This transcript was autogenerated. 

The Genesis flood has generated a lot of discussion in the minds of Christian believers. The author of Genesis must considered the flood to be important, as it occupies 3 1/2 chapters of these early chapters of Genesis. In a book which concerns itself with the origin of the universe, the nature of humanity and sin, the writer of Genesis still takes time to tell us about a flood in some detail. So, the author of Genesis apparently thought the flood was important. So then, what are the truths contained within this important passage? The first part of this chapter is nothing more than God giving Noah directions to get aboard the boat it's as simple as that and that instruction is contained within the first 9 verses of this chapter. 

The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. (Gen 7:1)

So, after more than a century of Noah building and preparing the ark, God speaks. A period of 120 years of grace has passed. During which time Noah has faithfully heeded the warning and built an ark. But now the day has come when God tells Noah and his household to get into the Ark. The text continues:

Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made. (Gen 7:2-4)

Verse four says load the boat because in 7 days the flood will begin, 40 days and after 40 nights of intense rain are coming and everything outside the arc would be destroyed.

And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. (Gen 7: 5-9)

So, this opening section is really quite straightforward. 

First, God says get into the boat. 

Second, He says is take the animals aboard, and then it emphases the fact that Noah simply did everything that God directed him to do. 

This takes us to the second part of this passage beginning in verse 10 where we have is a description of the flood.

And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

(Gen 7: 10-12) 

Versus 10 give us the time of the flood and verse 11 gives us the source of the flood. It says on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth and the floodgates of heaven were opened. This is a very important verse if you want to understand the flood. Because it says the water came from below the surface of the earth and from above the surface of the earth. The great deep experts believe is a reference to subterranean water. One author I read says that this view implies volcanic eruptions and underground earthquakes leading to the uprising and outflow of water. The other source of water was rain from above. It says the floodgates of heaven are opened which is clearly talking about a torrential down pour. Remember when God created the earth in chapter one it says he placed a canopy of water around it and separated the water of the earth below from the water above the earth. This passage is saying is that that the canopy of water above the earth collapsed onto the surface of the earth.  If there was a canopy of water above the earth before the flood and it fell on the earth during the flood that would explain the source of so great amount of water. Furthermore, if there was a great amount of water in the subterranean springs of the earth started overflowing and erupting upon the surface of the earth then there would be enough water to cover it the surface of the earth very quickly.. 

The story will continue in versus 13 through 16, which we will look at next time.