Genesis 7

Genesis 7
This is the record of the Great Flood. Most Americans are somewhat familiar with this story, but it's well worth reading once more.

Here are a few thoughts that come to my mind as I read it:

• The gathering of the animals was surely a miracle of the Lord. He gathered them together so that Noah and his sons could take them into the ark.
• God gave 7 more days during which people could repent and believe. This was after the 120 years while Noah was preparing the ark. 
• The rain poured down from the sky and gushed up from the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. v. 11 tells us, ""...all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." Prior to the flood, the earth was covered with a canopy of moisture, and it didn't rain. See Genesis 2:6. Apparently there were underground rivers or seas which were opened. Can you imagine how horrifying this was to those outside the ark?
• Was this a world-wide flood? It sounds as if it was. We know for sure that it covered the mountains and all people and all land animals perished. The idea of a world-wide flood explains why we find fossils of sea animals in the rock quarries in Iowa! And I would imagine that such fossils are found in many land-locked locations. The weight of the water put intense pressure on the earth as well which may explain some geological questions.
• "Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive." Again I remind you that though this was a real, historical event, it is also a picture of salvation. Only those who are "in Christ" will be saved.

Genesis 7:17-24 NKJV

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 [a]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 [b]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.

Here is the same passage in the New Living Translation

17 For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. 18 As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. 19 Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, 20 rising more than twenty-two feet[a] above the highest peaks. 21 All the living things on earth died—birds, domestic animals, wild animals, small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people. 22 Everything that breathed and lived on dry land died. 23 God wiped out every living thing on the earth—people, livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and the birds of the sky. All were destroyed. The only people who survived were Noah and those with him in the boat. 24 And the floodwaters covered the earth for 150 days.