As we arrive in Genesis chapter seven there is one word that is used more than any of the other words. This is our word for today מַ֫יִם water, waters. It is used 571 times in the Old Testament, 9 times in Genesis chapter seven alone. Verse 11 has the root of our word inside of it שָׁמַ֫יִם heavens or sky is simply water with a prefix attached to it. The reason is that the sky is also made up of water. This is explained in Genesis chapter one where we see our word מַ֫יִם also used a lot in one chapter and where we also see the word שָׁמַ֫יִם sky also translated heaven, canopy, and atmosphere. Genesis 1:6-8 ...And God made the expanse and separated the מַ֫יִם waters that were under the expanse from the מַ֫יִם waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse שָׁמַ֫יִם Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
Noah preached to the people to persuade them to get on the ark with him and be saved for at least 120 years. So, it is not like people didn’t know what was going to happen. God was patient with them and gave them every chance as 1 Peter writes. But they were not open to it. God writing through Peter references his patience during this time. 1 Peter 3:30 God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. And 2 Peter 2:5 If he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. And again in 2 Peter 3:4-7, 9 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly … The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Most people think everything is going to keep on going like it has been because that is their experience. It is easy to think that our experiences are the only ones that are true. And because we haven’t experienced it personally then we discount it and say its false. In Noah’s day it would have been easy to say to him “what is rain?”, because before the flood the earth was watered by an underground dew sort of irrigation system. No one had experienced rain until it was too late. The bible calls this idea of believing something that is beyond our experience trust or faith. This doesn’t mean that there is no evidence to trust something but that we don’t always have evidence based on our experience. The reason why is so God can continually grow our trust in him.
Notice how God calls this real historical event an opportunity for faith both the people who didn’t have it and Noah and his family who did. Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. How wrong the people in Noah’s day were and how wrong people will be today who reject the salvation that God offers through Jesus Christ. Like in Noah’s day there was only one way to be saved, getting on the ark, today it is through faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God. God is patient but our lifetime on this earth will come to an end at some point as also will God’s patience, as in the days of Noah.
