Genesis 7:2
Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
The Lord commanded righteous Noah to bring his household into the ark and to take clean animals by sevens, male and female, and unclean animals by twos, male and female, with birds also by sevens, and he stored the ark with food and arranged them in their places during the seven days of entering. They came of themselves peacefully without human driving, led by unseen divine power and holy angels from mountain and forest and sky in perfect order to find refuge. The distinction between clean and unclean was already known long before any Jew existed, resting on the nature and habits God gave the creatures, with the unclean in themselves unfit for food. More of the clean were preserved so that after the flood, when other food was destroyed, Noah could be permitted to eat of the clean, though animal flesh was still not the healthiest food. Their obedient entrance was a final warning against human disobedience, and when God shut the door Noah was kept safe while the wicked who rejected the one-hundred-twenty-year call to repentance perished, prefiguring how it shall be at the coming of the Son of man.
Entry Into the Ark
The command belongs to the Lord's bidding to Noah, seen as righteous before God in his generation, to come with all his house into the ark, and Noah did according to all that was commanded, going in with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives because of the waters of the flood, and the Lord shut him in. It came in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month on the seventeenth day of the month, when the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. Rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights, the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days, and all the wicked inhabitants of the earth perished.
The account is inspired Scripture and factual history, with a real Noah and a historical flood. It stands in God's judgment when the wickedness of man was great and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, when the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence. That ruin came through continual transgression of God's law, while Noah believed the word, warned the people and sought to turn them to obedience.
Clean beasts were to be taken by sevens, male and female, and beasts that are not clean by two, male and female. Birds also presented themselves by sevens to be taken in. After the ark was finished in every part and stored with food for man and beast, with provisions and goods taken in, Noah took them in and arranged them in their prepared places during the seven days of entering.
They came of themselves peacefully without human driving, under invisible divine leadership and guided by holy angels. From mountain and forest they moved quietly toward the ark, fiercest as well as most gentle, with cattle and every living creature approaching two and two and with no visible leader to find a place of refuge in the ark built on dry land. Birds flocked from all directions in numbers darkening the heavens and passed in perfect order.
Their orderly entry was obedience to God set against the disobedience of men, a wonderful sight given for human salvation and a final visible warning. Men had just rejected Noah's last solemn appeal, and when they saw the animals enter they increased jest and scoffing, mirth and revelry and mocking, with merriment and violence, reason perverted by appetite and low carnal amusements and conscience become unimpressible. The sight stopped mocking with wonder and fear that philosophers could not explain, yet men hardened by persistent rejection of light received only a momentary impression before banishing fear, and the evidence failed to impress the hardened inhabitants who would not believe and hear, but made light of Noah and his family while wickedness increased. Then Noah and his family were bidden to enter and went in with them, and the door was shut not by human hands but by God Himself, by His own hand and by an invisible hand, shutting Noah in safe under protecting care and shutting the world out. They remained enclosed one week with no rain as a time of testing that fully revealed unbelief and the words and acts of mockery, during which the people mocked and derided while hope died after the last warning was rejected. Afterward rain began gently and increased in power until steady rain set in and destroyed every living thing outside, every unbeliever and every living being and dumb animal outside the ark perishing in sin.
Clean Distinction Preserved
The distinction between clean and unclean beasts was already recognized at the flood, long before any Jew existed. It rested upon the nature and habits of the creatures as God had made them, with the unclean in themselves unclean and unfit for man to use as food. The law given in the days of Moses therefore did not impose an arbitrary rule upon the Jews for sixteen centuries, but gave the sanction of law to what was already unclean by nature.
More of the clean animals were directed to be taken into the ark so that they could supply food after the flood had destroyed other food and the living things on which people could subsist. People had not previously been permitted to eat animal food, but in those exceptional circumstances Noah was permitted to eat of the clean animals. Animal flesh was nevertheless still not the healthiest food for people. The animals thus preserved in the ark were the kinds God had created, while the confused species resulting from amalgamation were not God's created kinds and were destroyed by the flood.
Judgment and Final Warning
The flood was God's judgment poured upon the earth because of human sin and iniquity through continual transgression of His law, declaring His verdict upon the wicked. For one hundred and twenty years of probation mercifully given to repent or be swept away, Noah and his helpers were constantly at work preparing the immense ark as a boat on dry land, while Noah and those who believed with him preached all the more earnestly. Amid universal scorn thrown upon God's law and upon them, the guilty race rejected and despised God's love, until the measure of iniquity became full and the bounds of mercy and long-suffering were passed. By the standard of God's law the obedient were distinguished from the disobedient, and many of the believing ones kept the faith and died triumphant before the end came, while Noah refused to be tempted by scorn to have less reverence and love for the law.
In that judgment God vindicated the honor of His law and His authority by punishing its transgressors. Men had exceeded the bounds of long-suffering, despised warnings, and gone counter to God's known law, so He limited human life and repressed unrighteousness to prevent continual disobedience and mutual destruction. The destruction of the corrupt people was also an act of mercy to the world.
Only eight persons of that vast population accepted the warning, fled for refuge into the ark, and were saved. Noah gave the message that a flood was to come, the world could not endure it but laughed and mocked and scoffed at him as a preacher of righteousness, yet their unbelief did not make the message of none effect. Noah and his family were saved in the ark by God's miracle because of their right-doing, while mockers perished as the waters covered the earth. The ark preserved Noah's family, showing that God preserves the faithful and that in these days of destruction and calamity He will be the refuge of His believing ones.
The shut door shut Noah in safe under God's protecting care and shut the world out, ending probation and leaving hope dead after the last warning was rejected. After the animals came and were housed inside and the believers were shut in by an invisible hand, God held back rain for one full week as a time of testing that fully revealed the unbelief and mockery of the unbelievers. Then after six days rain began gently and increased in power until steady rain set in and every living being and animal outside the ark perished in sin. As the flood then swept away the inhabitants of the earth, so it is today, for the same increasing wickedness means time is very short now, probation will close, and the last call of mercy will pass unheard by those blinded by peace and safety amid increasing calamities, earthquakes, floods, and disasters by land and by sea.
As they knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Noah was a real person and the flood a historical event, and Noah's generation prefigures the age before Christ's return. God looked upon the world then as He looks upon the world today, sending His message then as He sends His messages now, while worldwide wickedness before the flood is repeated in this age of the world. God's people warn the world of coming judgment and will finally be delivered and kept from destruction by the wicked, who oppose those refusing the beast's decree and mark.
Noah fulfilled the will of God in bearing God's message to an impenitent, pleasure-loving, corrupt people, and his message condemned the world and shows the pattern for the last message of mercy to be given to the world now. That truth requires self-denial and lifting the cross to obey God in keeping all His commandments, going to regions beyond to warn the world, to some a savor of life unto life who accept sufficient light to receive saving truth and be saved, to others a savor of death unto death, while the same unbelief that prevailed before the flood will exist prior to the coming of Christ. Though moral darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people, duty remains to keep close connection with God and lift the voice in warning, showing professing children of God their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. Believers must not be discouraged when only a few believe present truth, must not follow the majority to the right or left, for following the majority leads to destruction and not seeing heaven, and even many who helped build the ark did not believe, cleanse themselves from wrong principles, or overcome temptation to do and say things contrary to the mind and will of God. The ark is the safety that mothers must themselves enter if their children are to enter, for to remain outside is to neglect the great salvation offered through Christ's complete sacrifice, and mothers are accountable to God for the souls of their children and cannot afford to stay outside while expecting their children to go inside. All must humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, serve God alone, have fixed holy character, and wake up and get ready before it is everlastingly too late, for probation will close and the last call of mercy will pass.