5When the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespreadon the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, 6the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was deeply grieved. 7Then the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I created, off the face of the earth, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky — for I regret that I made them.” 8Noah, however, found favor with the Lord.
9These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God. 10And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11Now the earth was corruptin God’s sight, and the earth was filled with wickedness.12God saw how corruptthe earth was, for every creature had corruptedits way on the earth. 13Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth. (Genesis 6:5-13 CSB, emphasis added)
Wickedness. Evil. Corrupt. Wickedness. Corrupt. Corrupted. Wickedness.How We See Sin Matters
Do you get God’s point here? This was not a matter of people slightly missing the mark, of not quite grasping the intricacies of God’s will. This was a matter of people in outright hostile rebellion against their Creator. And this is where our answer to the question of how God could flood the world reveals much about us. You see, if we read this account—truly read it to study it—and walk away thinking God wronged humanity, it is only because we have minimized humanity’s sin. And when we do that, we are forced to minimize God’s holiness too. Our understanding of sin and our understanding of God’s holiness are fused together. A low view of one forces a low view of the other. And at the same time, a high view of one forces a high view of the other.A Low View of Sin Forces a Low View of God
Here’s how that plays out in our understanding of God’s actions in the flood. Again, if we read this account and feel God was wrong (can we just be honest and admit we feel that way at times?), then it is because we have a low view of sin. We have read “wickedness,” “evil,” “corrupt,” “wickedness,” “corrupt,” “corrupted,” and “wickedness” in the text and substituted something like “made a few mistakes,” “didn’t live up to God’s impossible standard,” or something like that instead. Then, if we have done that, it seems reasonable to see God’s response as disproportionate. He drowned people over a few mistakes? That’s not right!A High View of God Forces a High View of Sin
But lets see where a high view of sin leads us. If we read “wickedness,” “evil,” “corrupt,” “wickedness,” “corrupt,” “corrupted,” and “wickedness” for what they are, we ask a different question. How could people rebel against our God like that? How could they treat Him and His creation that way? What was wrong with them? That’s not right! Why did He choose to save anyone? God is our holy, good, loving, perfect Creator. He deserves nothing but our complete love, loyalty, and obedience. Anything—anything—less than that is grievous, which is why God’s judgment to flood the earth was righteous. Yes, God drowning every person except Noah and his family is troubling, but far less troubling than that generation’s rebellion, and our rebellion, against God.You have not yet considered what a heavy weight sin is.” —Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) [1]Preschool Tip: While we need to share with our preschoolers that God judged people because of their sin (or else Noah’s salvation means very little), we don’t want to camp out there. Instead, we want to talk more about God saving Noah during this session. But this is where you want to be careful to make it clear that Noah did not deserve salvation. God rescued Noah by grace, and grace alone. Noah deserved judgment just like everyone else in his day. Noah didn’t earn salvation; he wasn’t saved because he was righteous; he was righteous because he was saved. As you teach this week, be sure to stress this with our preschoolers—Noah was saved by God’s kindness, as a gift. And that’s how we are saved from sin as well. Kids Tip: The story of Noah is the apex of human history from creation to Abraham. In Genesis 4-11 we see the continuing deepening, broadening, and ugliness of sin, but at the same time we see signs of grace running parallel. Cain murdered Abel, yet God graciously gave him a mark to protect him even in judgment. Lamech, from Cain’s line, bragged about killing, yet we see God give Adam and Eve a new line in Seth. We read of generation after generation dying in the Genesis 5 genealogy, and yet we read about Enoch who did not die—there is a way to escape death by God’s work, not ours. Then we get to the flood, and yet we see God spare Noah and his family by grace. But as powerful as this is, don’t stop there with your kids. Get them to Jesus. Make sure you reserve time to talk about the Christ Connection this week (as you should each week). God saving Noah by grace is one of the earliest, clearest, most powerful pictures of Jesus in Scripture. And it will be followed soon after with the calling of Abraham, the one through whom Jesus would come. Use this session to prime the pump for that one. [1] Anselm of Canterbury, “Why God Became Man,” in A Scholastic Miscellany: Anselm to Ockham, ed. and trans. Eugene R. Fairweather (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1956), 138.
Geovani Malpica says
Why couldn’t God just saved noah in some supernatural way? Why have him(Noah) build the ark? I mean God saved the Israelites from Egypt using supernatural feats.. Thank you in advance!
Brian Dembowczyk says
We are generally best not to speculate on why God does what he does in the way he does, but it may have been to give us the example of Noah’s faith. God works both through the miraculous and the mundane; the key is to recognize his hand at work in both.
Debi says
Why do you say that Noah deserved to be punished like everyone else? Genesis 6:8 says that Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. And Genesis 6:22and 7:5 day the Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.
Brian Dembowczyk says
Hi, Debi. If you read Genesis 6:5-7 you will see that all humanity deserved to perish because all of humanity was (and is) sinful. That includes Noah. Genesis 6:8 tells us that Noah found favor, or grace, which is always undeserved. Noah was not on the ark because he did not deserve punishment, he was on the ark because of God’s grace which he did not deserve. Lest there be any doubt of his fallen state, all we need to do is look at what he did after exiting the ark.
In terms of his obedience: yes his obedience is to be acknowledged (Noah is in Hebrews 11); however, no amount of obedience can undo our sin condition. Noah’s obedience did not earn him a ticket onto the ark, it was only by God’s grace that he lived.
Tessa says
my friend is an atheist and ALWAYS tries to throw stabs at me! Today we had a discussion in anatomy about gender dysphoria and transgenderism and bodily functions, etc. I like to respond in a Christian standpoint so I said , “Why would anyone want to change when God has made them perfectly as they are? You are made in the image and likeness of God and are perfect the way you are made by him.” My friend replied to me, “You’re ignorant if you don’t think God makes mistakes. Look at Noah’s ark! He made so many mistakes that he wiped the entire population with a flood.” She always gets me in traps because she knows I believe deeply in the Word and all of it. It’s very degrading. Most times I can’t think of answers because she speaks so fluently like she’s practiced it. Can you give me a tip on how to answer “does God make mistakes, Noah’s ark?”
Brian Dembowczyk says
Hi, Tessa. I would encourage you to guide the conversation to the gospel, rather than debate issues like this. Get to the core issue—the heart issue—underneath the surface, which is rarely what is shared. If it were me, the response would be that God did not make a mistake—people sinned against Him and received their due judgment. That is what the flood is about. But by grace, Noah was saved. That would then lead me to talk about the gospel—God’s plan to rescue people from sin and death through faith in Jesus.
greg nelson says
Brian,
As a believer I struggle with the question that Tessa posed above. We say God is not bound by time and doesn’t make mistakes. But what scripture backs that up? If he knows the outcome before it happened…he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn Eve ate the Apple, Cain killed his brother, that he regretted making man due to their evilness. He also would have known that Lucifer would betray him. How do we explain these things.
Brian Dembowczyk says
Hi. Greg. That God is not bound by time is evident in that God is eternal and He created time. That God does not make mistakes is evident in that He is perfect, all-knowing, and all-powerful. A mistake would be a violation of those attributes.
God surely knew Adam and Eve would rebel and that Cain would murder Abel, etc. Knowing these to be true and allowing them to happen are not the same thing. We cannot say that God was wrong, or in error, to allow them to happen. We do not always know what God does and why. He uses even evil for His own good (e.g. Joseph in Genesis, the cross).
Perhaps you are struggling with how God is at once sovereign and humanity is responsible for our actions. If so, there is no clear answer to that tension presented in Scripture. The Bible teaches both, but how they work together is a tension for us, but not for God.
Audrey says
Why did only Noah find favor or grace in God’s eyes? Beyond the fact that Noah was a righteous man and maybe everyone else was evil (but we do not necessarily know that), why did God choose Noah? Why not anyone else?