Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #4 of Genesis, chapter 7 and we are looking at Genesis 7:4-6:

For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And Noah did according unto all that JEHOVAH commanded him. And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

I will stop reading there. Again, historically, God came to Noah and told him that he had seven days before the flood would come. This means that God gave Noah advance information regarding the exact day the flood would happen.

As we saw in our last study, after the Lord Jesus said, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man,” He likened His coming to the days of Noah, as He went on to say in Matthew 24:39: “And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” The unsaved were the only ones that the flood took away, but in regard to the saved individuals (Noah and his family onboard the ark), they did know the day and they did know the timing of God’s judgement. That is how they were able to enter into the ark and be delivered because God told them before it happened in order that they would be prepared and in order that they could warn other people. There is a principal in the Bible that says that when you see the “sword” coming, you are to blow the trumpet and warn the people. The “sword” represents the Word of God and they understood and declared it and, undoubtedly, Noah was warning people over the course of that seven-day period.

The problem with the natural-minded individual is that he is natural minded, but the Bible is spiritual and God’s Word is in the spiritual realm and because man is spiritually dead, he has his “life” only in the natural realm. Unless he sees something in the natural realm with his physical eyes (or one of his other senses) that poses some physical danger, he will not believe. It says in Hebrew 11:7:

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

So Noah was warned of God of “things not seen as yet.” He was warned 120 years earlier to build the ark and now God is warning him just seven days in advance when the flood would come. Again, God is warning him of “things not seen” and this is why the people of the world “knew not until the flood came, and took them all away.” Unsaved man is “lifeless” in his spiritual existence and in the area of the unseen (the spiritual realm) he has no ability to perceive the danger, so he continues on as though there is no danger and it results, ultimately, in his destruction.

Again, God said, “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights,” and that statement was made in Noah’s 600th year. The timing for the flood was not accidental. Anyone who thinks that events “just happen” randomly in the Bible, they are wrong. For example, if they think that the world will just end one day, but we cannot know when and even Jesus cannot know, they do not know the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is precise and exact in His doings. He is the God who “ordered” the creation and when we look into the order of the “atom” or “DNA” or anything in this world, we see order and precision. When scientists examine even the tiniest elements they see order and design and a pattern. Whether you look into deep space or you look at the tiniest element, it is all so orderly. Nothing was done randomly or accidentally. Everything is very orderly. It is the same principal with God’s salvation program and His plan for mankind. He worked out His redemption program precisely over the course of history and nothing happened due to “circumstances” where God was not aware. God orchestrates things; He moves people; He wills and brings to pass things that occur as a precise plan within His overall timeline. From creation, there was a certain period of time that would be allotted to the first earth. From creation in 11,013BC to the flood in 4990BC there was 6,023 years exactly. For instance, it was not 5,852 years or 6,791 years or any number that has no (spiritual) significance, but it was a full 6,000 years plus a 23-year “tribulation period” and then judgment came. The 6,000th year was the year 5013BC and then 23 years from that date brought us to 4990BC when Noah was exactly 600 years old. In Noah’s 600th year, it was then that God brought the flood because God had intended for the first earth to have 6,000 years, plus the “tribulation.” And God intended for the second earth to have 7,000 years. By the way, if we go from 4990BC exactly seven thousand years it takes us to 2011AD, but if we go from 4990BC to 2033AD, it is seven thousand years, plus another 23 calendar years. For the first earth, it was 6,023 actual years.

If Christ were to follow the pattern He established with His first coming, it takes us to the cross in 33AD and there is an almost identical pattern that leads to 2033AD. If it is the case that 2033AD would be the year, then we would have an even division: 6,023 actual years for the duration of the first earth and 7,023 calendar years for the second earth. If the evidence that points to this is correct, that would be the end of the world. And there is a bit of additional evidence that would support the idea of 7,023 years and then the end. If we take the year of the flood in 4990BC and we go to the cross in 33AD, how many years is it? If we add 4990 and 33, it equals 5,023 calendar years. Then Christ went to the cross and made demonstration of the things He had done at the foundation of the world. From 4490BC to 2033AD, it is 7,023 calendar years. It matches exactly.

So the positioning of the year for the flood as Noah’s 600th year and year 6,023 from creation makes the year 4990BC a year like no other year in the Biblical calendar of history that God has opened to our understanding. If Noah had been 615 years old, we would not be having the kind of discussion we had that led up to the year 2011AD, which was the 7,000th year and it identified with God’s statement to Noah, “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”

We have not talked about that, but just to remind us, when God says, “For yet seven days,” we have to remember that in the Bible God at times uses the principal of “one year for a day.” For instance, when the spies searched out the land of Canaan for 40 days, they then had to wander 40 days in the wilderness because of the “evil report” they brought back. Also, in Ezekiel, chapter 4 the Lord caused the prophet Ezekiel to lie on his side for 40 days and then to lie on his other side for 390 days and, likewise, God said that the 40 days represented 40 years and the 390 days represented 390 years. So, in the Bible things are often not as they appear. So when God says, “For yet seven days,” it could symbolize seven years or 700 years or 7,000 years. It says in Psalm 90:4-5:

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

In verse 4 God says, “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past,” and “yesterday” was one day, so God is likening a “thousand years” to a single day. In 2Peter, I am going to read a passage in context so we can see what the subject is, as it says in 2Peter 3:1-8:

This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Notice that in Psalm 90, verses 4 God said, that “a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past,” and then it mentioned a flood in verse 5. In 2Peter God is also speaking of the flood and he said that the scoffers (the unsaved) are willfully ignorant of the fact that the old world was overflowed by water and perished and this is a reference to the flood of Noah’s day. Mankind today is willfully ignorant of the flood. Man has the scientific ability and the resources and means to analyze the fossil remains to see that these things are a result of a flood because they are found in practically all parts of the world, indicating a universal flood, but they deny it and they do not take into any real consideration what it says in the Bible. Is it because they are too intelligent? They think they so and they think they have “outgrown” those ancient ideas and they will not turn to the Bible as their authority. Man is much too smart for that – I cannot help but be a little sarcastic about man’s so-called intelligence today. Where is that brilliance of man in regard to evidence? When we turn on the news reports, we are certainly not seeing anything that reveals any sort of “brilliance” of man, but we see the opposite. There is stubbornness, hardness of heart and foolishness in evidence worldwide today in practically every area of life. If man is as intelligent and wise as he thinks, he is certainly concealing it very well. I have a tendency to be a little sarcastic about these things, but the Bible says that man is willfully ignorant. He prefers ridiculous theories. He prefers to come up with ideas out of his own mind regarding things he knows virtually nothing about. Mankind cannot even accurately know things that happened 100 years ago and, yet, he claims to know what happened “hundreds of millions of years” ago. There is astounding foolishness in what man involves himself with in order to willingly be ignorant. Remember what Romans, chapter 1 tells us in regard to this tendency of man. It says in Romans 1:18:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

The word “hold” really means to “suppress.” They are holding it “back” because they do not want the truth. They do not want to take an honest look at things that are true. Why? It goes on to say in Romans 1:19-20:

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Man has no excuse before God because deep down in their subconscious it is a willful action to ignore the testimony of the heavens, as the heavens declare the glory of God. Furthermore, if there is anything in the Bible (and there is) that the evidence in the world might support, man will willfully ignore it and turn from it and choose not to understand it. Again, he prefers a lie over the truth and he does not want the God of the Bible, so he will turn from Him at every opportunity.

In this context of the flood in 2Peter, chapter 3 the Lord says this in 2Peter 3:8:

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing…

By the way, this word translated as “ignorant” is the same word that was translated as “ignorant” in verse 5. It is not the typical word for “ignorant” and it is translated these two times that way, but nowhere else is it translated in this way. There is another Greek word, Strong’s #50, that is translated several times as “ignorant” in the New Testament. That Greek word has an alpha prefix attached to the Greek word for “no.” To have an alpha prefix means to “negate” something, like “not” with “knowing.” When a man lacks knowledge, he does “not know.” But the word 2Peter, chapter 3 uses is a different word. It is Strong’s #2990 and it is translated most often as “hid” or “unaware” in other places. For instance, it is the word used in Mark 7:24:

And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.

The word here is “hid.” Jesus could not be “hid.”

It also says in Luke 8:46-47:

And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him.

Also, it says in Acts 26:26:

For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner.

This is speaking of Christ and His ministry on earth. These things were not “hidden” from the king.

This is the word used in 2Peter, chapter 3, where it says, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing,” By the way, “beloved” is a word that identifies with God’s elect. They are beloved of God. God is speaking directly to His people and He is telling His elect to “be not ignorant of this one thing.” In other words, He does not want this one thing to be “hidden” from His elect. That is a very important distinction to make when we speak of being ignorant of something or not knowing something. What does the word “hidden” remind us of? It reminds us that God sealed up the Word to the time of the end. Much spiritual truth was “hidden” in the Bible and it could not be understood or known throughout the church age until the end of the church age and the beginning of the Great Tribulation when the Lord unsealed the Scriptures to reveal much truth to His people. That is the signal here because it was during the Great Tribulation that God opened up this verse in 2Peter, chapter 3:8 and its companion verse in Genesis 7:4: “For yet seven days…” God revealed it to His people so we would not be ignorant of it or so it would not be hidden from us and, therefore, we would see it and understand this “one thing.”

Mr. Camping did a good Bible study on that phrase “one thing” and we may look at some of the verses that relate to that phrase because the phrase indicates that this is an extremely important thing. He is highlighting something that needs to be understood.