Genesis 5:18 – 6:8
18 Jared lived one hundred sixty-two years, then became the father of Enoch. 19 Jared lived after he became the father of Enoch eight hundred years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. 20 All of the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty-two years, then he died.
21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, then became the father of Methuselah. 22 After Methuselah’s birth, Enoch walked with God for three hundred years, and became the father of more sons and daughters. 23 All the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not found, for God took him.
25 Methuselah lived one hundred eighty-seven years, then became the father of Lamech. 26 Methuselah lived after he became the father of Lamech seven hundred eighty-two years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. 27 All the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty-nine years, then he died.
28 Lamech lived one hundred eighty-two years, then became the father of a son. 29 He named him Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, caused by the ground which Yahweh has cursed.” 30 Lamech lived after he became the father of Noah five hundred ninety-five years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. 31 All the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy-seven years, then he died.
32 Noah was five hundred years old, then Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Hey everyone, Welcome back to PvBibleAlive, I’m Bruce Hays, the pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Wichita, Kansas. Today we continue in our Bible study series in Genesis chapter 5. This is the passage, beginning in verse 18, about the Godly line between Adam and Noah.
There is two truths that shouts from the pages of Genesis. The first truth; nobody is good. The second; God preserves a Godly line of people. The first truth is expressed in
As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;
Nobody is righteous, not even one person. Paul goes on, in that passage in Romans, to say,
There is
none who understands;
There is none who seeks
after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become
unprofitable;
There is none who does good,
no, not one.”
Nobody was good in Genesis, nobody has been good, apart from God’s goodness, in the history of the world. You know, some people blame an individual’s evil on their upbringing, or their surroundings. They will say, “Well they couldn’t help but turn out bad, look at how they grew up.” But as the story of Genesis unfolds, God places Adam and Eve in a perfect world, in a perfect garden, with only God as a parent. And He only gave them one rule, that they proceeded to break.
Mankind was in a garden, able to daily walk with God, and they chose sin over God. There is none righteous. And the story continues by describing the generations of men, becoming increasingly corrupt. In the second generation, Cain murders Abel. And then a few generations later Lamech takes two wives, murders two men, and sings a little ditty about it. Things are going from bad to worse.
That’s why I pointed out last time that God preserved a Godly line. Despite the fact that the rest of the world’s population was going mad, God retains a remnant of people who still seek Him.
We read about it last time, with the birth of Seth,
25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him [m]Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” 26 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him [n]Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.
Although everyone in this line is not “good,” nobody is really good. In this line were a people who continued to seek God. And it goes all the way to Noah, who we will get to in a moment.
But before it gets to Noah, it tells us about Enoch. Enoch was the 7th generation after Adam. And as I mentioned last time, it tells us that he sought God. In fact, it says that he “walked with God.” He is distinguished from all of the generations before him, not only in “walking with God,” but instead of dying, it says,
24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
God just took him straight to heaven, without death. The only other person in the Bible, to whom this has happened will be Elijah.
Enoch was a sinner, just like everyone else. But he sought God. And God honored that quest.
So let’s pick up in the Word with this story of Enoch.
Now, why did God take him? “What’s the point?” Is there some hidden truth we are supposed to discover in the story of Enoch? Well some people want to read something into it. They want to make the “catching away” of Enoch an allegory for the future “catching away” of the Church.
This brings me to another principle of Bible interpretation, and it’s a warning. Be careful with allegories! What’s an allegory? Well here’s the definition;
a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
A good example of that would be the C.S. Lewis story, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” Although C.S. Lewis disliked the use of the word allegory, for his book, it clearly is an allegory. The Lion, Aslan, dies a substitutionary death and rises from death to restore the land of Narnia.
Now, there are allegories in the Bible. For example, Jesus is called by John the Baptist “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” John is comparing Jesus’ upcoming death on the cross, to the death of the Passover Lambs which were slain each year. And John the Baptist is not the only one who makes this comparison between Jesus and the Passover Lamb.
In Acts 8 the Ethiopian Eunuch is reading from the Old Testament book of Isaiah,
The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.
Philip uses that prophetic Scripture to explain Jesus’ crucifixion. Again Peter
but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
[ Worthy Is the Lamb ] Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
So there are allegories in Scripture, but here’s the principle of Bible interpretation. “Don’t make something in the Bible an allegory, unless the Bible makes it an allegory.”
You see, some want to make the “catching away” of Enoch an allegory for the future rapture, or “catching away” of the Church. The Bible says that when Jesus returns to earth, He will “catch away” His Church; the Christians who are alive at that time. Paul describes that event.
Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
So, some say that we will be “caught away” as Enoch was caught away. And they say that this story of Enoch is an allegory that teaches a pre-tribulation rapture of the Church.
Now I don’t want to get down into all the gobbledigoop here, but they are saying that as Enoch was “caught away” translated, before God’s judgment on the earth by the flood, so Christians will be “caught away” before the Great Tribulation; God’s final judgment on the earth.
But you shouldn’t read that kind of meaning into Enoch’s translation. Why not? Because the Bible never says that his translation was a “type” or allegory for the rapture or translation of the Church.
And if the Bible doesn’t call it an allegory, then we shouldn’t either. Why not? Because you cross into dangerous territory when you begin making everything and everybody an allegory in the Bible. In the search for deeper meanings, you can make the Bible say anything.
So, in order to be safe, and faithful to the Scripture, a good rule of thumb is;
“Don’t make something in the Bible an allegory, unless the Bible makes it an allegory.”
So why did God take Enoch?
The best explanation is simply that Enoch an example of a high point in the line of faith. He was an example of the best men in the Godly line. Abel, and Noah were also examples of Godly men. And the book of Hebrews describes them that way.
Hebrews 11: 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Abel, Enoch and Noah are mentioned in Hebrews as examples of faith.
So Enoch is just an example of Faith. Interestingly—all three, Abel, Enoch, and Noah were removed…Abel was removed from this world by murder, Enoch by translation, Noah by a normal death. So they are just typical examples of how life might end for a believer.
Well, I spent a lot of time on that, but I think it is important, because many approach the Bible as allegory, and get into all kinds of crazy interpretations.
But let’s get back to the two themes; the Godly line, and the universal evil of mankind.
25 And Methuselah (Enoch’s son) lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech.
26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:
27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
By the way, he dies in the year of the flood. He has the distinction of living the longest recorded number of years in the Bible, and he dies in the year of the flood. So you might ask, well did the flood kill him? That’s a good question.
We can’t be sure, but I think there are some clues to help us with the answer.
First, Methuselah’s father was Enoch. And we know that Enoch was a Godly man, because Scripture says that he walked with God. Methuselah’s son Lamech died shortly before the flood. And Lamech also seemed to be a Godly man. When his son Noah was born, he names him Noah because
begat a son:
29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.
And Methuselah’s grandson is Noah, is said to have “walked with God,” like Enoch. To get straight to the point, Methuselah’s father, and grandson were the Godliest of Godly men, and his son gives evidence that he too is a Godly man.
So it is likely that Methuselah was a Godly man, and therefore would not have died as a result of the worldwide flood. If he was a Godly man, and the flood came, God would have saved him on the Ark. So I think it’s a better understanding to consider that Methuselah was a Godly man who died in the year the flood came, in a ripe old age, as a living testimony to God’s patience with mankind.
Back to the genealogy.
28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:
29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.
30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:
31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Thus ends the first genealogy of the Godly line and chapter 5.
We end this chapter by talking about some of the high points in the history of the world. This is the Godly line. There were men of faith who descended from Adam; Abel, Enoch, Lamech, and Noah. And would be very easy to talk about the faith of those men and think, “You know, I think mankind is going to be okay.” “With guys like them, the world is going to be alright.” But we can forget that the previous genealogy was a list of the only men who were faithful. Adam had many other sons and daughters, but only through Seth’s son, Enosh, is it said…
And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.
And it’s only through Lamech, at the birth of Noah…
“This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.”
This is the genealogy of the gold thread woven through a black blanket. As I said earlier, one of the two truths we learn from Genesis is that there are none righteous, no not one. And even that Godly line only consists of men, though they are sinners, continue seeking God. The rest of humanity is following it’s own self-centered and sinful path.
By the time we get to Noah and his 3 sons—only Noah
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Everybody else forsook God.
How many people were living in the world? Answers in Genesis: If the growth rate in the pre-Flood world was equal to the growth rate in 2000 (0.012), there could have been about 750 million people at the time of the Flood. However, given the extremely long lifespans prior to the Flood, the growth rate could have been much higher. Increasing the rate by just 0.001 would put the population at close to four billion at the Flood.
Now, I don’t know how many people there were in the world, but let’s take their numbers at face value.
Out of 750 million to 4 billion people—only one found grace in the eyes of God. That means that the entire world population was living in disobedience and hostility toward God---so much so that God decides to destroy them all, except Noah and his family, and start over---such is the tragedy of the sinful nature of man.
But you might say, “Hold on a minute, if Adam sought God, and Seth, and Enoch, then shouldn’t there have been more than just one man (Noah) and his family that deserved to be saved from the flood? Surely these Godly men would have raised some Godly children. Noah’s father had to have had other children. If Lamech was Godly, and had say, 12 children, wouldn’t you think that at least 6 of them would seek God? So Noah would have had brothers and sisters, and some nieces and nephews to put on the Ark?
Well, we begin chapter 6 by describing how it is that even those “good men” descended from Seth could have been corrupted.
6 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
What happened? The good men married worldly women.
Now let’s back track a little so you can understand what this is saying.
the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Who are the sons of God and the daughters of men? It seems to read just as I stated a second ago, the good men married worldly women. And read that way, all it implies is that godly men chose wives based solely on their physical beauty, not their Godliness. And as anyone who is married knows, who you marry can set you up for Spiritual success, or failure.
And I believe that this is exactly what happened to the Godly line. But I would be remise in our study of this passage if I didn’t tell you about another way that this passage has been interpreted.
Some teach that the “sons of God” here refers to demons who somehow possessed men who then married human women and produced ungodly, unholy offspring. So, they say, that the Godly line was corrupted by some sort of gross, abominable union between women and demons. And that corruption resulted in God throwing up His hands and saying, “I’ve had enough, I’m going to flood the whole earth.”
Now why did anyone ever come up with the idea that demons cohabitated with women and produced devil children? Well it’s in the identification of “the sons of God.”
Now here is another principle of Bible interpretation. If you don’t understand something in one place in Scripture, compare it to how it is used in another place in Scripture. And start with the references closest to the one you are considering. So, is the phrase, “Sons of God” used elsewhere in Genesis? Yes, and it’s in the same chapter we just referenced.
There were giants 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. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Now we don’t get much more information from this passage than we did from the previous. Except that the children of the sons of God, and daughters of men were “mighty men” and “men of renown.”
The key to believing that these were some sort of supernatural births is in what it meant to be a “mighty” man, or a man of “renown.” Also, it mentions first that there were giants on the earth.
So how do I interpret this? Frankly, it does sound weird and fantastic. But I interpret it at face value. Number 1; there were extra tall people back then, (giants) we’ll look at that in a minute. Number 2; Mighty men and men of renown simply means that they did some extra special things. They distinguished themselves with their fighting or intellectual prowess. It’s a description of the advance of mankind.
But others say that their children being “mighty men,” or men of renown means that their children had special abilities, and that these same men were “giants.” So all together they were demon-men, capable of extraordinary feats, able to leap tall buildings with a single bound. Able to kill dragons single-handedly. Some sort of psychic abilities. Now, I say some of that facetiously. But what they are saying is that these demon/ women unions produced were supermen.
Now the phrase “son of God” is also used in the book of Job.
[ Satan Attacks Job’s Character ] Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
Now here, “sons of God” does imply angelic beings, since this event in Job takes place in heaven. In another place in Job God is speaking to Job about the day of the world’s creation. He asks Job “Where were you when I created this world?” Then in verse seven of chapter 38, He says, where were you,
When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Again, “sons of God” here has to refer to angels, because there were no people at that time.
So, “sons of God” can refer to angels.
But are normal humans ever called sons of God in the Bible? Yes.
[ The Restoration of Israel ] “Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
“And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”
[ Sons and Heirs ] For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
The Jewish people, after returning to God, are called sons of God. Christians who put their faith in Jesus are called sons of God.
Adam is called a son of God.
Luke 3:37-38 New King James Version (NKJV)
37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
So, we are back to the question. Were the Sons of God who took the daughters of men as wives, fallen angels, or Godly men?
I think it’s best to take the simple interpretation, because the demon explanation leaves a couple of big questions.
Here’s my first question; Why would demons who had sex with women and produced abominable offspring, be called “sons of God?” Second; How did they produce children?--angels don’t procreate—there is never any indication in Scripture that angels biologically reproduce. So how did these fallen angels create offspring? You say, well they possessed men—but it is the same question—if they indwelt normal men, how did they produce giants, or super human men?
Now I’m not saying that it is impossible. But I am following another rule of interpretation of Scripture. The KISS principle. Keep it simple stupid. What that means to me is this; if a simple interpretation will suffice, don’t look for a complicated one.
So I think it is simplest and best to take this in this simple way;
This is the oldest story in the world. Boy meets girl and falls in love. But from the beginning, God intended marriage to be a place of not only union between the couple, but the spiritual union of the couple with God. The family unit was to be a place where two parents grew together in the grace of God and raised their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
But these early Godly men, chose wives for all the wrong reasons. They were allured by outward beauty, not the condition of the heart.
So God has always been concerned about how people choose a mate. The New Testament tells Christians not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
And if godly men and women had followed that direction from God, to search for a godly, and gracious mate, then they had a fighting chance to raise godly children. It’s no guarantee, but at least a remnant of the population would be godly. But what happens is that young men and women start searching for a mate---they lose sight of those spiritual priorities. That’s what happened here.
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
“Sons of God” simply means godly men. “Daughters of men” simply means worldly women. Godly men chose wives, not on the basis of their spiritual attributes—but their good looks. Catches us every time men---Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. And so what happens, those worldly girls drew their husbands away from God. They took the spiritual reigns in the family and raised their children in worldliness.
You say, “Well what about the Godly daughters?” Well I think the implication of the text is, that since the Godly sons were choosing ungodly wives. The Godly daughters were given no choice but to marry ungodly men.
Now some of you might get the impression that I’m saying that these marriages between the sons of God and the daughters of men resulted in flat out hedonism. One day their worshiping God and the next their day they are sacrificing their children to the devil. No, this took place over 100’s of years. And that first couple, may have appeared relatively good. But when that son of God married that worldly girl, it was a compromise. I’ve seen a lot of that in the church. I remember young people in a farming church I pastored. Their families raised them with certain values. They valued hard work, family, sports, morals, and faith. And they passed those values down to their children. The only problem I saw was that they may have those values out of order. It always seemed that work, family, and sports, crowded out faith. So now when their son, little Freddy reaches the age where he’s looking for a girl—he finds a cute girl---at the ball park, on another farm, through a family member. And as they start to date, they compare their values. And lo and behold, Fredrica has the same values as fred, except one---she has no real faith. But hey, that’s okay, because that never was number one anyway. And she values 4 out of 5 of the things he values—so he compromises, and marries her. Then when their kids are grown, the cycle continues, except this time the compromise may be over morals, or family—and one generation after another slides further and further from faith, and deeper and deeper into the world.
So God saw this decay and said in verse 3
3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Now all this means is that God was giving the world 120 more years until the flood would come.
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Okay, okay. A minute ago we’re talking about Godly men marrying worldly women. So what about these “giants.” If they are not some sort of supernatural offspring, what are they? What’s this all about? Well the word for giants here is Nephilim. The Nephilim are referenced, after the flood, in other parts of the Bible.
Numbers 13:33 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
33 There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
And here they are after the flood. This is a narrative about the nation of Israel entering the land of Canaan to take possession of it. But they see giants, the Nephilim, in the land, and are afraid. So there were giants. What are we talking about here? Well, if I’m going to apply my earlier KISS principle. Keep it simple. Giants were just really big guys. How big? Well Goliath, from the story of David and Goliath, was supposed to be 6 cubits---about 9 feet tall. Now that’s not so extraordinary.
The tallest man in medical history for whom there is irrefutable evidence is Robert Pershing Wadlow (USA) (born 6:30 a.m. at Alton, Illinois, USA on 22 February 1918), who when last measured on 27 June 1940, was found to be 2.72 m (8 ft 11.1 in) tall.
He was almost 9 feet tall.
Some human fossils are postulated to have come from a man 11’6” tall.
So what does it mean that there were giants? I think there was a tribe of tall people in the world at that time. They were a people who were genetically capable of greater than normal human height.
So just remember that Genesis is describing for us the condition of the world before the flood. There were giants and mighty men.
Who were the mighty men? They were simply ancient heroes. Men who excelled in things that people valued. Defending their people, conquering the animal world, building cities, leading people, feats of strength
And if we had the full story, these men did heroic things. But it was a humanistic age. Mankind had strayed away from God, and faith, and repentance, and atonement. They became obsessed with human accomplishments, the glory of great men. And when that happens, people become increasingly self-obsessed and sinful.
So how did we get to the place where only one man and his family are worthy of saving? We got there because men and women pursued outward beauty, and human accomplishment, they elevated other men to the place of being heroes. They honored themselves and others over God. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? So…
5 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.
Every imagination was only evil continually. There was nothing Godly left.
6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Hold it, hold it. It repented the Lord? Doesn’t the Bible say that God does not repent? God doesn’t change His mind?
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Repent basically means that He was sorry that He made people. When we think of human repentance—it means being sorry for sin and turning from that sin. But God does not sin, so He can’t turn from sin.
But this gives the impression that God was somehow caught off guard by man’s sinfulness. That He didn’t see this happening. But this can’t be true either because Scripture says that God knows everything.
Instead, it is best to consider this anthropomorphism. Attributing to God human attributes. In other words, when Moses was inspired to write down this history about the world, and God, and the beginnings of the Jewish people, he was limited in his descriptions to the human words that people use.
Now we know that God’s nature, attributes and thoughts are far beyond our understanding, and that He cannot be adequately described in human terms. But those terms are all we have. So, in order to describe God’s thoughts when all of humankind was corrupted, Moses chose the word “repented.” It is a word that adequately describes human thoughts, but is wholly inadequate to describe God’s thoughts.
7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
Now notice this. Because of mankind’s corruption, God will also destroy all but a few of the animals. Why? These animals didn’t do anything. Well here’s the short answer. And many of you won’t like it. First, God isn’t an environmentalist. God gave these animals life, and He can choose to take that life. Second, the animals were created for 2 purposes—one to bring glory to God, and 2 to be of service to mankind. And yes, God could have destroyed all of humanity but Noah and his family, by some disease, and left all the animals alive. But that would have left Noah and his family dealing with a booming population of animals, and the world would have been more dangerous. So God destroyed most of the animals for wild-life management issues.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
One man is favored with grace and mercy. But the flood didn’t come until Noah’s 6 hundredth year. So, besides building a boat, what was Noah doing?
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Well in 2 Peter 2, he is called a preacher of righteousness.
2 Peter 2:4-6 New King James Version (NKJV)
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to [a]hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
So Noah was the preacher in the family. And though the world didn’t listen, his family did. So he brought them rest and comfort in the middle of a restless and comfortless world.
Well, we’re going to have to stop there for today. The golden thread of the Godly line has connected Adam to Noah. But that thread is still woven into a black, and corrupt and violent world. And it’s a world not unlike our own. People are self-absorbed. They are obsessed with outward appearances, and human achievement. But there are a few preachers of righteousness calling them away from that. Warning them of coming judgment. Calling them to board God’s Ark of grace in order to be saved.
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, We can’t help but look around us at our world, and see the same world that Noah saw. I pray that you will open eyes to the coming judgment. Open eyes to the grace offered in Jesus Christ. Open eyes to eternal values.
We pray this in Jesus name, amen.