Genesis 7:1-24 NKJV
7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. 2 You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” 5 And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.
7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark— 14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.
17 Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.
“All the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened” (11). Water that had been underground burst above ground. Water that had been in the heavens begins to fall. On the very same day Noah, his family, and the animals the Lord had brought to him entered the ark. Then, the Lord shut him in (16). It rained forty days and forty nights. The waters rose until they covered the entire earth. There was so much water that the mountain heights were fifteen cubits—over twenty feet—beneath the water. This is how thoroughly God wanted to punish all who resisted His Holy Spirit’s work of bringing sinners to repentance so they could be righteous by faith. Only Noah and his family believed the Lord, looked for the promised Seed, and walked with God.
The waters of the flood foreshadowed the final judgment to come when Christ returns in glory on the Last Day. St. Peter reminds us that as the world once perished through water, “the heavens and the earth . . . are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7). Like the flood, there will no place for the ungodly to take refuge, nor will there be any extra time to repent and be found righteous in God’s sight by faith in Christ, the Seed promised to Adam and Eve.
The waters of the flood water are also a type (a foreshadowing) of baptism. The flood destroyed the ungodly. But “eight souls, were saved through water” (1 Peter 3:20). Noah and his family were saved from God’s wrath. The same waters that destroyed the ungodly saved them. This is why Peter calls baptism “an antitype which now saves us” (1 Peter 3:21). The water of baptism saves from God’s wrath because it washes away sin and gives a good conscience before God. It drowns the old man, our sinful nature, and regenerates us as new men who have the Holy Spirit to live before God in righteousness and purity each day. Only by being saved through the waters of baptism—and remaining the in the gifts God gives in those waters—are we saved from the wrath to come on the Last Day.
Let us pray: Help us to live in our baptism, O Lord, daily repenting of sin and believing the promises of forgiveness, new life, and salvation that You made to us in those waters. Amen.