What does Genesis 7:1 mean?
A common theme of the book of Genesis is the fact that God "sees." God observes what is true and acts on it. In Genesis 1, He saw what He had made was good. In the previous chapter, He saw all the wickedness which man's sinfulness had made on the earth (Genesis 6:5).Now God says He has seen Noah's righteousness. Specifically, God has noticed the contrast between Noah's choices and those of his generation. Throughout Scripture, God calls His people not to allow their peers, culture, or the moral standards of their times to set the direction of their lives. Instead, He calls His people to be committed to obeying Him. Noah did that. The last verse of the prior chapter specifically says that Noah obeyed all that God told him, exactly as it was told him (Genesis 6:22).
Now that Noah has obeyed God by building the ark according to the Lord's specifications, God commands Noah to take his family into the boat to be saved from the coming flood while the rest of his generation remains unprotected.