The Ark and Jesus: An Unconcerned World

Genesis 6:1-12

On Wednesday nights we are going through a series called "Jesus in Genesis". There are so many things that foreshadow both His first and second advent. It is truly a fascinating study, and I am probably not doing it justice. One of the things I look forward to about Heaven is learning all of the ways the Old Testament spoke of Jesus, and we simply overlooked it. Since we just finished the tabernacle study, I thought it would be fun to continue looking at Old Testament illustrations of Jesus, and this time dive into a study of the ark and Noah.

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Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 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. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.  So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.  This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.  And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.  So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

Genesis 6:1-12

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Theologians spend a lot of time speculating what this passage of scripture means. I do not want to get into the weeds in this study. I want to use it just as Jesus did. Genesis 6 begins with the fact that people were going about their lives with no concern for God. Verses one and two tells us that weddings were taking place. Verse four speaks of "giants" which I will skip over, but then it says that those who were getting married were also having children. They were simply living life and enjoying it. These activities are not evil. As a matter of fact, God said that a man should leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, they should become one flesh, and they should fill the earth (Genesis 2:24; Genesis 1:Genesis 1:28).

Genesis 6 also tells us that there was much wickedness in the earth. So much so that God was sorry He had made man. God was not surprised by man's actions, and He did not change His mind. This is a description to show that there is a change in the course of action. God uses this description to help us understand what is going on. God only tolerates sin up to a certain point, and then it must be judged. We often ask why God doesn't do anything about some sins, but understand that His refraining from taking action on sin just as soon as it is committed is called mercy. Were it not for this mercy, there would be no forgiveness or salvation for anyone.

We have seen two categories of people so far: (1) those who are living "moral" lives with no regard for God and (2) those who were living wicked lives with no regard for God. There is one more category of person on the earth at this time. Verse 8 says that Noah found grace in the eyes of God, and verse 9 says that he was perfect in his generation and walked with God. The third category is the righteous. Noah knew the salvation of God, and he was walking with God. This made him and his family distinct from all the other people on the earth.

Jesus said, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.  But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 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, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:36-39). Just as I pointed out above, people were living their lives with no regard for God. The point Jesus is making is that when the tribulation period begins, after the rapture of the church, people will be living the same way. Yes, there will be wickedness, but His emphasis was on the fact that they forgot their God. Moses warned the Hebrew people, "Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today" (Deuteronomy 8:11).

Father, how easy it is for us to get caught up in our lives and to forget about You. As Christians, I pray that we live like Noah. I pray that we stand out as different from the culture. I pray that You see us as righteous in our generation and that our lives are pleasing to You.