Genesis 6: 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”… 5 The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that He had made human beings on the earth, and His heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created– and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground– for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:3, 5-8)
By now, the Bible depicts an abundance of wicked Not My People and only a handful of My People. Sometimes God has no choice but to judge. It’s not a democracy or majority rule. God is King and Judge, not just Creator. It’s a last resort, for sure, but Judgment is the one thing that curbs evil every time. The bottom line for you and me is to endeavor to be My People because it always ends badly for Not My People.
Questions for further reflection:
A cute depiction of the ark with cuddly animals isn’t the picture God had in mind. He intended a massacre of every one of Not My People. No sane parent would decorate the baby’s room with Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Why do people diminish the horror of the Flood and the total elimination of Not My People, but instead, give us cute and chubby baby animals safe in the ark, even for people well above adolescence?
I’m not a wet blanket. Go ahead, decorate the baby’s room, but be sure to correct the record when they come of age. Teach them what really happened in the Flood…to explain what the rainbow really means.
Noah (a descendant of Seth) and his family (8 in all) become the remnant of My People although Noah’s wife and his sons’ wives are not named so we have no idea if they were from Seth’s clan or from among “Not My People.” One thing we can say for certain is that every one of those 8 carried beyond Noah’s Ark their inherited sin nature that began in Adam. Yeah, Noah did too.
Even so, the choice remains before every man, woman, and child: follow God or don’t. Be My People as a remnant or Not My People as wanderers to Destination: Hell.
Think about Cain, Able, and Seth. How does God’s choice of a Remnant mean we cannot rely on our parents’ or grandparents’ faith?