And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
Noah fully obeyed everything God commanded him, keeping God's law and doing right in a wicked generation. His obedience joined faith with works, building the great ark on dry land exactly as directed and gathering provisions while enduring ridicule, scoffing and contempt. He believed the warning that mankind would be destroyed by water, preached righteousness with earnest entreaty to a violent and pleasure-loving world that called him insane, yet only his own family listened so only eight were saved. In obedience he entered the ark with his household when all was ready, God Himself shut them in, they waited a full week under clear skies while mockers triumphed, then the fountains of the deep broke up and rain fell forty days until every living thing outside perished. That preservation of the obedient few while mockers perished is the pattern for the last days, calling all to do God's will and keep all His commandments, bring their families through judgment, and refuse to follow the majority to destruction.
Obedience Amid Wickedness
Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him, in full and complete obedience, and he stands declared righteous in his generation because of right-doing and keeping God's law. His obedience is set apart from the many who helped build the ark yet did not believe the startling message, did not cleanse themselves from wrong principles, and did not overcome temptation to do and say things contrary to the mind and will of God. By the miracle of God he and his family were saved in the ark because of that right-doing and preservation of the law.
That obedience united faith and works, for he walked by faith and then proved faith by building the immense boat on dry land exactly as God directed. The warning that lofty trees would be destroyed and the earth broken up seemed unbelievable, yet he kept at work with his helpers preparing the boat on dry ground and took in provisions for man and beast. He worked on through jeers, ridicule, scoffing, mirth, scorn and contempt, and housed the cattle and all other living creatures as God sent them. With tearful eye, trembling lip and quivering voice he made his last effort in warnings, entreaty and appeal for rejecters to believe and secure refuge in the ark.
The setting was a corrupt world where every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually, and the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence. God had given men His commandments as a rule of life, but His law was transgressed and universally despised, justice was trampled in the dust, and open and daring wickedness with every conceivable sin brought the cries of the oppressed unto heaven. Pride, self-importance and unrighteousness prevailed, and at the close of the 120-year probation God declared the limits of forbearance, giving one hundred and twenty years to turn from sins before mercy ended and iniquity was full. That judgment for increasing wickedness and continual transgression warns that God's punishment of persistent sin is certain.
Noah believed the word of God that He would destroy man from off the earth by the waters of the flood, faithfully preached righteousness to that sinful, impenitent, pleasure-loving generation, and made every effort with entreaty and appeal to turn them from transgression to obedience. The world counted the message an idle tale and kept eating and drinking and planting and building and marrying and giving in marriage, knowing not until the flood came and took them all away. The people turned from him with impatience and contempt as egotistical for supposing his family alone were right, having no patience with his warnings, calling him insane and fanatic, while reason, science and philosophy assured them against him and none of the wise men and honored of the earth believed his testimony. Only his own family at last received the message, so only eight persons of that vast population accepted the warning, fled for refuge into the ark and were saved, while the message condemned the world, yet their scorn and mocking and scoffing did not make God's message of none effect. By the standard of God's law the obedient were distinguished from the disobedient, and Noah did not lose reverence and love for that law under universal scorn heaped on the law and on himself and his helpers, but preached all the more earnestly in proportion to the ridicule heaped upon them, while many other believing ones kept the faith and died triumphant.
Entering Waiting and Flood
In obedience Noah entered the ark with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives because of the waters of the flood, eight persons in all, at God's gracious invitation when all things were ready and hope was still held out to all the inhabitants, and then God Himself shut them in and an invisible hand closed the door. He entered with his family when God told him, after finishing the ark and storing goods and housing the cattle and all other living creatures as they came, and he remained inside when shut in. His entering was complete obedience that distinguished the obedient from the disobedient by the standard of God's law, declared him righteous in his generation, and was for salvation to bring a whole family through judgment.
The beasts and birds obeyed God by coming quietly two by two under invisible leading to find refuge, darkening the heavens with fowls, while men remained disobedient and unbelieving even when they saw it. The dumb animals came without a visible leader at the closing hour, in contrast to a disobedient world that had separated from God and would not hear His voice or believe the warning though belief would have been for their salvation. The hardened inhabitants ignored that evidence instead of humbling themselves, and the solemn sight of the animals entering and God closing the door did not move them to repentance.
Those inside remained shut in a full week before any rain fell and before any sign of storm appeared, while the sun rose and set in a clear sky. This apparent delay tried their faith daily with temptation to doubt, for being enclosed that week with no rain and nothing to be seen was a testing time in which they rested only in God's word that the flood was coming. The delay gave triumph to the world outside and confirmed them in the belief that the message was a delusion and the flood would never come. Crowds gathered about the ark in sport and revelry, mocking and deriding its inmates with daring violence they had never ventured upon before, making a jest of these manifestations of God's power while nothing could be seen.
After seven days, in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. Clouds gathered for the first time and rain fell slowly as a new thing and then in torrents for forty days and forty nights until the ark floated on the troubled waters. The waters prevailed one hundred and fifty days and reached the tops of the mountains and highest trees, sweeping away the inhabitants who tried to escape, so every living thing outside the ark perished and all the wicked inhabitants were destroyed.
Pattern for the Last Days
Genesis 7:5 belongs to the inspired history of Genesis, Noah was a literal person recognized by Christ, the Flood was a historical fact, and the people of his generation prefigure the character of the world before Christ appears. In the Flood Noah and his family were preserved in the ark while those who had mocked his warning perished, and their deliverance is the pattern for God's people who warn the world of coming wrath and will be preserved from the wicked in the final crisis, including those who refuse the decree and mark of the beast. Noah was preserved in the ark that God had prepared for him through the great deluge, and that preservation is the pattern for the last days when everything in nature will be convulsed with fire and earthquakes and destruction of human life and God will be the refuge of His believing ones.
As wickedness and mocking and refusal to hear surrounded Noah in his very short closing time, so wickedness and unbelief surround the present short time of preparation before the same destruction of the wicked. The dumb animals came quietly two and two under God's invisible leading without a visible leader, God's hand closed the door upon the obedient family, a week passed with no rain during which the hardened inhabitants who had ignored that evidence mocked and derided instead of humbling themselves, then rain fell and increased until every living thing was destroyed. Time was very short and the wickedness of the world had increased as in the days of Noah, the hour to close the ark came at last and the ark was closed, and the inhabitants of the old world perished. Only eight of that vast population accepted the warning, fled for refuge into the ark, and were saved, while the message condemned the world, and as Jesus declared the same unbelief that prevailed before the Flood will exist prior to the coming of Christ. God looked upon the world in Noah's time as He looks upon the world today, He sent His message through Noah then as He sends His messages now, while calamities and earthquakes and floods and disasters by land and by sea increase, and Noah's complete obedience in a time of worldwide wickedness that is being repeated stands apart from the many who helped him build the ark yet did not believe the startling message, did not cleanse themselves from all wrong principles, and did not overcome the temptation to do and say things entirely contrary to the mind and will of God.
The verse means obedient life that brings a whole family through judgment into the city of God. Noah and his family entered the ark in obedience to God's gracious invitation that all things were now ready, which gave hope to all inhabitants of the world before the door was closed, those who had entered were severely tried by remaining in the ark a full week before rain came while those who refused scoffed and mocked and defied God, after the week rain began to fall gently as a new thing and continued until every living thing was destroyed from the face of the earth, and only the one family that entered was saved. The same is true now, when no one knows how soon the last message of warning will be given and cases will be fixed for eternity, so all must search their hearts, be converted for pardon of sins, do the will of God, gain an individual experience, and prepare in a short time for the closing scenes of earth's history. No man can serve two masters, and all must humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, refuse Satan's peace and safety theories, hear the last call of mercy, and get ready, because character will then be fixed holy still or filthy still and it will be everlastingly too late. The same obedience requires keeping close connection with God to reach hearts with a truth that requires self-denial and lifting the cross, carrying the last message of mercy to regions beyond to warn the world, to some a savor of life unto life and to others a savor of death unto death, and all will have sufficient light to accept saving truth, obey God's requirements in keeping all His commandments, and be saved, though moral darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people and duty to lift the voice in warning and show professed children of God their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins remains unchanged. Obedience puts believers with the few, not the majority, and the majority will be lost, so none should be discouraged when only a few believe present truth and none should follow the majority, for following the majority keeps one from heaven and ends in destruction, and those who know their duty must regard the commandments of God, lift the cross, hold straight to truth, and not turn to the right or left to fables.
The Flood destroyed the world because of its iniquity, the ark was used by God to save all who would hear the warning and turn from unrighteousness, all were tested by the truth that Noah preached, those who believed were saved, and only eight persons were saved. The ark of safety Noah entered by doing all God commanded is the great salvation offered through Christ's complete sacrifice and the overtures of mercy in the truth. To remain outside the ark is to neglect that salvation, and even without open opposition it is fighting against God and scattering abroad from Christ. Mothers are accountable for the souls of their children and cannot afford to remain outside, for if they remain outside they cannot expect their children to enter.
Noah fully obeyed everything God commanded him, keeping God's law and doing right in a wicked generation. His obedience joined faith with works, building the great ark on dry land exactly as directed and gathering provisions while enduring ridicule, scoffing and contempt. He believed the warning that mankind would be destroyed by water, preached righteousness with earnest entreaty to a violent and pleasure-loving world that called him insane, yet only his own family listened so only eight were saved. In obedience he entered the ark with his household when all was ready, God Himself shut them in, they waited a full week under clear skies while mockers triumphed, then the fountains of the deep broke up and rain fell forty days until every living thing outside perished. That preservation of the obedient few while mockers perished is the pattern for the last days, calling all to do God's will and keep all His commandments, bring their families through judgment, and refuse to follow the majority to destruction.
Obedience Amid Wickedness
Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him, in full and complete obedience, and he stands declared righteous in his generation because of right-doing and keeping God's law. His obedience is set apart from the many who helped build the ark yet did not believe the startling message, did not cleanse themselves from wrong principles, and did not overcome temptation to do and say things contrary to the mind and will of God. By the miracle of God he and his family were saved in the ark because of that right-doing and preservation of the law.
That obedience united faith and works, for he walked by faith and then proved faith by building the immense boat on dry land exactly as God directed. The warning that lofty trees would be destroyed and the earth broken up seemed unbelievable, yet he kept at work with his helpers preparing the boat on dry ground and took in provisions for man and beast. He worked on through jeers, ridicule, scoffing, mirth, scorn and contempt, and housed the cattle and all other living creatures as God sent them. With tearful eye, trembling lip and quivering voice he made his last effort in warnings, entreaty and appeal for rejecters to believe and secure refuge in the ark.
The setting was a corrupt world where every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually, and the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence. God had given men His commandments as a rule of life, but His law was transgressed and universally despised, justice was trampled in the dust, and open and daring wickedness with every conceivable sin brought the cries of the oppressed unto heaven. Pride, self-importance and unrighteousness prevailed, and at the close of the 120-year probation God declared the limits of forbearance, giving one hundred and twenty years to turn from sins before mercy ended and iniquity was full. That judgment for increasing wickedness and continual transgression warns that God's punishment of persistent sin is certain.
Noah believed the word of God that He would destroy man from off the earth by the waters of the flood, faithfully preached righteousness to that sinful, impenitent, pleasure-loving generation, and made every effort with entreaty and appeal to turn them from transgression to obedience. The world counted the message an idle tale and kept eating and drinking and planting and building and marrying and giving in marriage, knowing not until the flood came and took them all away. The people turned from him with impatience and contempt as egotistical for supposing his family alone were right, having no patience with his warnings, calling him insane and fanatic, while reason, science and philosophy assured them against him and none of the wise men and honored of the earth believed his testimony. Only his own family at last received the message, so only eight persons of that vast population accepted the warning, fled for refuge into the ark and were saved, while the message condemned the world, yet their scorn and mocking and scoffing did not make God's message of none effect. By the standard of God's law the obedient were distinguished from the disobedient, and Noah did not lose reverence and love for that law under universal scorn heaped on the law and on himself and his helpers, but preached all the more earnestly in proportion to the ridicule heaped upon them, while many other believing ones kept the faith and died triumphant.
Entering Waiting and Flood
In obedience Noah entered the ark with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives because of the waters of the flood, eight persons in all, at God's gracious invitation when all things were ready and hope was still held out to all the inhabitants, and then God Himself shut them in and an invisible hand closed the door. He entered with his family when God told him, after finishing the ark and storing goods and housing the cattle and all other living creatures as they came, and he remained inside when shut in. His entering was complete obedience that distinguished the obedient from the disobedient by the standard of God's law, declared him righteous in his generation, and was for salvation to bring a whole family through judgment.
The beasts and birds obeyed God by coming quietly two by two under invisible leading to find refuge, darkening the heavens with fowls, while men remained disobedient and unbelieving even when they saw it. The dumb animals came without a visible leader at the closing hour, in contrast to a disobedient world that had separated from God and would not hear His voice or believe the warning though belief would have been for their salvation. The hardened inhabitants ignored that evidence instead of humbling themselves, and the solemn sight of the animals entering and God closing the door did not move them to repentance.
Those inside remained shut in a full week before any rain fell and before any sign of storm appeared, while the sun rose and set in a clear sky. This apparent delay tried their faith daily with temptation to doubt, for being enclosed that week with no rain and nothing to be seen was a testing time in which they rested only in God's word that the flood was coming. The delay gave triumph to the world outside and confirmed them in the belief that the message was a delusion and the flood would never come. Crowds gathered about the ark in sport and revelry, mocking and deriding its inmates with daring violence they had never ventured upon before, making a jest of these manifestations of God's power while nothing could be seen.
After seven days, in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. Clouds gathered for the first time and rain fell slowly as a new thing and then in torrents for forty days and forty nights until the ark floated on the troubled waters. The waters prevailed one hundred and fifty days and reached the tops of the mountains and highest trees, sweeping away the inhabitants who tried to escape, so every living thing outside the ark perished and all the wicked inhabitants were destroyed.
Pattern for the Last Days
Genesis 7:5 belongs to the inspired history of Genesis, Noah was a literal person recognized by Christ, the Flood was a historical fact, and the people of his generation prefigure the character of the world before Christ appears. In the Flood Noah and his family were preserved in the ark while those who had mocked his warning perished, and their deliverance is the pattern for God's people who warn the world of coming wrath and will be preserved from the wicked in the final crisis, including those who refuse the decree and mark of the beast. Noah was preserved in the ark that God had prepared for him through the great deluge, and that preservation is the pattern for the last days when everything in nature will be convulsed with fire and earthquakes and destruction of human life and God will be the refuge of His believing ones.
As wickedness and mocking and refusal to hear surrounded Noah in his very short closing time, so wickedness and unbelief surround the present short time of preparation before the same destruction of the wicked. The dumb animals came quietly two and two under God's invisible leading without a visible leader, God's hand closed the door upon the obedient family, a week passed with no rain during which the hardened inhabitants who had ignored that evidence mocked and derided instead of humbling themselves, then rain fell and increased until every living thing was destroyed. Time was very short and the wickedness of the world had increased as in the days of Noah, the hour to close the ark came at last and the ark was closed, and the inhabitants of the old world perished. Only eight of that vast population accepted the warning, fled for refuge into the ark, and were saved, while the message condemned the world, and as Jesus declared the same unbelief that prevailed before the Flood will exist prior to the coming of Christ. God looked upon the world in Noah's time as He looks upon the world today, He sent His message through Noah then as He sends His messages now, while calamities and earthquakes and floods and disasters by land and by sea increase, and Noah's complete obedience in a time of worldwide wickedness that is being repeated stands apart from the many who helped him build the ark yet did not believe the startling message, did not cleanse themselves from all wrong principles, and did not overcome the temptation to do and say things entirely contrary to the mind and will of God.
The verse means obedient life that brings a whole family through judgment into the city of God. Noah and his family entered the ark in obedience to God's gracious invitation that all things were now ready, which gave hope to all inhabitants of the world before the door was closed, those who had entered were severely tried by remaining in the ark a full week before rain came while those who refused scoffed and mocked and defied God, after the week rain began to fall gently as a new thing and continued until every living thing was destroyed from the face of the earth, and only the one family that entered was saved. The same is true now, when no one knows how soon the last message of warning will be given and cases will be fixed for eternity, so all must search their hearts, be converted for pardon of sins, do the will of God, gain an individual experience, and prepare in a short time for the closing scenes of earth's history. No man can serve two masters, and all must humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, refuse Satan's peace and safety theories, hear the last call of mercy, and get ready, because character will then be fixed holy still or filthy still and it will be everlastingly too late. The same obedience requires keeping close connection with God to reach hearts with a truth that requires self-denial and lifting the cross, carrying the last message of mercy to regions beyond to warn the world, to some a savor of life unto life and to others a savor of death unto death, and all will have sufficient light to accept saving truth, obey God's requirements in keeping all His commandments, and be saved, though moral darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people and duty to lift the voice in warning and show professed children of God their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins remains unchanged. Obedience puts believers with the few, not the majority, and the majority will be lost, so none should be discouraged when only a few believe present truth and none should follow the majority, for following the majority keeps one from heaven and ends in destruction, and those who know their duty must regard the commandments of God, lift the cross, hold straight to truth, and not turn to the right or left to fables.
The Flood destroyed the world because of its iniquity, the ark was used by God to save all who would hear the warning and turn from unrighteousness, all were tested by the truth that Noah preached, those who believed were saved, and only eight persons were saved. The ark of safety Noah entered by doing all God commanded is the great salvation offered through Christ's complete sacrifice and the overtures of mercy in the truth. To remain outside the ark is to neglect that salvation, and even without open opposition it is fighting against God and scattering abroad from Christ. Mothers are accountable for the souls of their children and cannot afford to remain outside, for if they remain outside they cannot expect their children to enter.