Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #14 of Genesis, chapter 7 and we are going to read Genesis 7:11-16:

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. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 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; They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and JEHOVAH shut him in.

I will stop reading there. I wanted to read verse 11 again, even though we have covered it. I wanted to “mark the spot” as being “the seventeenth day of the month,” exactly seven days from the point when God said to Noah, “And yet seven days.” We know that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” so seven thousand years into the future would fall on the date of May 21, 2011, which had the underlying Hebrew calendar date of “the seventeenth day of the second month.” It matched with seven thousand years exactly and it fell on the date that was exactly 23 years after the starting point of the Great Tribulation. Every time I think about that I realize how incredible it was that this year fell exactly 23 years after the start of the Great Tribulation. And not only that, but it fell on the very last day of the Great Tribulation which started on May 21, 1988.

Long before 2011, we had the expected date of September 1994 and Mr. Camping had written the book “1994?” and he mapped out 2,300 evening mornings that started with May 21, 1988, so that date for the beginning of the Great Tribulation had been known even before that book came out in 1992. It was stated in that book that it should be 23 years, but an error in understanding at that time was that this period would be shortened from 23 years to 2,300 evening mornings and that is why we thought September 1994 might be the return of Christ. But when we went through that time period, we realized that the Great Tribulation would be the full length of the 23 years, so the beginning point was kept and we simply went 23 years from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011.

That 23-year period of the Great Tribulation was set in place long in advance of the idea of 7,000 years from the flood also falling on that date. That was a relatively late understanding that developed just the last few years before 2011 when someone happened to notice it. There had been talk and discussion about 2011, but the question was asked, “When in 2011 would the end come?” October 21, 2011 would be the last day of Tabernacles and, yet, the 23 years of the Great Tribulation would end on May 21, 2011. Then someone noticed that the date of May 21, 2011 had the underlying date of the “the seventeenth day of the second month,” which was the date the flood had begun exactly 7,000 years earlier to the very day. That fact was just astounding. God had worked it out that way and that showed the handywork of God in highlighting this date – God was putting His finger on that particular date. The Great Tribulation concluded (on May 21, 2011) and Judgment Day began.

God tells us of the exact beginning of the flood in Genesis 7, verse 11 and then He adds in Genesis 7:12:

And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

That beginning point for the flood was the first day of the rain and then it continued to rain for forty days and forty nights. This is an important teaching because this is the second time God has said it. He said in Genesis 4:7:

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.

At that point God was declaring what would happen in just seven days and after the seven days God is telling us that it did happen exactly as He had said it would, so He is repeating His statement about the rain being upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

The statement itself is a doubling of the number “forty.” God could have said that it rained for forty days. We read in Genesis 7:17:

And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased…

Here, God does not double up on the number “40.” Why did He not double up on it here? It could be that God wanted to mention the number “40” five times in total in this chapter and the number “5” has to do with atonement and judgment is all about the atonement. There was the acceptable atonement of Christ on behalf of the eight souls that entered into the ark and there was the atonement that every unsaved individual would have to sacrifice for themselves. The unsaved have to be their own sacrifice, as they must make payment for their own sins because the “wages of sin is death.” As all the people outside the ark died, they were atoning for their own sins. That is one reason and I am not sure of all the other reasons.

When we search out all the verses in the Bible where “days” and “nights” (plural) are used together, we find that it happens only 18 times in the entire Bible and 11 of those times involved the number “40.” In this chapter we find two of these 11 times and it is also used several times in regard to Moses going up the mount to receive the Ten Commandments from God; he was in the mount 40 days and 40 nights. The first time he came down there had been rebellion in the camp and Moses broke the tablets and, basically, he went back up the mount for another 40 days and 40 nights. It is also used in reference to the Lord Jesus when He went into the wilderness and was tempted of the devil. In four other cases, it refers to three days and three nights and two of those instances refer to Jonah being in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights and Jesus quoted that in Matthew, chapter 12 and then He added, “So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” So three times it is used in reference to Jonah and Jesus and the fourth time it refers to an Egyptian that escaped from his master and was sick for “three days and three nights.”

So that accounts for 15 of the instances of “days” and “nights” being found together and one time we find them spoken of in regard to Job when his friends came to comfort him. When they first arrived they sat quietly with him for “seven days and seven nights.” A couple of other times we read of “days” and “nights,” but there are no specific numbers given.

In trying to find a common denominator with these references, it seems to be related to God’s judgment. We see that in the case of the flood for forty days and forty nights. It began on Judgment Day, “the seventeenth day of the second month.” We saw it with Moses when Israel was under God’s judgment and it also related, of course, to “trial and testing.” Jesus was being tempted for forty days and forty nights. In all the references to three days and three nights in regard to both Jonah and Jesus, it also has to do with God’s judgment. Jonah was a picture of Christ suffering under the wrath of God. Christ was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, representing the time He suffered under the wrath of God. In the case of Job, Job was a type and figure of Christ suffering under the wrath of God. So “judgment” does seem to be the common denominator when God makes reference to numbers like “40” or “3” or “7” and those numbers also teach us. The number “40” has to do with judgement and testing; the number “3” has to do with God’s purpose; the number “7” has to do with perfection and Christ’s perfect suffering is in view.

In our verse the rain is on the earth “forty days and forty nights,” indicating that it is time for the judgment of God to be upon the earth and it is also, simultaneously, a time for the testing of God’s people. That is what we found when we search the rest of the Bible in regard to God proving His people. We talked about that the last time God mentioned the forty days and forty nights back in Genesis 7, verse 4.

Let us go on to Genesis 7:13:

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;

We know that there was a total of eight souls and the number “8” can be broken down to “2 x 4.” The number “2” relates to the caretakers of the Gospel and the number “4” relates to universality, so we can understand the eight souls as representing all of God’s elect, the caretakers of the Word of God. By the time seventeenth day of the second month came, all the elect in the world that God intended to deliver from the flood had entered into the ark. Spiritually, it points to May 21, 2011, the last day of the Great Tribulation, and we learn from other places in the Bible that there was a 6,100-day period that followed the first grievous 2,300 evening mornings of the Great Tribulation that ended on September 7, 1994 God when began to send forth the Latter Rain into the world outside of the churches to save the great multitude. For the last (about) 17 years (6,100 exact days) the Latter Rain was poured out and God saved all His elect from all over the world. We know that by the last day of the Great Tribulation, all of the elect entered into Christ, which the ark typified, and became saved.

The word “entered” in Genesis 7, verse 13 is Strong’s #935. It is the same word that is found in Genesis, chapter 19 in regard to Lot. God forewarned Lot, just as He had forewarned Noah, regarding approaching judgment and Lot and his family fled Sodom just as it was about to be destroyed and God directed him to a city called Zoar. It says in Genesis 19:22-23:

Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.

God said that He could not do anything regarding the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain until Lot was come thither and entered into the little city called Zoar. That is because Zoar is likened to a city of refuge and it is really picturing what the ark was for Noah, a place of deliverance. So God waited. Lot was “righteous” as he represented the elect, just like the eight souls in the ark. Of course, the Lord already has a precise timetable worked out even thou it says He “waited.” But then Lot entered into Zoar, just like Noah and his family entered into the ark. What happened at that point? It says in Genesis 19:24-25:

Then JEHVOAH rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from JEHOVAH out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

The word “then” is telling us that God’s purpose has been accomplished in bringing Lot safely into Zoar. The righteous are protected and then God rained brimstone and fire out of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah. So God brought the judgment after His people were safe and secure, but once they were out of harm’s way, then God brought the judgment. In the case of the world of Noah’s day, it began to rain. In the case of Lot, the fire and brimstone began to fall.

The same word “entered” is found in some verses in Isaiah that we have become very familiar with in recent years. It says in Isaiah 26:20:

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

I am glad we are reading this verse after we have just read about Lot and about Noah because we can apply this language to both Lot and Noah. Lot entered into a city that God marked off limits in regard to His wrath and destruction. It was a little city in the plain. It is the same idea as we see in regard to Noah because once Lot entered in, they were safe and secure. In the case of Noah and his family, once they entered into the ark, God shut them in. So as we read the language of Isaiah 26, verse 20, it can very appropriately be applied to Noah and his family. They entered into the ark. Once they entered in, what did God do? He shut him in, so that applies to what it says I Isaiah 26:20: “…and shut thy doors about thee.” Of course, the Lord focused on Noah because Noah was the main character and he was a type of Christ. He was a preacher of righteousness and the builder of the ark, just as Christ was the builder of the spiritual house of God. God shut them all in, once He shut in Noah.

Again, it says, “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.” The “little moment” that Noah and his family had to endure lasted about a year. They had to go through the forty days and forty nights of rain and the rising waters for the first five months and the decreasing waters for the next seven months, until they could finally exit the ark, but for the entire period of the flood they were “hid” from the destructive waters. They were hid inside the ark and they had their “chambers” there, so we can see how this fits. What is a year compared to eternity? When God uses the language of “a little moment,” it identifies with His wrath and in Noah’s case it was a year in which the entire world was destroyed. When we are speaking of the eternal kingdom of heaven, a year is nothing at all. In Lot’s case, the destruction of Sodom was much quicker. The fire and brimstone fell and, from all we can know, it was over in a day. The cities were destroyed and the smoke and the fire may have lasted longer than that, but it was all relatively quick.

Today, we are already five years into the final judgment and it may be that we have to go several years more, but even if time were to go for 22 years in total (if the year 2033 is correct), what is that? To be honest, sometimes I look at that 22 years and it seems very long to me, but the reality is that it is not very long at all when we are dealing with the eternal future to come. After all, God spent 23 years judging the churches, which was a lesser judgment than the judgment on all the world insofar as the number of people. So it could be that God spends 22 years judging the world, but that time, too, will pass (if we do actually make it that long). But once the judgment is completed, it will have been no more than “a little moment,” as it says here: “…hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.” So the judgment could be for a day, like it was with Sodom, or it could be a year, like it was with the flood, or it could be a lot longer, like it appears to be in our time. But, ultimately, it is “a little moment” and the people of God “hide” themselves and they wait.

Now there are these historical examples that point to what it means to be “hidden.” We have talked about this before, but I do not think we have time to get into that right now. We will look at Zephaniah 2:2-3:

Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of JEHOVAH come upon you, before the day of JEHOVAH'S anger come upon you. Seek ye JEHOVAH, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of JEHOVAH'S anger.

This was the proclamation to the world and the advanced warning in order that people might be “hid” and enter into the safe haven and be hid from the wrath to come.