Genesis 7:21 - Meaning and Application

Here we see the complete destruction of all flesh by the waters of the flood. Come and look at the desolations God brings on the earth (Psalm 46:8), and how he piles ruin on ruin. Death never triumphed like this, from the first time it entered the world until then. It is like Death on a pale horse, with hell following close behind (Revelation 6:7, Revelation 6:8).

All the cattle, birds, and creeping things died, except the few that were in the ark. Notice how Scripture repeats this: “All flesh died” (Genesis 7:21). “Everything with the breath of life in its nostrils, all that was on dry land” died (Genesis 7:22). “Every living thing” died (Genesis 7:23). Why did this happen? Human beings had sinned, and God was right to judge them. But what had these animals done?

The answer is, first, God did them no wrong. He is the sovereign Lord of all life, because he alone gives life. He made them as he pleased, and he could take them away when he pleased. No one can say to him, “What are you doing?” He may do what he wants with what is his own, since he created it for his pleasure.

Second, God used their destruction to display his own glory. His holiness and justice were shown very clearly. This makes it plain that he hates sin and is deeply displeased with sinners. Even the lower creatures, because they served human beings and were part of human possession, and because they had been misused in the service of sin, were destroyed with mankind. That made the judgment more striking, more terrible, and more full of God’s wrath and anger. Their destruction was also a kind of release from the slavery of decay, which the whole creation still longs for (Romans 8:21, Romans 8:22).

It was also wise. Just as the creatures were made for man and then multiplied for him, so now, since mankind had been reduced to so few, the animals also had to be reduced. Otherwise they would have taken over and overrun the earth, and the small remnant of people would have been unable to cope with them. God thought of this in another case too: “Lest the beast of the field multiply against you” (Exodus 23:29).

All the men, women, and children in the world, except those in the ark, died. Every person died (Genesis 7:21 and Genesis 7:23). There may have been as many people then as there are now, or even more. We can easily imagine the terror that seized them when they saw the waters surround them. Jesus said that up to the very day the flood came, they were eating and drinking (Luke 17:26, Luke 17:27). They were drowned in false security and shallow pleasures before they were drowned in the flood. They kept saying peace to themselves, but they ignored every warning from God. Then death caught them by surprise, like Saul’s messengers in another time (1 Samuel 30:16, 1 Samuel 30:17).

What shock must have filled them then. They saw and felt what they would not believe before. They became convinced of their folly, but it was too late. They found no place for repentance, though they sought it with tears. We may also imagine they tried every possible way to save themselves, but all of it failed. Some climbed trees or mountains and delayed their fear for a little while, but the flood reached them in the end. Others likely clung to the ark and only then wished that the very thing they had mocked might save them. Some may have climbed onto the top of the ark and hoped to survive there, but they either starved or were washed off by the rain.

Others may have begged Noah to let them in, appealing to old friendship, as people once appealed to Jesus: “We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” Noah could have answered, “Yes, I did, many times, but to little effect. I called, and you refused. I stretched out my hand, and you paid no attention to my counsel (Proverbs 1:24, Proverbs 1:25). Now I cannot help you. God has shut the door, and I cannot open it.” It will be like that on the great day. A high outward profession, or a claim to be connected with good people, will not bring anyone into heaven (Matthew 7:22; Matthew 25:8, Matthew 25:9). Those who are not found in Christ, the ark, are lost forever. Salvation itself cannot save them then (Isaiah 10:3).

Some of those who perished may even have helped Noah build the ark, yet still were not wise enough to repent and secure a place in it. In the same way, wicked ministers may help others go to heaven and yet be thrown down to hell themselves. Let us pause and think about this awful judgment. Let our hearts dwell on the terror of it. Let us say, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” and, “Who can stand before him when he is angry?” Let us also say, “It is evil and bitter to turn away from God.” The sin of sinners, unless they repent, will ruin them in the end, if not sooner. If God is true, it will. Even if people join hands, the wicked will not go unpunished.

The righteous God knows how to bring a flood on the world of the ungodly (2 Peter 2:5). Eliphaz uses this story as a warning to a careless world (Job 22:15, Job 22:16): “Have you noticed the old path that wicked people have walked, who were cut off before their time, whose foundation was swept away by a flood?”

Now notice the special preservation of Noah and his family: “Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark” (Genesis 7:23). Noah lived. While everyone around him became a witness to God’s justice, with thousands falling on his right hand and ten thousand on his left, he became a witness to mercy. He could see only the reward of the wicked (Psalm 91:7, Psalm 91:8). In the flood of great waters, they did not come near him (Psalm 32:6).

We have reason to think that, while God’s patience delayed judgment, Noah not only preached to that wicked world but prayed for it too. He would have turned away wrath if he could, but his prayers returned to his own soul and were answered only in his own escape, which is what Ezekiel points to when he says, “Noah, Daniel, and Job would save only their own lives” (Ezekiel 14:14). There is honor for those who pray for others.

Yet he only lived. Noah remained alive, and that was all. In a sense, he was buried alive, shut up in a small place, troubled by the descending rain, the rising waters, and the cries of dying neighbors. His heart must have been heavy with thoughts of the ruin around him. Still, he found comfort in this: he was in the way of duty, and he was in the way of rescue.

We are also taught by (Jeremiah 45:4, Jeremiah 45:5) that when devastating judgments are in the land, we should not look for great things or an easy life for ourselves. Instead, we should count it as a great mercy if our lives are spared at all, as if they were given to us as plunder taken from a defeated enemy.