Maybe it’s getting older. Or maybe it’s because every system in the world is collapsing. But it feels like the times are getting more and more evil. It’s just relentless and it grows.
That was the times of Noah. And God said the most painful, heart-wrenching thing of humanity that has ever been said or will ever be said.
“The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain” (Gen 6:5-6).
Ugh.
He saw men’s hearts. They were filled with wickedness. To the point he was going to destroy them all.
But there was one.
There is always one.
There is always a remnant.
That man was Noah. In Ezek 14 we see he was one of the top 3 most righteous persons in the Bible outside of Jesus, along with Daniel and Job.
“Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God” (v. 9).
“Now the earth was corruption God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways” (v. 12).
But the LORD wanted to save Noah. And because of Noah he was going to save his family also. So he commissioned him to build an ark. And to prepare it in such a way as to host the animals of the earth.
This was such a sad reflection of humanity, that men stopped caring about righteousness and served themselves. I feel like in so many ways we are there.
26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all (Luke 17:26)
In the same way that Noah saved humanity physically, Jesus is our Savior for all eternity. But for the ungodly and those outside of Christ, the LORD says he will destroy them in the same way that they were destroyed in the days of Noah (2 Pet 2).
What is encouraging about this Scripture is that Noah stood. The pressure on him to compromise must have been immense. I’m sure he was the most hated man on earth. Evil hates the company of the righteous. But he stood. Without compromise.
Let’s make sure we stay in the ark with Jesus. The rain is really coming down hard.
And keep the company of men like Noah, Daniel and Job.
