Gen. 7:2-4 "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.  Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.  For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." 

In this second listing of the animals that came into the ark to keep seed alive, we see a parallel between what is said about the animals and the subject of predestination as it is introduced in the covenant of redemption.  We restate the covenant of redemption as follows: Rom. 8:29, 30 "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."  Those that God foreknew were also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  A simple definition of predestination is to fix the final destination beforehand.  God fixed the final destination of those that he chose before the foundation of the world.  That final destination is to be conformed to the image of His Son. 

Obviously, the destination of those on the ark was not the same as the final destination of those in the covenant of redemption.  However, the parallels are striking.  God tell us both the final destination to be brought about by the flood waters on both those on the ark and those not on the ark:

                        1.  To those on the ark we read this about their destination: "to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth."

                        2.  To those not on the ark we read this about their destination: "and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." 

This final destination of the people and animals on the ark and those not on the ark was spoken about of God a full seven days before the flood waters began to come upon the ark.  The final destination was determined beforehand. 

God Sees Noah Righteous

Gen. 7:1 "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." 

Righteousness is a broad and multifaceted subject in the scriptures.  First, when Adam transgressed in the Garden of Eden, he brought condemnation upon himself and all of his posterity: Rom. 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"… 18 "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."  Because of the effects of the law of sin and death we read in Rom. 3:10 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" Thus, we ask ourselves, "How did God see Noah righteous?"  The answer is found in the effectual covenant work of Jesus Christ when he shed his blood for the elect family of God on the cross: 2 Cor. 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."  Therefore, according to the law of substitutionary atonement Christ became sin for us and suffered the judgment of sin on our behalf and we became righteous before God by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. 

In the judgment of sin all the elect are righteous before God.  However, not all the elect continually walk in the pathway of righteousness.  God sees them in judgment righteous.  In their walk, many times God sees us as walking unrighteous or ungodly.  Only a righteous man can walk righteously.  Noah in being obedient to the commandment of God walked righteously before God: Gen. 6:22 "Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he."  Therefore, God saw Noah's judicial standing before him as being righteous because of the atoning blood of Christ, and he saw the works of Noah as being righteous works because of Noah's obedience to the commandment of God in building the ark. 

 Moreover, Noah was faithful to the things which God told him and to the promises of God.  Additionally, therefore, Noah's faith was imputed as righteousness by God. 

This all teaches us that as the elect of God we have a righteous judicial standing before God due to the atoning blood of Christ.  We have our faith imputed for righteousness as we believe God.  We have our works appear as righteous works when we obey the commandments of God. 

Judgmental waters came from three sources

 Gen. 7:11-12 "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.  And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights." 

Throughout the scriptures we see pictures of the Godhead.  The Godhead is described for us in 1 John 5:7 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."  The three yet one Godhead has been a mystery to multitudes of bible students.  I am convinced there are things about the Godhead we will not be able to understand until it is revealed to us in heaven.  Yet we get glimpses of the Godhead throughout the scriptures.

In the scriptures pertaining to the events of the flood we see several pictures of the Godhead.  The ark itself had three stories, yet was one ark.  One dove was sent forth by Noah three times.  The flood waters came from three sources. 

The flood waters came from forty days and forty nights of rain.  They also came when the fountains of the great deep were broken up.  The third source came from the windows of heaven being opened.  As we recall, in creation God separated the waters which were above the firmament from the waters which were below the firmament.  The firmament was called heaven.  There was a water envelope in the outer atmosphere above the earth.  As we have previously seen, this water envelope was largely responsible for man living so long before the flood.  These waters came down from the outer atmosphere during the flood. 

With these three sources of water the earth was covered and all in whose nostrils was the breath of life died in the judgmental flood waters: Gen. 7:19-24 "And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.  Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.  And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.  And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.  And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days."