Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #13 of Genesis, chapter 7 and we are going to read Genesis 7:11:

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

We see that God is being very detailed in giving us this information. He tells us the exact year of Noah’s life and the month and the day, so we can know precise information concerning when the flood began. It is all important information because, according to 2Peter 3:8: “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” With this knowledge that it is the 600th year of Noah’s life, we know it is the year 4990BC and, therefore, that is the beginning point for the seven thousand-year period which takes us to 2011. Then with the added information of the month and day, it also serves to pinpoint the exact beginning of the Day of Judgment. The date May 21, 2011 had the Hebrew calendar date of “the seventeenth day of the second month,” and it is just incredible to have all three pieces of information – the day, month and year – that point to May 21, 2011.

You know, you can read of other accounts in the Bible where God brings judgment, but He does not give that kind of detailed information. For instance, if you read Genesis, chapter 19 about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, we do not read of the year, month or day, but we only learn that they were destroyed, so it is not always the case that God goes into this detail. In the case of the flood, the information was given to provide confirmation about the date of the beginning of the final Judgment Day upon the inhabitants of the earth.

Let us go on. After telling us that it was the 600th year of Noah in the second month and the seventeenth day of that month, it goes on to say in Genesis 7:11:

… the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

We are going to try to understand this by looking at the words used and following those words in the Bible. For example, the Hebrew word translated as “fountains” is Strong’s #4599 and it has to do with underground water. For instance, it says in Joshua 18:15:

And the south quarter was from the end of Kirjathjearim, and the border went out on the west, and went out to the well of waters of Nephtoah:

The word “well” is the same word translated as “fountains” in our verse.

It also says in 2Chronicles 32:4:

So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land…

Again, the word is translated as “fountains,” but they would have stopped the wells of water.

It says in Psalm 104:10-11:

He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.

The English word “springs” is the word translated as “fountains” or “wells.” So God sends fountains into the valleys and they run among the hills. We know there is underground water, especially in hilly regions. The waters seep into the ground and they begin to flow down underground into the valleys, so that gives us a very good idea of what God means when He said that all the fountains of the great deep broke up – it was all the waters underground.

In Isaiah, chapter 12, this word for “fountains” is used in Isaiah 12:3:

Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

The “wells of salvation” identify with the Word of God as the Word of God is likened to water and God typifies the sending forth of the Gospel as “rain,” like the “early rain” and the Latter Rain. What happens when the rain falls? It falls on the ground and in some cases it becomes underground springs or “wells of water” and God relates that to salvation because the Word of God brings salvation in its proper times and seasons; the early rain brought in the firstfruits and the Latter Rain brought in the great multitude during the last part of the Great Tribulation period.

It also says in Isaiah 41:17-18:

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I JEHOVAH will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

Again, this is language of salvation. The Word of God that falls or comes down from above pictures those that are spiritually athirst receiving drink.

God also says in Deuteronomy 32:1-2:

Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

The words “rain,” “dew” and “showers” all relate to the Word of God and to doctrine, the teaching of the Word of God, the Bible. All these various forms of water picture the Word of God, whether they be springs or dew or rain and during the day of salvation it was a blessing as the “waters” flowed through the desolate and dry and thirsty lands to bring salvation. But in the Day of Judgment there is still the water coming down from above and that is why it says in the next verse in Genesis 7, verse 12 that the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The waters came down from above, but the season had “turned.” It was the Latter Rain that went from September 7, 1994 through May 21, 2011 and then that rain stopped. The Latter Rain was complete and it had produced the harvest of the great multitude and God’s Word accomplished its purpose.

And then came the wrath of God immediately upon the people of the world. How does God bring judgment? It is the same way He brought salvation, which was through His Word. The Word of God is likened to “fire and brimstone” in Isaiah, chapter 30. The Word is still falling from above, but it is not producing salvation because the Holy Spirit is not moving to bless the Word to the hearts of men. That task is done and all the names of those recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life have been saved, so the Spirit is no longer operating to apply salvation to the hearts of any. The Word is now exclusively bringing judgment upon the unsaved inhabitants of the earth and, yet, there is still “rain” coming down from above. The “waters” had been drawn out of the wells of salvation, as it said in Isaiah 12, verse 3. We had the 1,955 years of the church age where people could hear the Word of God in the churches and then the church age came to an end. Then during the last (about) seventeen years of the Great Tribulation God brought the Latter Rain as He worked mightily to save the great multitude outside of the congregations. The Word of God was going forth as many sources of water. There were Bibles, tracts and faithful ministries on the radio and internet and in the day of salvation there was that possibility that people were drawing waters unto salvation, but the moment God shut the door to heaven the wells of water became a fountain of God’s wrath and a source of judgment to those that remained unsaved. Again, it says in Genesis 7:11:

… the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up…

That indicates there was a “change” made in those waters. God has altered them and they are no longer going to bring salvation, grace and mercy, but now they are waters of judgment. The waters from the fountains of the great deep will join together with the rain falling from above and they will combine together and rise until the whole earth is under water and covered by the judgment of God. It is as if all the Word of God in all the world that previously could have brought salvation have now come together to testify against the unsaved and to bring the wrath of God down upon them to destroy them by the fury of God’ anger.

This idea of “great deep” is seen Psalm 36:6:

Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O JEHOVAH, thou preservest man and beast.

God’s judgments are a “great deep.” Remember that in Psalm 119 there are numerous words used that are all synonymous with the Word of God: statutes, commandments, word and judgments, and so forth. The “judgments” relate to the Word of God. God’s Words are like a great deep. So we have a second verification that what God wants to tell us about the flood has to do with His Word. It is an emphasis on the Bible bringing the judgment, just as we saw that the inhabitants of the ark were saved by “water.” Why did it say that? It was because the water relates to the Word of God and the Word of God saves the elect and judges all the rest, so the fountains of the great deep are broken up. The fountains and the great deeps both relate to the Scriptures.

I mentioned it earlier, but let me turn there now to Isaiah 30:33:

For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of JEHOVAH, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

The breath of JEHOVAH is like brimstone. All Scripture is God-breathed and the entire Bible is tied to the “breath of JEHOVAH.” God’s Word is “like a stream of brimstone,” and this is another figure that the Lord ties to the Day of Judgement; fire and brimstone are connected to the Word of God.

The churches do not understand this, but according to God when He brought judgment on “the seventeenth day of the second month” of the underlying Hebrew calendar on May 21, 2011, exactly seven thousand years from the first day of the flood, at that point God turned the “waters” of His Word into fiery wrath. And now all the Scriptures testify against the (unsaved) inhabitants of the earth. All the Bible is proclaiming that the world is under the wrath of God, so that is why we are seeing this kind of language here.

It goes on to say in the last half of Genesis 7:11:

… and the windows of heaven were opened.

Again, the “windows of heaven” relate to the Word of God. Historically, the windows of heaven were opened and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. So the imagery is that heaven itself opened up and the rain came down and that very accurately describes how the Scriptures come to the earth – they come down from heaven above.

It says in Malachi 3:10:

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith JEHOVAH of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Here, the Lord is again making reference to “rain” because it is rain that provides the blessing to the crops and brings the fruit that people can eat and live. This ties in with the “early rain” and the Latter Rain. The Word of God comes forth from the “windows of heaven.”

In Isaiah, chapter 24 we also see a description of the final judgment of the world and it says in Isaiah 24:17-19:

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.

It is obvious from the context that it is not “raining” down good things, but what is pouring down upon the inhabitants of the earth is the fierce anger of JEHOVAH. That is why it says, “The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.”

There is an interesting tie-in with the flood in the language of Isaiah 24, verses 17 and 18. Genesis 7, verse 11 tells us that “the windows of heaven were opened,” and Isaiah 24:17 tells that “the windows from on high are open.” Then verse 19 tells us that “the earth is moved exceedingly.” The Hebrew word translated as “moved exceedingly” is Strong’s #4131 and it is used twice in that translation. The word “moved” is #4131 and the word “exceedingly” is #4131. It is the same word, but the translators were attempting to let us know that God was strongly emphasizing the “moving” of the earth. This is the same word that is found Psalm 46:1-2:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

The word “removed” is the same word. And it is interesting that it adds that “the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea,” because that is exactly what happened to the mountains and all the high hills in the days of Noah – the sea overwhelmed them by 15 cubits above the highest mountain.

Then it goes on to say in Psalm 46:3-5:

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

You see, here we have the earth and the mountains moved into the sea, but “God is in the midst of her.” Who is “her”? It is the body of believers, the body of Christ. He is in the midst of her because the complete “body” of Christ has come together and He has entered in, just like when the temple was completed and the Spirit of God entered in once it was finished. “God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved.” The elect are going through the judgment and the waters that have carried the earth and the mountains into the sea have not “moved” her, the body of Christ, because God is in her. They are in the ark, spiritually. It is the same idea we read about in Hebrews 12:27-29:

And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.

God is likening the unsaved people of the world to dwelling in an earth that is “moved,” while at the same time the elect are not “moved,” as it said in Psalm 46: “God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved.” We will not be moved into the sea. We will not be overcome by the depths and drown in the great deep, but we will endure to the end of the judgment. It is similar to the house built upon a rock and the house built upon the sand. The same storm came against both houses and the storm destroyed the house built on the sand, but the house built upon the rock endured. You cannot know the strength of the foundation until you experience the “storm.”