“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’” Genesis 6:5-7.
The words wickedness and evil describe the manner of thinking and acting in which these sinful people lived continually.
The word imagination means that every meditation, every thought was evil only.
The phrase, thoughts of his heart, refers to their meditations, purposes or plots as being nothing but evil counsels.
It is not likely that the line of Cain started out this way; in fact there may have been poetry, music, and a certain gentility in the beginning.
But people without a moral compass soon get lost and wander into the camp of the demonic.
Demons want nothing more than to drag anyone who will listen to their lies into a sewer of filth and violence, much as you see around you today.
Evil has a tendency to mesmerize, and then capture the imagination just as it did in Rome. So people who went to the coliseums to watch the games with gladiators fighting, usually to the death.
Then the killing of innocent Christians, then the killing by animals, to roasting them alive, and any other demonically driven torture their corrupt imaginations could conjure.
And civilization spirals downward, it will not recover, it has to die.
But why kill everything, why innocent animals? Part of the answer to this question is in a quote by Leonardo da Vinci.
“Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.”
Philosophically this is fairly easy to see, and I believe Scripture bears it out.
“For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” Romans 14:7-8.
God gave mankind stewardship of the earth and the animals. In that sense we are intricately tied up with the world around us.
“Then God blessed them [Adam and Eve], and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” Genesis 1:28.
It was the task of those before the flood and it is the duty of the Christian to care for the environment now.
However, it is not for the Christian to join such organizations as Greenpeace, or PETA.
Nor to give money to worldly causes, even though they claim to want to save the animals, or rainforest, or whatever, your money will be wasted on frivolity. The reason for this is that these godless organizations go the way of Cain.
The recent 2021 UN Climate Change Conference known as COP 26, a conference to come up with a plan to save the planet from climate change was attended by representatives from all over. Many, if not all arrived in 400 private jets.
They did not arrive in smaller more fuel efficient airplanes, nor did they come in commercial aircraft which would have flown anyway, no, they arrived in fuel burners which spew out obscene amounts of toxic waste into the atmosphere.
What does this say about the so called science of climate change?
As one person noted, this could all been done on a ZOOM conference. But you cannot party, eat and drink sumptuously nor network on the taxpayer’s dime on ZOOM.
For every whale that they save, countless men, women, and children, along with animals, and habitats perish because of their avarice and lust for power.
Peace, honesty in business, and the lessening of cruelty to animals come when folks realize that they are God’s gift to men and should be respected as such. The world is in turmoil because it rejects its God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Warfare wreaks havoc on the environment, creating famine, pestilences, and unrestrained killing. Millions die because the world worries about climate change or global warming and collecting money to save the rainforest, instead of collectively facing down countries whose only intent is to kill and destroy.
The reason they are this way is that they are godless, both the murderous aggressors and those who ignore their genocidal intent, godless all of them.
“As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.’ ‘Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit’; the poison of asps is under their lips’; ‘whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’” Romans 3:10-18.
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.
Finally, it is up to the Christian to do what is right, whether at your job, at home, or with those around you. We are ambassadors for Christ and children and servants of the Most High God.
If you have a business or corporation, it should be run responsibly, not whatever is convenient or saves money. Treat your pets, your animals, everything on your farm with God’s creation in mind; but remember mankind, men, women, and children are what Christ died for; they have infinite value; they always come first.
Finally, we all suffer because of the curse of sin.
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” Romans 8:18-22.
Another reason for a worldwide flood is that the flood gave many sinners a chance to repent before they perished. God could have put them all to death with a word and they would have all dropped like flies, all except Noah and his family.
However, there are many things God’s people have to learn and they can be learned from the Scriptures, but so many lessons must be learned the hard way until it is not just head knowledge but heart knowledge.
One hundred years of preaching to a bunch of mockers while working relentlessly on an enormous boat was a forge that had a tremendous effect on Noah and his family.
Then upon entering the ark and being vindicated by the deluge that fell around them, this family of eight had to live in the ark for over a year before seeing land again, and that with the knowledge that they were the only ones left alive.
You can almost hear it as the powerful arm of the blacksmith drives the hammer down onto the hot metal as He forges yet another man into the image of the Christ.
When it says that the Lord was sorry that He had made man, it does not mean that this was an unexpected turn of events, God is omniscient, and He knows the beginning from the end.
God did not want this to happen, but He knew it would happen, that is why His Spirit did strive with men, trying to draw them back to Him for almost two thousand years.
A reason for this extremely long amount of time would have been so no one could say, “You did not give me enough time to decide.”
“Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.” Ecclesiastes 8:11-13.
“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect [blameless or having integrity] in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” Genesis 6:8-10.
In saying that Noah was perfect it is meant that he desired to do God’s will with all sincerity, as one expositor phrased it.
The grace that Noah found in the eyes of the Lord was one of unmerited favor; because as it says of Noah’s descendant Abraham:
“…just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” Galatians 3:6-9.
“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” James 2:21-24.
The meaning is this, Abraham had faith in God and His promises, in his heart and God could see it, but the outward show of how strong that faith was came when he was willing to sacrifice his only son to God on an altar, see Genesis 22.
A Christian will show by his works that he is indeed a Christian. Anyone who claims to be a Christian but does not exhibit any changes in their attitude or their actions, is not likely to be a Christian in reality; everyone will show a change, no matter how small if they are truly a child of God.
Generous instead of stingy, loving instead of critical, gentle instead of harsh, unselfish instead of selfish, anything though very small shows a change of heart.
Noah spent one hundred years of his life building a boat to preserve his family and anyone else who would desire to come, in faith, knowing that God would do as He said He would.
Noah was 500 years old when he had his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And he was 600 years old when he and his family entered the ark and the flood came.
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” Genesis 6:11-12.
This is a powerful statement, “for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”
If I were to make that statement I could show many worldwide crime stats and reference many, many recent incidents of riots and lawlessness.
Lawlessness committed both by reprobate governments and evil criminals who roam the streets rioting and committing crimes of murder, thefts and sexual assault unpunished.
Yet I still could not state definitively “for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”
That statement made by an omniscient God is beyond comprehension.
“You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 32:19.
In preserving the godly line of Noah, God was also preserving the lineage of the Christ, the promised redeemer in Genesis 3:15.
“And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed [Christ]; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15.
“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.
Deadly, Evil and Wicked, Genesis 6:5-12 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 9-3-14, updated on 11-16-21.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.