It all started with a rainy day and a man named Noah who was building an Ark and also the rebellion of the people of his day. Please read Genesis 6:1-7, “Now when humankind began to multiply on the face of the ground and daughters were born to them, then the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were good and they took for themselves wives, any they chose. Then Adonai said, ‘My Spirit will not remain with humankind forever, since they are flesh. So their days will be 120 years.’ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, whenever the sons of God came to the daughters of men, and gave birth to them. Those were the mighty men of old, men of renown. Then Adonai saw that the wickedness of humankind was great on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil all the time. So Adonai regretted that He made humankind on the earth, and His heart was deeply pained. So Adonai said, “I will wipe out humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the ground, from humankind to livestock, crawling things and the flying creatures of the sky, because I regret that I made them.’”
This helps us to understand the reasons why God responded the way that He did, destroying all of mankind, outside of Noah and his family. Did you notice that it said that His heart was deeply pained? God didn’t create people to do wickedness and everyone was created in His image and likeness. The reason I say that, is that there are people who think that the Old Testament God was not the same as the New Testament God. Some think that He was cruel and mean in the Old Testament and nicer in the New Testament. In His Word it says in Hebrews 13:8, “Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” It also says in 1 Samuel 15:29, “Moreover, the Eternal Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind. For He is not human that He should change His mind.”
God is the ultimate, ultimate, He is complete in himself, needs nothing or no one, but God was and is a just God and a righteous God and a loving, merciful and kind and a forgiving God and much, much more!! And He is the same God in the New and Old Testament!! Things got so out of hand in Noah’s day; and the wickedness was so outrageous that I feel like it was breaking God’s heart, it hurt Him so much. In His foreknowledge, He knew that these people would not repent and turn from their wicked ways. And beside all of that, we could never understand the hatred God has for sin because He knows how destructive it is. One thing we do know is that there is always a penalty for sin, but there is also forgiveness, grace and peace and joy in the Lord, if repentance is evident in a person’s life. Their penalty, for horrendous sin, except for Noah and his family, was death.
It is pretty ironic that God could only find one righteous person in that day, which was Noah!! And, just like in that day, God still blesses the righteous and the wicked, but when it is all said and done, He condemns the wicked that will not repent of their sins and turn from their wicked ways and He also blesses them by allowing them to go where they have chosen to go!!
The storm lasted forty days and forty nights until the whole earth was covered with water and everything was destroyed that God wanted destroyed, then the rains subsided and all the animals plus Noah and his family came out. Like I said, it all started with a rainy day!! This we can be sure of, God will never destroy the earth again by water, please read Genesis 9:8-17, “Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ‘Now I, behold, I am about to establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you, including the flying creatures, the livestock, and every wild animal with you, of all that is coming out of the ark—every animal of the earth. I will confirm My covenant with you—never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again will there be a flood to ruin the land.’
Then God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you for all future generations. My rainbow do I place in the cloud, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the land. Whenever I bring clouds over the land and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant that is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the rainbow is in the cloud, I will look at it, to remember the perpetual covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the land.’ Then God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have confirmed between Me and all flesh that is on the land.’”
I hope this has been a blessing and encouragement to each person that hears or reads this. May the good Lord bless you and yours with His perfect peace, love and joy and health and happiness.
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