The Kingdom of God, Then: Session 4 – Flood-proof Salvation

Notes:

Flood-proof Salvation    See Session Slides Here

Matt.24:37-41, Jesus likened His coming to the time of Noah. Noah was born 1056 years after creation. What kind of world was it? After the fall, Cain murdered Abel and went out of the presence of God. Seth replaced Abel. There was a godly seed and an ungodly seed. But then an intermingling. Men of renown, i.e. known for their violence and corruption, committing great wickedness. They were given 120 years to repent.

Gen.6:5-8. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the first mention of grace. Its meaning: where sin abounds, God’s grace abounds much more. What is grace and what did grace do for Noah? See Gen.6:9.

  • It justified him. It made him righteous, by faith.
  • It made him ‘perfect in his generations’. Heb. tamin = without blemish. He was uncontaminated by a world that was corrupted. Note, ‘generations’ (plural). Noah knew his father, grandfather, and although his great grandfather Enoch had been taken out of the world before Noah was born, yet Noah knew Enoch’s father, grandfather, great grandfather and great-great grandfather, i.e. Adam’s grandson. In fact Adam’s son, Seth, had been dead only 14 years when Noah was born. He witnessed Babel and was co-existent with Abraham for 50 years. God can keep us in our generation!
  • He walked with God. The secret of a person who survives the disaster of his age is that he walks with God.
  • Gen. 6:11. The earth was corrupt and its end had come. But Noah’s generation was unaware and carried on living as always – eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. They failed to realize their peril until it was too late. Suddenly, the flood (cataclysm = carrying away, being swept away) came upon them.
  • Society, as in the days of Noah, will be in a state of total moral disintegration. Iniquity will reach full measure, 2 Pet.3:3-7. Just as sudden and disastrous for this world will be the rapture, Matt.24:40-41.
  • Gen. 6:14. God’s way of escape was an ark, a picture of Christ. It was covered with pitch in order to be preserved through judgment. The word ‘cover’ is kapher. See Lev.17:11. Jesus endured the wrath of God.
  • The bow in the sky was directed heavenward. There is no arrow, as if it has been discharged. A rainbow is the joint product of a storm and sunshine. Grace shining against a backdrop of sin.
  • The date the ark rested on Mount Ararat was the exact date, centuries later, Jesus rose from the dead.
  • Gen. 7:1. This is the first time the word ‘come’ is used in the Bible. ‘Come’, not ‘go’ (NIV).

Was there any excuse for those who perished? God never leaves Himself without a witness:

  • Protoevangelium (Gen.3:15), followed by sacrificial system. Adam & Eve, Abel, Noah all offered sacrifices
  • There was a continuous prophetic voice in the earth: Enoch, (Jude 1:14-15); Methuselah means ‘when he dies it will come.’ ‘Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech’ (Gen.5:25). ‘Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son’ (Gen.5:28). (187+182 = 369). ‘Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth’ (Gen.7:6) (369 + 600 = 969). ‘So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died’ (Gen.5:27); Lamech, (Gen. 5:29).
  • The rapture of Enoch, (Heb.11:5).
  • The ministry of the Holy Spirit, (Gen. 6:3).
  • Noah: a) The first of these testimonies was the building of the ark indicating that something was about to happen (1 Pet.3:20). God never judges without first making a way of escape and salvation. The second witness was Noah’s preaching righteousness for 120 years in which he constantly warned the people concerning the judgment of God. The third witness was the gathering of the animals into the ark.

No one perished in the flood who could claim he had no warning. All in the ark were saved.