Gen. 7-8:
“The Flood”
By
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study
we looked at chapters 5 and 6 of Genesis
1.1.1. In chapter 5, we looked at the genealogy of the line
from Adam to Noah (through Seth), and we noticed a hidden message was to be
found there.
1.1.2. In chapter 6, we looked closely at the “days of
Noah” and tried to understand why it would be that the Lord would destroy
the entire world except for Noah, his wife, and three of his sons and their
wives?
1.1.3. We discussed the “angel theory” of chapter 6
which takes the position that the Nephilim, or giants, that were the result of
intermarriage were the result of angels marrying women and thus mutating the
DNA of a large part of the human race.
After the woman and the serpent were judged by the Lord in chapter 3 of
Genesis after the fall into sin by Adam and Eve, the Devil then not only went
about throughout history trying to kill off the righteous offspring of the
woman but he also sought to corrupt the human DNA so that there could never be
a kinsman redeemer for mankind, and the offspring of the woman then could never
crush the head of the serpent. So, the
Lord then had to purify the human race because of these mutants on the face of
the earth and the fact that the entire human race with the exception of Noah
and his family were so corrupted in sin that every thought of their imagination
was only evil continually.
1.2.
In our study
today, we are going to look at chapters 7 and 8 of Genesis.
1.2.1. Virtually every ancient culture has a great flood
legend. Some of the details vary amongst
the cultures but the vast majority involve a boat in which a handful of humans
survive while all of the rest of the people and animals are destroyed. As a for instance, the Northwest
Creation Network (http://www.nwcreation.net/noahlegends.html#anchor43009)
has a huge online listing of and comparison of these various great flood
legends from around the world, including the following, “The
Chinese classic called the Hihking tells about "the family of Fuhi,"
that was saved from a great flood. This ancient story tells that the entire
land was flooded; the mountains and everything, however one family survived in
a boat. The Chinese consider this man the father of their civilization. This
record indicates that Fuhi, his wife, three sons, and three daughters were the
only people that escaped the great flood. It is claimed, that he and his family
were the only people alive on earth, and repopulated the world…[from
1.2.2. There has been much speculation about where Noah’s ark
might currently be located, and www.christiananswers.net
has the following about Noah’s ark:
“According to the Bible, Noah's
Artist's conception of Noah's
The Bible says Noah's boat came to rest on “the mountains of
Ararat” (Genesis 8:4). “Ararat” probably designated a region (the ancient
The mountain called Ararat today is more like a mountain
range with twin peaks. Interestingly, there have been numerous reports
throughout history of a large boat on a mountain in this region. Earliest
references (beginning in the 3rd century B.C.) suggested it was common
knowledge that the
Reports over the past century range from visits to the
vessel, to recovery of wooden timber, to aerial photographs. It is generally
believed that at least large part of the
1.2.3. Chuck Missler is convinced that the boat is located on
1.2.4. Lambert Dolphin has some very interesting insights
concerning the flood on his web site:
Quoting
Michael J. Oart, Lambert Dolphin writes, “Seventy-one
percent of the earth's surface today is indeed water-the oceans average 3.8 kilometers
deep. Only 29% of the earth's surface is land-whose average elevation
is only 623 meters! If
all the continents and land masses were leveled into the sea using a giant
bulldozer, nearly two miles of water would cover our entire earth. Glaciers and ice caps hold about two percent
of earth's water; were they all to melt, sea levels around the world would rise
40 meters-a big problem for many large sea-level cities should this
happen. The earth's atmosphere today
holds only about two inches of precipitable water-this is constantly being
replenished by the hydrologic cycle.”
“The earth before the Flood of Noah was a very different
place! Our long years of educational brainwashing in the mythology of
evolutionary theory and an old-earth has numbed us to the clear testimony of
the Bible that God's intervention in human affairs during the time of Noah, the
tenth man from Adam, changed things forever on our planet. Since Old Testament chronologies are actually
quite complete, we can date the Flood as most likely occurring between 2500
B.C. and 3400 B.C.- depending on our choice of the Masoretic Hebrew text or the
Greek Septuagint of the Old Testament, respectively. The earth before the Flood seems to have
possessed a uniform sub-tropical climate.
There may have been no rainfall, no ice and snow, and no major seasonal
changes. (For instance, palm tree fossils have been found in
I
personally subscribe to a vapor canopy model of earth's atmosphere before the
Flood, which could have provided the greenhouse effect for a worldwide mild climate. But vapor canopy models are very limited by
basic thermodynamic considerations. In
his classic pioneering study, Joseph Dillow suggested a pre-Flood atmospheric
pressure at sea level twice the present value-a big help to the extinct flying
reptile Pteranadon, who would probably not get off the ground in today's
atmosphere. But too much water vapor in the upper atmosphere before the Flood
would obscure the stars, and even the sun and moon, because of perpetual cloud
cover. And for the atmosphere to support the weight of additional water vapor,
the surface temperature would have to rise rapidly toward the boiling point of
water. Condensation of water vapor during very heavy, prolonged rainfall would
release enormous amounts of latent heat of condensation.
However,
in spite of these difficulties, a modest vapor canopy - perhaps holding 40 feet
of rain water - may have existed prior to the deluge of the Flood.
The
post-Flood climate was now very different - assuming the collapse of the vapor
canopy. An ice-age followed. Earth's
original one continent broke up and spread apart (rapid continental drift)-
either during the Flood-or as some believe during the days of Peleg, perhaps
100-600 years later. The dinosaurs, once
contemporary with men, rapidly died out, quite possibly from a separate
disaster not long after the Flood.
Storms, natural disasters and great seasonal weather changes set in
during the years immediately following the Flood as well.
Everything
was different, yet life survived, recovered and proliferated. Great
civilizations were built up again in a matter of only hundreds of years.”
1.2.5. Chuck Missler documents that there have been sightings
and reports of the ark all throughout history, including the following:
1.2.5.1.Babylonian records.
1.2.5.2.Greek histories.
1.2.5.3.275 B.C: Berossus, a Chaldean priest.
1.2.5.4.30 B.C.: Hieronymous, the Egyptian.
1.2.5.5.1st cent. B.C.: Nicholas of
1.2.5.6.70 A.D.: Josephus Flavius.
1.2.5.7.350 A.D.: Epiphanius.
1.2.5.8.1254: Haithon, Armenian King.
1.2.5.9.13th century: Marco Polo references.
1.2.5.10.1916: Russian Aviators; Czar interest; revolution
interferes.
1.2.5.11.1901-1904: George Hagopian.
1.2.5.12.1952, 1955: Navarro visits (Died in 1960).
1.2.5.13.1970’s: Ed Davis, Ed Behling, George Jammal..
2.
VS 7:1-4 - “1
Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you
and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous
before Me in this time. 2 “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; 3 also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring
alive on the face of all the earth. 4 “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.”” - The Lord tells Noah to enter into the ark
along with two of every unclean animal and 7 of every clean animal that lives
on the face of all of the earth
2.1.
We notice here
that the Lord says to “Come” or ‘Enter’ into the ark, instead of
“Go” into the ark. This intimates
the fact that the Lord will be with Noah and His family in the ark.
2.2.
The invitation to
“Come into the ark” typifies the Lord inviting all to “Come unto Me
and I will give you rest,” which is an invitation to come to Jesus for
salvation. Interestingly, the name “Noah”
means “rest,” which backs up that interpretation. When the Lord sends out His church into the
world after He has died for them and instructed them as disciples and apostles
He then tells them, “Go” into all the world and preach the gospel.
2.3.
So, Noah’s ark is
a symbol of salvation. The wicked world
shall be judged but the Lord will save Noah and his family.
2.4.
Note that there
is only “one door” to the ark, one way to salvation. Jesus Christ said of Himself that He was “the
door,” as well as “the way, truth and life and no one comes to the
Father but through Me,” John 14:6-7.
2.5.
Here we see the
requirement we have discussed in previous studies of the bringing of ‘clean’
animals onto the ark was to be 7, but of the ‘unclean’ animals only
2. As we mentioned before this
distinction of what was ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ is not given for
hundreds of years when Moses comes on the scene. Therefore, we believe that these Levitical
sacrificial requirements which became part of the Law of Moses were most likely
communicated by the Lord to Adam when the Lord slew an animal and clothed Adam
and Eve with the fur (indicating that a blood sacrifice was required for one to
have his sin covered). The sacrifice of
Abel, which was accepted by God, was one of blood, which also reinforces this
interpretation.
2.6.
Noah and his
family obviously could not have gone all over the world herding up animals in
order to achieve this task of getting all of these pairs of animals onto the ark. The Lord must have programmed the animals
instinctually to come to the ark at this time as they sensed the impending
judgment that was coming upon the world.
It is just mind blowing also that these animals came to Noah “by twos.” This type of instinctual programming by the
Lord is seen today in animals instinctually knowing when it is time to migrate.
2.7.
The Lord gives
Noah and his family seven days after they and the animals first enter the ark
to get prepared for the flood that will come.
There surely were a lot of chores and building projects that they needed
to attend to during that week.
3.
VS 7:5-9 - “5
Noah did according to
all that the Lord had commanded
him. 6 Now
Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. 7
Then Noah and his sons
and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water
of the flood. 8 Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything
that creeps on the ground, 9 there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and
female, as God had commanded Noah.” - Noah was
obedient to do all that the Lord commanded him to do, and he was 600 years old
when the flood of water came upon the earth
3.1.
Again we are
reminded of the faithfulness of Noah to the Lord. He ‘did according to all that the Lord had
commanded him.’ It is unbelievable
that for 120 years Noah faithfully worked on the building of this ark,
beginning initially before he even had sons to help him in the work. In 2 Peter 2:5, we learn also that Noah was “a
preacher of righteousness,” and so for 120 years Noah also remained
faithful to preach repentance to the people around him, never having made a
convert.
3.1.1. The Christian life is not a smorgasbord where we as Christians can pick and
choose in banquet style what we want to obey in our lives. We need to be people who are obedient to all
that God’s word tells us that we are supposed to do or not do in our
lives. Not understanding the importance
or purpose of some of the things that the Lord wants us to do in our lives is
no excuse for not obeying God in that area.
Noah was a man of faith and saw this world through the eyes of faith and
thus he was obedient to do what God called him to do even when he didn’t
understand all that the Lord was doing.
3.2.
Here in chapter 7
we see quite a bit of repetition in the telling of this story. Its as if the author (Moses) is trying to
make it completely clear that these events REALLY happened just as he writes
about them.
4.
VS 7:10-16 - “10
It came about after the
seven days, that the water 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 the same day all
the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were
opened. 12 The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. 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, 14 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. 15
So they went into the
ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. 16
Those that entered,
male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him.” - Seven days after Noah and his family entered
into the ark, on the 17th day of the month all the fountains of the great
deep burst open and the floodgates of the sky were opened, and it rained for 40
days and nights
4.1.
Here we see the
very day that the rain began to fall given to us, the ‘seventeenth day’
of the ‘second month.’ The year
was the 600th year of Noah’s life.
Since no one has come to place a significance upon this date that is
recorded it is probably the case that the date was given just for further
confirmation that this story was not a fable or an allegory but represents
literal events that occurred upon the earth at this time. This date also establishes the flood’s
duration.
4.2.
Notice here that
when this deluge occurred that not only did it rain in torrents (‘the floodgates of the sky
were opened’), but the text states
that ‘fountains
of the great deep burst open.’ Evidently, something happened geologically
(whether seismic or volcanic) at this time to the underground chambers of water
that ran through the earth and caused a mist to regularly come up and water the
earth, and thus great geysers violently erupted all over the earth. Some have suggested a nuclear reaction could
have happened in the center of the earth at this time and heated up the water,
and others have suggested that many of the land masses began to collapse
putting a great amount of pressure on the underground water.
4.3.
Notice here that
on the day when the floods began Noah and his family made their final entrance
onto the ark and then the Lord Himself took care of the door for Noah and ‘closed it behind
him.’
The only way this ship could have been properly sealed and made sea
worthy was for the Lord to close and seal this door.
4.3.1. Previously, we saw that Noah had by God’s command put
“pitch” both on the inside and on the outside of the boat. This same Hebrew word that is translated “pitch”
there is also the word that used for “atonement,” in relation to the
blood that was poured on and covered the mercy seat in the temple. This ‘pitch’ spoke of the ark being a
symbol of salvation.
4.3.2. Now, the Lord has to close the door and “seal”
Noah and his family in. This is a symbol of the “sealing of the Holy
Spirit” in the believer’s live assuring him of “eternal security”
that he has in trusting in Christ for salvation. That “seal” gives us as believers in
Christ assurance to know that if we die that we shall go straight to be with
the Lord.
4.4.
All of the rest
of the world were wicked but Noah and his family. Righteous Enoch had been translated or “raptured”
before the flood could occur. Note that
Enoch was “raptured” not mid-flood or post-flood but pre-flood! The fact that the Lord spared all of the
righteous when He was acting in judgment upon the earth here is an indication
that the “rapture” of the church will also occur before the Lord begins
to act in judgment upon the earth. We
will see another indication of this later in the book of Genesis when the
angels of the Lord first have to force Lot out from the city of
4.5.
God always
delivers his servant before the wrath of judgment that He pours out on the
unbelieving world. That doesn’t mean
that God delivers His people from hard times, pain, sufferings or persecution
that the world inflicts. The New
Testament tells us as Christians that God “has not destined us for wrath,”
1 Thess. 5:9.
4.6.
Methuselah, the
father of Noah, died the year that the flood began and we remember that his
name had prophetic symbolism for it meant, “his death shall bring.”
4.7.
It is important
to realize that all alternative theological discussions ended the day that the
Lord sealed Noah and his family in the ark.
Likewise, there will come another day in which it will be too late for
the people on the earth to repent and come to the Lord. At that time all that people on the earth
will have to look forward to is the judgment of God.
5.
VS 7:17-23 - “17
Then the flood came
upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark,
so that it rose above the earth. 18 The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the
earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 The water prevailed more and more upon the
earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were
covered. 20 The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. 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; 22 of all that was on the dry land, all in
whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. 23 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 rain fell until all of the high mountains
everywhere upon the face of the earth were covered and all flesh that moved on
the face of the earth had perished
5.1.
The fact that the
rains lasted for 40 days is a proof that the flood was global not a local
flood. The text itself also states that
it was a global flood here: ‘all the
high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered…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 whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.’
5.2.
The earth must
have been radically transformed by these flood waters for we see even in local
flash floods in our day how that the power of water at those times can do
radical damage to anything in its way.
Many lakes, rivers, and channels in the ocean were surely created at
this time. Many mountains were also
leveled at this time.
5.3.
One of the things
that has caused people all over the earth to believe that a global flood has occurred
is that on the high mountains all over the earth are found the fossils of sea
creatures in the strata of the rock.
Only a flood could cause such wide spread occurrence of this. Likewise, the fossils of land animals are
found in the strata of land that is located below sea level.
6.
VS 7:24-8:5 - “24
The water prevailed
upon the earth one hundred and fifty days. 1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts
and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass
over the earth, and the water subsided. 2 Also the fountains of the deep and the
floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; 3
and the water receded
steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water
decreased. 4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested
upon the mountains of Ararat. 5 The water decreased steadily until the tenth
month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the
mountains became visible.” - The water
did not begin to recede upon the earth for 150 days, and then the fountains of
the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed and the rain was restrained,
finally on the 7th month on the 17th day of the month the
ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat
6.1.
So, we see here
that the ark floated for 150 days up above all of the earth’s mountain tops for
the water continued to ‘prevail upon the earth.’
6.2.
Five months to
the day that the flood began the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.
6.3.
It states here
that ‘God remembered Noah and all of the cattle with him in the ark,’
but this doesn’t mean that He did or could have forgotten them. Instead this simply implies that the Lord
remembered to keep His promise to Noah.
The scripture says that the Lord “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2; Heb.
6:18), and thus when He promises anything to us He will always keep His
promises.
6.4.
We saw earlier
that the rain had stopped after 40 days and we are told here that the ‘fountains
of the deep’ also stopped spewing out their water.
6.5.
The Lord began to
dry up the water from the face of the earth after 150 days using a strong wind.
6.6.
Again, we see
that the scripture is very specific here in identifying exactly when it was
that the ark settled down upon the mountains of Ararat: ‘In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of
the month.’ There is a correlation to this date
however. Jesus was crucified on the 14th
of Nisan, was in the grave 3 days and was raised on the 17th of
Nisan, which is the 7th month of the Jewish (and probably also the
Genesis) calendar. The ark touched down
on the very anniversary of the future day in which Jesus Christ was raised
victorious from the grave. The new life
for Noah and the new world began on the same day as new life began for the
believer in Christ!
6.7.
The ark evidently
‘rested’ high up on the mountains since none in scripture are ever
recorded as having journeyed up to see it.
It probably today rests in somewhere at the 14,000 foot level or
so.
6.8.
The Lord ‘rested’
after He had created all things, and we saw that the Sabbath rest was shown in
the book of Hebrews to be a symbol of the completed work of Jesus Christ for
which there is currently a rest for the people of God. The fact that the ark ‘rested’ is yet
another confirmation of it being a symbol of salvation for God’s people. The ark “Noahed” at this time
(remember “Noah” means “rest”).
6.9.
The waters
continued to decrease and finally on the 10th of the 10th
month the mountains were able to be seen.
7.
VS 8:6-12 - “6
Then it came about at
the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had
made; 7 and
he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up
from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the
face of the land; 9 but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she
returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the
earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to
himself. 10 So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from
the ark. 11 The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly
picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. 12
Then he waited yet
another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again.” - After 40 days Noah sent out a raven and it
flew here and there until the water was dried upon the earth, then he sent a
dove out but the dove returned to him because she found no place to rest,
finally seven days later he sent out the dove and the dove returned later that
day and she returned to him with an olive leaf in her mouth, then seven days
later when he set her out she did not return
7.1.
Before the flood
there evidently was a uniform climate all around on the earth, perhaps brought
about by a barometric pressure that could have been twice what it is today and
perhaps increased water vapor in the air.
This fact is seen in many discoveries such as the Petrified forests
found 100 miles from the South Pole by Admiral Byrd, palm
tree fossils in Alaska, frozen warm-climate mammoths in Siberia, and coal in
Antarctica.
7.2.
The formation of
fossils only occurs during times of catastrophic events. The flood caused the dinosaurs and other
animals of this period to be buried together in the many places archeologists
have found them.
7.3.
Likewise, areas
such as the Grand Canyon in
7.4.
Some of the many
post flood changes on the earth may also have been:
7.4.1. The thermal blanket around the earth that kept
everything at the same temperature was gone.
7.4.2. Atmospheric temperature perhaps reduced by 50%.
7.4.3. No more universal climate.
7.4.4. The change in climate most likely brought on the ice
age and the subsequent death of species such as dinosaurs who could not live in
the new earth.
7.4.5. The people upon the earth no longer lived to be
several hundred years old.
7.5.
After 350 days
since first entering the ark (7:till they were shut in+150:water
prevailing+150:water began to decrease+40 days), Noah sent out the raven. A week later Noah sent out a dove, on the 357th
day, and it returned. Another week
later, 364th day, Noah sent out the dove and it returned with an
olive branch. A week after this, 371th
day, he sent out the dove and it did not return. A week later, on the 377th day,
Noah and his family leave the ark.
7.6.
The seven day
intervals here indicate that there was Sabbath observance by Noah and his
family in the ark. However, they did not
offer any sacrifices of animals until after they left the ark.
8.
VS 8:13-19 - “13
Now it came about in
the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the
month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of
the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. 14
In the second month, on
the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. 15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16
“Go out of the ark, you
and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 “Bring out with you every living thing of
all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that
creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be
fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and
his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird,
everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark.” - In the 601st year in the first
month on the first day of the month the water was dry after God had brought a
great wind to dry it out, and Noah went out of the ark with his wife and the
animals
8.1.
Noah and his
family were in the ark a total of 377 days, 5 months floating and 7 ½ months
sitting on the mountains.
8.2.
Amazingly after
377 days in the ark there had been no deaths, nor had there been any births.
8.3.
Finally, the Lord
commands Noah to go out of the ark with his wife and sons and son’s wives, as
well as every living thing that they had brought with them in the ark. Thus, they all left the ark.
8.4.
All who were on
the ark were commanded by God to be fruitful and mulitiply and replenish the
earth.
9.
VS 8:20-25 - “20
Then Noah built an
altar to the Lord, and took of
every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the
altar. 21 The
Lord smelled the soothing aroma;
and the Lord said to Himself, “I
will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s
heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living
thing, as I have done. 22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”” - Noah builds
an altar to worship the Lord and offers burnt offerings to the Lord
9.1.
This is the first
mention in Genesis of ‘an altar’ being built. Here, after 120 years of building an ark and
preaching the gospel, followed by the long ordeal of 377 days upon the ark Noah
and his family in gratitude and worship of the Lord sacrifices all of the clean
animals that he had taken with him into the ark. We can imagine how thankful Noah and his
family must have been to be saved by the Lord.
9.2.
The offering was
a ‘soothing aroma’ to the Lord and thus He said to Himself that He would
‘never again curse the ground on account of man…nor destroy every living
thing’ as He had done at this time.
9.3.
The Lord promises
that this covenant that He has made shall remain forever for those upon the
earth.
9.4.
In 2 Peter
3:5-12, Peter qualifies this promise of the Lord not to destroy the earth
again, indicating that the earth would never again be “destroyed by water” : “5
For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of
God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of
water and by water, 6 through which the world
at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. 7 But by His
word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the
day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8 But do not let this one fact escape your
notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a
thousand years like one day. 9
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is
patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to
repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which
the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with
intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this
way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of
God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the
elements will melt with intense heat!”
10.
CONCLUSIONS:
10.1. Remember to keep
God’s faithfulness always before you as a Christian.
10.2. Remember that we as
Christians need to follow Noah’s example and be obedient to the Lord in all
that He commands of us.
10.3. Remember that there
will come a day yet in the future when all alternative religious discussions
will come to an end and then it will be too late for men to repent.