The Seven Days of Noah: The Ark as a Picture of the Rapture and God's Prophetic Number Patterns
Dan Goodwin and Dr. Charles Hiltibidal examine the seven days Noah's family spends sealed inside the ark before the flood begins, tracing what they see as prophetic pictures of the rapture, the marriage supper, and recurring biblical patterns built around the numbers seven and forty.
Reading Genesis 7 And The Seven Days
Dan Goodwin opens Prophecy in the Spotlight alone, introducing himself as "Brother Goodwin" and previewing the day's topic, "The Seven Days of Noah." He reads from Genesis chapter 7, starting at verse 6, describing how Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives enter the ark at Noah's six hundredth year, followed by the animals two by two. He points to verse 10, which states that "it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth," and notes that Noah's family sits inside the sealed ark alone for seven full days before the rain begins. Goodwin tells viewers this detail is something "most of you probably have never heard" discussed, and promises a deeper look at what those seven days might mean once the broadcast returns from its opening break.
Viewer Support Keeps The Ministry On Air
Back from the break, Goodwin and Dr. Charles Hiltibidal open with some banter about the late-summer heat, correcting each other that it is September, not August, and recalling a temperature of 103 degrees the day before. Goodwin thanks the viewers who fund the broadcast through monthly offerings, checks, and recurring credit card gifts, noting the program has just passed six years on the air and started its seventh. He and Hiltibidal joke that they "started this thing with no money" and "still got no money," yet credit the audience with keeping it going. The two compare their modest set to polished Christian television productions, with Hiltibidal recalling a set that was "nothing but a warehouse" with bare walls, and both agreeing their own three-set studio and improved audio are a blessing. Goodwin mentions a viewer, Brother Stu, from Washington state, whom they hope to host in the studio soon.
A Type Of The Rapture And Marriage Supper
Turning to the text, Goodwin says a viewer had written in about the seven days, prompting him to look closer, and he tells Hiltibidal the passage seems to picture the rapture, with believers sealed by "the Holy Spirit of promise" the way Noah's family is sealed inside the ark. He suggests that once the door shuts, believers go to the marriage supper, and Hiltibidal adds that the judgment seat of Christ likely comes first, comparing it to the moment in a Jewish wedding when a groom praises his bride publicly, with no sins raised against her. Goodwin stresses that Calvary already covered every sin, so nothing can be brought up at the judgment seat, and that no believer can lose the gift of salvation. Hiltibidal agrees, noting Noah is sealed into the ark for seven days before "the fountains of the great deep are broken up," and says Bible readers should watch for prophetic pictures as well as literal and figurative meaning.
No Real Door And Seven Appearing Seven Times
Hiltibidal explains a detail from his own podcast, Walk Through Time with Doc, that the ark's door was not really a door at all: the vessel's walls were built of inner-laminated gopher wood, so thick that once the entrance section rose into place like a jigsaw piece, it fused solid and sealed Noah's family in completely, with no gap for sound or water. He notes that Genesis later records Noah having to cut his way out from the inside, prompting Goodwin to joke about Noah searching for a missing saw. Hiltibidal then reveals a study he has done, finding that the number seven, or "seventh," appears exactly seven times across the life of Noah in Genesis chapters 6 through 9, and that seven itself shows up thirty-nine times across the book of Genesis, a count Goodwin jokingly likens to the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, with both men laughing that Michael Samuel Smith would surely find deeper meaning in it.
Creation Days The Number Forty And The Calendar
Hiltibidal lays out a day-for-a-thousand-years pattern, matching each day of creation to a thousand-year period of history: day one's forming of water parallels the fall of man, and day two's separating of the waters above from the waters beneath parallels the flood, when those same waters are reunited and the earth is remade with Noah as a kind of second Adam. He extends the pattern toward a future new heaven and new earth after the millennial reign's seven-thousandth year. The two then survey the number forty across scripture, the forty days of rain, Israel's forty years in the wilderness, the forty-year reigns of David and Solomon, and Christ's forty days in the wilderness and after the resurrection. Goodwin adds that Genesis records months by the pre-Exodus calendar, so the ark rests in the seventh month, later renamed Nisan after Exodus 12, on the seventeenth day, the same date, he notes, as Resurrection Sunday.
Fossils A Brass Dog And A Personal Testimony
The men discuss fossil concentrations near Mount Ararat and in parts of Texas and Illinois, which Hiltibidal attributes to animals fleeing toward higher, granite-rich ground ahead of the rising floodwaters. He describes a small brass artifact in their museum, a dog engraved with pairs of fleas, ferrets, birds, and snakes, found near an altar site on Ararat's slope. Hiltibidal calls the ark itself a picture of Christ, absorbing the water's pressure, the rain, and the lightning so that everyone inside "never felt a thing," just as Christ suffered on Calvary so believers would not have to. Asked whether the world is nearing the moment God "shuts the door," Hiltibidal points to 2 Thessalonians and warns that those who reject the truth will be left behind. Goodwin closes by recounting his own conversion on July 4, 1981, when he realized he was lost and trusted Christ, and signs off telling viewers to keep their eyes on the skies.
