Genesis 7:13–8:2 — In the Selfsame Day Entered Noah

Scripture Reading: Genesis 7:13–8:2; Song of Solomon 5:12; 6:9

“In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark… and the LORD shut him in.”

“And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged.” (Genesis 8:1)

The Selfsame Day: Promptness in the Hour of Decision

The selfsame day entered Noah. The expression selfsame day marks a precision in the record. The same expression is used in connection with the exodus from Egypt, where on the selfsame day the children of Israel went out. Between those two selfsame days stretched 430 years. The precision in both cases signals that the moment of action was exact, not approximate — there was a day appointed, and on that day it happened.

The application to salvation is plain. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. The selfsame day is not 430 days hence, nor 430 years, nor even 430 minutes hence. Noah did not say, I will wait and enter the ark tomorrow, or next week, or when it begins to rain. He went in. His wife went in. His sons went in, and their wives went in. All in the selfsame day. The Lord Jesus said, remember Lot’s wife — not remember Noah’s wife, because Noah’s wife went in without hesitation. The heart that lingers over the present world, like Lot’s wife who left her body in the ark but left her heart in Sodom, is warned by that example. These wives went in whole-heartedly and without looking back.

The LORD Shut Him In: Security from Outside

And the LORD shut him in. Not Noah shut the door behind him. The LORD shut him in. The difference is everything. If Noah had shut the door himself, one might have questions about whether it was properly sealed, whether it could be opened from outside, whether he might open it himself in a moment of weakness. But the LORD shut him in. The security of those in the ark was the work of God, not of man.

No man can come to the Father except the Father draw him, and none that the Father gives to the Son shall be plucked from his hand. The shutting is divine, and therefore final. A common illustration places a sign over the door of salvation reading “whosoever will may come,” then looking back from the inside to read “chosen in him before the foundation of the world.” But even this illustration leans too far toward the Arminian side if it implies the person walked in on his own initiative. No man can come to me except the Father draw him. The drawing precedes the coming. The LORD shut him in — God’s act is sovereign and total, from the initial drawing to the final sealing.

Waters That Destroy and Waters That Bear Up

In verse 17, the waters increased and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. The waters that destroyed everything outside the ark were the very same waters that lifted and bore up the ark. For those inside, the flood was not destruction but elevation — it raised them above the old world, carrying them above everything that was being swept away.

This is a pattern in the ways of God. The same gospel that is foolishness and an offence to those who are perishing is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those who are saved. The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). The Lord Jesus said, Peace be unto you, when he appeared to his disciples after the resurrection. The judgment was done — finished — and the same event that had put him under the waters of death had brought him through in resurrection. Underneath are the everlasting arms: what is under the ark is what supports it. What looks like danger from outside is, for those in Christ, the very basis of their being borne up.

All Flesh Died: The Fountains of the Deep and the Windows of

Heaven

The flood came from two sources: the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. The rain fell for forty days and forty nights. Then in chapter 8:2, the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped. Both sources together produced the flood. The rain portion ended after forty days; but the waters prevailed upon the earth for one hundred and fifty days. The contribution of the subterranean fountains must have been immense.

The fountains of the deep being broken up is information no survivor of the flood could have witnessed — all the survivors were inside the ark. This is information that God himself disclosed to Moses, just as Genesis 1 records events that no human being was alive to observe, and just as Deuteronomy 34 records the death and burial of Moses in a location known only to God. The consistent pattern is that the author of Genesis received from God information that no human observer could have supplied. That is what inspiration means.

The Raven and the Dove: Two Natures, Two Responses

After the rain ceased, Noah sent forth a raven. The raven went back and forth, finding carcasses and carrion in abundance upon the receding waters; it never returned to the ark. Then Noah sent forth a dove. The dove found no rest for the sole of her foot and returned to the ark.

The raven is a large bird — not a songbird at the feeder, but a heavy, flesh-eating, unclean bird that tears meat with beak and claw. It is content outside the ark, because there is plenty of uncleanness in which to land. The dove is different in nature. Clean, gentle, she looks for something pure to rest upon. In a world of flooded desolation, she finds nothing suitable and returns. When she is sent out again and returns with an olive leaf, it is a sign not only that the waters are abating but that there is something living and green to be found in the world.

At the baptism of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and rested upon him. There was, in all the world, one entirely clean resting place for the dove-like Spirit — the holy humanity of the Lord Jesus. Song of Solomon 5:12 describes the bridegroom’s eyes as the eyes of doves: eyes that do not alight on the unclean. Chapter 6:9 describes the bride as his dove, his undefiled one, his perfect one. The dove’s eyes of the bridegroom and the dove-character of the bride belong together. Those who belong to Christ are to have dove’s eyes: eyes that do not settle on the roadkill of this present evil world, but look for what is pure, what is of good report, what is becoming to those who are in Christ.

God Remembered Noah: Not a Memory That Fails

And God remembered Noah. This is not to imply that God had forgotten him during the flood. God’s memory does not fail. When Scripture says that God remembered someone — Noah, Rachel, Hannah, Israel in Egypt — the meaning is that God moved into action in connection with his purpose for that person. He was actively working. The moment described by and God remembered Noah is the moment at which God began to act in a new way for Noah’s deliverance from the ark — sending the wind to assuage the waters. The remembering is not cognitive but active; it is the moment of intervention.

This has a bearing on the Lord’s Supper. The Lord said, do this in remembrance of me. This is not permission to forget him six days out of seven and remember him once on the Lord’s Day. It is a command to bring him actively into the center of our hearts and our gathering, to be occupied with him, to have him before us. We remember him not as an absent friend but as the living one who is in the midst, and whose death we show forth till he comes.

And the LORD shut him in… the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.