But God Remembered Noah & All the Wild Animals and Livestock
As in the days of Noah, so will be the Second Coming of Christ. As God poured out his wrath in the days of Noah, so will 7 Angels pour out their bowls
if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others 2 Peter 2:5
God had poured out his wrath upon the earth and its inhabitants, but Noah and his family found refuge in the ark.
But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. Genesis 8:1-2
Although this Scripture passage states that God remembered Noah, it does that mean that God had forgotten him. God is omniscient and all knowing. Even though we may think that “to forget” is to permanently delete some experience or fact from our memory; most often it means to treat with inattention, overlook, or to disregard. Such is the case when God’s promises not to remember the transgressions of those who have repented and placed their trust in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior.
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12
Not remembering our sins does not mean that God deletes the memory of our sins from His mind. Since Jesus paid the penalty of sin for us, God chooses to overlook or disregard our sins by not counting them against us.
The statement that God remembered Noah means that the time of the outpouring of God’s wrath upon the earth was completed and God turned His attention and purpose to the survivors on the ark. The wind that God provided blew over the surface of the entire earth. This massive wind produced strong and sudden evaporation as well as caused the waters to recede from the land. After nearly six weeks of relentless and powerful rain storms and the up surging of subterranean fountains, the flow of water from above and below the earth had ceased.
The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Genesis 8:3-4
On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest. After the nation of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, the seventh month of the ancient civil calendar had been designated by God as the first month of Israel’s religious calendar.
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Exodus 12:1-2
The Passover sacrifice was to be slain on the fourteenth day of that month.
Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Exodus 12:6
Jesus, the Lamb of God was crucified on the Passover.
For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 1 Corinthians 5:7b
Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week. The day after the Sabbath marked when the Feast of Firstfruits was celebrated. Jesus was not only the “Passover Lamb” but also the “Firstfruits of the Resurrection,” having risen on the Day of Firstfruits.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 1 Corinthians 15:20
Jesus rose from the dead on the seventeenth day of Nisan which is the first month of the ceremonial calendar.
The first month of the Hebrew Calendar, which is in the spring, was originally the seventh month. Therefore, the day that Jesus rose from the dead and the day that Noah’s ark came to rest were on the same day and month of the Hebrew calendar. The ark provided protection so that its passengers survived through the outpouring of God’s wrath upon the earth and its evil inhabitants. The ark coming to rest is a prophetic picture of Jesus who took upon himself the full cup of God’s wrath and resurrected to life.
The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible. Genesis 8:5
He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth. Psalm 104:5-9
God acted to alter the earth’s topography. After the Flood, the mountains rose and the valleys sank down so the oceans can never again cover the whole earth. The collision of the earth’s tectonic plates would have pushed up mountain ranges and deepened the oceans. New continental landmasses bearing new mountain chains of folded rock strata were uplifted from below the globe-encircling waters that had eroded and leveled the pre-Flood topography.
At the same time, large deep ocean basins were formed to receive and accommodate the Flood waters that then drained off the emerging continents. As the new ocean floors cooled, they would have become denser and sunk, allowing water to flow off the continents. Movement of the water off the continents and into the oceans would have weighed down the ocean floor and lightened the continents, resulting in the further sinking of the ocean floor, as well as upward movement of the continents. The deepening of the ocean basins and the rising of the continents would have resulted in more water running off the land.
Today the surface of our earth is quite different than before the Flood. Although, nearly 70 percent of the earth’s surface is still covered by water; with higher mountains and deeper oceans, the earth will never again be totally covered by water.
After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. Genesis 8:6-7
Forty days after the appearance of the mountain tops, Noah opened the window of the ark and let a raven fly out. Since it had rained for forty days and nights, Noah may have waited a period of forty days after seeing the tops of the mountains to be sure that the Flood was definitely at an end. The raven went out and did not return into the ark until the earth was dry since the mountain tops and the carcasses floating upon the water afforded both resting-places and food.
Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. Genesis 8:8-9
Though the mountain tops were visible, they were covered with mud and carcasses. As opposed to the raven, the dove would not touch dead flesh and returned to the ark.
According to the Torah, ravens are unclean birds and not acceptable for sacrifice or to be eaten. The raven who feeds on dead flesh is a black bird. Dark angels are unclean spirits associated with death.
On the other hand, doves are ceremonially clean animals that are suitable for sacrifice. Doves feed upon seeds and fruit. In the Bible, the word “seed” represents the Word of God and “fruit” speaks of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit. The color white characterizes purity. At the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove (Luke 3:22). A white dove therefore is a symbol used to represent the Holy Spirit.
He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him. Genesis 8:10-12
Noah had waited seven days after sending out the raven to send out the dove for the first time. He again waited seven days to send out the dove for the second time. When it returned with an olive leaf in its beak, Noah knew that fruit trees began to appear above water. It is commonly understood that a picture of a dove carrying an olive branch to represents peace. When the dove was sent out for the third time, it did not return.
By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry. Then God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Genesis 8:13-16
Noah entered the ark in the 600th year of his life, on the 17th day of the 2nd month (Genesis 7:11-13). Noah left the ark on the 27th day of the 2nd month of the following year (Genesis 8:14-15). Judgment was poured out upon the wicked by the Great Flood while God’s people were protected in the ark to emerge unscathed. This is a prophetic picture of the rapture. This theme is repeated in the Exodus. The parting of the sea by Moses and subsequent crossing on dry land by a great mixed multitude, again pictures the coming rapture. In the same day that the Israelites were miraculous delivered out of the hands of their enemies, God poured out his wrath on the Egyptian army and their evil leader, Pharaoh.
The pattern of miraculous deliverance of God’s people followed by immediate judgment of God’s enemies is found elsewhere in the Bible. In the same day that Lot and his family were pulled from Sodom by angels, God rained burning sulfur on the wicked cities of the plain (Genesis 19:16–24).
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24:37
Noah and his family spent one year and ten days in the ark. Why not just a year? The 10 days are significant and speak prophetically of the Second Coming of Christ. There was a total of ten days which elapsed between the arrival of all the Israelites at Mt. Sinai and Moses ascending the mountain. King David (a type of Christ) married Abigail after her evil husband, Nabol (a type of Antichrist), was stricken for 10 days and then died.
Jesus appeared in resurrection power and was seen over a period of 40 days. He ascended into heaven. The Holy Spirit came down in power on Pentecost (50 days after the resurrection). There was a period of 10 days between Jesus going up to heaven and the Holy Spirit coming down to indwell the church. Just as these ten days were significant in the First Advent when Jesus literally fulfilled the spring cycle of biblical festivals, so in His Second Coming is a ten day period significant in Jesus fulfilling the fall cycle of festivals.
There are then ten days between the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah /the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Religiously observant Jews know these ten days as the Ten Days of Penitence or the Ten Days of Awe.
I believe that on the same day as the great and terrible day of the LORD begins (the Ten Days of Awe begin), the Church will be raptured and the final plagues poured on the earth.
I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues —last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. Revelation 15:1
As in the days of Noah, when God’s people were protected from the outpouring of his wrath upon the earth, so in the last days the saints will be raptured as the seven angels pour out the bowls of God’s wrath upon the earth and its inhabitants.
The Rapture of the church on The Day of Trumpets will allow for three days of consecration (works passing through the fire) and a seven day wedding feast (traditional in Judaism). At the sounding of the seventh trumpet of Revelation, the Church is raptured and God’s bowls of wrath are poured upon the earth and its inhabitants. Ten days after on Yom Kippur, Jesus will triumphantly return Earth as conquering King to mete out punishment to His enemies, redeem Israel, and establish His throne on Earth.
Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.” So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another. Genesis 8:17-19
In Genesis 1:28, to be fruitful and multiply was the command that was given to Adam and Eve along with the dominion mandate over the earth and the animals. Here it is clearly expressed that the purpose for animal life being preserved on the ark was so the animals could emerge to increase in number upon the earth.
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. Genesis 8:20-21
The aroma of the sacrifice was pleasing to the LORD.
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2
After the fall, the Adamic nature was passed down to all mankind. Although humans have a deceitful and wicked heart, the LORD promised to never again to destroy all living creatures. The Father knew that Christ would come and lay His life down as a fragrant offering whose sacrifice would be pleasing to God.
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” Genesis 8:22
During the duration of the flood, there was no seedtime or harvest. It was wet, cold and gloomy. It was even hard to discern day from night. Now God’s promise is an encouragement to Noah and his family who are to repopulate the earth.
As long as the earth endures is a statement that is an allusion to the fact that the earth in its present form will someday cease to endure. Again, the end is made known from the beginning:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. Revelation 21:1