Genesis 6:5

2. Genesis 6:5 5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.  (NIV) The world conditions prior to the Flood presaged a coming catastrophe, so will world conditions in the last days of this age foreshadow an even greater catastrophe. Some of the characteristics listed in Scripture include these:

3. Genesis 6:5 • Preoccupation with physical appetites (Luke 17:27) • Rapid advances in technology (Genesis 4:22) • Grossly materialistic attitudes and interests (Luke 17:28) • Uniformitarian philosophies (Hebrews 11:7) • Inordinate devotion to pleasure and comfort (Genesis 4:21) • No concern for God in either belief or conduct (2 Peter 2:5; Jude 15)

4. Genesis 6:5 • Disregard for the sacredness of the marriage relationship (Matt. 24:38) • Rejection of the inspired Word of God (I Peter 3:19) • Population explosion (Genesis 6:1, 11) • Widespread violence (Genesis 6:11, 13) • Corruption throughout society (Genesis 6:12) • Preoccupation with illicit sexual activity (Gen. 4:19; 6:2)

5. Genesis 6:5 • Widespread words and thoughts of blasphemy (Jude 15) • Organized Satanic activity (Genesis 6:1-4) • Promulgation of governmental systems and movements of abnormal depravity (Genesis 6:5, 12)

6. Genesis 6:5 Mankind was created in God’s image, to respond with a heart of love to God’s love But now ‘every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually’ Mankind was told to ‘multiply and fill the earth’ (Gen. 1:28), but now ‘the earth was filled with violence’ A state of anarchy and terror must have reigned

7. Genesis 6:6 “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart” (KJV) Q: Can God ‘repent’? I Samuel 15:29 says that God ‘is not a man, that he should repent’ “The repentance of God is an anthropomorphic expression for the pain of the divine love at the sin of man, and signifies that ‘God is hurt no less by the atrocious sins of men than if they pierced His heart with mortal anguish’ “ (Calvin, quoted in K & D, p. 140)

8. Genesis 6:6 “Although God had made a perfect world for man and had been marvelously long-suffering toward His creatures, there finally came a time when, in justice to His own holiness, He had to terminate man’s boundless wickedness. Any further delay would have completely prevented the accomplishment of God’s purpose in and for mankind. Man’s outward wickedness had become ‘great in the earth,’ because his inward imaginations had become completely evil and always evil” (Morris, p. 176)

9. Genesis 6:6 Q: Did the devil make them do it? A: Although the evil angels had aggravated this condition, mankind was basically responsible. Demons can only control those whose minds are already so rebellious toward God or so obsessed with illicit desires as to be open to such possession.

10. Genesis 6:6 Q: God was ‘grieved in his heart.” Does God have a literal ‘heart’? A: This is an anthropomorphism for the reasoning process, which does not actually center in the physical human heart. This description is used throughout scripture to express the deepest seat of one’s emotions and decisions.

11. Genesis 6:6 Q: Was every ONE of the antidiluvians as wicked as they could be? A: Outward wickedness is certainly not ‘great’ in every case, nor do the most depraved people imagine ‘only evil continually.’ There are degrees of evil, and there are degrees of sin, as there are degrees of punishment. But here is an indictment of something grotesque and abnormal, and it required a cataclysmic remedy---a universal, worldwide baptism in the waters of the great Flood.

12. Genesis 6:7 “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them” (KJV) The remedy for worldwide wickedness is a worldwide Flood; all land animals would be destroyed, along with mankind. Since the LORD created these animals, and gave man dominion over them, it is His prerogative to destroy them with that dominion.

13. Genesis 6:8 “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” “The important relation in which Noah stands both to sacred and universal history, arises from the fact, that he found mercy on account of his blameless walk with God; that in him the human race was kept from total destruction, and he was preserved from the all-destroying Flood, to find in his sons a new beginning to the history of the world. The piety of Noah, his preservation, and the covenant through which God appointed him the head of the human race, are the three main points in this section” (K & D, p. 141).

14. Genesis 6:8 “The destruction of the old world by the Flood, and the preservation of Noah, together with the animals enclosed in the ark, is circumstantially and elaborately described” The event is a work of judgment and mercy of the greatest significance to the history of the Kingdom of God---a judgment of such universality and violence as will only be seen again in the judgment at the end of the world It is also an act of mercy which made the flood itself a flood of grace, and in that respect, a type of baptism (I Peter 3:21), with life arising out of death.

15. Genesis 6:8 “Destruction ministers to preservation, immersion to purification, death to new birth; the old corrupt earth is buried in the flood, that out of this grave a new world may arise” (Delitzsch, p. 141). Genesis 6:9-12 – a description of Noah and his contemporaries Genesis 6:13-22 – the announcement of the purpose of God with reference to the Flood

16. Genesis 6:8 “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” Noah, a sinner saved by grace! “Salvation in any era is exactly in this way. By sovereign grace, received through faith, the believer is justified before God and declared to be complete in Him. Only as a result of, and on the basis of, this glorious gift of grace, can one then ‘walk’ in fellowship with God, showing the genuineness of his faith by his works. Four times it is said later, that Noah ‘did all that God commanded him” (6:22, 7:5; 7:9; 7:16)

17. Genesis 6:9 Noah was no doubt a sinner, being human; but he had believed God’s promises and sought, by God’s grace, to obey His word and follow His will. Though Satan had managed to corrupt the whole world, the one man whom he wanted most of all to destroy, was under the invulnerable protecting shield of the grace of God” (Morris, p. 178) ‘righteous’ – in his moral relationship to God ‘blameless’ – in his character and conduct His righteousness and integrity were manifested in his walking with God, in which he resembled Enoch

18. Genesis 6:8 Noah, was a ‘preacher of righteousness’ (2 Peter 2:5) although no one responded to his message except a few family members. The moral pressures must have been overwhelming The temptations of a licentious and violent society, along with the continual rejection and ridicule of those masses who were ‘disobedient in the days of Noah’ (I Peter 3:20), would have been difficult to bear. He preached for a hundred & twenty years, but with no converts except within his own family

19. Genesis 6:9 Noah was a man of great faith. Hebrews 11:7 – “By faith, Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” Verse 9 is undoubtedly written by the sons of Noah, and they are the recorders of the Biblical record of the Flood Noah’s account ends with the statement of his testimony: “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD”

20. Genesis 6:9 Q: Was Noah a real historical person? Was the ark? A: Yes, as listed in the ‘hall of faith’ in Hebrews 11:7, but also: Isaiah 54:9 Ezekiel 14:14; 14:20 I Chronicles 1:4 Luke 3:36 I Peter 3:20 2 Peter 2:5 The Lord Jesus: Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26

21. Genesis 6:9 “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (KJV) “This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God” (NIV) “As the ‘sons of Noah’ began the record of their own ‘generations,’ they first indicated that it should be tied in to the previous record kept by their father. To do this, they began with his name and a testimony of his godly character, as noted previously’ (Morris, p. 179)

22. Genesis 6:10 “And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth” Q: Were these three sons the progenitors of three races? Ham: ‘black’? Shem: ‘dark’ (‘brown’?) Japheth: ‘fair’ (‘white’?)

23. Genesis 6:10 A: Unlikely ‘Shem’ is the usual Hebrew word for ‘name’ or ‘renown’, not ‘dark’ ‘Japheth’ may mean ‘enlarged’ (Gen. 9:27). There is a possibility that it means ‘fair,’ but in the sense of ‘beautiful,’ rather than ‘light skinned.’ ‘Ham’ may be related to the Hebrew word ‘cham’, meaning ‘warm’ or ‘hot’, but not ‘black’

24. Genesis 6:11-13 “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. (12) God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. (13) So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.” (NIV)

25. Genesis 6:11-13 Q: Does this mean God had the attitude of ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’? (‘LexTalionis’)

26. Genesis 6:9-10 LEX TALIONIS. The law of retaliation, an example of which is given in the law of Moses, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth… 2. Jurists and writers on international law are divided as to the right of one nation punishing with death, by way of retaliation, the citizen's or subjects of another nation… 3. Writers on the law of nations have divided retaliation into vindictive and amicable: By the former are meant those acts of retaliation which amount to a war; the latter those acts of retaliation which correspond to the acts of the other nation under similar circumstances.

27. Genesis 6:11-13 Corrupt: a strong Hebrew term translated ‘destroy’ or ‘go to ruin’ Violent: (ha’mas) violent, malicious, or wrong Wicked: moral turpitude (---conduct that is unjust, depraved, or shameful; that which is contrary to justice, modesty, or good morals) Depraved: bad, base, or blameworthy

28. Genesis 6:13 (13) And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth” (KJV) Q: What does ‘end of all flesh’ mean? A: This would include all mankind and animals Although animals cannot make moral decisions, nor were they sinful, they were to participate in the judgment on mankind as part of his dominion

29. Genesis 6:11-13 God revealed to Noah that the EARTH would also be destroyed. Those who advocate a local flood, or a tranquil flood are forced to read this verse as God destroying man ‘from’ the earth. However, the preposition is the Hebrew eth, which means ‘with’ not ‘from’. Like it or not, the Bible does teach that the Flood was a world-destroying cataclysm. As Peter wrote, ‘The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.’ (2 Peter 3:6)