would float.

You can bet that some people survived the flood a little longer than other people did, but ultimately every means of surviving the flood proved ineffective. Only NOAA and those who were aboard the ark survived this great flood. I just want us to let that sink in. If we have a God of the Bible who was willing to have the entire world perish under his wrath, and preserve only 8 people who are inside of the only means of salvation that God had prescribed, then we should not be Uncomfortable today with the notion that there is only one way of salvation.

And that is through Jesus Christ, who is the only means of salvation that God tells us that he has provided for us. The call has gone out through all of the world, through all of the earth that God has provided for all of mankind, a way of salvation. And it is through Jesus Christ. And he tells us that there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, whereby we must be saved.

And that is Jesus and the name of Jesus. You give heed to this invitation, and you enter into Jesus, and you will be saved from the judgment of God. You ignore this invitation, and you will perish. Under the judgment of God.

Anyone who thinks that they have their own way of salvation does not understand the irresistible magnitude of the righteous judgment of God. If we could but see the full scope. Of the righteous judgment of God, you would know why Jesus is the only way. You would see how puny your own efforts and your own means of salvation really are.

If the people of Noah's day could have foreseen the magnitude of the great flood, they would have known that their little shelters, or their high mountains or their little boats were insufficient to save. And rescue them. Perhaps some of these people heard Noah talk about a flood that was coming, but they had their own boat in their backyard and they thought, well, if it ever came, I got a boat. Perhaps their house was on a hill, higher than everyone else's, so they thought, well, I'm safe, even if what Noah is saying really came true, I'll be OK.

The floodwaters would never come this high. They had no clue that there would be a flood so deep and so overwhelming. And so global that it would cover the highest, most exalted mountains on earth. Had they known that, they would have known that their own recourses were absolutely insufficient to save them.

So when God speaks to the world today, when he speaks to you today, and he says, get into Jesus. Who is the ark of your salvation. In order to survive the judgment to come, you should take his words very seriously. To settle for anything other than Jesus as your way of salvation is not only to disobey God, but it is also to grossly underestimate the magnitude of the judgment of God that is to come.

Perhaps some in Noah's day heard him talk about a great flood and they understood it all as a metaphor. Perhaps they said poor Noah, he's just misunderstanding. What God is saying and he's understanding. God's promise of waters.

In a literal way and he's building a literal boat. How primitive. He does not have the sophistication of understanding revelations the way that we do. It's all a symbol.

The waters, it's a symbol of blessing. That God is going to bring upon the world. Or maybe the waters just represent tears of regret that we might feel. Perhaps they had wonderful explanations for what the promised rains and the promised flood would symbolize, but they learned soon enough that God was speaking of a literal flood of literal waters upon the earth.

In summary, according to verse 23, everyone died. Only Noah and the inhabitants of the ark were left alive. Just imagine the scene at this point. The entire planet is covered with water and only the ark remains.

As one writer says, the narrative comes to a complete standstill to depict the eerie, now silent devastation with only the tiny arc writing. It's waves. What happens next? This brings us to the final development and the unfolding of the great flood, and that is that the water prevailed on the earth for 150 days.

150 days. It says the water prevailed. There's the word prevailed again. It waxed mighty and triumphed upon the earth for 150 days.

The language here probably indicates that the water swelled and remained at their peak level for 150 days. And that it was not until after that period of time that the waters of the flood began to recede. Even though Noah no doubt believed God, when God said a flood was coming, I am sure Noah was like, I did not imagine this. God's word is true and it's, his word is so much bigger and so much more true than Noah would have even imagined.

At this point, the world does not look all that different than how it looked when the earth was completely submerged in water on day 1 and day 2 of the creation week. In a sense, this is God going back to the evening of day one of the creation week and starting completely over. The only difference is we're told in Genesis 1:2, that with the earth completely submerged in water, that the Spirit of God was moving upon the faces of the waters. Here we have an arc.

That is moving upon the face of the waters contained inside was Noah and his family and the animals who were with them on the ark. I'm sure that Noah and his family are thrilled to be alive, but I am sure that they have had their share of moments of fear and trembling, and I know they are in absolute awe over the overwhelming justice and power and righteousness of God. Think about the scene that we have before us at this point. Listen to what one writer says.

He says we see water everywhere, as though the world had reverted to its primeval state at the dawn of creation. When the waters of the deep submerged everything. Nothing remained of the teeming life that had burst forth upon the earth. Only a tiny point appears on the face of the terrible waters.

The ark that preserves between its planks the seeds of life for the future. But it is a mere atom. And it is almost lost in the endless expanse of water that was spread over the face of the whole earth. A melancholy scene that is liable to fill the reader with despair.

What will happen? To this atom Of life. We'll come back next Sunday and find out. For the time being, guys, this is a dreadful and yet glorious scene.

Everything is virtually undone. The waters that were located above the heavens on day 2 of creation are now upon the earth. The land that was exposed on day 3 of creation is now submerged again. All the kinds of land and sky animals who descended from the animals that God created on day 5 and 6 of creation are now destroyed.

All of mankind who descended from the couple. whom God created on day 6 of creation are now destroyed. The mandate that God had given to mankind and the animals to be fruitful and multiply. is rescinded and completely undone the world over, all except for those who are aboard the ark.

Sin. is serious. Sin has consequences. And those consequences are staggering.

God is unbendingly just and righteous. God's wrath is real, and his wrath is literal. You may hear this passage today. And think about this global flood destroying everybody and say, is sin really so bad that it merits a global flood that kills everyone?

Actually, you're looking at it backwards. You should look at the severity of God's judgment in the great global flood, and you should reason from that and say, wow, sin must really be that bad. And that offensive to God. And then you should be amazed at the grace of God toward Noah and toward his family aboard the ark and realizes and realize, guys, that the very God who in this passage causes everything to die and to perish, is the very God who will come to earth one day and himself die upon a cross.

Taking upon himself the wrath. of God that we deserve for our sins. So that we might be able to believe in Him and receive not a prevailing flood of judgment. But a prevailing flood of amazing grace.

God has given to us an arc of salvation and his name is Jesus. That's an amazing grace against the backdrop of the great global flood where we see the judgment and the wrath of God. The grace that God gives to us in Jesus is all the more stunning. Jesus came into the world, and he died for us, and God raised him from the dead, ascended him to his right hand, and he points to Jesus today and says, believe in him, call upon his name, get yourself inside of him, and you will be saved.

And if you believe in Jesus, and you enter into Him, God will close the door behind you. And he will protect you forever from the tiniest drop. Of his wrath. And if you're here today and you've never called upon Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, if you've never entered into Him through faith in Him, I would plead with you to believe in him today.

Let's pray together. Lord, we're, we're just struck by The magnitude of your power, the magnitude of your unbending justice. And it just, I know as I've studied this, and then I opened the New Testament and I read the words of grace that you speak, grace and forgiveness. Through the death and the resurrection of Jesus, the gospel.

is all the more amazing when viewed against the backdrop of this great flood. This is what we all deserve, and yet instead of giving us An overwhelming destructive flood of your wrath, you instead give us grace, and the apostle John looks at Jesus and he says to all of us, all of us, of his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace, wave after wave of grace. May we be sobered, may we be humbled, may we be left in greater awe of you than we've ever been before, and may we With joy and yet with fear and trembling, work out our salvation, Lord, that you have given to us in Christ.

And then we go to the world with this message of good news of salvation through Christ because they need to hear this because you are real, your judgment is real.

Your wrath is coming. Upon the world. And this is a time of mercy that you have extended to us to get into the ark and to call others into the ark of salvation. And experience rescue.

Make all of us who know You, Lord, better. Witnesses for you. And telling others about the great salvation. That is found in Jesus.

We thank you for this opportunity, Lord, to give of our offerings to you. Receive these funds, do much with every penny that is given for the glory of Jesus Christ. And whose name we pray, and all God's people said,