“In the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away.” Matt. 24:38, 39.

In the days of Noah the wickedness of men upon the earth had become so great that every thought of their hearts was only evil continually.

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” “And it grieved Him at His heart.”  [Gen. 6:11, 12, 6]

No wonder that it grieved God’s loving heart. Think of all that He had done for men. Think of the beautiful home that He had given them, and of the countless blessings that He had strewn about them. Think of His wonderful lovingkindness and tender mercy when they forsook Him. Think of the Way of life that He had provided for them at such great cost. Think how He had striven with them and drawn them toward Him by His Holy Spirit. And yet they would not trust Him nor accept His way of life!

No wonder that His heart ached. It would do no good for His Spirit to strive with them any longer. He had done all that Divine love could do to save them, but they put His salvation away from them, and would have none of it. They had chosen the way of death when He had done all that He could do to get them to choose the way of life.

Enoch, the man of God, had been sent to prophesy unto them of the coming of the Lord, and of the wages of sin, and to entreat them to forsake their ways and their thoughts and return unto the Lord, and He would have mercy upon them and abundantly pardon. But no, most of them preferred their own ways and the fleeting, unsatisfying pleasures of sin. They would not come unto Christ that they might have life. Therefore nothing remained for them but death, and the sooner it came the better; for were they not but heaping up misery and unhappiness to themselves and to those around them?

God’s heart yearned over them and loved them, although they were so wicked, and He could not bear to see them go deeper and deeper into wickedness and sorrow when there was no hope of saving them.

The Lord therefore said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the air; . . . for the earth is filled with violence through them.” “Behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die.”  [Gen. 6:7-11, 17]

“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” for “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”  [Gen. 6:8, 9]

And God told Noah to make him an ark of the strongest wood. It was to be a sort of house three stories high, with one window in the top and one door in the side, and a bottom like a boat. And the Lord told him to put pitch upon it within and without so that it would not leak, for he and his family and two of every sort of living thing upon the earth were to stay in it during the flood, so that they might be kept alive.

But think of the wonderful longsuffering of God. That was not all that God told Noah to do. He told him to go while the ark was preparing and preach, and once more entreat those who had chosen death to turn to Him that they might have life. And God said that He would wait yet one hundred and twenty years before He brought the flood upon them!

Can you not see how God loved them, and how he hated to have them die? “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.”  [Ezek. 33:11]

But alas, they would not turn, although Noah faithfully did according to all that the Lord commanded him. They went right on the same as ever, drinking and feasting and marrying and giving in marriage until the very day that Noah entered into the ark. At the end of the one hundred and twenty years when the ark was finished and all things were ready, among those who were alive upon the earth not one was on the Lord’s side save Noah and his family!

“And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation.”  [Gen. 7:1]

“And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons wives with him, into the ark; they and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. . . . And the Lord shut him in.”  [Gen. 7:7-16]

Notice: Noah and his family were shut in with the Lord, but the rest of the people were shut out with Satan. Why? Because Noah and each one of his family had had faith in Jesus and had chosen to be with Him, while all of the other people had rejected Jesus and had chosen to be with Satan. Each one had just what he had chosen. Which made the better choice?

At the end of seven days the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain descended upon the earth for forty days and forty nights, just as God had said it should. And the waters increased and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth, and went safely upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth until all the high hills and mountains that were under the whole heavens were covered!

“And Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.” [Gen. 7:23]

Too late the people on the outside believed that the flood was coming. Too late they reached out towards the ark of safety; the door was shut and they could not enter. They had no more faith in Jesus than they had before, but they were afraid to die. But they had chosen death, and death they received.

Noah’s righteousness could not save them; he could deliver neither son nor daughter by his righteousness, but only his own soul. Remember this when you are tempted to think that your father’s or mother’s faith is going to save you. You must yield to Jesus and walk with God yourself if you are ever saved.

1. What did Cain do after he had killed Abel?—He left his father’s home and went to another place. Gen. 4:16.
2. What was the result of this?—Cain and his followers were thus separated from Adam and his followers.
3. Whose sons did those become who, with Adam, received Christ? Gen. 6:2; John 1:12.
4. Whose sons did those remain who, with Cain, rejected Christ?—The sons of men.
5. When men greatly increased upon the earth, and the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, what did they do? Gen. 6:2.
6. What did this mingling with the sons and daughters of men, taking them right into their own families, result in?—It caused many of the sons of God to become bad too, and wickedness rapidly increased on every side.
7. How great did the wickedness finally become? Gen. 6:5.
8. How did this cause the Lord to feel? Gen. 6:6.
9. Why did it cause his heart to ache?
10. Name some of the things that He had done for them?
11. Could He do any more for them than He had done?
12. And yet what did they refuse to do?
13. Since they would not accept the way of life, what only remained for them?—Death.
14. Since they had fully decided to have that and nothing else, would longer life be any blessing to them?—No, only a curse.
15. Would the continued strivings of the Spirit do them any good?—No.
16. Therefore what did God in mercy say that He would do? Gen. 6:7, 17.
17. Who only were to be saved? Gen. 6:8, 18.
18. Why? Gen. 6:9; 7:1.
19. How were they to be kept alive? Gen. 6:14-21.
20. How long would it be until the flood? Gen. 6:3.
21. Why do you suppose the Lord waited so long?—Because of His great love and longsuffering; He wanted to give them one more opportunity to turn from the ways of death to the way of life. 1 Peter 3:20.
22. Who was to preach to them? 2 Peter 2:5.
23. If they would repent and have faith in Jesus, what would God do even then? Isa. 55:7.
24. Did God take pleasure in their destruction? Ezek. 33:11.
25. Did they believe it and get ready? Matt. 24:38, 39.
26. How many were found ready, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus?
27. Therefore how many were taken into the ark of safety? Gen. 7:1.
28. Who shut them in? Gen. 7:16.
29. Which proved to be the safer place—the outside or the inside of the ark? Gen. 7:23.
30. Why was it more safe on the inside? —Because Jesus was with them.
31. How did they come to have Christ with them?—By faith. Eph. 3:17.
32. Therefore what saved them? Their faith in Christ. Heb. 11:7.
33. What must save us if we are ever saved?—Faith in Christ. Acts 4:12.
34. Could not some of them have been saved by Noah’s faith and righteousness?—No. Ezek. 14:20.
35. What may we learn from that?

The Present Truth – May 24, 1894
E. J. Waggoner

Story in pdf  In the Days of Noah