WICKEDNESS
After the events in the garden, the Bible tells us Adam and Eve had three sons, one of which murdered his brother, as well as other sons and daughters. On writer has commented that with man’s extreme longevity of life, and with the population growth roughly the same as today’s rate, the population of the Earth could have been in the billions in Noah’s day. Hence the phrase, “when men began to multiply on the face of the earth” in verse 1.
Yet in verse 2, the mood turns dark and foreboding. We are told that “the sons of God saw the daughters of men” and that they “took them wives.” The term “sons of God” (bene elohim, used of angels in Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7) could either refer to fallen angels who decided to take human form and unnaturally reproduce with the “fair” “daughters of men.” It could also speak of the Godly children of Seth who were “seduced to the dark side” and left behind the Godly influence for which they were chosen. In either case, the result was a fearsome line of creatures who were called “giants,” or nephilim, and were “mighty men” and “men of renown.” They brought a wicked and evil environment such as not yet been equaled. After all, even Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” Luke 17:26 Can you imagine the evil and wickedness? It was so bad that we apparently haven’t equaled it yet!
God was so discouraged, pained and sorrowful over the state of the creation. It had gotten to a place that “EVERY imagination fo the thoughts of his (man’s) heart was ONLY evil CONTINUALLY” in verse five. In fact, the Bible says that “it repented the Lord that he had made man” and that “it grieved him at his heart.” While 1 Samuel 15:39 does tell us that God does not change, this is really expressing the deep sorrow over what his creation had done to itself, similar to a parent expressing sorrow over a rebellious child. When we sin, we grieve God’s heart so.
So God decided that “his days shall be one hundred and twenty days.” Similar to Jonah declaring God’s judgment within a certain period of time, God here gives man a deadline to straighten up and fly right. God shows his great patience in allowing mankind the chance to change. But man ran out of time and the floodwaters judged the world. Your time may be running out. Turn to God for forgiveness. You cannot see God’s stopwatch, and there will be no bargaining for more time in the end.
We leave this point seeing man in as sad a state as he has ever been. So much sin, wickedness and evil, that God decided to judge his whole creation with the destruction of water.
GRACE
In the midst of the muck and mire of evil and sin, there comes a bright ray of hope and cheer in verse 8: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
This is the first mention of that amazing word in the entire Bible. It means that he was well favored and precious in God’s eyes. Isn’t it precious that in the middle of sin and death that there is always amazing grace?
Phillip Yancey tells of a British conference on comparative religions. There were experts debating what single belief was unique to the Christian faith. Was it the mind-blowing doctrine of incarnation? How about the impossibility of bodily resurrection. Finally, C.S. Lewis walked in and asked “What’ the rumpus about?’ Once he was told they were discussing Christianity’s unique contribution among world religions, Lewis said, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.”
The whole idea of God’s unconditional love being extended to us with no strings attached seems to go against every instinct and knee-jerk reaction that we have as humans. Hindus, Buddists, Muslims, Dianeticists and all the world’s other religions provide requirements for approval. Only Christianity declares that God’s love is freely given.
IT IS GRACE THAT FREELY GIVES US SALVATION. “For by GRACE are you saved through faith, and not that of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8. God looked down on man in the garden, a pitiful, sniveling, poor excuse of a creature for trying to pass off his bad choices and rebellion on another, and extended grace, setting down the guidelines for salvation through the shed blood of the Messiah. Before God showed Adam and his wife the act of shedding blood, and while He was still acting as judge and pronouncing punishment for sin, He was explaining His plan of grace, saying that the woman’s seed would bruise the head of the serpent, Satan. THAT is unconditional love.
IT IS GRACE THAT OFFERS ETERNAL LIFE. “That being justified by grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:7 We don’t deserve salvation, and we certainly don’t deserve eternal life. The words of a song express this sentiment beautifully:
My eyes were open when I took your hand
Without a word you made me understand
You made a hero of this simple man
You saved my lonely soul and
All this and Heaven too
Would mean nothing if it’s without you
Oh, won’t you tell me what did I do to
Deserve all this and Heaven
(All This and Heaven Too by Michael Sweet
However, your requirement is to reach out and take the gift. If you do not accept the free gift of salvation through God’s grace, then you are as doomed as the world in Noah’s day. John 3:18 says that you are under God’s judgment already.
JUSTIFICATION
After finding and realizing that God’s abundant grace is available, we next see that God does not stop with just extending the offer of grace. Verse 9 declares that “Noah was a just man.” Here we see the first mention of justification, the act of God declaring someone as righteous. Please note that it is a judicious act of God, declaring righteous those who repent of their sins and place their saving faith in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. This act changes a man’s standing before God by placing his sins on Jesus and imputing righteousness to the believer. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;” Romans 3:23-25
JUSTIFICATION BEGINS WITH A SINNER. Before we can be declared righteous, we must first realize our need for justification. We don’t work through the set of laws to be justified, because we could never hope to attain it. “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20
JUSTIFICATION GOES TO THE CROSS. Once we realize our need to correct the death and separation that our sin causes, it is time to make a change. “He has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthans 5:21.
JUSTIFICATION ALLOWS US TO BE FREE FROM THE BONDS OF SIN TO LIVE FOREVER. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.” 1 Peter 2:24
While justification is a judicial act of God by declaring us righteous, this gracious, judicial act comes with a responsibility.
WALKING WITH GOD
Notice that once Noah found grace, he placed his faith in God. After he has declared man righteous, then he can start living a life that shows their internal message. “Noah walked with God.” After receiving saving faith through grace, and being declared righteous by God, then it is mentioned that Noah had a close personal relationship so real that he walked with God. Imagine such a sweet and exciting thrill it would be to walk with God. We already do that, it is called the Holy Spirit.
The question here is this: how is your walk with God? Are you taking five minute power-walks, sqeezing in a few minutes when it fits in with your schedule? Or are you taking long, meaningful strolls, the kind we all love to take hand in hand with our love at the beach when we walk on the beach? And how does your walk look to others? Do they see you walking with God, or do they see you walking with the devil?
CLOSING
Imagine the thrill of knowing that in the midst of sin, wickedness and evil, God STILL reaching down to offer grace. That is our reality. Once we accept the offer of grace, then we are declared righteous by God. That is our right. Finally, we have the absolute pleasure of walking with God and being a witness that shines His light in the middle of this world. That is our responsibility.
