Charles Spurgeon Commentary Genesis 7

And the LORD said to Noah, Come you and all your house into the ark;

Notice that the Lord did not say to Noah, "Go into the ark," but "Come," plainly implying that God was himself in the ark, waiting to receive Noah and his family into the big ship that was to be their place of refuge while all the other people on the face of the earth were drowned. The distinctive word of the gospel is a drawing word: "Come." Jesus says, Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; and he will say to his people at the last, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

"Depart" is the word of justice and judgment, but "Come" is the word of mercy and grace. The Lord said to Noah, Come you and all your house into the ark; –

For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

Therefore God drew a distinction between him and the unrighteous, for he always has a special regard for godly people.

Of the clean creatures that could be offered in sacrifice to God, you see that there was a larger proportion of them than of the unclean, so that there might be sufficient for sacrifice without the destruction of any species. The unclean beasts were mostly killers and devourers of others, and therefore their number was to be less than that of the clean species. Oh, that the day might soon come when there would be more clean men and women than unclean ones, when there would be fewer sinners than godly people in the world, though even then there would be the ungodly "by two" like the unclean beasts.

It is the prerogative of the king to have the power of life and death, and it is the sole prerogative of the King of kings: "He can create, and He can destroy."

But what destructive power is brought into operation because of human sin! Sin must be a very heinous thing, since God, who does not despise the work of His own hands, will sooner break up the human race and destroy everything that lives rather than allow sin to continue to defile the earth.

He has destroyed the earth once by water because of sin, and He will the second time destroy it by fire for the same reason.

Wherever sin is, God will hunt it; with barbed arrows He will shoot at it; He will cut it in pieces with His sharp two-edged sword, for He cannot endure sin.

Oh, how foolish are they who harbour it in their own bosoms, for it will bring destruction to them if they keep it there!

Here was positive proof of his righteousness, because he was obedient to the word of the Lord. A man who does not obey God's commands may talk about righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith, but it is clear that he does not possess it. For faith works by love, and the righteousness which is by faith is proved by obedience to God. Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him, and so proved that he was righteous before God.

He was nearly five hundred years old when he began to preach about the flood — a good old age to take up such a subject. For a hundred and twenty years he pursued his theme — three times as long as most men are ever able to preach — and now at last God's time of long-suffering is over, and he proves the truthfulness of the testimony of his servant by sending the flood that Noah had foretold.