Genesis 6:5-8. [5] 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 [6] And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. [7] So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." [8] But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (ESV)
After more than three months of high tension sparked by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s build-up of more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders, this week he began what he called a “special military operation” in eastern Ukraine. For the rest of the western world, this invasion, with so many troops at such a high level of tension between western and eastern forces, the risk of an uncontrollable escalation is high resulting in an out war beginning in Ukraine
The Bible tells us how history is going to end. It's going to end when the Lord Jesus returns, destroys all the ungodly, and fulfils His Kingdom. At the end of that Kingdom will be a final victory over the ungodly, and then the entire heaven and earth as we know them will be uncreated and everything that has existed in this realm will cease to exist and be replaced by the eternal state. At that time all of the human race will be destroyed. Only those have repented of their sin will escape that destruction. When Christ returns it will be too late for people to consider their eternal destiny.
The pre-Flood world, the world from Adam to Noah, that world perished, that world was judged, that world was destroyed, that world was flooded. This history is recorded in the Bible, interestingly enough, there are histories of floods in the writings of many, many ancient cultures. There is also evidence for the worldwide flood in the geology of the earth, in the stratification of the earth and in the fossils that are found. The Grand Canyon is one great evidence of the universal flood that covered the earth. But sinful humanity conveniently ignores what the Bible says and conveniently ignores what the evidence indicates to deceive themselves into thinking that there never will be judgment because there never has been judgment. The Flood then is very important because the Flood signals to all of humanity that everything doesn't go along from creation the same, it only went along for about 1600 years and then God literally drowned the billions of people that populated the earth and they were catapulted into a godless eternity by His judgment. What God did in the past is essentially what He's going to do in the future. The only difference is the medium won't be water, it will be fire. Now because we want to understand what will bring the judgment in the future, it's important for us to know what brought the judgment in the past. So, let's go back to Genesis chapter 6.
Why did God destroy the world then? Understanding this will give us some insight into why His wrath will come to destroy it in the future. Wrath comes because four things: 1) Great Wickedness (Genesis 6:5), which results in: 2) Great Sorrow (Genesis 6:6), which brings: 3) Great Collateral Damage (Genesis 6:7) yet it also promises: 4) Great Redemption (Genesis 6:8).
God’s Wrath comes because of:
1) Great Wickedness (Genesis 6:5)
Genesis 6:5. [5] 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 (ESV)
God is omniscient. Nothing escapes His knowledge. Everything that exists He knows fully and completely. When it says the Lord saw, it has the idea of the fact that He was aware of, fully aware of, completely aware of at all times. It isn't that as He was moving along one day, or as His eyes were scanning the planet He found something that He had not prior seen. That is not the idea. It is that everything was exposed to His omniscience. Hebrews 4:13 says: Hebrews 4:13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (ESV) There is nothing that escapes His gaze, or His knowledge. This is not the seeing of sudden perception. This is the seeing of constant awareness. There never was a moment, there never was a split second that He was not fully, completely aware of everything. Verse 5 records the consequence of vv. 1–4: the LORD “saw” and condemned the unprecedented corruption of the human family. What God saw was both the extensiveness of sin and the intensiveness of sin. Geographically, the problem is an infested earth. Note that in Genesis 6:5–13, the earth (ha?are?) is mentioned eight times. Thus, the description has all the appearances of a universal condition rather than a local one (Hamilton, V. P. (1990). The Book of Genesis. Chapters 1-17. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (273). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
The wording in vv. 2 and 5 contrasts this deplorable scene with the pristine setting of creation. God “saw” his creation and evaluated his handiwork as “very good” (tôb me?od, 1:31), but here the sons of God have taken the “good” (“beautiful”) and defiled it. There is also an intentional play between man’s “great (rabbâ) wickedness” (v. 5) and the great human “increase in number” (larob; v. 2). It serves as a sad commentary on the divine command at creation to “increase in number” (rabû, 1:28). The blessing of reproduction is realized in v. 2 by the grace of God, but humanity has distorted God’s plan and reaped along with their progeny a harvest of sin. A cautionary tale from this narrative is the deadly deception of having "safety in numbers". We are not at all the more safe for having many on our side. Logically, it repents the "fallacy or popular opinion" to justify a proposition. Morally, people tend to take their cues on right and wrong from common practice. The next time someone says that "well everyone's like that" in justifying their actions, remember and recall to that person the state of the earth before the flood (Simeon, C. (1832-63). Horae Homileticae Vol. 1: Genesis to Leviticus (74). London.).
How great was this sin? The wickedness includes also what we saw in verses 1 to 4. The people at that time were so wicked as to have engaged themselves in perverse unions with demons. Demons were coming down and possessing, dwelling in men, and welcomed as well by women who embraced the demons, we learned last time, probably because they believed Satan's lies, that if you follow him you will not die and you will become like God. Rather than wanting to connect with God, he wants to connect with demons, that's how far he has sunk. Verse 5 therefore accentuates the decadence of the period: “how great humanity’s wickedness,” “every intention or inclination,” and “only evil continually/all the time.” Verse 5 spells out the doctrine of human depravity with frightening bluntness, but similar views are expressed by psalmists, prophets, Jesus and Paul (Ps. 51:3–6; Je. 17:9–10; Mk. 7:15; Rom. 1:18–3:20) (Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition (4th ed.) (Ge 6:1–8). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.).
Please turn to Mark 7
This is not to say that every one is equally as vicious, every once is as equally murderous, every once is equally as proud, every once is equally as angry, every once is as equally violent, every once is as equally as vengeful as to every other once. But it is to say that every human being to some degree only relative within the framework of their depravity, every human being is at heart a sinner, unable to form, or shape, or conceive, or design anything in himself that is not wicked. Even common philanthropy is conceived as a way to pacify guilt or to demonstrate that one is better than others for the purposes of pride. As we had previously seen that the Holy "Sprit shall not abide in man forever" (Gen. 6:3) the true nature of humanity, when deprived of the grace of the Spirit, is clearly exhibited (Calvin, J., & King, J. (2010). Commentary on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis (Ge 6:5). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.).
Mark 7 describes the nature of this defilement:
Mark 7:14-23. [14] And he called the people to him again and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand: [15] There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him." [17] And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. [18] And he said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, [19] since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?" (Thus, he declared all foods clean.) [20] And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him. [21] For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, [22] coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. [23] All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." (ESV) (cf. James 1:14)
The explanation of this depravity in Genesis 6:5, is wickedness. Wickedness is an inner compulsion that dominates their thoughts and is not just overt action; they plot evil as a matter of lifestyle. “Intention” or “Inclination” (ye?er) is probably is a play on 2:7, where God “formed” (ya?ar) the first man (also animals, 2:19). The good which God created has been transformed by mankind’s evil inclination, over which God greatly anguishes (6:6; cf. Jer 18:11). Such “evil” (ra?) plans are the continuing aftermath of humanity’s first partaking of “good (tôb) and evil (ra?)” (2:17; 3:5–6, 22). The LORD looked at the people of the earth, and what was evil was not just their behavior, but behind it was their thought. Although created good in Genesis 1:31, the situation now wasn't that they were really good people. As some think that they were well-intentioned, just kind of fumbling and stumbling and being messed up by their environment, that's the modern definition of humanity that people are basically good and noble, just crippled by the people who are around and the debilitating circumstances. And if we can get people enough money and enough education and take off the pressure from those people who want to hold him to strict moral laws and free him up a bit, he'll become noble all on his own. But that's not the Bible definition of humanity. The Bible definition of humanity is that what's wrong with people is not really their behavior, that's only a symptom. What's wrong with people is their nature. Their depravity was not a temporary state. There were no relentings, no repentances, no hesitations. Lust was their medium, violence their method. This was total, habitual depravity (Hughes, R. K. (2004). Genesis: beginning and blessing (p. 128). Crossway Books.).
• The key to controlling our actions or training the heart of a child is to deal with the thought life. This is no accidental thing. We must first admit that we need God to transform our thought lives. If we think that everything is fine, there is no room for God. Secondly, we must confess our sin. Unless the sin comes out, there is no room for holiness. Third, we must study the word of God. There needs to be something in there for the Holy Spirit to work with. Finally, we must renew our minds and meditate on the word. This is a process of conforming our lives to the divine standard and continuing to check to ensure that we are focusing on the right things, and heading in the right direction.
Human motivations are here attributed to the “heart” since in Hebrew anthropology the heart is the center of a human’s cognitive processes (e.g., Gen 31:20; Ps 33:11; 1 Sam 10:26). Judgment of the human heart is the exclusive domain of the Lord (Jer 9:9–10; cf. 1 Cor 4:3–5). The “evil” is used to describe not only sin but its consequences (e.g., 31:29). Whereas human society deems these violent gibborîm as “men of renown,” God’s response is repulsion at their wickedness. So monstrous becomes the sin of Noah’s generation that the gravest of measures is the only proper response from heaven. The recurring phrase “in” or “on the earth” (vv. 5–7) anticipates the necessary purging of the now-polluted land by the waters of the flood (v. 13), and it also is reminiscent of the ground stained by Abel’s blood, which resulted in Cain’s life as a vagabond “on the earth” (4:12). But there would be no mercy for the murdering gibborîm as there had been for evil Cain. This disaster affects the individual heart of course, but not just the individual. The problem goes beyond any individual, driving to the center of the community’s conscious living. (Roop, E. F. (1987). Genesis (p. 62). Herald Press.)
Illustration: Imagine a thirsty person, who is in a doctor’s office, picking up a glass and going over to a cooler containing sterilized water and filling the glass in order to take a drink. The glass begins to foam a bit, so he asks the doctor if something has been in the glass. “Yes,” the doctor says, “diphtheria solution!” Our thirsty patient puts the glass back down in a hurry. Why? Wasn’t the water pure? Yes, the water was pure, but the glass was dirty. Everything that came in contact with the glass was contaminated (Boice, J. M. (1998). Genesis : An expositional commentary (315). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.).
• When we say that men and women are “totally depraved” we do not mean to say that they never do anything that we would call good or that they never have aspirations in the direction of real good. We mean rather that apart from salvation in Christ, even their best is always spoiled by their essentially sinful nature.
Wrath results in:
2) Great Sorrow (Genesis 6:6)
Genesis 6:6. [6] And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. (ESV)
In verse six, our narrator owes his insight into God’s great sorrow to the disclosures lamented by the Lord himself (cf. v. 7). Whereas antediluvian humanity plots evil in their “heart,” God’s response to their imaginations is a wounded “heart” filled with pain. In this latter case “heart” conveys the emotional response of God. That the LORD was “sorry/grieved” (yinna?em), is a much better understanding than the older translation that God “repented of His action” in the KJV which has troubled many expositors since elsewhere Scripture says God does not “repent” (Num 23:19; 1 Sam 15:29; Ps 110:4) because He does not sin. God’s policy towards humanity will now be different not because God has changed but because humanity has changed (Butler, J. G. (2008). Analytical Bible Expositor: Genesis (51). Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.).
There is no contradiction between this verse and passages teaching the changelessness (immutability) of God (Mal. 3:6; James 1:17) and that God does not change His mind (Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Ps. 33:11; Is. 46:10). Remembering that this description is anthropopathic (God is depicted here in terms of the human experience of knowledge and emotion), we must also recognize that the immutable and sovereign God deals appropriately with changes in human behavior. When they sin or repent of sin, He “changes His mind” with regard to the blessing or punishment appropriate to the situation (Ex. 32:12, 14; 1 Sam. 15:11; 2 Sam. 24:16; Jer. 18:11; Amos 7:3, 6)—all in accordance with His sovereign and eternal purposes. Because God is changeless in His being, and eternally loyal to His covenant promises, we can have firm confidence in Him who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8 (Whitlock, L. G., Sproul, R. C., Waltke, B. K., & Silva, M. (1995). Reformation study Bible, the : Bringing the light of the Reformation to Scripture : New King James Version (Ge 6:6). Nashville: T. Nelson.).
How can a God who never makes mistakes be sorry over something he did? When we say that we are sorry about something, what we usually mean is: “I wish it never happened.” But there are times when we may do what is best and yet be sorrowful about doing it—such as when we discipline our children or confront a brother or sister in sin. Most of us are sorry that we sometimes have to do these things. But, at the same time, we know that they are the right things to do. My emotions may be sorry for having to discipline my children. But my mind and will know it is the right thing to do. So I do it sorrowfully, but with no regrets (Strassner, K. (2009). Opening up Genesis (44). Leominster: Day One Publications.). Genesis 6:6–7 is describing the emotional anguish of God; our verse does not present an abstract statement about God’s decision making. This would be altogether out of place for the intention of the passage, which depicts God as wronged by the presumptuous sin of humanity. This is not a comment on the nature of God’s sovereignty or promises. God’s response of grief over the making of humanity, however, is not remorse in the sense of sorrow over a mistaken creation; our verse shows that God’s pain has its source in the perversion of human sin. It was a sad thing to have to judge the world the way it would have to be judged. And part of that sorrow is not just over the condition of man, but listen to this, it is over the fact that God must do what He must do. There is no ambivalence. There is no indecision.
There is no alternative. God's holiness necessitated judgment (Eph. 4:30). Cf. Ex. 32:14; 1 Sam. 15:11; Jer. 26:3 (MacArthur, J. J. (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) (Ge 6:6). Nashville: Word Pub.).
The making of humanity is no error; it is what “man” has made of himself. By recurring reference to mankind (?adam) in 6:5–7, the passage focuses on the source of His grief. God is grieving because this sinful “man” is not the pristine mankind whom he has made to bear His image. But His is not regret over destroying humanity; paradoxically, so foul has become mankind that it is the necessary step to salvage him. Describing the nature of God and judgement Ezekiel says: Ezekiel 33:11. [11] Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? (ESV). God is no robot. We know him as a personal, living God, not a static principle, who while having transcendent purposes to be sure also engages intimately with his creation. Our God is incomparably affected by, even pained by, the sinner’s rebellion. Acknowledging the passibility (emotions) of God does not diminish the immutability of His promissory purposes (G. R. Lewis, “God, Attributes of” and “Impassibility of God,” in The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), 453–54, 553–54.)
Rather, his feelings and actions toward men, such as judgment or forgiveness, are always inherently consistent with His essential person and just and gracious resolve (Jas 1:17). When we consider God as a feeling person who loves, is angry, and grieves, the aim of the figure is to point to a mitigated correspondence between human experience and God. This does not say that the emotions of humans and God are equivalent in their entirety either in intensity or in quality, for God does not grieve in the same way as men and women. Nor is He angry in the same fashion as sinful mortals. People often act out of sinful, irrational, or uncontrolled emotion, but God’s emotion is always consistent with His righteous character and eternal purposes (cp. 2 Th 2:13). A close reading of the passage shows that God’s disappointment was not with human creation but with human sin. God is not indifferent to sin’s effects, but His grief is not a feeling of helplessness. Coupled with His pained heart is the just recompense of His anger (cp. Ps 78:40–41; Is 63:10). In Christ we see God so moved by grief and love that he chooses to take upon himself the very suffering of our sins. God is not a dispassionate accountant overseeing the books of human endeavor; rather He makes a personal decision out of sorrowful loss to judge Noah’s wicked generation. God looks on our world, what does He see? Depravity everywhere...everywhere. What does He feel? Sadness...sadness. Were God a man and when He was a man He wept. He finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked...never has and never will. But He has no choice. Imagine a world of billions of people and no one would acknowledge Him, no one would turn from sin and embrace the righteous God. As we learned last time in verse 3, God graciously gave 120 years before the Flood came. And for that 120 years, Noah preached, that he was a preacher of righteousness and he preached how a sinner could become righteous by the same way any sinner in any age becomes righteous, the confession of sin and crying out to God for forgiveness and mercy. And for 120 years that dear preacher preached. And for 120 years, nobody heard, only his wife, three sons, their three wives, eight people believed. For 120 years everyone else rejected and rejected and rejected and God had to do what He had to do. (Cabal, T., Brand, C. O., Clendenen, E. R., Copan, P., Moreland, J., & Powell, D. (2007). The Apologetics Study Bible: Real Questions, Straight Answers, Stronger Faith (16). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.).
Poem: (5850 He Knows): The great sorrow that God experienced over sin was expressed this ways by an anonymous author: “He knows the bitter, weary way; He knows the endless striving day by day; He knows how hard the fight has been; The clouds that come our lives between, The wounds the world hath never seen, He knows. He knows! O thought so full of bliss! For though our joys on earth we miss, We still can bear it, feeling this, HE KNOWS!” (Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times. Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.)
Wrath brings:
3) Great Collateral Damage (Genesis 6:7)
Genesis 6:7. [7] So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." (ESV)
God’s second speech in verse seven (“so the LORD said”) in this narrative epilogue makes explicit what is only intimated in the former utterance (v. 3). God’s new policy toward human life is the radical undoing of his creative acts in Genesis 1. Here “blot/wipe out” is a sound play with the earlier “grieved” (na?am; 6:6). The word bears the sense of “removal”. At the conclusion of creation God declared all is “very good” (1:31), now the created order is distorted by violence beyond repair. The punishment extends to humanity’s environment as well—just as God had cursed the “ground” for Adam’s sin (3:17–19), the living creatures will suffer for human sin. With the flood, God literally blot/wiped out the entire civilization of the world except for those in the ark. It was the most devastating judgment ever upon this earth and will only be succeeded by the final judgment yet to come in which the earth will be burned up (II Peter 3:10). The Lord perceives that the whole “earth” (“ground,” ?adamâ), is polluted by the wickedness of humanity, which is an extension of Cain's sin (4:10–12; cf. 3:17–19; 5:29). (Butler, J. G. (2008). Analytical Bible Expositor: Genesis (52). Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.).
• The greatest lie of sin is that it is just a private, personal choice. Marriages, families, extended families, congregations, other friends, and workplaces all suffer because of individual’s choices. Not only must we realize how God feels about our sin, but we should continually have the other relationships in consideration with our choices.
Please turn to Romans 8
Genesis 6:7 shows the trickle down effect of the sin, descending from “man” to “animals” to "creeping things/crawling creatures” and finally “birds.” The Omission of “fish,” unlike 1:28, is due transparently to their innate properties to survive the imminent waters. In this judgement, we must understand that God ... never acts arbitrarily; he does not run his world amorally...God is moved to anger by humanity’s deliberate violations of the code by which God wills His world to live. The only innocuous bystanders are the animals (Hamilton, V. P. (1990). The Book of Genesis. Chapters 1-17. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (273). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
He will yet deliver a remnant of the earthly band (8:18–19) and will finally relieve creation’s plight. This is the great promise and longing that the Apostle Paul explains in Romans 8:
Romans 8:19-21. [19]For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. [20] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope [21] that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (ESV)
• Besides those in our immediate circle that suffer because of our sin, are the many others, perhaps even future generations. The effects of sin will always be wider, and more severe than we imagine.
The closing words of Genesis 6:7 hear the divine Judge reiterate those of v. 6, “For I am sorry/grieved that I have made them” (v. 7b). It underscores God’s sorrow at what his special creation (imago Dei) has become. His irrevocable action against humanity is the just deserts for so debased a people. God’s grief at having made humanity stems from having provided everything for the good of humanity only to see them reject His good gifts and drift further and further away from his purposes for them. The divine pain at the sight of such grievous rebellion by the creatures he made is an important biblical theme which leads ultimately to the cross (Kissling, P. J. (2004–). Genesis (p. 270). College Press Pub. Co.).
Quote: Sin always has an effect greater than our intentions. An unknown author accurately summarized that "Sin will take you further than you want to go, Keep you longer then you want to stay, and, Cost you more than you want to pay".
Finally, Wrath also promises:
4) Great Redemption (Genesis 6:8)
Genesis 6:8. [8] But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (ESV)
This divine anguish finds immediate relief, however, when God “eyes” Noah. “But” distinguishes Noah from those who caught God’s former attention—because of their corruption (v. 5). The term “favor” (?en), also translated “grace,”. God makes it clear that Noah was a man who believed in God as Creator, Sovereign, and the only Savior from sin. He found favor/grace for himself, because he humbled himself and sought it (cf. 4:26) (MacArthur, J. J. (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) (Ge 6:8). Nashville: Word Pub.)
Please turn to Ezekiel 14
Faith is being a herald of righteousness, even in a time oblivious to the coming wrath of God. For decades everyone through Noah was foolish, until it started to Rain. Hebrews 11 summarizes his faith: Hebrews 11:7. [7] By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (ESV)
In the context of the coming judgement upon Jerusalem, in Ezekiel 14, he cites Noah as an example of a righteous man, but his righteousness alone will not redeem a people who will not head the message of repentance and faith. Ezekiel proclaims:
Ezekiel 14:12–20. 12 And the word of the LORD came to me: 13 “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, 14 even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD. 15 “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, 16 even if these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate. 17 “Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I cut off from it man and beast, 18 though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered. 19 “Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, 20 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness. (ESV)
• Ezekiel recognized that it was Noah’s character that distinguished him from his peers (Ezek 14:14, 20). The contrast in v. 8 is how Noah looked in God’s “eyes” versus how God “saw” his contemporaries (6:5). This infers that Noah’s conduct is related in some way to God’s bestowal of gracious favor. This does not mean that Noah’s character automatically secures divine favor, for God is under no obligation to bestow his favor. It presupposes a relationship. Noah did not find favour in the eyes of men; they hated and persecuted him, because both by his life and preaching he condemned the world: but he found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and this made him more truly honourable than the men of renown. Let this be our chief desire, let us labour that we may (please God). When the rest of the world was wicked, Noah kept his integrity. God’s good-will towards Noah produced this good work in him (Henry, M., & Scott, T. (1997). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary (Ge 6:8). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems.)
The reason Noah “found favor” because of his faith in God, was seen in his “righteous” conduct (v. 9). Believers do not need to fear the wrath of God. The very promise of salvation is being saved from the wrath of God (Rom. 5). But being a true believer will result in actions in accordance with that belief. The account of Noah’s finding favor with God is a beautiful foreshadowing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel says that humanity is still as sinful as it ever was—“there is none righteous, not even one” (Rom. 3:10). The gospel says that, one day, God is going to destroy all flesh again—this time by fire (2 Peter 3:10). But the gospel also says that, just as he did in the days of Noah, God has provided us with a way of escape—an ark—in the person of Jesus Christ. In Jesus—who lived a sinless life, died in our place, and rose on the third day—we, like Noah, may find “favor in the eyes of the LORD.” While Noah preached to his contemporaries (2 Peter 2:5), they had opportunity to climb aboard the ark and be saved. But they missed the opportunity of grace. Let us be sure not to imitate them. Let us rather imitate Noah in trusting God and doing “according to all that God had commanded him” (6:22). Let us climb aboard the security and safety of Jesus Christ, our ark! (Strassner, K. (2009). Opening up Genesis (47–48). Leominster: Day One Publications.)
(Format Note: Some base commentary from Mathews, K. A. (2001). Vol. 1A: Genesis 1-11:26 (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (339–347). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
