10: Genesis 7

Genesis 7

• Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.”
  • We talked about the ark already as being a symbol of the Church and even Churches nowadays being physically symbols of the ark
  • Entering the ark required a sort of righteousness
    • When we enter the church we should stop and pray “But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; in fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.”
    • Unfortunately, there are some who enter the church very casually, and without realizing their mistake. Because entering the church symbolizes entering heaven.
    • When the priest is praying the Circuit of Incense, he comes to that Western door and raises incense saying “He opened the gate of Paradise” – why raise incense to a door? There’s an altar and icons… This door has honor. It represents the gate of Paradise.
    • In the story of St Mary of Egypt, she went to Jerusalem as a sinner living a life of prostitution and she was unable to enter the door of the church. Some force was stopping her. And she realized it was because of her own impurity. So she repented and promised to live an ascetic life and immediately she could enter the church. So she left and became a hermit and lived in solitude the rest of her life. See the importance of the door of the Church
    • Every time you enter the door of the Church you can pray “Thank You God for your permission to enter” – “I am not worthy O Lord to enter the dwelling place of your saints and angels”
  • We are also entering the Church to increase in righteousness – to find our shelter in God
    • “He took what is ours and gave us what is His”
• You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth.
  • We read in the last chapter that Noah will take two of each… now it says seven. Is this a contradiction? No! It’s more of a clarification – yes you will bring two but of every clean animal, you will bring seven.
  • We want to clarify here, as well, that we do not believe in macroevolution – a species evolving into another species. That is refuted by us, and not proved by any science. Microevolution – changes to a species, adaptation, etc. sure. This has a place both in our spiritual life, and in science. But from species to species… no. Or else why would God require two of each a male and a female? Why not just bring some fish and eventually you have dogs and cats?
  • Why seven of each clean animal? Because Noah is going to offer sacrifices!
  • How did Noah know what is clean or unclean? That isn’t written until Moses…
    • There is a “Natural Law”
      • Between Adam and God there was a law. When Adam saw God offering an animal and clothing him with skin, he understood. And for sure, more words were said.
      • This is why when Abel offered, he took from his best sheep – that was the expectation for sacrifices. What Cain did was against the law – but there was no law! But there was tradition, there was a handing-down.
• For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth
  • The first time God told Noah, He didn’t tell him when (it was 100 years early). Then when Noah finished, God came and said “it’s starting in 7 days”
  • Same with Abraham – God told him he would have a son. 20 years later, he doesn’t have a son. But God comes and says “this time next year Sarah will give birth.”
  • Usually the promises at first are very general or blurry or without details, and then God comes and says “next week” or “next year”
    • Some people want – the first time they pray to get a date and time when the prayer will be answered. But God doesn’t work that way – and they may receive the answer – once they forget about asking for a date and time!
    • Noah got used to it – a hundred years of work. And all of a sudden he got the voice that said “one more week. It’s time. Get the food, get the animals, bring them in”
  • Everything needs to be in the ark before the rain starts
    • If someone did not repent, and then saw Christ on the judgment seat – can he still repent? No. It’s too late.
    • If someone did not repent, and the rain came – can he still repent? No. It’s too late.
    • Like the 10 virgins – 5 wise and 5 foolish and the foolish were outside. And Christ will say “why were you outside?”
    • It is risky to say “when I grow up I’ll go to church” or “when I have more time I will go to church.”
• For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him.
  • Noah’s patience
    • Noah had every excuse
      • No one there to encourage him. In fact he still has to encourage his kids
      • The work is hard. It’s a huge wooden ark piece by piece
      • He’s old! He started at 500 years old and went for 100 years
  • Noah’s faith
    • In our spiritual life, we have ups and downs. We might have some time where we stop praying but then we go back. We might have a time when we forget to read the Bible, but we go back and read it. The important thing is not to stop.
    • Noah might have had ups and downs in those 100 years – but he never stopped. What if Noah had built only half the ark? Then it’s useless – he would have drowned.
    • We cannot say “I prayed a lot a long time ago” – no! You’re only halfway done!
      “I loved and served the people but now it’s time for me time” – no!
• Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
  • Male and female
    • How many times did we hear “male and female” so far in Genesis?
    • God created the animals male and female; God created man male and female; God created marriage between one male and one female; Noah was to go in with his wife; Noah’s sons were to go in with their wives; they had to take males and females of every animal…
    • Anything that is against nature is against the will of God. Many claim that other things are natural – but no! The Bible tells us what is natural
    • We saw Sodom and Gomorrah because of their lack of respect for what is natural were destroyed
    • Adam saw that all of the animals around him had a helpmate – and he was lonely. As if God waited to create Eve so that Adam could realize that he was missing something
• And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
  • The rain here is representation of the end of the first Creation. It is a typology for the end of the world
  • And we can imagine that we are all playing the part Noah played – we need to build for ourselves an ark. At the same time, we need to tell the world – it’s time to repent! The end of the world is coming and you have to be ready. But the people will laugh at us and say “what are you Christians talking about?”
  • Many people today out of the abundance of their knowledge (especially scientific) deny that the Flood happened. They might say something like “well when it rains, the water will go down the mountains, maybe cover the land a little but then drain into the ocean.” But what they fail to notice is this verse – the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. It was not just rain, but it was as if the ocean was lifting up flood waters.
  • Like the 2013 Tsunami in the Philippines… it came all of a sudden and 200,000 people were dead. Just like that.
• And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
• On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japeth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark –
  • Great is the family that is attached to the ark. Great is the family that is attached to the Church.
  • Noah and his wife were not just successful in their work with the ark, but they were successful in raising their children – because not one of them was lost – and even their children-in-law.
  • Here we see from the beginning, from the story of Noah, the perfect example of marriage and parenting. They took each other into the ark.
  • Likewise, when choosing a spouse for your child, make sure that they are attached to the Church and all that is in Her (Sacraments, Service, Meetings, etc). So that they can encourage their spouse in their spiritual life. Nowadays you might have family members who when you go to church make fun of you “oh everything is church church church?”
• They and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life.
  • Some might ask how did Noah get the animals into the ark?
    • Remember that Adam was in the garden with the animals and they loved him and played with him. There was no enmity between man and animals. The Fathers say that as man comes closer to God, he starts to resemble Christ, he starts to resemble Adam, and the animals may treat him like Adam.
    • For example, the story of St Barsoum – he was a hermit, and there is a huge snake that lived in the cave he went into. He became friends with the snake. It was a regular snake… but he was not a regular man.
    • Daniel in the lion’s den – were they real lions? Yeah! Real lions that eat humans… humans after the fall, but not humans before the fall. So the more a person becomes like Adam before the Fall, the more he becomes like Christ, the more he becomes perfect and righteous, the more the animals will recognize their Creator in him.
  • Look how organized it all was – it’s always organized. God loves order.
    • We can learn from this – many times these days we are not organized in our service, for example
• So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.
  • The Lord shut him in
    • This is a beautiful message – that once we do all we can, and we reach a point we can do nothing about it, God will take care of it. How could Noah shut the door of the ark? A huge door (maybe with a big ramp on it)? It would be impossible. God took care of it. But he didn’t stop in the beginning and say “I won’t be able to close the door so this is useless”
    • Similar to the women after the burial of Christ – they were going to anoint Christ’s body with spices and ointment but they had a problem – who will roll the stone away from the tomb for us? And when they couldn’t get someone to roll it, did they just stay home and say “oh well”? No. They went. Knowing that God would take care of the rest.
    • God will take care of it. Many people get upset when they hear “God will take care of it”. That word is annoying when there’s something you can do… but if it’s out of your hands, then you can use that word. God will take care of it. When Christ was raising Lazarus He told them to move the stone.
  • They were in the Lord’s hands, as if He closed His hands around them to protect them. God gives us the feeling that He has us in His hands.
• Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
  • The ark was gradually lifted up so as to keep those inside it safe (not like a huge hit of water to knock it over)
  • The Church is always lifted up – despite what is going on around it
• The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters.
  • So as the world outside the ark is being destroyed, Noah is waking up, hearing the birds, praying with his family, feeding the animals, and they are living in another kingdom
  • Christ says “The Kingdom of God is within you” – you are in a different kingdom from what is outside… Outside they kill each other, curse each other, etc.
• And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.
  • Why is prevailed repeated? Emphasizes how much water there was, and how much flood there is. And this is exactly what will happen at the end of days – no one can imagine how in the blink of an eye, the whole world would be lost.
  • Mountains represent pride or ego – and it was all destroyed