Genesis 7:1-3 And the LORD said to Noah, Come you and all your house into the ark; for you have I seen righteous before me in this generation.… I. THE TERMINATION OF AS ARDUOUS TASK. 1. This termination would be a relief to his physical energies. 2. This termination would be a relief to his mental anxieties. 3. This termination would inspire a sad but holy pride within his heart. And so Christian service often reviews its work, its calm faith, its patient energy, and its palpable result, with sacred joy, but when it is associated with the judgments of heaven upon the ungodly, the joy merges into grief and prayer. The best moral workman cannot stand unmoved by his ark, when he contemplates the deluge soon to overtake the degenerate crowds around, whom he would fain persuade to participate in the refuge he has built. II. THE INDICATION OF ABOUNDING MERCY (ver 4). 1. This indication of mercy was unique. Its occasion was unique. Neither before or since has the world been threatened with a like calamity. And the compassion itself was alone in its beauty and meaning. 2. This indication of mercy was pathetic. 3. This indication of mercy was rejected. The people regarded not the completion of the ark, they heeded not the mercy which would have saved them at the eleventh hour. III. THE SIGNAL FOR A WONDROUS PHENOMENON (vers. 8, 9). IV. THE PROPHECY OF AN IMPORTANT FUTURE. LESSONS: 1. Let the good anticipate the time when all the fatigue and anxiety of moral service shall be at an end. 2. Let them contemplate the joy of successful service for God. 3. Let them enter into all the meaning and phenomena of Christian service. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. |
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