GENESIS - CHAPTER 6
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2000 James Melough
6:1.
“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth,
and daughters were born unto them,”
6:2. “That
the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them
wives of all which they chose.”
These two verses have
generated a great deal of controversy as to the identity of these “sons of God.”
One line of interpretation sees in them men of the godly line, while another sees
them as fallen angels; and in the debate sight has been lost of what is more
important - by these marriages the human race was being increasingly corrupted.
Since it is not the purpose
of these studies to fuel the fires of controversy, but rather to help the reader make
an informed decision for himself, a few facts are presented for consideration.
In Cain’s murder of Abel
we have a demonstration of Satan’s attempt to destroy the godly line through which
the promised “Seed” must come, and in chapters four and five we have traced the
extension of the two “seeds”, the Cainites being the spiritual seed of the
serpent, and the Sethites the spiritual seed of the woman.
Genesis chapter six, read in this context, then, seems to be the record of
Satan’s continued attempt to eliminate the possibility of the birth of the promised
“Seed,” by corrupting the godly line.
As to whether the sons of
God were men or angels, the Lord Himself indicated in Mt 22:30 that angels are
sexless creatures, and this would preclude the possibility of their contracting
marriages, “For in the resurrection they (men) neither marry, nor are given in
marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven.”
Some have construed the
words “in heaven” as the limitation of a sexless state to unfallen angels only.
Adherents to this view affirm that fallen angels cohabited with “the daughters of
men.” This requires us to believe that in their fallen state these angels became
sexually endowed, which is not only a very unlikely hypothesis, but is without
Scriptural warrant, and leaves unanswered the question of why they have not continued
to contract marriages.
There is another point to
consider in connection with fallen angels. In
Jude 6, it is written, “And the angels who kept not their first estate, but left
their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the
Judgment of the great day.” Proponents of the view mentioned above affirm that
these are the angels who married “the daughters of men” and that this
imprisonment is their punishment. This
necessitates the belief that there have been two angelic rebellions, one at the time
of Lucifer’s rebellion, and another which consisted of leaving “their own
habitation” to marry women: a view again, without Scriptural warrant.
(If the imprisonment related to the angels who had joined in Lucifer’s
rebellion, they could not have left that prison, hence the necessity of a second
angelic rebellion.)
Another point overlooked by
proponents of this view is the statement made in verse four, “There were giants in
the earth in those days; and also after that when the sons of God came in unto
the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men who
were of old, men of renown.
The Scriptural statement is
simply, “there were giants in the earth in those days,” and it is an arbitrary
decision to conclude that they were the result of marriages between women and fallen
angels, particularly in view of the Scriptural statement that it was “after that”
that these mixed marriages occurred. The
declaration of Scripture is not that the children of such marriages were giants, but
that they were, “mighty men ... of renown.”
Furthermore, the word which
has been translated giants is nephilim meaning fallen ones: fellers,
and would make, not the fathers, but the children the fallen ones.
Moreover, nephilim is the
same word found in Numbers 13:33 to describe the huge men observed by the spies who
had been sent into Canaan by Moses, yet there is nothing to indicate that they were
anything more than men of gigantic stature. Sound
exegesis would require that if the giants of Genesis 6 were the children of women and
fallen angels, then the same must be true of those mentioned in Numbers 13.
This would require us to believe that such marriages occurred after the flood,
for the only survivors of that judgment were Noah and his family.
Scripture furnishes no basis for such a conclusion.
All things considered
therefore, the more acceptable view would seem to be that which takes these “sons
of God” to be men of the godly line who married women of the ungodly line of Cain.
6:3.
“And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he
also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”
It would seem that it was
this corruption of the godly line that provoked God’s anger to the point where He
determined to reduce man’s life span to one hundred and twenty years.
The longevity of the antediluvians, together with the statement, “My Spirit
shall not always strive with man...” is testimony to God’s patience: in spite of
abounding wickedness He had graciously prolonged human life to almost a thousand
years, giving ample time for repentance.
The reduced life-span
does not indicate a diminution of the divine patience: it reveals simply that having
demonstrated for man’s information, that longevity did not produce repentance, God
would reduce human life to one hundred and twenty years.
The lesson conveyed is a
solemn one, and unfortunately, one little recognized today.
The Holy Spirit has an indispensable part in man’s salvation. It is He Who must convict men of sin before they can be saved, and
that brings up a matter which we may as well discuss here: man’s free will in
regard to salvation.
There are some men, who in
spite of the Spirit’s striving, are convicted of sin but not saved.
With others, the Spirit never strives, with the result that they are never
convicted and consequently never saved. Does
this mean then that man really has no choice in regard to salvation, that God saves
only whom He pleases? Scripture itself is the contradiction of this philosophy.
God is longsuffering ... not willing that any should perish” (2 Pe 3:9).
John 3:15,16,17,18,36 are
only a few of many Scriptures teaching that man is free to choose whether he will
accept God’s gift of eternal life.
How then do we explain that
though the conviction of the Holy Spirit is essential to salvation, there are some
whom He never convicts, and others, who though convicted, are never saved?
The answer lies in God’s
foreknowledge and also in His sovereignty. By
His foreknowledge He knows who will and who will not accept salvation, and in His
sovereignty He chooses, in regard to those who will not be saved, to cause His Spirit
to strive with some of them, but not with others.
As to why He makes this sovereign choice, we do not know, and speculation is
useless. One thing, however, is clear:
those convicted, but not converted will have a greater measure of eternal punishment,
“Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, with
which he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of
Grace?” (Heb l0:29).
This third verse of Genesis
chapter six teaches also that while God has given man a free will in regard to
accepting or rejecting eternal life, He reserves to His own choice the time given in
which man may make that choice.
Up to this point God had
chosen to make the span of human life almost a thousand years, but now He reduces it
to approximately one hundred and twenty. One
thing seems clear, however, in regard to both those life spans: the time in which to
repent was less than the whole life span. Cain,
for example, lived many years apparently after passing beyond hope of salvation.
Nor is there any reason to believe that any of the Cainites ever accepted
salvation.
The sons mentioned in the
genealogy of the godly line we have seen to represent the new life, and it is
instructive to note that all were born while the fathers were relatively young. Experience shows that this is the pattern in regard to conversion.
Most of those who accept Jesus Christ as Savior do so comparatively early in
life. The lesson surely is obvious.
It is folly to stifle the conviction of the Holy Spirit with the intention of
being saved at a later date, for God warns, “My Spirit shall not always strive with
man.” Once His striving ceases,
salvation is impossible. God warns
further, “I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of salvation have I
helped thee; behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day
of salvation” (2 Co 6:2).
6:4.
“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the
sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the
same became mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”
Since this verse has been
discussed in connection with verse 2, further comment is unnecessary, except to
reiterate that it is less important to establish the exact identity of the sons of
God than it is to learn that these marriages seem to have been Satan’s attempt to
corrupt the godly line and thus prevent the birth of the promised “Seed”.
In this connection it is
significant to note that at a later date he sought the destruction of Israel, the
nation from which the “Seed” was to come, by having Balaam and Balak entice them
into marriages with the Moabites, Numbers chapter 25.
Those marriages resulted in God’s sending the plague upon Israel, “And
those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand” (Nu 25:9).
6:5.
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Many of these rebels had
been privileged to receive the knowledge of God directly from the lips of Adam, yet
in spite of that knowledge “the wickedness of man was great....”
The parallel between that day and the present is declared in the New
Testament, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of
Man be, for ... they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until
... Noah entered into the ark, and (they) knew not until the flood came, and took
them all away” (Mt 24:37-39). “... the long- suffering of God waited in the days of Noah” (1
Pe 3:20). “God ... spared not the old
world, but saved Noah ... bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly” (2
Pe 2:4,5). “By faith Noah ... warned
of God ... moved with fear, prepared an ark to the salvation of his house; by which
he condemned the world” (Heb 11:7).
6:6.
“And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved
him at his heart.”
6:7.
“And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of
the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for
it repenteth me that I have made them.”
As that generation ignored
the testimony of the first Adam, and perished, so also has this present generation
ignored the warning of the last Adam. It,
too, will perish. As that generation was
wicked, so also is this generation, and as God visited wickedness with judgment then,
so will He do again. This wicked
generation will also perish.
Adam died before judgment
came. The guilt of this present generation is compounded by the death of
the last Adam. He has died that men
might not have to suffer judgment, and their rejection of that sacrifice aggravates
their offense, “Of how much sorer punishment ... shall he be thought worthy, who
hath trodden under foot the Son of God?” (Heb 10:29).
The explanation of
“repent,” as used here, cannot be better expressed than in the words of the
Scofield Bible notes, “When applied to God, the word is used phenomenally ... God
seems to change His mind. The phenomena
are such as, in the case of man, would indicate a change of mind.”
Repentance is connected with
human weakness. God, being omniscient,
has no need to repent or change His mind.
The wickedness of the
antediluvians, like the fall of Adam, was foreknown by God in the eternal ages
preceding man’s creation. It was not
surprise and disappointment that grieved God: it was that man would use his freedom
of choice to bring upon himself destruction. But
if man is to be the creature who will enjoy eternal fellowship with his Creator, he
must be allowed freedom of choice. God’s
grief stems from some men’s choice not to fit themselves for that fellowship.
That this destruction was
not all-embracing is clear. God
saved eight souls as well as representatives of all other living creatures.
As far as the animals were concerned God’s choice was sovereign: He chose
which He would save, but man was different: he had been given ample warning and he
was given a choice, either to accept God’s remedy or His wrath.
The few who accepted His invitation to save themselves, compared with the many
who refused, demonstrate the Scriptural principle annunciated by the Lord that few
are saved, “Strait (narrow) is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto
life, and few there be that find it” (Mt 7:14).
6:8.
“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
The meaning of grace is
perhaps best understood when viewed in its relationship to mercy, which it excels. Mercy is the withholding of deserved punishment, but grace is the
giving of undeserved reward or blessing.
It is not to be inferred
that Noah was arbitrarily chosen to become the recipient of blessing, for verse nine
reveals that he was different from the men of his generation.
Where they chose to walk in rebellion against God, he was obedient, which is
all God requires of any man.
6:9.
“These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his
generations, and Noah walked with God.”
Much is revealed about Noah
in this verse. Generations here means births,
and the plural declares more than one. Like
all men, he had a natural birth that fitted him to live on earth, but like the few
who are saved, he had also had a spiritual birth that fitted him for heaven, and
without which man cannot enter heaven, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:3).
It was that experience of
being “born again” by placing his trust in God that gave Noah grace in God’s
sight. His being a just man simply means that he was right or righteous,
and he became right with God in the only way any man can become right in God’s
sight - he believed God.
A saving faith in God goes
beyond belief in His existence. As to
belief in His existence we read in James 2:19, “Thou believest that there is one
God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble,” but the devils tremble
in anticipation of judgment, for they cannot be saved.
The faith that justifies is
the faith that believes and obeys. Noah
believed God as to the coming judgment, and that belief led him to prepare the Ark
and enter it at God’s command, and in God’s time.
This is the pattern of saving faith. It
causes a man to believe in future judgment, and it leads him to enter “the Ark”
Jesus Christ, in God’s time, which is NOW.
As to his being perfect,
this means, not that he was perfect in the sense of being sinless, but that he was
upright or sincere. Perfect also means
literally whole or complete. No man is
whole or complete until he has received God’s gift of eternal life by believing in
Christ as his Savior.
“... and Noah walked with
God.” As has been noticed in connection with Enoch, who also walked with
God, this implies God’s control of the life, for He will not walk with the
disobedient, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3).
6:10.
“And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”
The spiritual lesson
conveyed by Noah’s begetting these three sons is that he was fruitful.
An obedient life and spiritual fruitfulness always go together.
6:11.
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence.”
The earth, corrupted and
filled with violence, stands in stark contrast with the life of Noah, and is typical
of the contrast between the life of the natural (earthy) man and the life of the
born-again (spiritual) man. Noah,
imperfect by the natural birth which linked him with fallen Adam, had been made
perfect (whole) by the spiritual birth which linked him with the last Adam (Christ).
The rest of humanity, not having had that second birth, could produce nothing
except corruption and violence, and such was the extent of their wickedness that it
filled the earth.
The prophetic aspect of this
section becomes apparent when it is recognized that an earth, which has fitted itself
again for judgment, is similarly filled with violence.
6:12.
“And God looked upon the earth, and, behold it was corrupt; for all flesh
had corrupted his way upon the earth.”
While the term “all
flesh” certainly includes the animal creation, it obviously applies in a special
sense to man in his natural state without spiritual life.
As God looked down upon humanity He beheld everywhere that which was the
evidence of man’s fallen, spiritually dead state: there was corruption and
violence. Time having been given in
which to repent and be born again, and that grace having been spurned, it only
remained, then, for God to bury out of His sight the corrupt carcass of a humanity
“dead in trespasses and in sins.” Just
as a rotting carcass, unburied, befouls and corrupts the earth on which it lies, and
contaminates the air, so did the corrupt humanity of Noah’s day.
It must be buried.
Water is the element used to
portray the word of God, which believed, cleanses man from sin and gives him
spiritual life. There is strange irony
and propriety therefore, in God’s choice of that very element to be now the means
of man’s destruction. That choice
reminds us that, as it was literally in regard to the corrupt humanity in Noah’s
day, so will it be in regard to the soul and spirit of the unrepentant at the final
terrible judgment. That which water
symbolizes, the Word, will be that by which sinners will be judged and condemned,
“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the
word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (Jn 12:48).
6:13.
“And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the
earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the
earth.”
The man who walked with God
became also the recipient of the divine councils.
Nor is this an isolated instance. Abraham
was a man who also walked with God, and in regard to the impending destruction of
Sodom, God said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” (Ge 18:17).
Those who walk with God are
taken into His confidence, and it is worth noting that what produces the obedient
walk produces also the enlightened understanding.
The Word, searched for instruction as to the manner of life, will yield the
additional treasure of enlightenment as to God’s plans.
As God shared with Abraham
the knowledge of His intention to destroy Sodom, so does He here share with Noah His
intention to destroy the earth. And it
is not without significance that in both instances it resulted in intercession for
those who deserved only judgment. Abraham
interceded for Sodom, and Noah’s intercession for the wicked antediluvians
consisted of a faithful preaching that warned them of coming judgment.
Like Noah and Abraham, we
too, have been taken into God’s confidence. Judgment
is about to engulf the globe. It is not
only our privilege, it is our responsibility to intercede and warn.
6:14.
“Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and
shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.”
Noah’s having to make the
ark teaches us that man’s will is an essential factor in salvation.
God was willing to save the obedient from judgment.
He instructed Noah as to how he could save himself, but it was left to Noah to
make the decision to avail himself of God’s remedy.
It is the same in regard to the salvation of sinners today.
God has revealed that judgment is coming, and as the antediluvians were warned
by Noah, so are men today warned, not only by God’s word, but also by those who
faithfully preach the Gospel. But as
Noah must choose whether to build and enter the ark, so must each sinner choose
whether to believe the Gospel and put his trust in Christ.
Noah was not compelled to enter the ark, nor are men compelled to believe in
Christ. By an act of his own free will
man chooses eternal life or eternal punishment.
His having to make the ark
teaches, not salvation by works, but rather the reality of Noah’s faith.
First he believed God’s word concerning the coming judgment, and the
evidence of his belief was that he built the ark. This is the OT annunciation of the truth explicitly stated in
James 2:l4-26, “Faith without works is dead.”
Good works alone will save no one, but a professed faith that produces no good
works is equally worthless, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen
as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he
condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Heb
ll:7). Genuine salvation produces
righteous living.
In this same connection it
is instructive to note that while believers are clothed with Christ’s
righteousness, there is the equally clear declaration of Scripture that they will
also wear a garment woven of their own righteous deeds, “To her (the Church) was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen
is the righteousnesses (plural) of saints” (Re 19:8).
The ark was to be of gopher
wood (cedar, cypress or fir), and it is generally accepted as a type of Christ. Wood, in Scripture, is used symbolically to represent man in the
body. The Ark as a type of Christ points
to the Lord’s humanity. It was as man
that He went to Calvary on man’s behalf and endured the flood waters of God’s
judgment. That overwhelming waters are
symbolic of judgment is clear from such Scriptures as Ps 69 and 88.
“Rooms shalt thou make.”
The word translated “rooms” is literally “nests,” and conveys the
idea, not only of security, but of peace. It
is beautifully descriptive of the refuge the believer finds in Christ.
Pitch is the translation of
the Hebrew word Kaphar, literally “to cover,” and it is also translated as
“atonement,” literally “covering.” As
that which shut out the judgmental waters and secured the safety of everything inside
the Ark by acting as a covering, the pitch very fittingly portrays Christ’s work of
making atonement, covering man’s sin with His own shed blood, and covering or
sheltering man from judgment.
The pitch was applied inside
as well as out, and the spiritual truth conveyed is that the pitch outside met
God’s eye, while that inside met the eye of the Ark’s occupants.
Speaking as it does of the atonement made through Christ’s shed blood, it
portrays the result of that work manward and Godward.
To God it testifies to the satisfaction of every claim of violated justice; to
man it conveys the same assurance, and gives him peace.
“... without shedding of
blood is no remission” (Heb 9:22). Man
is redeemed only, “with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pe 1:19).
“The blood of Jesus Christ ... cleanseth us from all sin” (l John 1:7).
The Ark is a picture of
Christ, and the pitch is a picture of His blood.
The Ark without pitch would have afforded no safety, nor would a Christ whose
blood had not been shed. He who will not
be saved by trusting in a crucified Christ will not be saved at all.
6:15.
“And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: the length of the ark
shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it
thirty cubits.”
As later with the
Tabernacle, so now with the Ark: no detail of its construction was left to man’s
imagination. The Ark which was to be the
only place of refuge, is a picture of the refuge God has provided for men, in Christ.
So far as the method of that salvation is concerned, man has no part in it.
This is the truth
God would teach in that He,
and not man, decided upon the details of the Ark’s dimensions and construction. Those details neither required nor permitted departure from the
divine blueprint. It is the same with
salvation. Anything, even one small
detail, added or subtracted makes it, “a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the
end thereof are the ways of death” (Pr 14:12).
There is only one way to be
saved, only one place of refuge, to be entered in God’s time: that way and that
place are Christ, “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me” (Jn 14:6).
These divinely given
dimensions also furnish a lesson. In the
symbolic language of Scripture, length is associated with duration of life, and
breadth with the character or quality of the life.
Since the Ark is a type of Christ, the length of it, then, points to something
associated with the length of His life. The
300 cubits of length factorize to 22 X 3 x 52.
(For details of the significance of Biblical numbers see notes at the end of
chapter 1). Two is the number of witness
or testimony; three, of resurrection; and five of responsibility.
Since two is raised to the second power it speaks of a two-fold witness
- before God and man. The
testimony of His life was that He had come to lay it down for man’s sin, but that
He would take it up again in resurrection, of which three is the number.
Five, the number of responsibility, is also raised to the second power,
conveying the lesson that His whole life bore witness to responsibility fully met
both as Representative of God and man.
While the factors supply
details, the whole number 300 emphasizes resurrection.
His whole life was lived in the light of resurrection.
The practical lesson is that our lives should be lived in that same light.
We who are believers shall stand before Him at the Bema to render an account
of the life lived on earth. Those who
are unbelievers will appear before Him for judgment a thousand years later at the
great white throne, and having rejected His salvation while they were on earth, will
be banished to the eternal torment of the lake of fire.
Remorse will augment that
punishment. Those who enter the lake of
fire will do so, not for sins committed, but for failure to enter God’s refuge in
which every sin would have been forgiven.
The fifty cubits of the
Ark’s width speak of the character of Christ’s life.
Fifty factorizes to 2 X 52, and here the emphasis is upon
responsibility (5). The character of His
life was that it witnessed (2) to a twofold responsibility fully met. As the Representative of God He displayed divine perfection.
As the Representative of man He displayed human perfection, but the
responsibility He had willingly assumed could not be discharged until He had paid the
price for man’s failure. The full
discharge of that willingly assumed responsibility took place at Calvary when He
presented His own perfect life in place of man’s, which unfulfilled responsibility
had rendered forfeit. Those who live,
because of unfulfilled responsibility perfectly atoned for in His death, now have the
responsibility to live as becomes those whose lives have been redeemed at such cost.
As length speaks of
duration; and breadth, of quality of the life, height would seem to speak of the life
as viewed by God; and depth, of the life as viewed by man.
The height of 30 cubits therefore, would point to the character of Christ’s
life in God’s estimation. The value of
that estimation is measured in the 30 cubits which speak primarily of resurrection,
since 30 is 3 multiplied by 10.
The measure of God’s
approval of Christ’s life was His resurrection.
The measure of God’s approval of a man’s life is resurrection to eternal
life when the Lord returns. The final
measure of God’s disapproval is for man to be raised at the resurrection of
damnation for the judgment that will result in his being consigned, body, soul and
spirit to die the second death, that is, to enter the eternal torment of the lake of
fire.
Thirty factorizes to 2 X 3 X
5 which translates simply into the truth that resurrection (3) to eternal life is the
witness (2) to responsibility (5) completely fulfilled.
6:16.
“A window shalt thou make to the Ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it
above; and the door of the Ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower,
second, and third stories shalt thou make it.”
There are differing opinions
as to the nature of this window. Some
regard it as a one and-a-half foot space for air and light, between the
sides and the roof, extending the full length of the Ark.
Others take it to be a skylight of some unknown transparent material set in
the roof. Still others take the cubit to
be the height of the peak of the roof, thus giving enough pitch to run off the water.
The uncertainty as to these
details in no way obscures the spiritual truth being presented.
As it was in the Ark of the Tabernacle, where every detail spoke of Christ, so
is it in this Ark. The details speak of
Him.
Whatever its exact location
may have been, the basic thought connected with a window is light.
It speaks of Him Who is Light, and Who, in becoming man, brought to men the
“light of the knowledge of the glory of God” (2 Co 4:6).
The window teaches us that not only was the Ark a place of refuge for those
inside it, but it was also a place of light. This
is the experience of every man who is “in Christ.”
He is eternally secure, and in addition, has spiritual light as well as life.
In his natural state man is
in darkness. He cannot understand the
Scriptures, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for
they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned” (1 Co 2:14). He must
therefore, walk in darkness, for only the believer can say, “Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps 119:105).
Contention over such details
as the dimensions or exact location of the door, tends only to obscure what is
important - the spiritual truth God would teach us by what details He has
supplied. The only information needed
here to bring us God’s message is that there was a door, and it was in the side of
the Ark.
Not only does the Ark as a
whole present Christ, but every part of it performs the same service, for this door
is but the symbol of Him Who said, “I am the door...” (Jn 10:9).
Furthermore, there was only one door, which is the typical declaration of His
uniqueness as the only Door by which man can enter heaven.
Its being in the side of the
Ark is also significant. It was through
that opening in its side that the occupants passed into the place of refuge and rest.
The side of Christ, the true Ark, opened by the spear of the Roman soldier,
provided the blood which alone can cleanse sin and give men access to heaven.
“with lower, second, and
third stories shalt thou make it.” Whatever
other significance may attach to these three stories, in the rooms or nests of which
redeemed creation found refuge, one thought presents itself: through Christ’s
redemptive work, the believer enjoys the redemption of all the three parts of his
being. That redemption includes his body
(the lower part); his soul (the second part); his Spirit (the third part).
6:17.
“And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to
destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything
that is in the earth shall die.”
The words “even I” serve
to emphasize that this which God is about to do is something strange, not in relation
to what will be done, but in relation to the One who will do it.
Up to this point God has been gracious and patient, but now His patience is exhausted.
The time has come for Him to execute judgment, and with Him, judgment is
always the last resort. In regard to His
judgment upon Israel, which had spurned every gracious overture, we read in Isaiah
28:21, “For the Lord shall rise up.... He shall be wroth ... that He may do His
work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act.”
The element of judgment is
to be overwhelming waters. The
antediluvian world was to suffer the same fate as the pre-Adamic, and for the same
reason - rebellion against the Creator. There
is a strange paradox in God’s choice of this element, for it is the one which is
inseparable from life, and it is used frequently as a type of the Word, which alone
can give and sustain spiritual life. In
John chapter 4, which records the Lord’s conversation with the Samaritan woman, He
declared, “... whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing
up into everlasting life.” That, which
under grace is the symbol of life, becomes, under judgment, the symbol of death,
“If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to
judge the world, but to save the world. He
that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the word
that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (Jn 12:47,48).
It is significant, too, that
the Psalmist employs the same figurative language to describe the sufferings endured
by Christ when He stood as man’s Substitute and bore his judgment.
Ps 69:1,2, “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto My soul....
I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow Me.” See
also verses 14,15 of this same Psalm, and Psalm 88:6,7,16,17.
Jonah chapter two conveys the same message, for the prophet’s experience in
the belly of the fish is but an adumbration of the Lord’s sufferings.
The universal extent of the
ruin introduced by Adam’s disobedience is indicated in the words, “... all flesh,
wherein is the breath of life ... everything that is in the earth shall die.”
But if the ruin is universal so also is the remedy.
The death of Christ does more than redeem men’s souls: it brings redemption
to the whole ruined creation, “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth
for the manifestation of the sons of God ... because the creature (creation) itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption ... for we know that the whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
And not only they ... we ourselves groan ... waiting for ... the redemption of
our body” (Ro 8:19-23).
Man’s superiority is
emphasized in that he has had committed to him the well-being of all created things.
As head of creation, Adam brought everything else into a state of condemnation
and death when he transgressed the Creator’s commandment.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the last Adam, as Head of the new creation, brings
redemption and life to that creation.
Man’s superiority over
every other creature is further emphasized in that they, without choice, must suffer
the consequences of his sin, “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not
willingly” (Ro 8:20). Without choice,
they will also share in the millennial blessings of Christ’s redemptive work.
How great, then, will be the eternal punishment of the man, who having the
right of choice, elects to refuse redemption!
The appalling catastrophe
that overwhelmed the godless antediluvians may provide a glimpse of what that eternal
punishment will be like.
6:18.
“But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the
Ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.”
While all others had chosen
to turn “everyone to his own way,” Noah had chosen to “walk with God,” which,
as we have seen, implies obedience. Now
that obedience is to have its reward. The
obedient man will be saved from the judgment that engulfs the remainder of rebel
humanity. It should be noticed, however,
that his salvation was not independent of his will: he was free to choose whether he
would enter the Ark.
Since this covenant
(agreement) is a miniature of the covenant by which salvation is offered to all men,
an examination of its terms will be instructive.
One thing is obvious: Noah had no part in it except to appropriate its
benefits. It was an act of pure grace on
God’s part to make those benefits available. So
is it in regard to the salvation of a man’s soul.
Everything has been provided by God, and man’s part is to make the choice to
accept or reject that provision.
“... thou shalt come into
the Ark.” This is a command which Noah
must obey in order to be saved. The Ark
is a symbol of Christ, and as Noah’s safety lay in entering, man’s safety lies in
entering into Christ. Noah was
commanded, “thou shalt come into the Ark.” Sinful man is commanded, “Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Ac 16:31).
Two lessons are conveyed in
God’s inclusion of Noah’s wife, sons and daughters-in-law in the
command to enter the Ark. His grace
embraces even those of whom it is not said that they “walked with God.”
He would have all men to be saved.
These seven members of
Noah’s family, however, were different from the other antediluvians.
All had heard Noah’s preaching, all had watched the construction of the Ark,
but these had been directly under the godly influence of Noah, and it cannot be
doubted that that influence played an important part in their decision to enter the
safety of the Ark. The lesson surely is
plain. Believers are responsible to live
before the unsaved, and particularly those who are of their own families, in such a
manner as will not hinder their coming to Christ.
6:19.
“And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring
into the Ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.”
What God is saying in this
verse goes far beyond the simple statement that all creatures were to enter the Ark
in pairs. As is clear from the previous
verse, this requirement applied also to the persons, and it is emphasized that each
two or pair was to consist of a male and a female.
The spiritual significance
of this, of course, is that the female represents the expression of the new spiritual
life. (Since this has been discussed in
detail in our study Genesis chapter two, further elaboration here is unnecessary).
The truth conveyed by this detail is that which cannot be overemphasized.
Man in his natural unregenerate state will never enter heaven.
Everything in the Ark, sheltered thereby from judgment, testified to the truth
that everyone who would escape divine judgment must have what the female represents
- the expression of a new life, a new nature, obtained through faith in Jesus
Christ.
“... to keep them alive”
would simply emphasize the truth that as those in the Ark were not only saved from
the flood, but had their lives perpetuated to endless generations in their
descendants, so all who are in Christ are safe from judgment, and have eternal life.
6:20.
“Of fowls after
their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth
after its kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.”
“... shall come unto thee
...” underscores the fact that safety was linked with coming unto Noah.
It is the symbolic declaration of the truth that no one will be saved apart
from coming to Christ, He Himself declaring, “I am the way, the truth and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Jn 14:6).
The unusual order here of
fowls first, followed by cattle, and then by creeping things, may be to direct
attention to spiritual truth regarding the salvation of man in all three parts of his
being. As the three divisions of the
earth’s animal creation were saved in the Ark, so is man in Christ saved in body,
soul and spirit - the fowls (creatures of the air) representing the spirit; the
cattle representing the soul; and the creeping things, the body.
6:21.
“And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it
to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.”
The importance of food is
apparent from even a casual reading of Scripture.
The very first commandment given to Adam was related to food.
It was in connection with food that man was tempted.
Part of the divine punishment was that the production of man’s food would
thereafter be connected with sweat and toil. A
diminished yield of food resulted from Cain’s rebellion.
Immediately after the flood God added flesh to man’s diet, Ge 9:3.
In connection with the Passover lamb, God’s instructions were no less
specific in regard to the preparation of its body for food than they were in
connection with the application of its blood. The
unleavened bread, the manna, etc., were all the subject of God’s instruction to His
people.
The reason for the divine
concern relative to man’s food is understood when it is recognized that in
Scripture what man eats literally is symbolic of what he eats spiritually.
The natural man loathes the manna, but lusts for Egypt’s leeks, onions,
garlic.... The prodigal, away from the
father’s house, “would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine
did eat.” Restored, he feasted on
fatted calf.
It is clear, then, why God
not only furnished the Ark for safety, but was equally careful to provide for the
sustenance of the redeemed life within it. The
new life that begins when a man finds safety in Christ must be nourished, not with
Egypt’s “leeks and onions,” but first with the “sincere milk of the Word”
(1 Pe 2:2), and then with the “manna” and the “fine wheat” of the written
Word, which is itself the presentation of Him Who is the Living Word.
6:22.
“Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.”
This verse records Noah’s
implicit obedience. All that God
commanded him to do he did. It declares,
in fact, not only the character of Noah’s life, but what must characterize the life
of all who would be similarly blessed. It
was disobedience that first brought man under judgment, and it is obedience,
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, that removes him from under judgment
and places him under blessing.
That principle never ceases
to operate even in the life of a believer. Disobedience
and blessing are never found together. Disobedience
is connected with darkness, as blessing is with light, and they can no more exist
together spiritually than physically. He
who would be blessed must be obedient; and not selectively, but in all that
God has commanded.
[Genesis
7]
