“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.”
bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly
The word “bringing” alludes to God’s sovereign judgment of Noah’s world at that time.
“Flood” means deluge. The flood was a worldwide catastrophic flood. The Grand Canyon and the Himalayan Mountains testify to this flood (there are thousands of fish fossils on the tops of the Himalayan Mountains—mountain inversion notwithstanding). This flood was of such magnitude that God promised never to do it again and gave the rainbow sign to ratify His promise.
“Ungodly” are those who do not hold reverential awe towards God. They are impious. There were only eight people on the entire earth at that time who had reverence toward God. He exterminated everyone else. This catastrophic judgment was so severe that God never duplicated it. Such an unprecedented result demands an equally exceptional reason. With an effect of such magnitude, there must have been a cause of equal magnitude.
What contributed to such deviance on earth? Why did the pre-flood world become so polluted and corrupt? Noah’s generation became so degenerate toward God that He had to exterminate the entire civilization except for eight people. Genesis six gives four contributing factors for the flood:
Perversion of the human race (Gen 6:2)
Widespread wickedness (Gen 6:5)
Corruption (Gen 6:11)
Violence (Gen 6:11)
There will come a future day, another era as degenerate as Noah’s day. Jesus prophesied that He would come with judgment on the earth, like the flood.
Mt 24:36-39, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 “and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Jesus is the speaker in Matthew 24. He believed in the flood. To question the credibility of the flood is to question the credibility of Jesus. If you deny the flood, you call Jesus a liar. The antediluvians would have been saved had they turned to God. They heard Noah preach and saw him build the ark. Every nail Noah drove into the ark fixed their judgment more firmly. They had plenty of warnings and opportunities by the time the flood came.
PRINCIPLE:
God sent His Son to die for the non-God crowd.
APPLICATION:
Do you know that when Jesus came to earth, it was to die for the “ungodly?” Jesus came to die for those who do not have God in their lives.
Ro 4:5, “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”
Ro 5:6, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”
If you do not have God in your life, Jesus died to pay for your sins so that you can have eternal life.
