Genesis 8:1-22
In Genesis 8, God explains several things such as, how the waters of the flood receded, what was left after the flood, God’s promise about any future floods, and how Noah knew that it was time to come out of the ark. God’s Word declares, “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore. And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, ‘Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.’ So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease’” (Gen. 8:1-22).
God remembered Noah! Vs. 1
This chapter begins with the statement, “Then God remembered Noah.” Does this mean that God had somehow forgotten about Noah? Not at all. God cannot ever forget His people. He has declared concerning His people, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me” (Is. 49:15-16). This reference is simply anthropomorphic language that attributes human terminology to God. The idea of being remembered, means that God turned His active attention to addressing how He was going to deal with this renewed earth, and His willingness to personally respond to Noah and his needs. The usage of God remembering someone is found four times in Genesis, and is used to give the reader the understanding that God has kept a person in mind for special attention and consideration. In Genesis 30:22 the Lord declared, “Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.” Note that the Father remembered and listened to Rachel’s prayer, and responded to her by giving her a child. God has noted Noah’s obedience and is now ready to act on his behalf, to lead him out of the ark, and is about to command him as to what he should do. See also Genesis 19:29 and Exodus 6:5 for other examples of this term.
Three things took place Vs. 1-3
In these first few verses three things take place on the flooded earth. God first made a wind to pass over the waters. This would have begun the evaporation process of the waters that covered the earth. God could have also miraculously dried up the waters as He did for the Children of Israel when they came out of Egypt, but He did not. You remember in Exodus 14:21, God miraculously dried up the land in an accelerated way so the children of Israel might cross over on dry land. Scripture declares, “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.” This had to have been a divine intervention, because obviously it would take more than one night to dry up the sea bottom so that it is completely dry.
Next, God stopped up the fountains of the deep, and also shut the windows of heaven. This would have closed off the source of the waters so that they might recede. These both would have been miraculous actions by God.
What was the earth like after the flood?
Most creation scientists that discuss the changes between the pre-flood and post-flood time, believe that the climate on the earth would have radically changed. First, because the water canopy that had surrounded the earth was now greatly reduced (Gen. 1:6-7). If the earth moved on its polar axis, as I explained in our last study, this would have further brought about major changes in the movement of air upon the earth. This change would have brought about the formation of the polar ice caps, which scientists say are the source of the great air movements that move upon the earth daily. This would be in harmony with what is stated in Genesis 8:1, “And God made a wind to pass over the earth.” Second, with the formation of the polar ice caps, the whole earth would no longer have a constant temperature and tropical climate as it did before the flood. Now the earth would experience the seasons of fall, winter, spring, and summer. This is why God makes the promise in Genesis 8:22 that refers to these seasons. He said, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”
Finally, the entire topography of the earth would have been totally changed, as I explained in our last study; the valleys became mountains and the mountains became valleys. This fact is revealed in Psalm 104:5-9 (NAS) as God speaks about the flood He declared, “He established the earth upon its foundations, so that it will not totter forever and ever. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters were standing above the mountains. At Your rebuke they fled, at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away. The mountains rose; the valleys sank down to the place which You established for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass over, so that they will not return to cover the earth.” With all of these changes to the earth, it would have been a totally different world that Noah and his sons would have seen as they emerged from the ark.
One great testimonial by a former evolutionist
Dr. Russell Humphreys is a former evolutionist who now believes in the creation record given in Genesis. Humphreys graduated with a BS from Duke University, and was awarded his Ph.D. in physics from Louisiana State University in 1972. He worked for General Electric and Sandia National Laboratories where he received a patent and a science award for his work. From 2001 to 2008, he was an associate professor at The Institute for Creation Research. He currently works for the Creation Ministries International (USA). Humphreys has many YouTube videos, and has written a book entitled, “Starlight and Time,” where he explains how Adam and Eve could have instantly seen the light from stars that were lightyears from earth. I would really encourage you to read some of his material, or listen to some of his videos which can easily be found on the Internet.
I like to read the material of men who are former evolutionists, and who have now become creationists. Why? Because they have a clear perspective of evolutionary science, and realize that it doesn’t agree with the factual reality of what we see on the earth today. Dr. Humphreys writes about some of the most powerful proofs that caused him to become a creationist. One of his articles discusses flood erosion which he believes is one of the most persuasive pieces of evidence that we have for a young earth. He wrote, “If you just look at the river deltas around the world, and where the great rivers flow into the ocean, and the sentiment that they all bring down, you can easily measure the amount of sediment, year after year that comes down into these river deltas.” He explains that every year the rivers of the earth deposit 20 billion tons of sediment into the oceans. Yes, you read that correctly, 20,000,000,000 tons! He reasons that if the earth is billions of years old, all the river deltas of every river would be clogged by now. He declares that you can determine this fact by a very simple mathematical calculation, and this is why he believes that the facts we see today demand a young earth.
Another of his reasonings is that if you just look at the amount of sodium in the oceans today, and calculate that approximately 450,000,000 tons of sodium flow into the ocean every year, you have a problem. He acknowledges that about 27% of the sodium in the oceans is removed through evaporation, and the water cycle we have on the earth. Evolutionists will all agree that the oceans have been here at least 3 billion years. But, if the oceans have been here for 3 billion years, where has all the sodium gone? At the rate sodium is flowing into oceans from erosion today, after 3 billion years the oceans should all be as dead as the Dead Sea. However, the saline content of the oceans today is only 3.5%, but is rising every year. The salt content of the Dead Sea today is 33%. With this understanding it reveals that there is something very wrong with evolutionists ideas about the age of the earth. These are only two of the many ways you can mathematically calculate the age of the earth. You should consider these facts.
The ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. Vs. 4
It is interesting that Scripture refers to where the ark rested with the plural word mountains. Why is this important? Because there is not just one Mount Ararat, but two. Below is a picture I took in 1970 when I was traveling through this area.
The larger mountain on the left is 16,854 feet high, and the smaller peak is 12,782 feet high. Somewhere on these two mountains the ark came to rest. This is where Noah and his family began their life after the flood. The Greek equivalent for the word Ararat is Armenia. This is also the geographical area that is called Armenia. Armenia covered the area of Eastern Turkey, which is where these two mountains are located, and Armenia is its own country on the Eastern border of Turkey today.
Throughout recorded history there have been multitudes of written sightings of Noah’s Ark on the mountains of Ararat. The first recorded sighting of the Ark was by a Chaldean priest in 475 BCE. That is the first recorded sighting of Noah’s ark that I could find. In 30 CE the Egyptian historian Hieronimus said that the remains of the Ark could be seen on Ararat. In 50 CE the historian Nicholas of Damascus reported that the remains of the Ark were still preserved at this time. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus also mentions the remains of the ark as being on Mount Ararat in the first century. He declared that it was common knowledge at that time. In 1269, Marco Polo refers to the ark also being on Mount Ararat, in volume 1 from the travels of Marco Polo. He writes, “And you must know that it is in this country of Armenia that the Ark of Noah exists on the top of a certain great mountain [on the summit of which snow is so constant that no one can ascend; for the snow never melts, and is constantly added to by new falls. Below, however, the snow does melt, and runs down, producing such rich and abundant herbage that in summer cattle are sent to pasture from a long way round about, and it never fails them. The melting snow also causes a great amount of mud on the mountain.” The Explorer Adam Olerius reported seeing the petrified remains of the Ark in 1647. Then in 1876 an English explorer, James Boyce, found a 4-foot-long piece of tooled wood on Mount Ararat at 13,000 feet. In 1883 a Turkish commission, surveying Ararat for possible avalanche conditions, found part of the ark protruding 20 to 30 feet out of the glacier. From that point forward in history there have been approximately 20 recognized recorded instances of people seeing the ark or parts of the ark. In more recent times archologist Randall Price made several surveys and expeditions to the mountains of Ararat. If you are interested in reading one of his articles see this link. https://www1.cbn.com/biblestudy/archaeological-search-noahs-ark
Noah sent out the raven and the dove. Vs. 4-14
After 150 days of being within the ark, the ark now rests on the mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:4). However, the waters continued to recede for the next three months until Noah could see the tops of the mountains surrounding him (Gen. 8:5). At this point Noah sends out a raven and then a dove to try and determine if there is any other dry land around the ark. Noah sent these birds out through the window in the ark. It is important to note the difference between the window in the ark, from which he could not see out over the waters, and the covering over the top of the ark, which when removed allowed Noah to see that the waters were dried up. Also, many times people try and spiritualize the raven and the dove to have some deep meaning, but this would be unwise. These were just two birds he used to determine if there was any dry land out there. That’s it.
However, the idea of a dove with an olive branch in its beak has been used many times throughout history to symbolize peace. In 1949 Pablo Picasso designed and lithographed his dove of peace for the World Peace Congress in Paris. Some have written and speculated that Picasso was inspired by the story of Noah’s Ark. Picasso continued to use this dove of peace in many of his other works.
The ark rested.
Here is the second use in the Bible of the word rested. I do believe that this is an important fact to consider. Why? God rested after completing the work of creation (Gen. 2:2-3). Now God allows those whom He had saved from this incredible judgment to rest upon the mountains of Ararat. Jesus also promised rest to the souls of all those who would come and find their refuge in Him from the wickedness of this world. Jesus said, “Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). I believe God wants all those who believe in Jesus to find rest from all their labors, and all their self-effort trying to be good enough to go to heaven. He has made all those who believe in Him to be accepted in Christ (Eph. 1:3-6). This acceptance is what brings rest to your soul, and a confidence that you are delivered from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10).
Noah goes out from the ark. Vs. 14-20
After one year and seventeen days Noah emerged from the Ark. God specifically commanded Noah and his son’s to, “Go out of the ark” (Gen. 8:15). How long was Noah in the ark? The length of time Noah was in the ark is computed by comparing Noah’s age when He entered the ark for seven days before it began to rain (Gen. 7:1-4), when the rain began (Gen. 7:11), and when he left the ark (Gen. 8:14-15).) In addition, God declared the message twice that every living thing was now to leave the ark, and that’s exactly what they did. God told Noah to come into the ark, and he obeyed. God now He tells him to go out from the ark, and again he obeys. Noah didn’t go into the ark before he was commanded to, and he didn’t go out until he was commanded to do so. I like this truth, because it reveals that Noah obeyed the voice and the command of the Lord. This is why God chose this man and his sons to be saved. Noah and his family were men and women of faith that resulted in obedience to God. If you want to be used by God to do anything in this world, you must be a man or a woman of faith, and that faith should move you to obedience to God. Are you cultivating and learning to hear the voice of the Lord? Hearing His voice is one of the most important aspects of your Christian life. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). If you are not listening for His voice, then how can you follow Him, and be obedient to Him? God is speaking all the time to each and every one of us, but are we hearing Him? He will say to you, “Trust Me, I’ve got this problem all sorted out.” Or, “Go talk to that person about Me.” Or, “You need to stop doing that, or start doing this.” You then need to obey His command. These are two of the most basic imperatives of the Christian life, which means that you must learn them well. If you would like to study more in-depth on these two topics see these links. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ1asFJ9O-k&t=6s and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6LtZLjuTwM&t=1s
Noah worships!
The first thing Noah did when he left the ark was to bow down and worship God. In verse 20, it declares that Noah built an altar to the Lord and offered up sacrifices from all of the clean animals. He offered up the animals that God had given to him for his food. Then God made a declaration and a promise that He would never again curse the earth and destroy all living things as He had just done. God states, “While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22).
This sacrificial offering was also a clear testimony to Noah’s faith in God, because he offered the clean animals, which were his own food source. Now remember, there were no other clean animals running around on the earth at that time, because they had all just been destroyed in the flood. How many of the animals did Noah sacrifice? Scripture declares that Noah, “Took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (Gen. 8:20). This was a large number of animals. The point I’m attempting to make here is that Noah believed that God was his provider, and that in faith he was giving back to God what was actually His. This is the reasoning each of us must have with every offering that we make to God today. All that I have has been given to me, which means that in reality it is all God’s provision. God declared to Moses, “Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine” (Ex. 13:2). God told Moses again that, “All the earth is Mine” (Ex. 19:5). God declared the same to Job when He said, “Everything under heaven is Mine” (Job 41:11). Therefore, anything we offer to God is really His, and He has given it to us so that we will be good stewards of it.
Jesus often taught His disciples that they should be good stewards of what He had given to them. One powerful example of His instruction to them about stewardship is found in the parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16:1-13. There Jesus taught about the shrewdness of an unjust steward. This steward wasn’t honest, but he was shrewd, or practically wise, because he used his present circumstances to benefit himself before he had to leave his stewardship over his master’s wealth. Then Jesus told his disciples, “So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own” (Luke 16:8-12)? The point Jesus was attempting to teach them was the fact that we are all stewards over another man’s wealth, that is God’s. Each of us must be faithful over what He has given to us. One day the Father will reward us with the true riches, but only if we have been faithful with what God has given to us today. I hope that you are acting in faith as Noah did, when he offered his sacrifices to the Lord. Giving will always be sacrificial, which means it’s not always easy to give to God or to others what you have worked hard to obtain. I remember several conversations that I had with my children when they got their first real jobs delivering papers in the neighborhood. It was hard for them to take $10 of the hundred they had just earned and give it back to God. But I reminded them that this job was given to them by God, and this offering was an acknowledgment and a thanksgiving of this fact. I told them that they could never outgive God (Rom. 11:35). God’s promise is that He would always give back to them more than they could ever give to Him (Luke 6:38). This is what a man or a woman of faith believes, and is the motivation for why we give to Him!
God’s promise to Noah!
God promised, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done” (Gen. 8:21). It is important to note that God does not promise to never again destroy the earth. He only promised that He would never destroy the earth as He has just done by a flood. Those last few words in verse 21 are very important, “As I have done.” This is because one day God will destroy the earth by fire as the Apostle Peter wrote drawing this contrast. Note that he declares, “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you 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 Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to 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 creation.’ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:1-7). Peter clearly teaches here that the earth today is “preserved” by God’s promise that we read about here in Genesis, but is also “reserved for fire until the day of judgment.” This is why I say that God is not promising to never judge the earth again, but only to never again judge the earth by a flood.
God’s promise to Noah and the subsequent rainbow that appears in the sky must have been a very comforting thought to Noah, his sons, and their wives. Because if you think about it, without this promise, every time it began to rain on the earth in the future they would have wondered, Is it going to flood again as it did before? The comfort of God’s promise must have been very meaningful to them.
While the earth remains. Vs. 22
How long would this promise of not judging the world with a flood be good for? In verse 22 is the answer. God declared, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22). This meant that as long as the earth remains and the seasons pass from winter to summer and day and night, there would never again be a flood to destroy all of the earth. But when God added the words, “While the earth remains,” this also meant that there was a time when the earth would not remain. The point God wanted to leave with Noah and with all those who read these words was, there will be an appointed end to all things on this earth. Life as we know it today is temporary. There is a life to come, and each of us gets to determine where we are going to live it. Will it be with God, or apart from Him? God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of their Savior, but He will not force anyone to follow Him (1 Tim. 2:4; John 5:40). Following Him must be every man’s personal decision. God is not willing that any man should perish, because He does not delight in judgment (2 Peter 3:9). God delights in mercy (Micah 7:18). This is why Jesus came to this earth to make this message clear to all men.
But if God delights in mercy, then why must there ever be a future judgment? Because God is righteous, loving, and just. Love is the fine balance of mercy and justice meted out to men. If God is not just, then He is not righteous. Justice demands judgement, but the mercy of God finds a way for Him to be both just and merciful. How could God be both just and merciful? Paul explains how in Romans 3:21-26 when he wrote, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” The explanation is simple. God sent Jesus to take the penalty for my sin, so that I do not have to ever experience God’s judgment. The Lord was just by punishing the sins of all mankind on His own Son, so that all could experience His abundant mercy. Thus, He was completely just, and also the justifier of all who put their faith in Jesus.
God’s acknowledgement of man’s depravity and desire for sin.
Let me end with this point. Notice that right after God made this promise to Noah, about never again destroying the earth with a flood, He then acknowledged that He knew that man’s heart had not changed at all, when He declared, “Although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21). God knows the hearts of all men and that their imaginations and the thoughts of their hearts are evil from their youth. It is important to note that the heart and the mind of man are seen here as synonymous terms. You will also find that this is true in both the Old, as well as in the New Testaments.
I believe we can all admit that no one had to teach us how to sin when we were young, because the desires for sin just came naturally. Why? Because we all have a sin nature from the moment we are born. David declared this same truth when he wrote, “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies” (Ps. 58:3). Here David is acknowledging that he understands that all men are sinners by nature. As Genesis is a book that reveals all of the first things about men and our world, God gives here this first mention of man’s depravity. But it is also important to note that God does not say that man’s heart is only continuously evil. This would describe someone who is reprobate. This is why this statement is only made of those people on the earth before the flood, and they were all judged (Gen. 6:5). The point God is making at this time to Noah is that men are slaves of sin from their youth, and Noah and all who come after him will have this struggle with their sin nature.
This is an important truth to establish here in the book of beginnings. You see, there is only one thing that can set us free from the power of sin within us, and that is the grace of God in His great salvation. God never promised to set men free from the presence of sin, because they still have a sinful nature, which is why as believers we still have evil thoughts and imaginations. But, when we yield to the power of the Holy Spirit, He empowers our new nature so we can be set free from the dominion and control of our sin. Paul explained this freedom when he wrote in Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” It is vital that you see this truth and believe that sin does not have the right to dominion over you anymore. You have been set free from your sin nature and its control over you, because you are in Christ Jesus.
Salvation brings a whole new beginning to your life, just as Noah had a new beginning here on the earth, because of the salvation and deliverance that God gave to him. This very same new beginning God will give to anyone who will believe in Jesus. Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” This means that if you have received Christ as your Savior, then you are a new creation and a new person with a new nature. Paul writes again in Galatians 6:15, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor and circumcision avails anything; but a new creation.” Salvation brings a new work inside of you which sets you free from the old man, and enables the new you to live. God promises that He is going to do a new thing inside of you and me, and that’s what salvation is all about. So, if you see defeat in your life and the power of sin is still controlling you, something is wrong with your understanding or your believing concerning your position in Christ. Ask God to open your eyes to the truth of His Word so you can be free. If you want a more in-depth look at the freedom God has given you, please click on this link. https://www.covenantkeepers.org/bible-studies/new-testament-studies?view=article&layout=edit&id=509