Be Continually Being Filled with the Spirit
A Devotional Series from Genesis
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
6/18 Reading Portions: Deuteronomy 23; Psalms 112-113; Isaiah 50; Revelation 20
Genesis 7:7
And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
ENTER
After YHVH God commanded Noah to “Go” into the ark, Genesis 7 describes this “entering” into the ark six more times. We covered this a bit when meditating upon Genesis 7:1, when the ESV translates YHVH’s command as “Go into the ark,” and the KJV translates the command as “Come thou into the ark” (see devotional here). It is the Hebrew word בּוֹא (bō), and can be translated “go,” “come,” “enter,” or “went in.” Certainly, it is a recapitulation, a literary device found in Hebrew literature, and most especially in Scripture, that repeats the same thing to provide more depth, a different perspective, or both. But rather than looking at the various perspectives and nuances today, let’s look at this repeated “entering,” from the same Hebrew word, bō. We find the word used twice in conjunction with Noah and his family; in our verse today as well as Genesis 7:13,
On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark,
We also find it used once in conjunction with the animals:
Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. Genesis 7:8-9
Finally, we find the word used thrice in conjunction with both Noah’s family and the animals:
They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in. Genesis 7:15-16
Seven times this Hebrew word, bō, is used in this chapter. Even in English, the repetitive entering into the ark before YHVH shuts the people and animals in should get our attention.
The rain did not come until the LORD shut them in at the end of seven days from His command to enter. In Genesis 7:4, we examined the seven days and considered that there may have been three possibilities of what Noah was doing during the seven days (see devotional here). It is here that I’d like to suggest a fourth possibility for YHVH God to command this seven-day period. It is written here to prophetically foreshadow our need for being filled with the Spirit. It is written:
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18
A more literal translation of the last part of this verse could be…
“…but be continually being filled with the Spirit.”
When I was a babe in Christ, I used to wonder how one is supposed to continue to be continuously filled with the Spirit. The preachers would preach that we were supposed to be filled, but they didn’t quite tell us how it was done; or possibly, my ears knew my brain was too stupid to understand, so the ear-gate never let the instruction gain entry. About a year or so before the Lord Jesus called me into pastoral ministry back in 2000, He showed me—take every week as it comes and fill that week with Christ. Enter God’s Word daily and worship Christ. Go and gather with God’s people as often as I could during the week, and most especially in corporate worship. Enter my private prayer time with loving godly fear and gratitude, thanking God in Christ for salvation. When we spend time with the Spirit, who testifies of Christ and glorifies Him (John 15:26; 16:14), then we’ll be filled with the Spirit.
This entering into the ark before the LORD shut the door was a prophetic foreshadow of delving into our salvation. Noah and his family, while leading the animals into their stalls in the ark, had moved from the doomed earth, making their home in the saving grace of God in Christ—the ark.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!