These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
Noah was righteous in loving obedience to the law, and blameless in moral wholeness, integrity and untarnished fidelity despite ridicule. In his generations means among his contemporaries in contrast to them, belonging to the few who remained righteous while most were given to evil. He walked with God in close fellowship, harmony and uprightness, so his life was a pleasure to his Creator. The world around him was corrupt before God and filled with violence, with every imagination of the heart only evil continually and iniquity prevailing to pollute it. One hundred and twenty years before the Flood God made known His purpose to destroy the rebellious race and directed Noah to build the ark on dry land while preaching pardon to all who would repent, yet only eight souls entered in. As those days were, so the coming of the Son of man will be, and followers in the last days of sin and corruption are to live as Noah lived, proving that standing for righteousness amid widespread evil is possible.
World Corrupt Before Flood
The earth stood corrupt before God and filled with violence because all flesh had corrupted its way, the wickedness of man was great and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, with iniquity prevailing and polluting the world. Against that surrounding account of human inventions, violence, and forgetting the Lord, Noah belonged to the few who remained righteous, feared and honored the Creator, walked with God in uprightness, and was found righteous and blameless when tested. The coming destruction was God's judgment on that widespread wickedness, and an ark was directed to be built for all who desired to be saved. God's Spirit would not always strive with rebellious flesh, yet He gave one hundred and twenty years of probation, then being grieved at making man determined to destroy man and beast and creeping thing and fowl with the earth. A like corrupt state exists in the world today, where true Bible religion is rare and love of pleasure and satanic amusements deface the moral image of God in man.
Indulgence of appetite inflamed human passions, for the generations with Noah sacrificed health upon lustful appetite and grew more and more self-indulgent. They were intemperate in eating and drinking, demanding flesh meats though God had given no permission to eat animal food, eating and drinking to excess with depraved appetites that knew no bounds, gratifying lusts until their cup of iniquity was full. That intemperance went with abominable idolatry, drunkenness, gluttony and sensual indulgence, and with excess and violence, until moral pollution covered the earth and God cleansed it by a flood. Satan overcame that generation through indulgence of appetite and corrupt passions, making it an example of sin's power to ruin men. More than two thousand years of such indulgence lessened human vital force, weakened energies, brought disease of every type, and caused vigor and glory to pass away, with decay appearing by the third generation from Adam and still more rapid degeneration after the Flood.
Social life disregarded the marriage relation and the rights of property, with violence and crime filling the earth and the cries of the oppressed entering the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Dishonest business practices prevailed, including overvaluing, speculation in lands and mines, robbery, selfish grasping and unfair dealing, confederating to take from God's treasury, cruelty, force, fraud, bankruptcies, and robbery of widows and the fatherless, with strife, war, bloodshed and marital immorality. People bound themselves together in unions and confederacies, with confusion, strife and discord between labor and capital, misuse of power, and force used to compel union, binding themselves in bundles for the burning of the great fires of the last days. That step-by-step return of antediluvian conditions appears especially in crowded cities, amid hypocrisy in the churches, gaiety and pleasure-seeking, eating and drinking that banish meditation, ambition for self-exalting display, every conceivable crime, lust of the flesh, pride of the eyes, and display of selfishness, all the working of satanic agencies which men call life.
The root was spiritual rebellion, for men expelled God from their thoughts, forgot Him, despised His law and trampled His standard of character in the dust. They cast aside all restraint to be free, casting aside the law of God, placing their own intellect above the wisdom of God and refusing to honor Him by serving Him. They followed corrupt imaginations of their own minds and wicked inventions, mingling impurity with truth and keeping a form of godliness without power, until by beholding evil they were changed into its image. Separated from Jehovah they quickly came under Satan's rule, were filled with his character, and carried out his plans by the same self-seeking rebellious principles begun in heaven, becoming corrupt in body and soul, hating the God who made them, arrayed in hostility to Him, selling themselves to do evil and oppressing all who would not agree with their standard. So complete was their licentiousness that they no longer discerned between the pure affections given by God and destructive lusts made sinful by indulgence, and physical suffering from spiritual oppression and the controlling of conscience by human laws began even then.
It was a long-lived giant race standing only a step from paradise, possessing rich gifts from God and strength of body and mind of which men now have but a faint idea, yet using His bounties, strength and skill for selfish purposes, to minister to unlawful appetites and gratify pride. Men, animals and trees were many times larger than any now existing or known for thousands of years, and conditions differed in many respects from the present, with bones, petrified trees, instruments of warfare and other relics buried by the Flood designed to establish faith in inspired history. Fifteen centuries after the sentence upon Cain, the influence and example of Cain and his descendants reached fruition in crime and pollution flooding the earth, and long life proved no blessing to sinners, for God's great forbearance did not repress wickedness and the longer men lived in sin the more bold, defiant, abandoned and corrupt they became. The sentence of death for transgression was thus shown to be both just and merciful, a blessing freeing the world from hardened rebels and a lesson to the whole universe, lest unless rebellion were speedily punished the earth become again as corrupt as in the days of Noah.
People became absorbed in ordinary lawful activities of eating, marrying, buying, selling and building, not sinful in themselves, until carried to excess they crowded out noble thoughts and devotion and men forgot God, leading to depravity, violence and destruction. Youth were trained after the same order as children now, to love excitement, glorify self and follow the imagination of their own evil hearts, with the same result of depravity, cruelty, violence and crime. Bold, familiar, unreserved freedom between men and women was allowed under claim of preserved innocence and virtue, yet led to every species of corruption, as indelicate, dangerous and fatal to the heart now as then. Plays, amusements, horse-races, gaiety, pleasure-seeking, grave immorality and licentiousness like Sodom and Gomorrah prevailed, and as long as Satan lives his constant effort is to make the world as wicked as before the Flood and as licentious as Sodom, requiring watchfulness, turning the eye from vanity, daily prayer, and decided refusal of the first invitation to transgress.
Just and Perfect Meaning
Noah was a just man, that is righteous, loving God and obeying His law, found righteous when tested by the law of God and a Christian by the same New Testament standard of righteousness. Against a world given to human inventions, violence and forgetting the Lord, his life stood as a contrast of faithfulness to God. While the wickedness of man was great and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and while the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence because all flesh had corrupted its way, he remained distinct in close fellowship with God. His life was a pleasure to his Creator, showing that true Christian character and a Christlike character can develop even when the world is unfavorable.
He was perfect in his generations, that is blameless and morally whole, of holy integrity and noble whole-souled fidelity, with character untarnished by surrounding evil. He was meek and faithful despite ridicule, faithful amid a deeply wicked and degenerate age. While sins that brought destruction on that world are present in every age, he is set apart as just, blameless among his generation, and walking with God.
In his generations means among his contemporaries in contrast to them, blameless among the people of his time. While most were given over to evil and the earth was corrupt and filled with violence, he belonged to the few who remained righteous and walked with God in uprightness. He did what was right, feared and honored his Creator, and belonged to a righteous family. What made him and Enoch different from those destroyed by the flood was obedience, for the others walked in the imagination of their own hearts, corrupted their ways, disregarded all God's requirements, separated themselves from Him by disobedience and provoked Him to destroy them, while if they had kept the way of God and obeyed His commandments they too would have been found righteous and received the Lord's commendation.
He was a pious and godly man who ate no flesh before the Flood. He labored amid prevailing corruption with Methuselah and others to keep alive the knowledge of the true God and to hold back the tide of moral evil. He preserved God's law and taught the ten commandments to his descendants. He lived in harmony with Enoch's example and, like Enoch, feared God in all his works, both faithful representatives amid a wicked and degenerate nation and among God's representatives kept since Adam to keep alive heavenly influences, illustrious for spirituality and moral excellence. He stands with Abel, Seth, Enoch and other faithful ancestors whose truth and example were passed from generation to generation by instruction and song so the image of God was engraved on the heart, and his persevering righteousness and faith prove the same Christ at work today has been the Way, the Truth, and the Life since Adam.
Walking With God
Noah walked with God in close fellowship and uprightness, in harmony with Him, set apart as one of the righteous few while the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence because all flesh had corrupted its way. He was just and blameless, morally whole among the people of his time, living righteously in contrast to a world given to human inventions, violence, and forgetting the Lord, where the wickedness of man was great and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. His life was a pleasure to his Creator, showing that true Christian character can develop even when the world is unfavorable and that a Christlike character could be formed despite deeply wicked surroundings. His faith was genuine faith that worked, for he trusted God's warning and built the ark according to God's directions despite ridicule, becoming a faithful witness to the people of his time. He found grace in God's sight because he remained distinct in that degenerate age, even as God's Spirit would not always strive with rebellious flesh yet gave one hundred and twenty years before God, grieved at making man, determined to destroy man and beast and creeping thing and fowl with the earth.
Like Enoch he feared God in all his works and lived in harmony with Enoch's example, both faithful representatives amid a wicked and degenerate nation. He was one of God's representatives kept since the days of Adam to keep alive the influences imparted from heaven, and his persevering righteousness and faith made him a representative man, illustrious for spirituality and moral excellence. With Abel, Seth, Enoch and other faithful men of early history, his truth was carefully treasured and taught to children through instruction and song, passed down from human lips from one generation to another, so that the image of God was engraved upon the heart.
Christ walked with him, giving him light and truth and moral power to obey, and opening before him the future history of this earth's history and the scene of His second coming. Christ was the Way for Noah as for the whole antediluvian church, and the standard of righteousness by which Noah lived and unflinchingly endured the test of his faith is the same standard presented in the New Testament, by which he is called a Christian and a preacher of righteousness. From Eden to the Flood and onward, while crime increased and indulgence of appetite and passion left most men unable to appreciate redemption, there would ever be a few who preserved the knowledge of God and remained morally clean amid prevailing iniquity, with Noah living that faithful life in fellowship with God while Christ continued to care for men and to invite all who would come in faith to find refuge and supply for weakness and need in Him. His life proves the same Christ at work today has been the Way, the Truth, and the Life since Adam.
To be righteous as Noah was righteous means to be pure in thought and in living connection with God, and that connection breaks the power of apostasy and unveils deception, in opposition to Satan who corrupted the world in his day with violence, working through human agents by the same self-seeking, rebellious principles he began in heaven and still uses to energize the world. He walked with God by doing his appointed work in strict accordance with the principles of God's law and therefore needed to feel no fear of defilement, in contrast to the men before the Flood who rejected Christ as the rightful governor and owner of the whole human family. The same contrast applies in all daily labors, in all business transactions, and in all dealing with suffering humanity as physicians, as gospel ministers, and as teachers, where obedience keeps from defilement while some now do just as men did before the Flood.
He pleased God and is held up as a model of righteousness and close fellowship with God, an example of faith, patience, firmness, and moral excellence. The record of how he overcame evil and made good his errors encourages others to do likewise, and God offers salvation to those who rely on His mercy. In the last days in an age of sin and corruption followers of God are to live as Noah lived so they will be a pleasure to God.
Preaching Warning Building Ark
One hundred and twenty years before the Flood God made known His purpose to Noah by a holy angel and directed him to build an immense ark on dry land. While the ark was building Noah was to preach that God would bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy the wicked, and the long period was an extended gracious probation. With his helpers he labored constantly in preparation, and every blow struck upon the ark was itself a warning message, preached all the more earnestly in proportion to the ridicule and scorn thrown upon him. Many believing ones kept the faith and died triumphant before that probation of one hundred and twenty years closed.
He was to warn the people and proclaim pardon and salvation to all who would believe the message and prepare by repentance and reformation. God instructed him to warn while building an ark in which the obedient could find shelter until the indignation of God was overpast, an ark built for those who desired to be saved and for all who would hear and turn from unrighteousness. His work upon the ark showed that he believed the warning he preached, and by obedience he and his helpers were distinguished from the disobedient before judgment came.
He did not labor alone, for with Methuselah and many others he warned and entreated the antediluvians. Enoch had already repeated to his children what God had shown him concerning the Flood, and Methuselah and his sons lived to hear Noah's preaching and assisted in building the ark. His preaching was shared with other faithful workers who labored with him to keep alive the knowledge of the true God and hold back the tide of moral evil, though it was increasingly ignored.
He persevered more than a hundred years in preaching and working, urging repentance even while men regarded him as a fanatic. He trusted God's warning and built as directed despite ridicule, continuing to obey and prepare the ark while he and his helpers were mocked, derided, hated and falsely accused as a crazed alarmist. Talented men left God out of their counsels and talked of science and the laws of nature, holding a carnival over his words, while those who followed their own pleasure mocked the messages sent from heaven and each passing day shortened their own probation.
Many helped to build the ark yet did not believe the warning, cleanse themselves from wrong principles, or overcome conduct contrary to the mind and will of God. Some of the carpenters he employed and others of his converts believed and were converted for a time, but some died before the Flood and others backslid and became scoffers. Only eight souls out of that vast population were saved and lived to enter the ark, Noah and his family, showing that faithfulness does not depend on numbers.
His preaching and the example of building the ark warned, tested, proved and condemned the world, giving men opportunity to repent and turn to God. By the fulfillment of the prophetic warning that all who would not keep the commandments of heaven should drink the waters of the flood, the truth of God's word was exemplified when the rebellious race were swept away and death was their portion.
Flood Judgment and Mercy
God's Spirit would not always strive with rebellious flesh, and grieved at making man He determined to destroy man and beast and creeping thing and fowl with the earth. When the appointed time came He sent rain from heaven and broke up the foundations of the great deep, so that the waters from beneath united with the waters from above and destroyed the inhabitants. The wickedness of man was great and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, while the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence because all flesh had corrupted its way. In mercy and love He first gave the antediluvians a probation of one hundred and twenty years, during which Noah as a preacher of righteousness warned of what was coming while the immense ark was building on dry land, every blow struck upon it being a warning message.
Noah was a literal person who lived, and the Flood was a fact in history. The account stands as inspired, divine words of God that cannot be separated from the New Testament. In Noah's days men, animals and trees were many times larger than any that now exist, with conditions differing in many respects from the present, and those giants with their trees were buried by the Flood and thus preserved as evidence to later generations that the antediluvians perished by a flood. God designed the discovery of bones, petrified trees, instruments of warfare and other relics to establish faith in inspired history, but men turn that benefit into a curse by wrong use when they reason from geology alone, which could never fathom what the history of the Flood explains, that the earth is much older than the Mosaic record teaches and that the days of creation were vast indefinite periods, falling into the same error as the people before the Flood. Human nature in Noah's day without the Spirit of God was the same as human nature now, so the days of Noah and the character of that generation prefigure the present age just before Christ appears in the clouds of heaven.
God cleansed the earth of its moral pollution by a flood because intemperance in eating and drinking, demanding flesh meats without permission, eating and drinking to excess with depraved appetites that knew no bounds, went with abominable idolatry until men became violent and ferocious and so corrupt that He could bear with them no longer and their cup of iniquity was full. The inhabitants transgressed God's law and their wickedness became unbearable to Him, so He determined to purify the world by a flood, and by inspiration of the Spirit the history of the old world shows selfishness and covetousness leading to violence, crime and all kinds of wickedness until He would no longer bear with them but washed the earth of its moral pollution. The rebellious race were swept away by the Flood and death was their portion for not keeping the commandments of heaven, and by that fulfillment of the prophetic warning that all who would not keep heaven's commandments should drink the waters of the flood the truth of God's Word was exemplified. The sentence of death upon the fallen race for transgression of God's law was thus shown to be both just and merciful, and the divine sentence cutting short a career of unbridled iniquity and freeing the world from hardened rebels was a blessing rather than a curse, a lesson to the whole universe.
The coming destruction was God's judgment on widespread wickedness, yet He directed that an ark be built for those who desired to be saved, in which the obedient could find shelter until His indignation was overpast. In that light the Flood was an act of mercy toward the world, with pardon offered during the long probation while Noah, just and blameless among the people of his time and walking with God in uprightness, belonged to the righteous few amid a world given over to evil. God's great forbearance did not repress wickedness, for long life was no blessing to sinners and the longer men lived the more corrupt, bold, defiant and abandoned they became, with the influence and example of Cain and his descendants reaching fruition fifteen centuries after the sentence upon Cain in crime and pollution flooding the earth, so that unless rebellion was speedily punished the same result would come again. His long patience does not make punishment uncertain or less severe, though it delays it, and after Adam and Eve fell and opened the floodgates of woe He still gave humanity the privilege of gaining back God-given manhood and womanhood so the immortal image of God may be restored, while only a few, Noah and his family, believed and were saved in the ark.
God destroyed that world as He destroyed Sodom because transgression of His law filled the earth with wickedness, moral pollution and violence. Their destruction typifies the destruction of the world to come, when men now repeating their sins, with hearts fully set to do evil and advancing from one degree of sinfulness to greater while refusing warnings and rejecting a Thus saith the Lord, will meet His wrath and retributive justice in vindication of His law when the law is fully made void. Latter-day disasters like the flood at Johnstown repeat its lesson, for the Spirit of the Lord is being withdrawn from the earth and the restraining power held over Satan is being withdrawn, so Satan is not prevented from exercising his power and disasters will be of more constant occurrence in flood and flame upon evildoers. The only safety in such calamities is in being wholly on the Lord's side and giving no place to the enemy, for those found on the enemy's side will perish with the wicked in the plagues allowed to come upon men and beasts, even as only eight souls out of that vast population were saved.
Last Days Parallel
The days of Noah and the character of that generation prefigure the present age just before Christ appears in the clouds of heaven, for human nature without the Spirit of God then is the same as human nature now. As the days of Noah were so shall the coming of the Son of man be, with people absorbed in excitement and violence as they face destruction. God looks upon the world today just as He looked upon it in Noah's time and sends His messages to people now as He sent them then, because the wickedness of the world before the Flood is being repeated in this age. The world is fast becoming like that wicked time again and will very soon be ripe for destruction, so those who believe Christ is soon coming must now take their stand fully on the Lord's side with God's loyal people. The same sins that existed then exist now in the last days, even among some who profess present truth, and the world is almost ripe for destruction.
The inspired history of the old world is to be read, understood, and kept before the mind as food for souls ready to perish and as warning alongside wars and rumors of wars and nation rising against nation, showing the signs of Christ's coming are fulfilling. That history shows selfishness and covetousness leading to violence, crime, and all kinds of wickedness, until the wickedness of men became so great that God would no longer bear with them but by a flood washed the earth of its moral pollution. Noah found grace in God's sight because he was righteous and blameless among his contemporaries and lived in close fellowship with God, remaining distinct while the wickedness of man was great and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, while the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence because all flesh had corrupted its way. God's Spirit would not always strive with rebellious flesh, yet gave one hundred and twenty years, then grieved at making man and determined to destroy man and beast and creeping thing and fowl with the earth. A similar corrupt state exists in the world today, with true Bible religion rare and love of pleasure and satanic amusements defacing the moral image of God in man.
The world step by step is reaching again the conditions amid which Noah was just and perfect and walked with God, especially in crowded cities. Those conditions are confusion, strife and discord between labor and capital, hypocrisy in the churches, a round of gaiety and pleasure-seeking and eating and drinking that keeps men from meditation, ambition to make a self-exalting exhibition, every conceivable crime, lust of the flesh and pride of the eyes, display of selfishness, misuse of power, cruelty, and force used to cause men to unite with confederacies and unions, binding themselves in bundles for the burning of the great fires of the last days, all the working of satanic agencies which men call life. The influences that prevailed before the Flood were disregard for God and His law, love of pleasure, selfish gratification, pride and vanity, immorality, and disregard for the rights of the weak and helpless, and the same principles are at work at the present time, surrounding the youth educated in large cities, which are fast becoming hotbeds of iniquity. Modern cities are growing to be the same as the earth before the Flood, which grew more and more corrupt in the same way as Sodom and was preparing for destruction, and as Sodom, preparing for the fate of Sodom. Therefore those crowded into the cities need to get land in places far from the cities where they can cultivate the soil.
That corruption was shown by the wickedness revealed in San Francisco and Oakland, marking an age of men determined to carry out their own plans regardless of others, destroying property and attempting to destroy life, with social order breaking down and human minds unable to determine the end. God brings the perplexities of these social problems to notice to show the evil of seeking to carry out human way and will, for the natural man needs to be converted and the Spirit of God needs to operate upon human hearts, because weakness comes from being self-sufficient instead of depending upon God. The binding together of people in unions and confederacies in the present day has its precedent in the conditions before the Flood in Noah's time, when Noah was a just man who walked with God. That binding spirit then as in the great cities in the last days meant men ruling over other men and demanding much of them. The same binding up in unions that exists now existed in Noah's day, but the corrupt transactions now carried on in the selection of officers to govern the people go beyond anything before, and those who occupy the highest positions in governments show how little confidence God can place in their rulership.
The evils before the Flood are compared with political strife, bribery, fraud, and violence in the present, warning that such corruption is not new. The inhabitants of the old world disobeyed God's law and their wickedness became unbearable to Him, so He determined to purify the world by a flood, yet in mercy and love He gave the antediluvians a probation of one hundred and twenty years during which while the ark was building Noah with Methuselah and many others warned and entreated, every blow struck on the ark being a warning message, and all who refused to repent perished. That past is now repeating as God sends plain warnings and His judgments already fall in flood and flame upon evildoers. Latter-day disasters like the flood at Johnstown repeat the lesson of the first flood that came upon a wicked world. The Spirit of the Lord is being withdrawn from the earth and the restraining power held over Satan is being withdrawn, so Satan is not prevented from exercising his power over the inhabitants of the world and disasters will be of more constant occurrence.
The only safety in such calamities is in being wholly on the Lord's side, giving no place to the enemy, for those found on the enemy's side will perish with the wicked in the plagues the Lord allows Satan to bring upon men and beasts. In Noah's day people placed their own intellect above the wisdom of God and did not honor God by serving Him. Separated from Jehovah, they quickly came under Satan's rule, were filled with his character, and carried out his plans by the same principles he used in his rebellion in heaven. Their actions built a state of things founded on false, godless principles, until the fear of God was almost gone. They sold themselves to do evil and oppressed everyone who did not agree with their standard, and physical suffering from spiritual oppression and the controlling of conscience by human laws began in the days before the Flood.
Satan corrupted the world in Noah's day with violence, working through human agents by the same self-seeking, rebellious principles he began in heaven. By that same policy-working he deceives and corrupts the whole world from beginning to ending, still energizing the world with the violence he used then. To be righteous as Noah was righteous means to be pure in thought and in living connection with God, and that connection breaks the power of apostasy and unveils deception. As long as Satan lives his constant and untiring effort is to make the world as wicked as before the Flood and as licentious as the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. So watchfulness and vigilance, turning the eye from vanity, daily prayer to preserve the heart from evil desires and strengthen the soul to resist temptation, and decided refusal of the first invitation to transgress are needed now.
Living Like Noah Today
Noah was righteous and blameless in his time and lived in close fellowship with God amid the corruption of a degenerate and wicked age, and his life was a pleasure to his Creator. True Christian character can develop even when the world is unfavorable, and in the last days in an age of sin and corruption followers of God are to live as Noah lived so they will be a pleasure to God. Standing for righteousness and truth is possible even amid widespread evil when selfishness, violence and crime prevail, as his generation's wickedness ending in the Flood shows. He was righteous in his generation and walked with God by faith, maintaining integrity against great odds in a time no more favorable to the formation of righteous character than the present time, and his steadfast integrity remains an encouragement to all who follow the Lord till the end of time.
His faith was genuine faith that worked, for he trusted God's warning and built the ark according to God's directions despite ridicule, becoming a faithful witness to the people of his time. His work on the ark showed that he believed the warning he was chosen to preach of coming destruction. He and his household trusted God's word and stood against the men of their time, who were physically and mentally powerful but deeply immoral, showing that faith in God's word can withstand the power of an entire society. He kept reaching greater and still greater heights of faith, honoring God by faith proved by works.
Widespread wrongdoing does not excuse abandoning obedience to God, for even when corruption was nearly universal each person must take a clear position for God when tested. In the corrupt and violent world around him he remained faithful, meek and righteous, standing firm as God's witness despite ridicule and rejection. The majority may reject warning and only a few be saved as in the flood in which the world perished, showing that faithfulness to God does not depend on numbers. Surrounded by enemies of God and of the truth, the same surrounding God's people face now, he stood on the side of Christ amid severe tests, and every soul on that side will meet severe tests and needs to be stored with knowledge of Bible truth. He is an example of someone who pleased God and could represent Him amid a corrupt age, and salvation is offered to those who rely on His mercy.
He stood in noble, whole-souled fidelity to God with character untarnished by the evil around him, standing in defense of the truth, warning and entreating others and showing his faith by his works, and in this he was a saviour of men. Standing true to his trust exposed him to hatred and reproach and false accusations meant to drag him from his high position, but with his foundation upon the Rock he remained unmoved, rebuking sin and love of pleasure by his own moral rectitude and circumspect life. Faithful sentinels are to stand in the same way at their chosen post of duty, warning, entreating and rebuking sin and pleasure lovers by moral rectitude and circumspect conversation, remaining unmoved despite hatred, reproach, enmity and false accusations, and becoming saviours of men.
In contrast to the evils before the Flood of deciding to ignore truth and righteousness to follow the imagination of evil hearts, a course on which no one will enter heaven, those who will be saved see the necessity of having the new life formed within to be like Christ in character, contending for the faith once delivered to the saints as those who live godly in Christ Jesus. The just man by grace guards his soul against the first tinge of unfairness and the first approach to the unjust, dishonest and ungodly practices of his generations, such as robbery of God, confederating to take from His treasury, selfish grasping, accepting large remuneration for one's own work while restricting others and denying them opportunities and means to labor, and every form of unfairness in deal and worldly policy. By doing appointed work in strict accordance with the principles of God's law he needed to feel no fear of defilement, in contrast to those who rejected Christ as rightful governor and owner, and the same contrast applies in all daily labors, business transactions and dealing with suffering humanity as physicians, gospel ministers and teachers, where obedience keeps from defilement. Since the days when he was just and walked with God were marked by strife and war and bloodshed and wickedness of every kind, and the world rapidly nearing the end is becoming the same, Christians must not war among themselves but hold the one interest of advancing God's kingdom in unity, speaking the same thing with no divisions and being perfectly joined in mind and judgment to reveal Christ's purity and love.
The setting of his time underscores the need for faithful people to guard those entrusted to their care and seek the Lord wholeheartedly, rather than lead others toward worldly customs and selfish gratification, teaching undivided service to God and preserving right principles in God's work. God alone can keep people from the widespread pollution of the last days when the world is nearing a fullness of the same crime and corruption described before the flood. The sins of his day exist in the present as well, supporting a call to reform, self-denial and temperance. When selfishness, violence and crime prevailed from excessive indulgence of appetites and passions, and the same from indulged appetite prevails as history closes, reform in habits of life is needed to fit a people for the coming of Christ, keeping the brain clear and the body as free as possible from disease.
That age was marked by men determined to carry out their own plans regardless of others, destroying property and attempting to destroy life, with social order breaking down and human minds unable to determine the end, as now shown by the wickedness revealed in San Francisco and Oakland, and God brings these perplexities to notice to show the evil of seeking to carry out human way and will. The natural man needs to be converted and the Spirit of God needs to operate upon human hearts, because weakness comes from being self-sufficient instead of depending upon God. Latter-day disasters like the flood at Johnstown repeat the lesson of the first flood upon a wicked world, for the Spirit of the Lord is being withdrawn and the restraining power held over Satan is being withdrawn so disasters will be of more constant occurrence. The only safety in such calamities is in being wholly on the Lord's side, giving no place to the enemy, for those found on the enemy's side will perish with the wicked in the plagues allowed upon men and beasts. Hearts fully set to do evil in deep and increasingly strong enmity and hatred to God, with depraved hearts trampling His law as in the old world, now fill the mass of humanity, with centuries ripening the harvest for the sickle beyond the bounds prescribed by God and the limits of His grace, so that punishing interference must come as it came then.
Noah was righteous in loving obedience to the law, and blameless in moral wholeness, integrity and untarnished fidelity despite ridicule. In his generations means among his contemporaries in contrast to them, belonging to the few who remained righteous while most were given to evil. He walked with God in close fellowship, harmony and uprightness, so his life was a pleasure to his Creator. The world around him was corrupt before God and filled with violence, with every imagination of the heart only evil continually and iniquity prevailing to pollute it. One hundred and twenty years before the Flood God made known His purpose to destroy the rebellious race and directed Noah to build the ark on dry land while preaching pardon to all who would repent, yet only eight souls entered in. As those days were, so the coming of the Son of man will be, and followers in the last days of sin and corruption are to live as Noah lived, proving that standing for righteousness amid widespread evil is possible.
World Corrupt Before Flood
The earth stood corrupt before God and filled with violence because all flesh had corrupted its way, the wickedness of man was great and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, with iniquity prevailing and polluting the world. Against that surrounding account of human inventions, violence, and forgetting the Lord, Noah belonged to the few who remained righteous, feared and honored the Creator, walked with God in uprightness, and was found righteous and blameless when tested. The coming destruction was God's judgment on that widespread wickedness, and an ark was directed to be built for all who desired to be saved. God's Spirit would not always strive with rebellious flesh, yet He gave one hundred and twenty years of probation, then being grieved at making man determined to destroy man and beast and creeping thing and fowl with the earth. A like corrupt state exists in the world today, where true Bible religion is rare and love of pleasure and satanic amusements deface the moral image of God in man.
Indulgence of appetite inflamed human passions, for the generations with Noah sacrificed health upon lustful appetite and grew more and more self-indulgent. They were intemperate in eating and drinking, demanding flesh meats though God had given no permission to eat animal food, eating and drinking to excess with depraved appetites that knew no bounds, gratifying lusts until their cup of iniquity was full. That intemperance went with abominable idolatry, drunkenness, gluttony and sensual indulgence, and with excess and violence, until moral pollution covered the earth and God cleansed it by a flood. Satan overcame that generation through indulgence of appetite and corrupt passions, making it an example of sin's power to ruin men. More than two thousand years of such indulgence lessened human vital force, weakened energies, brought disease of every type, and caused vigor and glory to pass away, with decay appearing by the third generation from Adam and still more rapid degeneration after the Flood.
Social life disregarded the marriage relation and the rights of property, with violence and crime filling the earth and the cries of the oppressed entering the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Dishonest business practices prevailed, including overvaluing, speculation in lands and mines, robbery, selfish grasping and unfair dealing, confederating to take from God's treasury, cruelty, force, fraud, bankruptcies, and robbery of widows and the fatherless, with strife, war, bloodshed and marital immorality. People bound themselves together in unions and confederacies, with confusion, strife and discord between labor and capital, misuse of power, and force used to compel union, binding themselves in bundles for the burning of the great fires of the last days. That step-by-step return of antediluvian conditions appears especially in crowded cities, amid hypocrisy in the churches, gaiety and pleasure-seeking, eating and drinking that banish meditation, ambition for self-exalting display, every conceivable crime, lust of the flesh, pride of the eyes, and display of selfishness, all the working of satanic agencies which men call life.
The root was spiritual rebellion, for men expelled God from their thoughts, forgot Him, despised His law and trampled His standard of character in the dust. They cast aside all restraint to be free, casting aside the law of God, placing their own intellect above the wisdom of God and refusing to honor Him by serving Him. They followed corrupt imaginations of their own minds and wicked inventions, mingling impurity with truth and keeping a form of godliness without power, until by beholding evil they were changed into its image. Separated from Jehovah they quickly came under Satan's rule, were filled with his character, and carried out his plans by the same self-seeking rebellious principles begun in heaven, becoming corrupt in body and soul, hating the God who made them, arrayed in hostility to Him, selling themselves to do evil and oppressing all who would not agree with their standard. So complete was their licentiousness that they no longer discerned between the pure affections given by God and destructive lusts made sinful by indulgence, and physical suffering from spiritual oppression and the controlling of conscience by human laws began even then.
It was a long-lived giant race standing only a step from paradise, possessing rich gifts from God and strength of body and mind of which men now have but a faint idea, yet using His bounties, strength and skill for selfish purposes, to minister to unlawful appetites and gratify pride. Men, animals and trees were many times larger than any now existing or known for thousands of years, and conditions differed in many respects from the present, with bones, petrified trees, instruments of warfare and other relics buried by the Flood designed to establish faith in inspired history. Fifteen centuries after the sentence upon Cain, the influence and example of Cain and his descendants reached fruition in crime and pollution flooding the earth, and long life proved no blessing to sinners, for God's great forbearance did not repress wickedness and the longer men lived in sin the more bold, defiant, abandoned and corrupt they became. The sentence of death for transgression was thus shown to be both just and merciful, a blessing freeing the world from hardened rebels and a lesson to the whole universe, lest unless rebellion were speedily punished the earth become again as corrupt as in the days of Noah.
People became absorbed in ordinary lawful activities of eating, marrying, buying, selling and building, not sinful in themselves, until carried to excess they crowded out noble thoughts and devotion and men forgot God, leading to depravity, violence and destruction. Youth were trained after the same order as children now, to love excitement, glorify self and follow the imagination of their own evil hearts, with the same result of depravity, cruelty, violence and crime. Bold, familiar, unreserved freedom between men and women was allowed under claim of preserved innocence and virtue, yet led to every species of corruption, as indelicate, dangerous and fatal to the heart now as then. Plays, amusements, horse-races, gaiety, pleasure-seeking, grave immorality and licentiousness like Sodom and Gomorrah prevailed, and as long as Satan lives his constant effort is to make the world as wicked as before the Flood and as licentious as Sodom, requiring watchfulness, turning the eye from vanity, daily prayer, and decided refusal of the first invitation to transgress.
Just and Perfect Meaning
Noah was a just man, that is righteous, loving God and obeying His law, found righteous when tested by the law of God and a Christian by the same New Testament standard of righteousness. Against a world given to human inventions, violence and forgetting the Lord, his life stood as a contrast of faithfulness to God. While the wickedness of man was great and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and while the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence because all flesh had corrupted its way, he remained distinct in close fellowship with God. His life was a pleasure to his Creator, showing that true Christian character and a Christlike character can develop even when the world is unfavorable.
He was perfect in his generations, that is blameless and morally whole, of holy integrity and noble whole-souled fidelity, with character untarnished by surrounding evil. He was meek and faithful despite ridicule, faithful amid a deeply wicked and degenerate age. While sins that brought destruction on that world are present in every age, he is set apart as just, blameless among his generation, and walking with God.
In his generations means among his contemporaries in contrast to them, blameless among the people of his time. While most were given over to evil and the earth was corrupt and filled with violence, he belonged to the few who remained righteous and walked with God in uprightness. He did what was right, feared and honored his Creator, and belonged to a righteous family. What made him and Enoch different from those destroyed by the flood was obedience, for the others walked in the imagination of their own hearts, corrupted their ways, disregarded all God's requirements, separated themselves from Him by disobedience and provoked Him to destroy them, while if they had kept the way of God and obeyed His commandments they too would have been found righteous and received the Lord's commendation.
He was a pious and godly man who ate no flesh before the Flood. He labored amid prevailing corruption with Methuselah and others to keep alive the knowledge of the true God and to hold back the tide of moral evil. He preserved God's law and taught the ten commandments to his descendants. He lived in harmony with Enoch's example and, like Enoch, feared God in all his works, both faithful representatives amid a wicked and degenerate nation and among God's representatives kept since Adam to keep alive heavenly influences, illustrious for spirituality and moral excellence. He stands with Abel, Seth, Enoch and other faithful ancestors whose truth and example were passed from generation to generation by instruction and song so the image of God was engraved on the heart, and his persevering righteousness and faith prove the same Christ at work today has been the Way, the Truth, and the Life since Adam.
Walking With God
Noah walked with God in close fellowship and uprightness, in harmony with Him, set apart as one of the righteous few while the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence because all flesh had corrupted its way. He was just and blameless, morally whole among the people of his time, living righteously in contrast to a world given to human inventions, violence, and forgetting the Lord, where the wickedness of man was great and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. His life was a pleasure to his Creator, showing that true Christian character can develop even when the world is unfavorable and that a Christlike character could be formed despite deeply wicked surroundings. His faith was genuine faith that worked, for he trusted God's warning and built the ark according to God's directions despite ridicule, becoming a faithful witness to the people of his time. He found grace in God's sight because he remained distinct in that degenerate age, even as God's Spirit would not always strive with rebellious flesh yet gave one hundred and twenty years before God, grieved at making man, determined to destroy man and beast and creeping thing and fowl with the earth.
Like Enoch he feared God in all his works and lived in harmony with Enoch's example, both faithful representatives amid a wicked and degenerate nation. He was one of God's representatives kept since the days of Adam to keep alive the influences imparted from heaven, and his persevering righteousness and faith made him a representative man, illustrious for spirituality and moral excellence. With Abel, Seth, Enoch and other faithful men of early history, his truth was carefully treasured and taught to children through instruction and song, passed down from human lips from one generation to another, so that the image of God was engraved upon the heart.
Christ walked with him, giving him light and truth and moral power to obey, and opening before him the future history of this earth's history and the scene of His second coming. Christ was the Way for Noah as for the whole antediluvian church, and the standard of righteousness by which Noah lived and unflinchingly endured the test of his faith is the same standard presented in the New Testament, by which he is called a Christian and a preacher of righteousness. From Eden to the Flood and onward, while crime increased and indulgence of appetite and passion left most men unable to appreciate redemption, there would ever be a few who preserved the knowledge of God and remained morally clean amid prevailing iniquity, with Noah living that faithful life in fellowship with God while Christ continued to care for men and to invite all who would come in faith to find refuge and supply for weakness and need in Him. His life proves the same Christ at work today has been the Way, the Truth, and the Life since Adam.
To be righteous as Noah was righteous means to be pure in thought and in living connection with God, and that connection breaks the power of apostasy and unveils deception, in opposition to Satan who corrupted the world in his day with violence, working through human agents by the same self-seeking, rebellious principles he began in heaven and still uses to energize the world. He walked with God by doing his appointed work in strict accordance with the principles of God's law and therefore needed to feel no fear of defilement, in contrast to the men before the Flood who rejected Christ as the rightful governor and owner of the whole human family. The same contrast applies in all daily labors, in all business transactions, and in all dealing with suffering humanity as physicians, as gospel ministers, and as teachers, where obedience keeps from defilement while some now do just as men did before the Flood.
He pleased God and is held up as a model of righteousness and close fellowship with God, an example of faith, patience, firmness, and moral excellence. The record of how he overcame evil and made good his errors encourages others to do likewise, and God offers salvation to those who rely on His mercy. In the last days in an age of sin and corruption followers of God are to live as Noah lived so they will be a pleasure to God.
Preaching Warning Building Ark
One hundred and twenty years before the Flood God made known His purpose to Noah by a holy angel and directed him to build an immense ark on dry land. While the ark was building Noah was to preach that God would bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy the wicked, and the long period was an extended gracious probation. With his helpers he labored constantly in preparation, and every blow struck upon the ark was itself a warning message, preached all the more earnestly in proportion to the ridicule and scorn thrown upon him. Many believing ones kept the faith and died triumphant before that probation of one hundred and twenty years closed.
He was to warn the people and proclaim pardon and salvation to all who would believe the message and prepare by repentance and reformation. God instructed him to warn while building an ark in which the obedient could find shelter until the indignation of God was overpast, an ark built for those who desired to be saved and for all who would hear and turn from unrighteousness. His work upon the ark showed that he believed the warning he preached, and by obedience he and his helpers were distinguished from the disobedient before judgment came.
He did not labor alone, for with Methuselah and many others he warned and entreated the antediluvians. Enoch had already repeated to his children what God had shown him concerning the Flood, and Methuselah and his sons lived to hear Noah's preaching and assisted in building the ark. His preaching was shared with other faithful workers who labored with him to keep alive the knowledge of the true God and hold back the tide of moral evil, though it was increasingly ignored.
He persevered more than a hundred years in preaching and working, urging repentance even while men regarded him as a fanatic. He trusted God's warning and built as directed despite ridicule, continuing to obey and prepare the ark while he and his helpers were mocked, derided, hated and falsely accused as a crazed alarmist. Talented men left God out of their counsels and talked of science and the laws of nature, holding a carnival over his words, while those who followed their own pleasure mocked the messages sent from heaven and each passing day shortened their own probation.
Many helped to build the ark yet did not believe the warning, cleanse themselves from wrong principles, or overcome conduct contrary to the mind and will of God. Some of the carpenters he employed and others of his converts believed and were converted for a time, but some died before the Flood and others backslid and became scoffers. Only eight souls out of that vast population were saved and lived to enter the ark, Noah and his family, showing that faithfulness does not depend on numbers.
His preaching and the example of building the ark warned, tested, proved and condemned the world, giving men opportunity to repent and turn to God. By the fulfillment of the prophetic warning that all who would not keep the commandments of heaven should drink the waters of the flood, the truth of God's word was exemplified when the rebellious race were swept away and death was their portion.
Flood Judgment and Mercy
God's Spirit would not always strive with rebellious flesh, and grieved at making man He determined to destroy man and beast and creeping thing and fowl with the earth. When the appointed time came He sent rain from heaven and broke up the foundations of the great deep, so that the waters from beneath united with the waters from above and destroyed the inhabitants. The wickedness of man was great and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, while the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence because all flesh had corrupted its way. In mercy and love He first gave the antediluvians a probation of one hundred and twenty years, during which Noah as a preacher of righteousness warned of what was coming while the immense ark was building on dry land, every blow struck upon it being a warning message.
Noah was a literal person who lived, and the Flood was a fact in history. The account stands as inspired, divine words of God that cannot be separated from the New Testament. In Noah's days men, animals and trees were many times larger than any that now exist, with conditions differing in many respects from the present, and those giants with their trees were buried by the Flood and thus preserved as evidence to later generations that the antediluvians perished by a flood. God designed the discovery of bones, petrified trees, instruments of warfare and other relics to establish faith in inspired history, but men turn that benefit into a curse by wrong use when they reason from geology alone, which could never fathom what the history of the Flood explains, that the earth is much older than the Mosaic record teaches and that the days of creation were vast indefinite periods, falling into the same error as the people before the Flood. Human nature in Noah's day without the Spirit of God was the same as human nature now, so the days of Noah and the character of that generation prefigure the present age just before Christ appears in the clouds of heaven.
God cleansed the earth of its moral pollution by a flood because intemperance in eating and drinking, demanding flesh meats without permission, eating and drinking to excess with depraved appetites that knew no bounds, went with abominable idolatry until men became violent and ferocious and so corrupt that He could bear with them no longer and their cup of iniquity was full. The inhabitants transgressed God's law and their wickedness became unbearable to Him, so He determined to purify the world by a flood, and by inspiration of the Spirit the history of the old world shows selfishness and covetousness leading to violence, crime and all kinds of wickedness until He would no longer bear with them but washed the earth of its moral pollution. The rebellious race were swept away by the Flood and death was their portion for not keeping the commandments of heaven, and by that fulfillment of the prophetic warning that all who would not keep heaven's commandments should drink the waters of the flood the truth of God's Word was exemplified. The sentence of death upon the fallen race for transgression of God's law was thus shown to be both just and merciful, and the divine sentence cutting short a career of unbridled iniquity and freeing the world from hardened rebels was a blessing rather than a curse, a lesson to the whole universe.
The coming destruction was God's judgment on widespread wickedness, yet He directed that an ark be built for those who desired to be saved, in which the obedient could find shelter until His indignation was overpast. In that light the Flood was an act of mercy toward the world, with pardon offered during the long probation while Noah, just and blameless among the people of his time and walking with God in uprightness, belonged to the righteous few amid a world given over to evil. God's great forbearance did not repress wickedness, for long life was no blessing to sinners and the longer men lived the more corrupt, bold, defiant and abandoned they became, with the influence and example of Cain and his descendants reaching fruition fifteen centuries after the sentence upon Cain in crime and pollution flooding the earth, so that unless rebellion was speedily punished the same result would come again. His long patience does not make punishment uncertain or less severe, though it delays it, and after Adam and Eve fell and opened the floodgates of woe He still gave humanity the privilege of gaining back God-given manhood and womanhood so the immortal image of God may be restored, while only a few, Noah and his family, believed and were saved in the ark.
God destroyed that world as He destroyed Sodom because transgression of His law filled the earth with wickedness, moral pollution and violence. Their destruction typifies the destruction of the world to come, when men now repeating their sins, with hearts fully set to do evil and advancing from one degree of sinfulness to greater while refusing warnings and rejecting a Thus saith the Lord, will meet His wrath and retributive justice in vindication of His law when the law is fully made void. Latter-day disasters like the flood at Johnstown repeat its lesson, for the Spirit of the Lord is being withdrawn from the earth and the restraining power held over Satan is being withdrawn, so Satan is not prevented from exercising his power and disasters will be of more constant occurrence in flood and flame upon evildoers. The only safety in such calamities is in being wholly on the Lord's side and giving no place to the enemy, for those found on the enemy's side will perish with the wicked in the plagues allowed to come upon men and beasts, even as only eight souls out of that vast population were saved.
Last Days Parallel
The days of Noah and the character of that generation prefigure the present age just before Christ appears in the clouds of heaven, for human nature without the Spirit of God then is the same as human nature now. As the days of Noah were so shall the coming of the Son of man be, with people absorbed in excitement and violence as they face destruction. God looks upon the world today just as He looked upon it in Noah's time and sends His messages to people now as He sent them then, because the wickedness of the world before the Flood is being repeated in this age. The world is fast becoming like that wicked time again and will very soon be ripe for destruction, so those who believe Christ is soon coming must now take their stand fully on the Lord's side with God's loyal people. The same sins that existed then exist now in the last days, even among some who profess present truth, and the world is almost ripe for destruction.
The inspired history of the old world is to be read, understood, and kept before the mind as food for souls ready to perish and as warning alongside wars and rumors of wars and nation rising against nation, showing the signs of Christ's coming are fulfilling. That history shows selfishness and covetousness leading to violence, crime, and all kinds of wickedness, until the wickedness of men became so great that God would no longer bear with them but by a flood washed the earth of its moral pollution. Noah found grace in God's sight because he was righteous and blameless among his contemporaries and lived in close fellowship with God, remaining distinct while the wickedness of man was great and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, while the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence because all flesh had corrupted its way. God's Spirit would not always strive with rebellious flesh, yet gave one hundred and twenty years, then grieved at making man and determined to destroy man and beast and creeping thing and fowl with the earth. A similar corrupt state exists in the world today, with true Bible religion rare and love of pleasure and satanic amusements defacing the moral image of God in man.
The world step by step is reaching again the conditions amid which Noah was just and perfect and walked with God, especially in crowded cities. Those conditions are confusion, strife and discord between labor and capital, hypocrisy in the churches, a round of gaiety and pleasure-seeking and eating and drinking that keeps men from meditation, ambition to make a self-exalting exhibition, every conceivable crime, lust of the flesh and pride of the eyes, display of selfishness, misuse of power, cruelty, and force used to cause men to unite with confederacies and unions, binding themselves in bundles for the burning of the great fires of the last days, all the working of satanic agencies which men call life. The influences that prevailed before the Flood were disregard for God and His law, love of pleasure, selfish gratification, pride and vanity, immorality, and disregard for the rights of the weak and helpless, and the same principles are at work at the present time, surrounding the youth educated in large cities, which are fast becoming hotbeds of iniquity. Modern cities are growing to be the same as the earth before the Flood, which grew more and more corrupt in the same way as Sodom and was preparing for destruction, and as Sodom, preparing for the fate of Sodom. Therefore those crowded into the cities need to get land in places far from the cities where they can cultivate the soil.
That corruption was shown by the wickedness revealed in San Francisco and Oakland, marking an age of men determined to carry out their own plans regardless of others, destroying property and attempting to destroy life, with social order breaking down and human minds unable to determine the end. God brings the perplexities of these social problems to notice to show the evil of seeking to carry out human way and will, for the natural man needs to be converted and the Spirit of God needs to operate upon human hearts, because weakness comes from being self-sufficient instead of depending upon God. The binding together of people in unions and confederacies in the present day has its precedent in the conditions before the Flood in Noah's time, when Noah was a just man who walked with God. That binding spirit then as in the great cities in the last days meant men ruling over other men and demanding much of them. The same binding up in unions that exists now existed in Noah's day, but the corrupt transactions now carried on in the selection of officers to govern the people go beyond anything before, and those who occupy the highest positions in governments show how little confidence God can place in their rulership.
The evils before the Flood are compared with political strife, bribery, fraud, and violence in the present, warning that such corruption is not new. The inhabitants of the old world disobeyed God's law and their wickedness became unbearable to Him, so He determined to purify the world by a flood, yet in mercy and love He gave the antediluvians a probation of one hundred and twenty years during which while the ark was building Noah with Methuselah and many others warned and entreated, every blow struck on the ark being a warning message, and all who refused to repent perished. That past is now repeating as God sends plain warnings and His judgments already fall in flood and flame upon evildoers. Latter-day disasters like the flood at Johnstown repeat the lesson of the first flood that came upon a wicked world. The Spirit of the Lord is being withdrawn from the earth and the restraining power held over Satan is being withdrawn, so Satan is not prevented from exercising his power over the inhabitants of the world and disasters will be of more constant occurrence.
The only safety in such calamities is in being wholly on the Lord's side, giving no place to the enemy, for those found on the enemy's side will perish with the wicked in the plagues the Lord allows Satan to bring upon men and beasts. In Noah's day people placed their own intellect above the wisdom of God and did not honor God by serving Him. Separated from Jehovah, they quickly came under Satan's rule, were filled with his character, and carried out his plans by the same principles he used in his rebellion in heaven. Their actions built a state of things founded on false, godless principles, until the fear of God was almost gone. They sold themselves to do evil and oppressed everyone who did not agree with their standard, and physical suffering from spiritual oppression and the controlling of conscience by human laws began in the days before the Flood.
Satan corrupted the world in Noah's day with violence, working through human agents by the same self-seeking, rebellious principles he began in heaven. By that same policy-working he deceives and corrupts the whole world from beginning to ending, still energizing the world with the violence he used then. To be righteous as Noah was righteous means to be pure in thought and in living connection with God, and that connection breaks the power of apostasy and unveils deception. As long as Satan lives his constant and untiring effort is to make the world as wicked as before the Flood and as licentious as the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. So watchfulness and vigilance, turning the eye from vanity, daily prayer to preserve the heart from evil desires and strengthen the soul to resist temptation, and decided refusal of the first invitation to transgress are needed now.
Living Like Noah Today
Noah was righteous and blameless in his time and lived in close fellowship with God amid the corruption of a degenerate and wicked age, and his life was a pleasure to his Creator. True Christian character can develop even when the world is unfavorable, and in the last days in an age of sin and corruption followers of God are to live as Noah lived so they will be a pleasure to God. Standing for righteousness and truth is possible even amid widespread evil when selfishness, violence and crime prevail, as his generation's wickedness ending in the Flood shows. He was righteous in his generation and walked with God by faith, maintaining integrity against great odds in a time no more favorable to the formation of righteous character than the present time, and his steadfast integrity remains an encouragement to all who follow the Lord till the end of time.
His faith was genuine faith that worked, for he trusted God's warning and built the ark according to God's directions despite ridicule, becoming a faithful witness to the people of his time. His work on the ark showed that he believed the warning he was chosen to preach of coming destruction. He and his household trusted God's word and stood against the men of their time, who were physically and mentally powerful but deeply immoral, showing that faith in God's word can withstand the power of an entire society. He kept reaching greater and still greater heights of faith, honoring God by faith proved by works.
Widespread wrongdoing does not excuse abandoning obedience to God, for even when corruption was nearly universal each person must take a clear position for God when tested. In the corrupt and violent world around him he remained faithful, meek and righteous, standing firm as God's witness despite ridicule and rejection. The majority may reject warning and only a few be saved as in the flood in which the world perished, showing that faithfulness to God does not depend on numbers. Surrounded by enemies of God and of the truth, the same surrounding God's people face now, he stood on the side of Christ amid severe tests, and every soul on that side will meet severe tests and needs to be stored with knowledge of Bible truth. He is an example of someone who pleased God and could represent Him amid a corrupt age, and salvation is offered to those who rely on His mercy.
He stood in noble, whole-souled fidelity to God with character untarnished by the evil around him, standing in defense of the truth, warning and entreating others and showing his faith by his works, and in this he was a saviour of men. Standing true to his trust exposed him to hatred and reproach and false accusations meant to drag him from his high position, but with his foundation upon the Rock he remained unmoved, rebuking sin and love of pleasure by his own moral rectitude and circumspect life. Faithful sentinels are to stand in the same way at their chosen post of duty, warning, entreating and rebuking sin and pleasure lovers by moral rectitude and circumspect conversation, remaining unmoved despite hatred, reproach, enmity and false accusations, and becoming saviours of men.
In contrast to the evils before the Flood of deciding to ignore truth and righteousness to follow the imagination of evil hearts, a course on which no one will enter heaven, those who will be saved see the necessity of having the new life formed within to be like Christ in character, contending for the faith once delivered to the saints as those who live godly in Christ Jesus. The just man by grace guards his soul against the first tinge of unfairness and the first approach to the unjust, dishonest and ungodly practices of his generations, such as robbery of God, confederating to take from His treasury, selfish grasping, accepting large remuneration for one's own work while restricting others and denying them opportunities and means to labor, and every form of unfairness in deal and worldly policy. By doing appointed work in strict accordance with the principles of God's law he needed to feel no fear of defilement, in contrast to those who rejected Christ as rightful governor and owner, and the same contrast applies in all daily labors, business transactions and dealing with suffering humanity as physicians, gospel ministers and teachers, where obedience keeps from defilement. Since the days when he was just and walked with God were marked by strife and war and bloodshed and wickedness of every kind, and the world rapidly nearing the end is becoming the same, Christians must not war among themselves but hold the one interest of advancing God's kingdom in unity, speaking the same thing with no divisions and being perfectly joined in mind and judgment to reveal Christ's purity and love.
The setting of his time underscores the need for faithful people to guard those entrusted to their care and seek the Lord wholeheartedly, rather than lead others toward worldly customs and selfish gratification, teaching undivided service to God and preserving right principles in God's work. God alone can keep people from the widespread pollution of the last days when the world is nearing a fullness of the same crime and corruption described before the flood. The sins of his day exist in the present as well, supporting a call to reform, self-denial and temperance. When selfishness, violence and crime prevailed from excessive indulgence of appetites and passions, and the same from indulged appetite prevails as history closes, reform in habits of life is needed to fit a people for the coming of Christ, keeping the brain clear and the body as free as possible from disease.
That age was marked by men determined to carry out their own plans regardless of others, destroying property and attempting to destroy life, with social order breaking down and human minds unable to determine the end, as now shown by the wickedness revealed in San Francisco and Oakland, and God brings these perplexities to notice to show the evil of seeking to carry out human way and will. The natural man needs to be converted and the Spirit of God needs to operate upon human hearts, because weakness comes from being self-sufficient instead of depending upon God. Latter-day disasters like the flood at Johnstown repeat the lesson of the first flood upon a wicked world, for the Spirit of the Lord is being withdrawn and the restraining power held over Satan is being withdrawn so disasters will be of more constant occurrence. The only safety in such calamities is in being wholly on the Lord's side, giving no place to the enemy, for those found on the enemy's side will perish with the wicked in the plagues allowed upon men and beasts. Hearts fully set to do evil in deep and increasingly strong enmity and hatred to God, with depraved hearts trampling His law as in the old world, now fill the mass of humanity, with centuries ripening the harvest for the sickle beyond the bounds prescribed by God and the limits of His grace, so that punishing interference must come as it came then.