Two Become as One
A Christian husband and wife read the Bible together and compare life experiences in contrast to Scripture. Talking about faith, family, friends, and everyday life.
Two Become as One
Genesis 7:1-6
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Started Genesis chapter 7; the flood story is coming to a head as Noah builds the ARK.
Hi, this is Pastor Frank. And this is Luce. At Two Become Is One. I just want to welcome you to this podcast. And this episode is number 25. Amen.
SPEAKER_00It's a well a quarter way through a hundred. That's right.
SPEAKER_01And uh the scriptures that we are on is Genesis chapter seven, verses one through six.
SPEAKER_00Yep, starting a new chapter. So um grab your Bibles and well, if you don't have a physical Bible, you know, on your phone, a tablet, whatever you have in front of you, doesn't matter what version of the Bible you have, just open it up uh again, Genesis chapter six, and I'll go ahead and read verse one through six. Yes. Okay. So it says here, um, and we are in the New King James Version. It says, 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. You shall take with you seven of each of every clean animal, a male and his female, two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female, also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 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. And Noah did according to all the Lord commanded him. Lord sorry, Noah was six hundred years old when the flood was waters were on the earth. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um you know, when we were uh studying and discussing this earlier, we talked about uh the very first sentence in verse one. And I think that when you brought up, I thought was interesting. I noticed the same thing, but I never really put two and two together. Right. And then when we finally talked about it, I was like, oh, okay, so you saw that too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. I mean, i it's it's saying God isn't telling Noah, go into the ark. He's saying, come into the ark, which is of course he's saying go into the ark, but he's saying come. It's inviting him in. Yes, it's an invitation. Using that word come is takes on a whole new meaning because to me, that is saying, Noah, come into the ark with me, join me. I am here for you and your family. I've got this, I've got you in my arms, you're in my protection. And he says here, you are righteous before me in this generation, which is a big deal. Think about it. It's a big deal for God to say to this one man, you are righteous before me in this generation. Out of the millions of people that existed on the planet at that time, Noah stood out as this person to carry out, carry out God's plan, God's command, and and he did it perfectly. And which could be why the other Bible versions will say that Noah was perfect. Right. You know, he was perfect in that sense by carrying out God's wishes. Um, but yes, I mean this just comes, it just says, Come into the ark, you know, come with me, reside with me here because I've got you under my wing. That's right.
SPEAKER_01So, you know, what it comes to mind um when God says, I'll come into the ark, uh at face value, and have never you've never read the Bible, it doesn't seem like it's a very important thing to say, but if you have read the Bible, and you don't have to have read all of it, but just kind of know the gist of the Bible, you will see that God is saying here explicitly for the very first time that I will save you. Right. That salvation I am providing for you, for your family, and for anyone else who wants to listen to you preach, right? That I am present in this boat box, whatever arc, I am in this ark, and salvation is with me. I am inviting you to life.
SPEAKER_00Right. Right, exactly, because all that's gonna come of not listening to God, not obeying being in obedience, is and well and then verse two, you know, it says here, and you shall take with you seven of each of every clean animal, a male and his female. Now, what I've read on this, what I've gathered, you know, God mentions every clean animal, and we know those are animals like with the cloven hoof. Yes. Like, you know, the sheep and the goats and uh cattle, correct? If I'm not mistaken. Um and it says a male and his female. Well, think about what's happening. God is about to destroy everything on the face of the planet, all a disobedient mankind and all animal life left outside of the ark. So if you have a female and the male, well, what will they do once the ark settles and blood waters recede? They will again begin repopulating, have babies and so forth, right? But then seven each. What I've read about the significance of having seven of those clean animals is that, for example, like three could have been, you you could have like three pairs of two, which would be six, male and female, which could be used to to breed, so that they will again, you know, so they could have their you know, their their babies, but then that seventh one was to be used for sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01So I want to take you to Leviticus chapter two, and this is important because you have to remember also that Moses wrote the book of Genesis. Noah didn't write this, Adam didn't write this. All of these events were oral history until Moses wrote it down. Right. Okay. So Moses is hearing this from uh his, you know, from the the all the tribes of Israel, the reaccounts, the recall, the traditional history uh in in the Israeli belief system, which is now all known now as Judaism, uh that was the world history was a part of their history to retell, to retell. And this is how they because they didn't have a written language, they didn't have a written uh alphabet or anything like that. So here in Leviticus chapter 2, you could read the types of animals that were for sacrifice. It goes, you could read probably halfway through the chapter, and it names the animals that are clean for sacrifice. Right. Well, I've mentioned a few, I mean name other ones. Okay, so here uh this specifically says, and this is for the Levites, uh it says, if his uh offering is a burnt sacrifice uh this is actually uh Leviticus chapter two, verse three, if his offering is a burnt uh uh sacrifice of the herd, let him uh offer a male without blemish. He shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meetings before the Lord. Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted in uh on his behalf to make atonement for for him. Okay, so that that's the purpose. Now the actual animals, it says here This goes down uh to verse ten, it says, If his offering is of the flocks, of the sheep, or of the goats, as a burnt sacrifice, and he shall bring a male without blemish. Okay, and then it moves on to um okay, so here it says uh verse 14 it says if his burnt if the burnt offering sacrifice of his offering uh on the Lord of the Lord to the Lord is of birds, then it shall bring his offering of turtle doves or pigeons. Okay. And then uh I there's I think one more here. And I think the other one I think is of the bovine, I think is of the cows. So there's certain you can't, it's it's not like um uh for some reason I'm not seeing it. I know it's here. Uh let's see. Livestock, here it is. Uh it says here in verse 2, Leviticus chapter 2, uh, verse 2. Oh I'm sorry, Leviticus 1. I'm sorry, that was all Leviticus 1, sorry. Uh speak to the children of Israel and saying to them, when any one of the of you brings an offering to the Lord, I shall bring an offering of the livestock, okay, of the herd and the flock, and the herd is of the bovine, it's it's the um cattle. And um, I know that bovine is a default word for like all, like buffalo is part of a bovine family, and so is ox. Uh there's other ones like, you know, um uh different bovin that are in like Africa. Okay, but that's not what they're talking about here. These are specific cows that they're supposed to um offer up, and and these are the clean animals according to the book of Leviticus, chapter one. And so when we read that, we read it in uh hindsight because if you're reading the Bible, you're not gonna read Leviticus until like three books later.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01So this is kind of given more of a specific reason. Now, the reason for Noah bringing these animals onto the ark is for the very reason here in Leviticus chapter one.
SPEAKER_00Right, right, right. I mean, right, well, again, you know, sacrifice and then also for repopulation of the earth after the flood.
SPEAKER_01So the deeper meaning of uh sacrifice would be ultimately pointing towards Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00Correct, right. And let's see, and then just going on here, um let's see, uh let's see, verse 4, where it says, For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights. This is what I find really amazing about God, is that he had already given these, you know, the population, the the people of the earth in that time a hundred and twenty years to come clean, to come right. It's about what three generations, maybe four. About four, I would say. Because the generation's like what twenty-five to thirty years. Um he gave them so much time. I mean, of course, and to God, 120 years is a drop in the bucket, he's eternal. But for a man, that's a hefty amount of time. And not one person came correct. You know, to said, you know what? I'm just I'm gonna just stop what I'm doing. Yeah. I really need to revamp, start over, and become that new person. Nobody be a believer. Yeah, exactly. You know, maybe there is something to what this crazy old man is saying. Maybe this is true.
SPEAKER_01Maybe this maybe it's not so crazy.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah, exactly. Maybe he's not so crazy, and this doom and gloom is really true, you know. But no, they were too busy doing whatever they were doing, eating, drinking, and marrying and marriage, yeah. Yeah. But long story short, and God in all his, you know, the amazing part is that not just the 120 years, but that on top of that, he gave seven more days, an additional week before the rains came. One whole week for these people in his grace and his mercy to be that become to to to turn from their you know that their current the lifestyle they had going on at the time. And it's just a m just that's just it touches my heart that God is that amazing and that generous, very patient and very um forgiving.
SPEAKER_01Um he gives, I mean, his mercy um and his uh the longevity of his love. I mean, how someone could take a lifetime and at the end of their life decide to believe in God. Okay, but you're talking four generations here. That's outright obedience disobedience. That is like uh they're cursing God, they don't believe in their atheistic, they're probably polytheistic and not believing in just one God. Right. But uh thinking about that um, you know, think about okay, so I mentioned this before. The way this is written, it's written in the panoramic, it's also written in the micro. God will say at verse one seven, he says, uh then the Lord uh said to Noah, that's a micro. And then it backs out and he says, you know, 40 days. That's like something that's gonna come, and it's a wider angle view of understanding. And when he does this, I I imagine that it creates inside of you, he's given me the now and he's given me the later. And the later, it makes me move in the now. And I think that's what we hear, I think, you know when we're preaching the gospel and what we're doing currently right now, is because we know what's coming. Jesus said in the days of Noah, he specifically named what we should be doing, what Noah was doing, preaching to them.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01Regardless of how on deaf ears it follows and how we are looked at as foolish or whatever, you know. I guess that doesn't matter because that shouldn't discourage you, because if it's gonna happen, and whether I believe that or not, and whether the masses believe it or not, it's still gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01And that's the part I think God wants to show this, uh, and to Jesus use it as a as a story to to his own people. The the the the Jewish people at Jesus' time understood this very clearly. Uh they know that the ramifications of not believing, well, experiencing what three um they're they not called diasporas, the three exiles prior to that, they would understand that very clearly, being in disobedience to God. So um just to kind of like tie up this one part here that you brought up about the seven days. Interestingly enough, God gave seven more days. I've always thought about why what's the point of giving seven more days? You already waited 120, and in seven more days, uh, I read in a commentary uh and it said that it was a uh a seven-day countdown. It was the last call for mercy on God's part to the people. And that it was counting down from seven, six, five, all the way to one. And that was, if you think about it, God was going to uncreate the earth, is going to destroy it. So he created the earth in seven days, and within seven days he's going to destroy it. It was a um, it is something to think about that God has see, this is the thing, also underestimating God's power in his judgment. Because people just think that it's just a bunch of crazy people on their knees, recreating something that was of the old in some old book, when really he exists and he's giving us. We right now, we are, I believe, today, we are in that 120 years, metaphorically speaking, in the days of Noah, like Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00Before you know it, we're gonna be in the seven-day period.
SPEAKER_01Yes, that's true, the last call.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Which ironically, there is um Jesus, because in Matthew 24, Jesus does, his disciples ask him when is the end gonna come and the end of the last days.
SPEAKER_00That's right. Right, and he's very specific. I mean, we're not gonna go into that here, but um, but yeah, I mean it it's it's just really something to think about that, you know, kind of looking at everything around us, world events, you know, the things that we just you know, the the level of iniquity that we see, you know, the the the violence, the anger, the hatred on the part of so many people. And um also war. Yeah, war. I mean, it's just it's it's it's unnerving, but it should also give us hope. Because it's telling us that our day of deliverance is near. That's right. And um and so to me that's what it inspires is hope that Jesus will be coming back very soon. I mean, of course, no one knows that day, no one knows the hour, only the Father. But um it lets us know that we are we're we're starting to count down. I mean, only and again, only God knows how long that'll be, but we're we're getting closer, and we see it just you know, the the example that that Jesus gave his his uh disciples was about, you know, when you see like the trees budding, like the olive trees and the seasons and the you know that certain things are starting to happen, like right now we're in the spring, and we see the trees blooming and you know, ex well at least here in the northern hemisphere, we're in the spring. You see the the blossom, the flowers, and etc. And you see the weather changing, getting warmer. We know spring is here, for you know it'll be summer, and it's the same thing by by world events we see where things are leading.
SPEAKER_01And to continue on the point of the seasons and uh these things, we we can when we see this reoccurring theme of uh you know the seven and the forty, it has a lot of connections to it. Uh and one of the things that I think we sometimes overlook is that there is a biblical significance to it, and then there's people who take it just a little too far. Right. Uh I think that you had mentioned that, and I'm not mentioning any religions, that will try to absorb these eschatological subjects and make it their own and integrate it with what they believe in their holy book or their holy writ, and take it to a whole nother level uh of like say numerology, which totally don't believe in. And that's just something that that it is for face value what it is, and then it also has a meaning that God has defined. Right. And for man to even say that, oh, it means this, and this is what it actually means. No, that's not how it works. I believe that we have to read the Bible as it is and understand it as best we can by letting the Bible interpret the Bible and what God intended it for to be.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01Okay, because there was nobody around, there was no religion around at the time of the creation.
SPEAKER_00True.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so this is what uh what God meant it to be. He defined it before anyone else tried to or could.
SPEAKER_00Right. And I think we may have mentioned this already, but but if we haven't, the that um the idea of seven, it it the basis for it comes from the book of Genesis from the time of creation, because God worked or created the earth within those six days, rested on the seventh. So that's kind of where the significance comes from for this. Um and it and then there's always also, I'm gonna carry it a step further. It talks about the you know, 40. That also seems to be a recurring number, recurring pattern. Um 40 days and 40 nights in this instance. Jesus um when on his during his time here on the earth, uh going out, he was alone for 40 days, uh, being tested, tempted by Satan, and during those trials. The Israelites, after leaving Egypt, and then they made the golden calf and were worshipping, you know, they were into this idol worship, um, the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. So it seems like the number 40 seems to come about when uh in the narrative, when there's a time of testing, a time of probation, or a time of judgment. That's right. And then with Noah's case specifically, or in the days of Noah, um, it was a time of obviously of judgment.
SPEAKER_01And being on the ark also for a um for salvation.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Yeah. Right. I mean uh yes, that's the opposite side of the coin where it talks about yes, there may have been a time of judgment for the disobedient, but it's a time of deliverance for the obedient.
SPEAKER_01That's right, very good. Um so I think that, you know, when we talk about uh these you know events, it's not this little story that we tell children. This has a significantly deep uh the the the first time, uh the first uh type shadow uh and symbol of what God will ultimately do is we're reading it right now. This is it. And if you don't, if you do take it lightly, you're missing the point. If you think Genesis and the flood is really about science, it's really about proving Christianity is correct or is real. Then you're missing the point. Yeah, you're missing the point. And although it has those properties, by default, it's we we have to understand that the deeper panoramic view that God wants us to hear and listen and to believe is in Jesus Christ. This is the model, this is where all this comes from. The reason why it's even written down, the reason why it's the warning, the encouragement on both sides. And uh God is a God that wants worship, he's holy, he's gracious, he's merciful, he's loving, he's kind. But we are not that to him. And this is proof of how people rejected the preaching of Noah for one hundred plus years, and then even at the last seven days, they still so that so we can see the world in this very clearly. Jesus said it, Matthew 24, and we we we take it lightly, and we shouldn't. Um I would like for this to be fun and furry, and but it's not.
SPEAKER_00Right, fun and furry. Well, here's the key sentence, I think, in these few verses that we read, you know, one through six. And verse five, and Noah did according to all the Lord commanded him.
SPEAKER_01There it is. Obedience. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That is the key sentence there, people. That is the what we need to take away from everything that we have said here in this podcast. That's right. Being obedient to the Lord. Because without that obedience, without the type of faith that Noah exemplified, um we're not gonna make it. And the Hall of Fame uh for faith is in Hebrews.
SPEAKER_01Uh I'm sorry, uh Hebrews chapter eleven. Chapter eleven. You can read about Noah there too. Right. Uh this is uh important. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. I've been saying that for years, and without knowing Scripture, you're really gonna fall to the wayside. You're really not gonna get rooted in and you'll be trampled over. Uh these are the people that are going to suffer in the eschatological times, which I either believe we're entering or in at the beginning. Uh current events, they they're starting to uh heat ramp up and starting to heat up, but you know what? That just means our salvation is much more near.
SPEAKER_00Right. I mean per I mean I really think that we're starting to see things that we've never seen before. That's right. Hear things on TV, the internet, that we've just unification. Yes. And that's yeah, that's just again, that's unnerving, but it's but it's also builds hope because we know that again, like I said, that time of deliverance is is coming.
SPEAKER_01The prophecy, the type shadows, these are things are that are said it was gonna happen, and when they happen, if this isn't give you at least an eerie feeling to investigate this, you know, be worried. You should be worried that you don't are aren't bothered by this. I would say, if anything, get on the ark. Because that's exactly what is being said here. Get on the ark. Do your part, get on the ark, but get into the the ark of safety because that's who Jesus Christ is.
SPEAKER_00Right. So um, you know, in the last uh verse here it says that Noah was six hundred years old when the flood floodwaters were on the earth. Well Noah had Noah had lived a mountain of years. I wonder if he was all gray. Well, I don't know. Who knows? I mean, I imagine a bearded, grey-haired man, maybe somewhat bald. That's the first thing that comes into my well, I guess what we see in movies. Yeah. That's what I I or very thin hair. That's what I what comes into the.
SPEAKER_01He's gotta be in good shape, though.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. I mean, to build an ark at 600 years old.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, God preserved no uh preserved Moses. He didn't lose his stature as as you know uh most men do in their older age. He kept his stature as a as a a young man, which is kind of cool. I kind of maybe that kind of what happened with Noah, you know, he God preserved him in his stature.
SPEAKER_00Well, he had to. God had to have had his hand on him, over him, I should say, because Noah was given this this duty, this command, go and build this ark, go and do this. Yeah. He had to remain alive and in good health. Yeah. In order to accomplish such something so big. That's right.
SPEAKER_01So and then having all those years. So even if he didn't do carpentry or shipbuilding, uh, you know, he he would have been able to pick it up probably in in the first ten years and become a master carpenter.
SPEAKER_00Right. I mean and think about what we learn even in an average lifespan of like eighty years. Yeah. Can you imagine what you would learn in six hundred? Yeah, you'd know a lot.
SPEAKER_01You'd be you'd be a master. At everything. At everything.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, anything that you you've practiced, put your hands, your mind to, your hands on, you'd become uh an absolute expert on it.
SPEAKER_01And which lends to the whole idea that if Noah can use the time that he had to be faithful to God, to be obedient to God, and to obey his commandments and do what he said, it just shows you that it's possible for the other people that were not on the ark. Right. They chose to not be on the ark.
SPEAKER_00Right. It's all about our choices, it's all about the decisions that we make. It's uh it's not fate, it's not destiny. Right. It's about the decisions that we make. And the repercussions and the results that follow. Exactly. God gave us free will. That's right. And uh we need to use that for to glorify Him and for His purpose. Amen.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm uh I'm just thankful and glad that we are able to make this uh podcast an episode uh for your learning. Uh again, uh try uh to listen to it on a walk, you know, when you're at the gym uh on the treadmill, or if you're in your commute, you know, you could listen to this. You could use it as a Bible study with others uh in your study group, uh a personal devotion. Um we're just a married couple who believe firmly in the Word of God and the Scriptures, and believe that it leads you to Jesus Christ, our Savior. And we just want to encourage you to read your Bible, read it and follow along, uh, and then hopefully we can answer the questions that more than likely a lot of people would ask, either on an average or if you're uh into it that deep. Um I have a podcast, another one, First Discipleship, Christian Talk. If you want to know more about those things in depth, I have plenty of material for that.
SPEAKER_00The theological side.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, yeah, because I mean what we cover here is you know not really meant to be theological. It's um we're reading the scriptures, yes. We're reading to this. Yeah, we're referring to the scriptures. Um, it's semi, you know, theological, but it's really our conversation in regard to the scriptures and what it means, the significance. And um so we really hope that you take something away from this that means something, and maybe we've expressed something here that you've often thought about, and we've brought it to the table, and and maybe you have that aha moment where it's like, oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I I I get it now. And um, and that's kind of what we're here for, and we we want you to take something valuable away, and and please, if you find value in this, share with those in your life, your friends, your family, etc. And also, just on another note, may we all heed God's calling. That's right, just as Noah did. Let us follow Noah's example of faith and obedience and do as the Lord has commanded us to do, just as Noah did all that the Lord commanded of him. That's right. So, okay, well, yeah, we're gonna bring this to a close. Uh next week we're going to be episode 26. We'll still be in chapter 7 of Genesis, and we're gonna start with verse 7. Yes. So thank you again for joining us.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Well, this is Pastor Frank. And this is Luce at Tube Become is One. Have a blessed day.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Amen.