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5 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. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 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." 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. ~ Genesis 6:5-8
Today, we return to our study of Genesis 6 where the grace of God comes to center stage. Grace is getting what we do not deserve and it always runs downhill. The story of Noah is amazing on many levels and hidden within the text itself is a pattern which centers on the fact that we are not forgotten by the God of the Bible. Even when our world is collapsing around us, He is there to be found by the seeking heart. The hard part for us is to trust Him when everything else seems to be falling apart around us. When the forces of the wicked seem to be winning, God is always willing to secure us in the place of His protection, even in the context of extreme difficulties. The role we play in all of this is to present to Him our willing hearts.
In v.5 of today's passage we read, "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."
In our last study, we talked about the Nephilim, those who came from the union between the sons of God and the daughters of men. At the end of Genesis 6:4 we read, "Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown." In that day the world had gotten to the depraved place where they went after hero worship rather than God worship. These men of renown were much like the movie stars or the professional athletes of our day. And like those in the days of Noah, the more we idolize these people, the more our view of truth becomes skewed.
As a result, the value of human life is reduced. In addition, the concept of personal responsibility is subordinated to the collective whole. Truth is shunned and belittled and tolerance is elevated above truth. This is when we begin to call that which is wicked good and what is good wicked. When believers in Christ identify ourselves with the secular world, eventually only the secular world is left. When the sons of God had intermarried with those outside the chosen line, they incorporated their ungodly practices in with their own.
After only 1550 years of man on earth, things had degraded to such an extent in the days of Noah that "the wickedness of man was great in the earth." But even more terrible than the actual state of things was that "every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." This meant that not only the imagination of the people was wicked, but their desires were too. When noble and right things are set aside, like truth, it doesn’t matter how great are our achievements or how praiseworthy are our deeds, those who arrive at this place are void of moral good.
This was the state of the pre-flood world where every intent of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually, and this is the state that America is rushing headlong into, even as we boast of the great culture we live in. In the end, what we have is a dichotomy between God’s longsuffering patience and man’s ability and perseverance in filling up that cup until it eventually needs to be poured out in wrath.
In v.6 of today's passage we read, "And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart."
This is the first time the Bible records that God was sorry about something, or that He regretted something. The terminology used here leads most people to immediately think that God somehow changes either mentally or relationally toward us. But, God being sorry doesn’t presume any change in Him or in His intent. The Bible used a human term and applied it to God so that we can understand His feeling toward our sin. It was not a changing feeling. It was His very nature being expressed in a way we can comprehend and understand it.
In v.7 of today's passage we read, "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."
The expression of man's wickedness had become so great that God had to intervene. The words, "I will destroy man" describes the wiping of a dish clean or erasing a chalk board. It was a complete removal of what was so that nothing was left.
The words, "I am sorry" makes God appear to be less than the supreme being that He is. What it means is He is not apathetic to our plight and the effects of our sin in this world. Ezekiel said that God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Jeremiah wept the tears of God over the judgment to come. The Lord Jesus wept the tears of God over the judgment to come on Jerusalem and Israel. The Lord was sorry means that He was sad. He was so sad that He was sorry He made man on the earth. God feels the destructiveness of sin on the lives of all whom He has created, and that makes Him feel sorry for us.
In v.8 of today's passage we read, "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord."
Violence increased in the land. Cain killed Abel, and then Lamech killed a young man for hurting him. And by this time it had become an epidemic. And today, our world is no different. The world will always descend into moral degradation and destruction will loom until the end. We see this same scenario being played out before our very eyes. According to the statistics, approximately 20,000 people a year in America are murdered. That is a murder every 24 minutes. God promised destruction and destruction will one day come. But in the midst of it all, God's grace has stepped to the fore.
Noah didn’t earn God’s grace and neither can we. Grace or the underserved favor of God is the only reason Noah built the ark and God's grace was the only reason he got on it. The Lord sovereignly chose to give grace to anyone who believed in His goodness enough to receive His forgiveness. And, as a result of Noah's willingness of heart, he and his family became trophies of God’s grace. This is the story of all who are willing enough to come to the end of themselves and trust in the goodness of the God of the Bible. Our only hope is being covered by the favor of God that was earned on our behalf by the Lord Jesus Himself.
