In one of your articles you wrote, “The days before the flood were an extreme test of faith for Noah and his family. Not one person supported their decision to abandon their “normal” life and obey the Lord’s commands. And for seven days after they entered the ark nothing happened. Can you imagine how their friends laughed and jeered while they sat there waiting for the rain to come?” Unquote.
Where does it say in Scripture that nothing happened for seven days after the Lord shut them in the ark? I have looked in all my Bibles and what you said is not recorded in any. In my NKJ version immediately after the Lord shut them in it says (verse 17) “Now the flood was on the earth forty days.” Can you please let me know where you obtained this additional information?
Be glad to. But first of all, a slight correction. I didn’t say nothing happened for seven days after the Lord shut them in. I said nothing happened for seven days after they entered the ark. Here’s how it happened.
In Genesis 7:1-2 the Lord told Noah , “Go into the ark and take with you 7 of every clean animal and 2 of every unclean animal.” In the same conversation He said in verse 4, “Seven days from now I will send rain on the Earth.” Then verse 7 says that Noah and his sons and their wives entered the ark, and verse 10 says, And after the seven days the flood waters came upon the Earth.
During that seven days all the remaining animals came to Noah and entered the ark. Noah and his family were on board and animals kept coming in, but it wasn’t raining yet and so although any humans who chose to could have entered also none did.
At the end of the seven days, when the rains came, the Lord shut the doors signifying that the time for coming on board to escape the judgment had expired, and no further entry into the ark would be allowed. The fates of both those sealed inside and those who had refused to enter had been determined.
Jesus said it would be just this way at the end of the age. For the last seven years before His return the door to salvation will remain open to any who choose to accept it, even though the Church will have already come in. But on the day of his return the door will be closed and the fates of both those who came in and those who refused will have been sealed. As it was in the days of Noah so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.