What Happened
God caused the great flood and destroyed much of His creation because man was so wicked and evil.
Why It Matters
We all need to understand that God’s anger and wrath are real and we need to do all that we can to follow God, our creator, rather than to disobey Him.
Bible Verse
Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”
Genesis 7:4
Why it matters to you
We all must understand, respect and submit to God’s authority and we ignore Him at our own peril.
Description
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.
6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.
7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis 6:5-8
Most everybody has heard the story of Noah and the flood. God had created a beautiful and perfect world. There was no evil, no killing and there was an abundance of food. Then the FALL came and everything changed. From Adam and Eve, the population grew and over time, the relationship with God, their creator, was diminishing.
God was not pleased with these developments. Rather than enjoying the love and affection of a large family, those who honored and revered God were few, if any. God decided that action was necessary. He would wipe out all of mankind and all of the animals, saying “for I regret that I have made them.”
Noah was a righteous man
Noah was different. He was a righteous man and raised righteous sons, Shem, Ham and Japbeth. God shared his plan with Noah and gave him instructions to build an ark (large ship). Instructions, down to the small details, were given to Noah and his sons.
Once completed, God sent animals to the ark, to be saved. Once the animals were on board, two of every kind, male and female, the rains came, and came, and came. God Himself shut the door and Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives, were the only ones spared.
The floodwaters came in a violent manner. The floodgates of heaven opened and the spring waters of the earth burst from every direction, and for 40 days and nights the flood waters came and covered the earth. The ark floated along. No rudder, no sail. The flood lasted 150 days. The ark came to rest on a mountain once the flood waters receded. Noah freed a dove and she did not return. Then flood was over.
God regretted creating man
The flood was the first account of God taking punitive action against man. As the Creator, God knows man’s nature and character and understands fully man’s frailty. Rather than destroying all of mankind, he chose a family, a remnant to begin anew. He saw a righteous man in Noah, had compassion and chose to redeem His relationship with mankind through Noah. We also see that animals reproduce according to kind, as species were collected and saved.
As the accounts in Genesis roll out, we will see God making a covenant with man, as the beginning of an eternal plan begins to take shape.
What you may not know
What we do or don’t believe about God does not stop any of us to being judged and punished for our sinful and wrong actions. Many people who died in the flood did not believe in God.