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Response
The biblical narrative of Noah commences in Genesis 6. Around 1,600 years had elapsed since the creation of Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:26-27). As the population of the earth grew rapidly, so did the prevalence of evil. The righteous offering of Abel had been long forgotten “And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:”, (Genesis 4:4), as “the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”, (Genesis 6:5). Verses 11 and 12 state, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” However, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (verse 8).
When Jesus described the events surrounding His second coming, He said, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26-27). Jesus was highlighting that, despite the total depravity of the people in Noah’s time, they were unconcerned. They continued with their daily activities without any regard for God’s judgment. Noah is depicted as a “preacher.”
Reader of righteousness” «and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; », (2 Peter 2:5), meaning he had spent years warning his friends and neighbors what the Holy God was about to do. No one listened.
The depravity and ungodly lifestyles of the entire world at that time were enough to cause the Lord to “regret that He had made man” «And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. », (Genesis 6:6). Many scholars believe that part of the need to destroy every human being except Noah and his family was the sin mentioned in Genesis 6:1–4, when “the Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them.” As evil reproduced and overtook the world, the most merciful act God could perform was to start over.
It is interesting that God allowed Noah nearly one hundred years to complete the building of the ark. Through all that time, God patiently waited «which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. », (1 Peter 3:20). Scripture seems to imply that Noah preached to the people of that time about what was coming «By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. », (Hebrews 11:7). They did not believe Noah and were content wi
With their wickedness and idolatry, their hearts were hard, and their ears dull. No one repented, and no one cared to seek God.
Jesus said that the world will be much the same before He returns to establish His earthly kingdom (Matthew 25:31-33). He warned us to “be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Second Timothy 3:1–4 provides us with a clear picture of the state of the world before Jesus comes and most likely also describes the world in the days of Noah. That verse says, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” It is becoming increasingly evident that, to comprehend what the world was like in the days of Noah, we only need to watch the evening news.
