THE GREAT FLOOD Amid the corruption of the earth, the Lord declared His redemption of humanity, through the events of the great flood and the renewal of the earth, the matter that carried a symbol of the salvation work of the Lord Christ. 1- God’s care for Noah 1-5. 2-Entering the ark 6-9. 3- The great flood 10-16. 4- Water rising high above the earth 17-24. 1- GOD’S CARE FOR NOAH In His exalted care for His children, God says: “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation” (Gen. 7:1). How wonderful it is to see God testifying to His children, with such a true testimony! If humanity, in those days, brought destruction over itself and the whole world, yet God remains testifying to the righteousness of Noah; and for his sake, He cares for him and his household, planning his deliverance through the ark with such great accuracy, fixing its dimensions, the kind of wood to use, number of its decks, number and locations of windows etc.; then the number of clean and unclean beasts and birds together with everything that creeps on the earth, besides the necessary provisions. He also instructed him to let all this in, within 7 days, and fixed 40 days and nights for the rain to pour on the earth (Gen. 7:4). All that for the sake of one righteous man, to establish a covenant with him (Gen. 6:18); and here we notice: a- Some believe that it took Noah 120 years to warn the wicked people, while he was busy building the ark before their eyes, to confirm the truth of God’s warnings. Those depend for their view on the phrase, “Yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (Gen. 6:3). A view also adopted by many others, even in the days of St. Augustine1. Anyhow, Noah, in his age of 600 years was a subject of people’s ridicule, to build such a huge ark in his old age to escape a great flood, that was, according to them, a product of his imagination. Unfortunately, many people took part in building it, earning wages for their work from the righteous man, and did not think about entering it to deliver themselves. In that, they represent some of the ministers of the word, who preach the evangelic truth as a job to earn their living; and as they do not live it, they perish, while others are saved, receiving the word from them in faith! That is why, the apostle Paul proceeded cautiously in his preaching, saying: “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27). b- “Then the Lord said to Noah... ‘You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal,...; two each of animals that are unclean,; also seven each of birds of the air, a male and his female of each’” (Gen. 7:3). Some see that thus, the number is too great to be accommodated by the ark. So they claimed that the great flood had to be local and not general over all the regions of the earth, therefore Noah committed himself to animals and birds that only live in his surroundings. But those vast and far continents that were still uninhabited by man, embraced animals and birds that survived until after the great flood. St. Augustine, on the other hand, believes that the ark was so huge, and that the cubit mentioned here, was a geographic cubit, that measured six times as the regular cubit; the ark thus could accommodate all animals 1 Cf. City of God 15:27. 4 and birds, etc.1 c- Some believe that the phrase “seven each of every clean animal, a male and a female,” indicates that Noah took, of every kind, seven males and seven females, probably to offer of them sacrifices to the Lord, besides feeding on their flesh, he and his household. Others believe that that phrase can be interpreted, that he took seven of each kind: three males and three females, beside a seventh animal to be offered as a sacrifice to the Lord. d- God did not instruct Noah about which of the animals are clean and which of them are unclean; As the Mosaic Law was not yet declared. Therefore, some believe that the statute of clean and unclean animals was given by God orally to Adam, and was delivered by tradition to successive generations. And when the Mosaic Law came it registered what was already set, but with more details. e- The rain poured for forty days and forty nights; which is the same period of fasting by the Lord Christ, and also by Moses and Elijah. In our study of the gospel according to the Evangelist Matthew2, we saw that the figure 40 refers to the days of our life on earth; as though that as long as we are living on earth, we ought to be hidden in the ark from the waters of the great flood to remain protected in the Church of Christ by faith, so we do not perish. If the great flood refers to Baptism, then the old man would have been destroyed, and we wouldn’t enjoy the new man. The pouring of rain for a duration of 40 days and 40 nights, refers to the commitment of the believer to remain all his life on earth reacting with the blessings of Baptism, through continuous repentance, in order to practice the renewed life, not all at once for a limited time, but for a lifetime, with no end. His outer man perishing every day, while his inner man is renewed, setting forth stronger and stronger, and from glory to glory! 2- ENTERING THE ARK Noah, 600 years of age, entered into the ark with his wife, his sons and his son’s wives, beside all animals and birds... “as God has commanded Noah” (Gen. 7:9). There was probably no natural indication of any flood, yet the procession started and continued to proceed to the ark as for seven days, motivated only by God’s commandment to Noah, and the obedience to it with faith in God’s promises. While the world was mocking Noah, he was torn with grief for his brothers’ sake, yearning to take all of them into the ark to be saved. The seven days duration of the procession, it refers to the Church that opens the doors of hope before all men for all days of the week, namely, all days of our sojourn on earth. For it receives every human being, even at the last breath of his life! It is to be noticed that Noah and his sons were married, each to only one wife, like their father Adam. 3- THE GREAT FLOOD The Holy Scripture described the event of the great flood with great accuracy. It started on the seventeenth day of the second month of the 600th. Year of Noah’s age (Gen. 7:10), that is the year 1656 of world history, or about the year 2349 BC according to the Hebrew calendar - in the middle or the end of the month of November3. Rain kept pouring for 40 days (Gen. 7:12), “and water prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days” (Gen. 7:24). Water dried up from the earth after 1 Cf. City of God 15:27. . 2 الإنجيل بحسب متى ١٩٨٣ 3 Edersheim: The Bible History, V. 1. p. 45. 5 371 days from the beginning of the great flood, when God commanded Noah to leave the ark (Gen. 8:13-16), on the 27th. day of the second month of the 601st. year of Noah’s age (Gen. 8:14), counting the year as 360 days according to lunar months. In the present context we notice the following: a- The expression “All the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened” (Gen. 7:11), indicates that great flood was not only caused by the heavy rains, but the whole earth became, as though it turned into fountains and springs gushing water with no end. Anyhow, if the believer, in his life, carries a consistent great flood, through continuous life of repentance, God will draw out of his earth (body), fountains of great deep, to sweep away and destroy every evil, and will grant his heavens (soul) incessant spiritual rains, to work with the same spirit together with the body, that is, sanctified in the Lord. Thus, the sanctified body in the Lord, would work together with the soul, by the Holy Spirit of God, through the continuous repentance, in order that all features of the old life would come to an end in him, and he would always enjoy the strength of the new life in the Lord Jesus Christ. b- The Holy Scripture says: “And the Lord shut him in” (Gen. 7:16). The door remained open 7 days to receive the procession coming to enjoy the fullness of salvation; but as the days of our life come to an end, the door will be shut out. However, those inside will be kept safe and doom cannot cross over to them, while those, still outside, will be denied enjoyment of the glories inside. This is what the Lord Christ proclaimed in His talk about the kingdom of heaven, simulating it to virgins entering with the Bridegroom; and as time comes, with the arrival of the Bridegroom, “Those who were ready went in with Him to the wedding and the door was shut” (Matthew 25:10). It is amazing that God, Himself shuts the door; as it is said, “And the Lord shut him in.” He, alone, “has the keys of David; He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens” (Revelation 3:7). He opened for us the gates of Paradise by the key of His cross, to enter with and in Him in the fellowship of His glories; and he shuts us in, eternally with Him, so as the evil enemy would never approach us. 4- WATER RISING HIGH ABOVE THE EARTH The phrase: “Water rose high above the earth,” or phrases that have the same meaning are often repeated often (Gen. 7:17, 18, 19, 20, 24) - and the higher the water rose, the higher the ark moved about on the surface of the water (Gen. 7:18), rising above the high mountains under heaven (Gen. 7: 19). Water remained so risen above the earth for 150 days. If man, in his love for the earthly, became (earth) and (dust), the water of Baptism can cover him up, to kill in him works of the old man, with his soul rising high, by the cross, seeking the heavenly. And if man, in his pride became a mighty and solid mountain, water would entirely cleanse him to become a holy mountain, carrying the fragrance of life, that is in Jesus Christ, instead of that old life characterized by pride. We can say, that the more the believer is subjected to temptations that resemble the water of a great flood yet as we are indeed inside the ark - the Church of Christ, even if the ark is shaken for some time, yet temptations surround us, but would never enter into us. They would attack us but would lift us up as water did with the ark; and the believer would remain, through temptations, elevated in the eyes of God, so that when the days of affliction comes to an end, he would settle down on the top of a mountain, and thus stays glorified in the Lord.
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