SECOND QUARTER 2022
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #4
APRIL 23, 2022
“THE FLOOD”

 

The antediluvian age is the time recorded in the Bible between the fall of Adam and Eve until the Genesis flood account in chapters 3–6 (excluding the flood narrative).

The antediluvians consisted in two lines of the human family, one of which is called “the sons [and daughters] of God” and the other line called “the daughters [and sons] of men.” One line descended from Seth, the other from Cain. Sethites were known as “sons (and daughters) of God” because God appointed Seth as the spiritual descendant of Adam “instead of Abel whom Cain killed” (Genesis 4:25). Adam was the first human to be called the “son of God” (Luke 3:38). This privilege was passed on through the line of Seth.

Adam’s first son, Cain, separated from Adam and from God and lost the right of being called a son of God. Instead, he produced descendants of rebellion who thus became children of the devil (John 8:44). Both lines of humanity continued becoming either children of God or children of the devil from the time of Cain and Seth not only to the time of the flood, but to our time also.

The response to God’s love by humans has always been either through faith or unbelief. These two elements determine which progeny we become, by choice—either the unholy or the righteous. The vast majority of antediluvians chose sin over faith in God and His righteousness. “Whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). And whatever is by faith is righteousness.

A.T. Jones wrote:

“‘WHATSOEVER is not of faith is sin." Romans 14:23. Conversely, whatsoever is of faith is righteousness. Consequently righteousness is of faith only.’” [Emphasis original] And the faith being the gift of God the righteousness of faith is inevitably the righteousness of God. See Romans 3:22; Philippians 3:9.” “The American Sentinel Articles,” September 7, 1893.

Again: “it is perfectly plain that the Third Angel's Message, in spirit and in truth, is all of faith. And since whatsoever is not of faith is sin, then whatsoever is of faith is righteousness. And since the Third Angel's Message is all of faith, the Third Angel's Message is righteousness by faith.” A.T. Jones, RH, January 9, 1900.

While the time of the Third Angel’s Message was not for the time of Seth nor for the time of his descendant, Noah, the message of righteousness by faith was.

As Seth and his descendants accepted Christ, by faith, they were born again and privileged to become sons and daughters of God. The Godhead has been working to recreate sons and daughters ever since sin entered the human race. First there is the bestowal of the love of God upon us (1 John 3:1). This comes through the work of the Holy Spirit Who pours God’s love into the heart of believers (Romans 5:5; 8:14).

Because Christ is the Creator and Redeemer from the beginning (John 1:1-3), He gave the Sethites the privilege of becoming sons of God just as we, today, become children of God (John 1:12-13). Becoming sons and daughters of God has always been accomplished in the same way. As Seth and his descendants accepted God and His way, they became “blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom” they shined as lights in their antediluvian world. Philippians 2:15.

During the process of hundreds of years, the Sethites, the “sons of God,” began to mingle with and finally joined with the Cainites in the pleasures of sin. God meant for His sons and daughters to remain separate from the Cainites, but they refused to believe and to obey. They learned to despise God and chose to go against His will. The two lines of humanity became one, long before the time of the flood. The “sons of God” following the example of the Cainites and took many women as wives in polygamous relationships (Genesis 6:2; 4:19). Things got worse. By the time of the flood nearly the whole world of antediluvians turned against God and against one another, some of whom undoubtedly professed to believe in Him.

Out of the billions of the long-lived antediluvians, only eight people were saved by God. Those who perished did so because they refused to believe the saving message of God in the preaching of Noah, who proclaimed righteousness by faith (2 Peter 2:5; Hebrews 11:7). Noah had younger brothers and sisters (Genesis 5:30) who evidently did not believe his message and perished in the flood. Refusing to believe the gospel message of justification by faith leads to resisting, ridiculing and finally fighting against it.

On a personal note. After presenting a seminar on the 1888 Message at a church camp in Utah a man came to talk with me after the last meeting. He had been moved by the Spirit of God and felt free to tell me what he believed. It was the moral influence theory. I agreed with him on several points. At the end of our discussion, he asked if he could send me some books on what he believed. My reply was, of course. He sent several. I was particularly interested in a paraphrased Bible entitled The Remedy. I first went to the book of Revelation and then to the book of Romans to learn from where the author was coming. There was something missing. When I turned to the preface, I read quotes from so-called early “church fathers.” The author in his preface wrote, “This Bible paraphrase offers an alternative.” To what? was my question?

I continued to read.

“The Remedy is an expanded Bible paraphrase in which interpretation is filtered through the lens of God's design law of love, the template on which life is built. This paraphrase is intentional in its focus to reorient the Christian mind to God's character of love and His mission to heal and restore humankind, as taught by the early church.” I believe in the healing message of the atonement. But the atonement is much larger than only the healing message. The fact of the matter is, there are about 15 or so models of atonement. None are complete in themselves. They are all tiny windows that emphasize certain aspects of the character of God. God’s atonement is greater than our little minds.

In the context of the preface, the author quoted favorably early church fathers or others who quoted them. Those quoted were Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Eusebius. My thoughts were then, and continue to be, that we (including the author of the paraphrase) need to go back to the Scriptures instead of to the early church fathers. E. J. Waggoner wrote a very informative book about the “early church fathers” including the ones mentioned in the preface of The Remedy.

I went to The Remedy website and did searches in this “intentional” paraphrase. The following is what I found, written in unmistakable plain English:

 

“justification  >> NOT FOUND IN THIS BIBLE!”

“justified  >> NOT FOUND IN THIS BIBLE!”

“righteousness by faith  >> NOT FOUND IN THIS BIBLE!”

“acquital  >> NOT FOUND IN THIS BIBLE!”

(All emphases original)

 

This is what is missing from the entire paraphrase, which is not a Bible. The message of justification by faith has been obliterated. In its place is an intentional re-interpretation of the Biblical teaching of salvation.

What does this have to do with the antediluvians, the flood and Noah. Much in every way. In like manner, the antediluvians did not believe the saving message of God in the preaching of Noah, the preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5; Hebrews 11:7). Jesus said that as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the day when He returns for His people. His people have been given the most wonderful message of both the law of God and the faith of Jesus in connection with the atonement, which message is justification by faith, “the third angel's message in verity.” RH, April 1, 1890.

Noah was given the message of righteousness by faith. He did not have an easy time because of it. He was resisted, hated, ridiculed. However, because he had the faith of Jesus, he believed not only in the absence of feelings, but against them. His trust was in God, not in himself, not in circumstances. Noah’s name means rest. He rested in Christ alone. Even during the turmoil of his day, he learned to rest, to trust in Jesus. The message of heaven imparted to him peace, assurance and calmness. “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. Isaiah 32:17; compare Romans 5:1.

That message is valid and vital today as it was in Noah’s time. It is one of the most denounced messages of the Bible. But! Any person, any book, any paraphrase that denounces, rejects, ignores or denies justification by faith in Christ alone does not, and cannot proclaim, the third angel’s message. “As it was in the days of Noah,” so it is today. Noah’s was a minority voice in preaching righteousness by faith. So it is with us. We are a minority, but we have a mighty message!

There is more in the Genesis narrative both before and after the flood. Much more. At least three generations – from the time of Lamech’s offspring – died in the flood waters. The first poem or song recorded in the Bible was the production of Lamech. (Genesis 4:23-24). It is known by two titles: “The Song of Lamech” and “The Song of the Sword.” Lamech recited or sang this song to Adah and Zillah, his polygamous wives.

The most typical forms of polygamy are those in which cowives share a husband as was the case with Lamech, Adah and Zillah. It is of note that in February 2020, the Utah House and Senate reduced the punishment for consensual polygamy, which had previously been classified as a felony, to roughly equivalent of a traffic ticket.

And today, there is same-sex marriage and may very well instigate new forms of polygamy.

The sons of Lamech and his wives are recorded in Scripture for music, science and technology. One of Lamech’s wives, Adah, gave birth to Jubal who became a musician and father of musicians (Genesis 4:21). There were wind and stringed instruments, which includes various musical instruments, probably inventing some of them. The fact they were musicians gives evidence of fine arts and poetry. Because they were descendants of Cain their music would have been used for entertainment rather than for the worship of God. Their music would have helped them to forget God. Not much different from the world’s popular music of today.

How apropos is the following:

“We should carry a continual burden as we see the fulfillment of the words of Christ, ‘As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.’ Matthew 24:37. In the days before the Flood, every kind of amusement was invented to lead men and women to forgetfulness and sin. Today, in 1908, Satan is working with intensity, that the same conditions of evil shall prevail. And the earth is becoming corrupt. Religious liberty will be little respected by professing Christians, for many of them have no understanding of spiritual things.” 10MR 261.

The other wife of Lamech, Zillah, bore a son named Tubal-Cain and a daughter named Naamah. Nothing more is written about the daughter. However, Tubal-Cain is revealed as an inventor, a metalsmith and a teacher. He worked with bronze and iron. Bronze (brass) is an alloy of at least copper and zinc. Metallurgy presupposes the science of metals, their extraction from ores, purification and alloying, heat treatment, and working into shapes and sizes for various functions. Iron must be melted by fire and then cast into shapes of various designs for diverse purposes. This process is known as pyro-technology which necessitates smelting for manufacturing. No doubt weapons of destruction were produced and used by antediluvians for mayhem and murder and who filled the world with violence (Genesis 6:11).

So, we learn that from these two sources, the two half-brothers—Jubal and Tubal-Cain, evidences of fine arts, of science and technology. These two existed three generations before the flood and could have perished in the flood. Three generations of antediluvians perished in the flood. It has been estimated that billions of people perished then.

Of special interest, regarding the accomplishments of the antediluvians, are a couple of statements by Mrs. White. She wrote:

“There perished in the Flood greater inventions of art and human skill than the world knows of today. The arts destroyed were more than the boasted arts of today.” (Letter 65, 1898. 1BC 1089).

“If men could only know how many arts have been lost to our world, they would not talk so fluently of the dark ages. Could they have seen how God once worked through His human subjects, they would speak with less confidence of the arts of the antediluvian world. More was lost in the Flood, in many ways, than men today know. Looking upon the world, God saw that the intellect He had given man was perverted, that the imagination of his heart was evil and that continually. God had given these men knowledge. He had given them valuable ideas, that they might carry out His plan. But the Lord saw that those whom He designed should possess wisdom, tact, and judgment, were using every quality of the mind to glorify self. By the waters of the Flood, He blotted this long-lived race from the earth, and with them perished the knowledge they had used only for evil. When the earth was repeopled, the Lord trusted His wisdom more sparingly to men, giving them only the ability they would need in carrying out His great plan” (Letter 175, 1896. 1BC 1089).

The arts and technology were used by Lamech to celebrate murder. Those arts and technology were used for evil purposes from the time of Lamech until the time of the flood. Genesis 6:5 is clear. The wickedness “of man was great…every intent of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually.” Think about this. It was from within, out of the heart, that evil thoughts and murders proceeded. The intent of the mind of man was evil all day long, day after day. Those mighty men and women became demon possessed and filled the earth with mayhem, disorder, turmoil, pandemonium and anarchy. And it must be remembered that Jesus warned of the same state of mind and practice of billions of men and women in our day (Matthew 24:37; Luke 17:26). So, it behooves us to surrender our hearts and minds to Christ today, so that He may fill us with His righteousness surrounding us with the same in order to protect us from what is currently transpiring in the world. Evil will only increase, as it did before the flood.

Just days before the floodwaters came, after the door of the ark was closed, the lost knew not that their probation closed with the shutting of that door. During those few days before the rain storms came, ridicule and laughter concerning Noah and God knew no bounds. Their father of choice drew their sinful tendencies to the surface to speak and do whatever their evil hearts desired. It wasn’t until the rains came that the antediluvians began to panic, knowing they were lost. They longed for the safety God had provided for them, but which they deliberately rejected. Too late! Too late! was their cry as the water rose around them. Some tied themselves to animals hoping to out run the rising tide. Hopefully none of us will be in the same condition of those antediluvians who refused the heaven-sent message of righteousness by faith, the message that continues to save.

Let’s consider the cause and effect of the utter destruction of the antediluvians. If we will learn from what happened then, we can know the cause of the death of the wicked when Jesus comes to claim His own. A number of years ago a pastor wrote about the destruction by the flood in the days of Noah. He claimed that the devil, not God, caused the flood and then found himself trapped in it and feared for his very existence. That pastor gave no evidence for his opinion. It was based on his view that God does not and cannot condemn nor destroy. His idea was that the antediluvians simply reaped what they had sown. This is true in part. Most certainly their actions were the cause of their destruction, but they did not destroy themselves.

Jesus was very explicit on this point when He said “the Flood came, and destroyed them all” Luke 17:27. While it is true the antediluvians were the cause of the coming flood; but it was the flood that destroyed them. They did not self-destruct. Their sins did not kill them. The flood did. And who brought the flood? Scripture is very explicit. It was God who brought the flood upon “the world of the ungodly” 2 Peter 2:5. No cryptic meaning is found here. God’s wrath was then and now is leveled against “all ungodliness and unrighteousness.” Romans 1:18. The flood was the instrument of God’s sentence of justice.

I’ve read books in which authors attempt to take God off the so-called hook of justice. They do not appreciate His justice. To them, only love counts, not perceiving that God’s love includes justice as well as mercy and grace.

God is transparent as light. Many authors deal only with the law of cause and effect in the destruction of the wicked, both at the time of the flood and at the end of the coming millennium. But the law of cause and effect, of sowing and reaping, is not adequate in describing the justice of God.

It is true that the moral law includes the working of cause and effect. For instance, if a person continues to violate the seventh commandment, he or she will most likely reap what they sow by contracting venereal infections. However, the moral law is concerned with more than only cause and effect. It is concerned with the responsibility and accountability of unbelieving sinners to a holy and just God. Some claim we are accountable only to ourselves and that punishment is self-inflicted. This is usually followed by the claim that God does not condemn, which is a teaching of spiritualism. In this opinion, God is merely passive and never active in punishment. In spite of this, we are remined that:

“In no kingdom or government is it left to the lawbreakers to say what punishment is to be executed against those who have broken the law.… God is a moral governor as well as a Father. He is the Lawgiver. He makes and executes His laws. Law that has no penalty is of no force….

“God does not work on the plan of man. He can do infinite justice that man has no right to do before his fellow man. Noah would have displeased God to have drowned one of the scoffers and mockers that harassed him, but God drowned the vast world. Lot would have had no right to inflict punishment on his sons-in-law, but God would do it in strict justice.” Ms 5, 1876; 12MR 208-209.

Even in His exercise of rightful justice, God suffered greatly. The record is that He was grieved in His heart for the evil in what was happening to His human race (Genesis 6:6). Grief to God, but grace to Noah and his family (verse 8). And we must remember too, that even in His infinitely deep feelings of grief He brought the antediluvians to justice. As it then was, so shall it be in our day.

“Calamities, earthquakes, floods, disasters by land and by sea will increase. God is looking upon the world today as He looked upon it in Noah's time. He is sending His message to people today as He did in the days of Noah. There is, in this age of the world, a repetition of the wickedness of the world before the flood. Many helped Noah build the ark who did not believe the startling message, who did not cleanse themselves from all wrong principles, who did not overcome the temptation to do and say things that were entirely contrary to the mind and will of God.” RH, December 11, 1900.

But there is still hope. God grieves and His grace continues, but not forever. When the last human to choose his/her preferred spiritual father – Christ or Satan, – that will determine the line of humanity they will be in at the close of the predicted present probation.

In conclusion, let’s turn to God’s everlasting covenant promise to Noah, his family, the creatures of earth and to us.

Genesis 6:18 is the first time God’s covenant is mentioned. He promised Noah telling him that He will preserve Noah and his family and informing him of the destruction of the world.

“And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.” Genesis 6:17-18.

After the flood God repeated His covenant to Noah and to every creature. This is God’s unconditional promise that He will never bring another flood of water to destroy the world. Genesis 9:9-17. The rainbow is God’s assurance to us of His promise. The rainbow of color surrounds His throne. Revelation 4:3. God’s promise is as sure as is His throne.

E. J. Waggoner wrote about God’s word and His rainbow as mentioned in Isaiah:

“We learn from the prophecy that the bow in the cloud, which is the token of the steadfastness of God's word, not only assures us that there will be no more flood, but that it is an assurance of the mercy of God in the forgiveness of sins. To His people God says: ‘For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.’ Isaiah 54:7-10” E. J. Waggoner, The Gospel in Creation (1893), 78.

Let us ever remember Noah, the flood and God’s promise of salvation.

 

~Pastor Jerry Finneman