- Genesis 2:4-6 KJV These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. 6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
So there was a mist that watered the ground. Because of the positive statement made about the mist, we may conclude there had not been rain. Henry Morris and John Whitcomb wrote THE GENESIS FLOOD, and they argued that there was a canopy of moisture above the earth, which God described in the creation:
- Genesis 1:6-8 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
With the canopy of water above the heavens, it would have made the plants grow larger and man live longer because it would have stopped most of the cosmic rays which we know today destroy the cells of the body and causes our bodies to die sooner. When Noah was told to build the ark, God had already determined that he would reduce the age of man because he was “only evil continually.”
- Genesis 6:3 KJV And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
We see that is true [a promise was fulfilled] when we study the ages of the men who followed Noah’s father. In either case, when God made it to rain so that the water covered the mountains, men would fear that God would destroy the earth that way again. The Lord comforted man by making the promise and causing the rainbow as a sign of that promise.
- Genesis 9:9-17 KJV And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. 11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
We see from the following scriptures that Noah was a preacher of righteousness, and that the people ignored his preaching as if he had said nothing. Noah told the people that God promised rain. If they had never seen rain before, we can understand why they might doubt. Using words we know today, they may have even called him a fool or a conspiracy theorist. Can you imagine the mockery and disbelief as they watched Noah build a boat on dry ground? But the day Noah and the animals entered the ark and shut the door, they may have started to wonder. Finally, when the rain began to fall and the water rose, we can understand how desperately they wished to join Noah and his store of food.
- Matthew 24:37-39 KJV But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
- Luke 17:27 KJV They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
- Hebrews 11:7 KJV By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
- 1 Peter 3:20 KJV Which (the spirits in prison) sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
- 2 Peter 2:5 KJV And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
Did Noah warn the people? We can believe [know] that he was a preacher of righteousness and that he did indeed warn the people that God was going to send a flood to destroy the wicked.
Have men changed? God caused the flood to warn future generations of the coming judgment, but it seems that mankind has not learned this lesson.
- 2 Peter 3:3-6 KJV Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
Whether the world remembers and believes or not, we need to remember and prepare ourselves for that Great Day.
Beth Johnson
MULIEBRAL VIEWPOINT 