“How patient God was,” I’ve heard it said, in reference to the wickedness of the antediluvian world. 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 Genesis 6:5. Amen, indeed; not only patient, but merciful! We don’t really know the duration of God’s patience for their wickedness, but we do know that before He sent judgment He gave them approximately 100 years of gospel preaching through Noah, calling them to cease from it and turn back to Him. Prior to this they had the witness of Enoch at some point Genesis 5:22-24; so they were not without witness to God’s reality.
No generation has been without witness to God’s reality. That’s why they are without excuse Romans 1:20. “How cruel is your God,” we Bible Christians sometimes hear in relation to the Flood judgment. They don’t believe it, of course, but they love to comfort themselves with that lie; it’s much easier to do that than take a long, hard look within. “Where is your God?” is another one we get from them. My response: He’s knocking at the door of your heart. Open it up and let Him in! His name is Jesus.” Revelation 3:20. Since Jesus, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God’ and the Word was God John 1:1, Enoch and Noah would have said something similar in answering the hard-hearted, defiant crowd of that day.
Are we in the days of Noah and the days of Lot yet? Luke 17:26-29. I believe we are, but I also believe that man’s wickedness and evil will get a lot worse before God sends His judgment upon the world, even though it may not be too far off. World-wide sexual depravity is a major sign of judgment to come, but perhaps we will not see the full wickedness of such depravity until polygamy, pedophilia and bestiality are legislated. How long that will take is difficult to know, but now that same-sex marriage is here, the rest are coming hot on its heels. Unbelievers scoff at this prediction; that shows the power spiritual darkness has over them. It took less than 40 years for the latter to become accepted in society; it may take less than 40 months for the former to become so.
It was not that the antediluvian world were ignorant of God, they simply did not want God. Compare them with today’s world and we see the same thing exactly. “Keep God out of it,” was the cry of the god-less a couple of weeks ago when our Government (Australia) suggested Christians get priority over Muslims when bringing in 12,000 Middle Eastern refugees from Europe. How’s that for spiritual darkness! It’s cowardice too; they wouldn’t dare say that to a Muslim. Another remarkable inconsistency from the godless – they love Pope Francis. One of them said recently on TV about him, “The message of his church is the same, he just says it differently, that’s all.” Whatever that’s supposed to mean!
Actually, I do know what it’s supposed to mean. It means he’s had his ears tickled. I wonder how many from the antediluvian world had their ears tickled! Whilst human nature rejects the God of truth, love, forgiveness, mercy or judgment, it never rejects the god of its imagination. Noah’s audience rejected his message, but just like today’s audience, they would not have rejected the message of false prophets running rampant at that time. People who changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like incorruptible man – and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things Romans 1:23 applies to their world every bit as much as it does our world. They were Satan’s people and Satan always makes sure his people have gods to worship.
So specifically, what kind of people were they in the antediluvian world? Given that we know every imagination of the thoughts of each individual heart was only evil continually, and given that the cup of God’s wrath was full and that he poured it out on them, think of them as having reached the ‘ultimate.’ They were the ultimate idolaters and self-worshipers, the ultimate sexual deviants, perverts and degenerates. They were the ultimate haters of God. They had reached the ultimate in wickedness, rottenness, greed and malice. They had reached the ultimate in jealousy, envy, murder, deceit and spite. They had reached the ultimate in treachery, betrayal, insolent pride, dishonor, disrespect and boastfulness. They were the ultimate mockers and scoffers!
Today’s people of Satan love to make mockery of the first Chapters from the Book of Genesis. Most of them are clueless as to why they mock, but not so, Satan. He knows if he gets them to mock those Chapters, they’ll take the rest of the Bible with a grain of salt. But in Chapter 4, for example, we see the start of Satan’s world system – a system of agriculture, industry, music, art and culture, but accompanied by his attributes – most of which are listed in the above paragraph. All of it is organized and developed around the material and temporal, not the spiritual and eternal. Satan lost the ability for that when he fell from God’s grace and can never get it back. Now his mission is that of making sure nobody else is awakened to the spiritual and eternal.
Those awakened to the spiritual and eternal in the antediluvian world at the time of God’s judgment consisted of only 8 people. What a shock for those among them who considered themselves spiritual. All the years they mocked and cursed God’s faithful messenger only to discover he was right after all. Imagine the panic when observing the ark lifting off the ground by rising water! “Let me hear your gospel message again, Noah. I’m sorry. I listened to the wrong people. Please, Noah!” Noah’s response might have been, “God gave you one hundred years to get real with Him. His patience ran out! God has always been, longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Peter 3:9.
“None are ruined by the justice of God but those who hate to be reformed by the grace of God.” – Matthew Henry. “Ruined by the justice of God.” What a horrible thought! We don’t hear that language expressed too often today. Ruined by capitalism, ruined by man-made climate change, ruined by man’s greed, selfishness and violence, ruined by man’s inhumanity to man; we’re brainwashed with that language. But, ruined by the justice of God – now that’s a rarity! And there is only one way to avoid it – get blood-washed in Jesus. God is a God of justice; the wages of sin is death Romans 6:23. Those unwilling to acknowledge Jesus paid the price of death for their sins will pay the price themselves – it’s an eternal death – an eternal hell.
Of the antediluvian world we read, God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Genesis 6:13. They had reached the ultimate in violence. People say the same of our world; but in God’s eyes, not yet. However, when we look at the fact that 1 baby is murdered in a mother’s womb less than every 1 second somewhere in world, and that there’s an organization called Planned Parenthood, with the slogan, ‘Care. No matter what’ selling aborted baby parts, God’s judgment promise is absolutely certain. People say Hitler and Stalin were evil and yes they were, but no more so than these people and their collective wickedness.
Although not as yet filled with violence like the antediluvian world, our world is filling with violence of all sorts at a rate of knots. Where the preaching of the gospel is being rejected or watered down; where prayers on behalf of family, church and society are diminishing; where a nation’s Constitution based on Judeo-Christian values gets kicked to the curb, the hand of God’s restraint is being lifted. There is no other explanation for the barbarity, brutality, savagery and wickedness running rampant all over the place. What we see currently is a small taste of what the world will experience in previously unheard of proportions when the Church is removed from the world. New Testament Revelation fills in the horrific details of what’s coming.
Once Noah and his family were safely inside the ark, the door was closed; end of the line for the antediluvian world. Soon they would experience the ultimate destruction. It’s still their experience. However, due only to the ultimate mercy of God, it’s not yet the end of the line for this world; there’s a door still open. Jesus Christ is the door – the only door! I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved…… John 10:9. Not many people will enter – they never have since the time of the Flood, which is the ultimate tragedy. “Ruined by the justice of God” or, “reformed by the grace of God” – your choice. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life John 3:16. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life John 6:47.