Sorry for the delay. 2 things on was dog o the vet and the other was internet.

Reading 3
THE CLEANSING FLOOD
Genesis 6–8

“I will wipe mankind… from the face of the earth” (Gen. 6:7).

The bright promise of God’s original Creation had been blighted by human sin. Now Genesis introduced a theme which echoes throughout Scripture. God is moral judge of His universe. God will not shrink from His responsibility. God will surely punish those who sin.

Overview

Freed from restraint, men dedicated themselves to evil, and a saddened God determined to cleanse the earth (6:1–8). Noah, earth’s sole righteous man, obeyed God’s command to construct a gigantic ship (vv. 9–22). After Noah’s family and breeding stock entered this ark, God caused a Flood which wiped out all other people and animals (7:1–24). A year later Noah’s family emerged on a cleansed earth (8:1–20). After Noah worshiped, God promised not to destroy all life again—until the day of final judgment (vv. 20–22).


This next part is me.
It is an interesting fact that there have been fish fossils found way up high in mountains in different places.

Understanding the Text



“Nephilim” Gen. 6:4. The meaning of the term is uncertain. Some take it to mean giants, produced by a union of fallen angels (“sons of God” being His direct creations) and human women. While verses 1–2 and 4 are obscure, the thrust of the passage is clear. Human wickedness reached new heights until “every inclination of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil all the time” (v. 5).

DEVOTIONAL

Blameless among the People of His Time
(Gen. 6:9–22)

Noah is one of the most impressive men of the Bible. He lived in a totally corrupt society. Yet he himself was committed to godliness and succeeded in living a blameless life. Even more impressive is the fact that when told by God to build a giant ship in a time when rain was unknown (2:6), Noah immediately set out to do so!

Noah and his sons cut and shaped ton upon ton of beams to form a keel and skeleton. They sawed uncounted thousands of planks for siding. They planted, gathered, and stored crops to serve as food for themselves and the animals God would bring when His time was right. And all the time they must have suffered the ridicule of their neighbors, who came to listen to and scoff at mad Noah’s predictions of water about to fall from the sky and destroy them all.

How long did Noah and his sons labor? Genesis 6:3 tells us. When God made His decision to judge, mankind was given 120 years. It was during that time Noah and his sons accomplished their herculean tasks. And during all that time Noah bore the jokes made at his expense. He ignored the loud whispers he was intended to hear. And he kept on working, surrounded by the tittering laughter of his neighbors. Despite it all, Noah remained faithful. He had heard God speak. And Noah “did everything just as God commanded him.”

Chris, the teenage son of our pastor, Richard Schmidt, can understand the pressure on Noah. In the locker room he was ridiculed for his determination to remain sexually pure. “It’s what I believe,” he said, “and it’s what I’m going to do.”

Probably you can understand too. There are so many in our modern world who laugh at people who have heard God’s voice and try to do “everything just as God commanded.” Imagine! Noah knew just that pressure, from everyone, and for 120 years! Yet Noah remained faithful. And you and I can remain faithful too.

Peter gives us a special insight into what Noah’s faithfulness meant. Yes, Noah’s faithfulness to God’s word meant deliverance for himself and his family. But 1 Peter 3:19–20 suggests that by the agency of the Holy Spirit Christ Himself spoke through Noah in the long decades that “God waited patiently” for Noah to finish his assigned task.

How important our faithfulness is. As we like Noah bear up under the pressure brought on us, Christ by His Holy Spirit speaks through us to the very persons who laugh and doubt. And this time, they may respond!

Personal Application

Our faithfulness when others jeer speaks more powerfully than the words of the most gifted preacher the world has ever known.

Quotable

“Sin is first pleasing, then it grows easy, then delightful, then frequent, then habitual, then confirmed; then the man is impenitent, then he is obstinate, then he is resolved never to repent. And then he is ruined.”

Bishop Leighton

Me again. Sounds like some I know and me many years ago.