Great wickedness in the earth – As man lived and multiplied in the earth, the sons of God took the daughters of men as wives. Because of this, man’s heart was filled with wicked imaginations. As wickedness began to spread among the people, they would no longer hear God when He spoke. So God told Noah that He was going to flood the earth and destroy all flesh. Even though this event was going to happen on the earth, God did have a plan to save the righteous and preserve His seed in their future generations.
Noah, the preacher of righteousness – In the midst of all this wickedness, a man named Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
God called him to build an ark that would protect them from the flood. Noah preached the gospel to man by building an ark for the salvation of God’s family. So Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives entered into the ark before the flood.
God also told Noah that He would send two of every living creature to him and that he was to bring them all into the ark and keep them alive.
The flood – God sent down rain from heaven and flooded the earth, saving only Noah’s family and two of each kind of animal, fowl, and creeping thing. For forty days and forty nights it rained down and only those in the ark survived death.
The flood waters destroyed all those who followed after the wickedness of their own heart, while the ark saved God’s children.
New beginning – As the flood waters subsided, God made a new covenant with Noah and his sons. God also put a rainbow in the sky to establish that He would never flood the earth again. This was a guarantee of His new covenant with man in the earth.
Noah’s three sons – Noah’s three sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. As they began to have children, the earth began to multiply as God said.
These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed. Genesis 9:18-28
- Shem – Seedline of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesus.
- Ham – Seedline of Canaan, Egypt, Nimrod, Nineveh.
- Japheth – Seedline of Magog, Isles of the Gentiles.
Out of Noah’s three sons, Noah blessed Shem and he brought forth the seed line that produced Abraham and His children, and even eventually led to Jesus, the Messiah. Jepheth was also counted by his father’s blessing and was told that he and his children would dwell in the tents of Shem.
Notice: this will be important later because it is out of Shem’s family that the children of God are born, and Japheth will have a place with them. This could also mean that the Gentiles have a chance for salvation in the New Testament. Meaning that the Gentiles, who are not God’s people, will also have a chance to be saved.
Ham, on the other hand, saw his father’s nakedness and was told by his father that his generations would be a servant to Shem and Jepheth because of it. Through his bloodline, many great and wicked enemies of God are born and fill the earth with greater evil.
As all these men began to increase, the ways of wickedness soon followed them, and the earth yet again brought forth good and evil. This pattern stays true throughout the entire Bible.
The Tower of Babel – As man continued on the earth, he tried to build a tower that reached to heaven. This again is a turning point for mankind because God is not going to let wickedness reach heaven and defile His kingdom.
So God came down and stopped man’s work and confused man’s language so that they could not continue to build the tower. When man is unified in wickedness, much evil will manifest against God, so God divided man’s efforts against Him. (This teaches man that he will never get to heaven by his own language or by the works of his own hands).
Notice: When wickedness began to rise in the early days of Noah, the Lord said, My Spirit will not always strive with man, for that he is flesh: yet his days will be 120 years. (Genesis 6:3). It is clear that a shorter life in the flesh is beneficial to those that are righteous.
Average age before the flood is 912 years
(Adam to Noah, Enoch not included).
- Adam (930 years)
- Seth (912 years)
- Enosh (905 years)
- Kenan (910 years)
- Mahalalel (895 years)
- Jared (962 years)
- Enoch (365 years then God took him)
- Methuselah (969 years)
- Lamech (777 years)
- Noah (950 years)
Average age after the flood is 317 years
(Shem to Abram, drastically declining)
- Shem (600 years)
- Arpachshad (438 years)
- Shelah (433 years)
- Eber (464 years)
- Peleg (239 years)
- Reu (239 years)
- Serug (230 years)
- Nahor (148 years)
- Terah (205 years)
- Abram (175 years)
