Before introducing Noah, let's place him into historical context. Noah was the great-grandson of Enoch, born with a wonderful spiritual pedigree, for it was his great-grandfather who "walked with God" and so pleased God that God "took him" without Enoch ever tasting death.

Noah's grandfather was Methuselah - the oldest man who ever lived - clocking 969 years. But more noteworthy than that is that fact that God held off the rain (and the Great Flood) until the very year in which Methuselah died. Methuselah's death was the trigger.

Lamech (Methuselah's son) died 5 years before the Flood while Methuselah died the year of the Flood. And Noah saw with his own eyes the end of the Antediluvian Period as the worldwide Flood destroyed the entire human race, except for those who were saved inside the ark.

The question we're going to wrestle with today is "why". Why did the Flood take place anyways? Why did God feel He had to destroy the human race? You probably know the short answer already! From Genesis 6:

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 . . . 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth
had corrupted their ways.

Starting with Eve's disobedience in the Garden of Eden, sin made rapid advancement! Cain killed Abel. Then Cain's son instituted polygamy. Then he bragged to his wives about how he had retaliated against some for an injury - and killed him. Furthermore, sensuality started taking over. Cain's daughters and grand-daughters were given provocative names - as a sign of the times. It's all there in Genesis 4.

But there was something else going on - something else responsible for the rapid surge of evil and wickedness on the earth and God's decision to destroy the human race. It has to do with a mysterious passage we find immediately prior to the Story of Noah. Many don't want to talk about it, but it is an integral part of the story. In fact, it is the main reason for the coming Flood.

Welcome, dear friends, to Home Church Langley!