I Give My Sheep Eternal Life1
Genesis 7:1-5
1Now the LORD said to Noah, “[Come]2 into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. (When the Lord said, “Come,” it implied that he was already in the ark and indicated he would be there with his servant. It is also suggestive of the gospel invitation, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’”3)
2“Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. (Christ is the ark of our salvation, the unclean will be sheltered as well as the clean. Noah had the privilege to bring them in. Likewise, every believer has the privilege to work for the saving of souls.)
4“For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
Genesis 7:11-23
11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14they and every beast according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. (It was wonderful that all these creatures willingly entered the ark. It is even more wonderful that sinners of all kinds should be led by sovereign grace to find safety in the Lord Jesus. They must come when grace calls.)
15They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in. (What a blessed thing for Noah. Those whom God brings into Christ, he takes care to shut in so they will no longer go out. God did not shut Adam in Paradise; Adam threw himself out. And every one of us would leave Christ, if the Lord had not in mercy closed the door.)
17The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits (or over twenty feet) deep.
It was then too late to enter the ark. Dear friends, may we never put off faith in Jesus until it is too late. It will be an awful thing to find ourselves lost in a flood of wrath, with no eye to pity us and no arm to save us. Yet that is what will happen “if we neglect such a great salvation.”4
21And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22Everything on the dry land in whose nostril was the breath of life died. 23He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. (As there was no safety outside of the ark, so there is no salvation outside of Christ. The Lord grant that every member of this family may flee to Jesus at once and be saved by faith in him.)
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1 From John 10:28
2 New King James & King James read, “Come.” ESV reads, “Go”. The Hebrew means “to go in, enter, come, go.” - Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary
3 Revelation 22:17
4 Hebrews 2:3
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