We know that the Flood happened because of corruption upon the world and the sinful nature of the men grieved God. We are aware that it took one man, Noah and possibly his sons along the way to build the Ark according to the measurements and materials God told him to use. We also know it took Noah 100 years to build the Ark.
But, do you understand why the Flood had to happen?
In Genesis 3 after the fall of man, God turned to the serpent (Satan) and cursed him with the following, Genesis 3:14-15 “So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.””
We know that through the Seed of Eve would come the Messiah, Jesus Christ! We know through this scripture alone, Jesus would conquer Satan. Satan was aware of this but he didn’t know when this will happen, so to ensure it was not done, we see throughout the bible his failed attempts to sabotage the line. We first see it before the flood takes place.
But first, let's take a delve into who Satan is…
Satan was once an Angel called Lucifer, and described as the following in Ezekiel 28:1-17 “You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.”
Lucifer, was beautiful covered in all different precious stones, and was musically gifted as described in Ezekiel. However, he became proud and thought of himself important, to the point where he thought he should be like God as it says in Isaiah 14:12-15, “how you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.”
Because of his rebellion and hate towards the Almighty God - there was a war that broke out in Heaven, as described in Revelation 12:7-9 “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Jesus said in Luke 10:18 ““And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.””
So this is how Satan came about and why he has set out to destroy everything the Lord has created. He knows his demise is coming and determined to take as many people with him into Sheol (in English means Hell). Hence the temptation of Eve, thus the fall of man (man and woman).
Now, since the devil was aware of the Seed who will crush his head (conquer the grave (death and sin)), he, as mentioned, did everything he could to ensure that would never happen. His first attempt we read in Genesis 6, where the fallen angels (Satan’s angels) had taken on a human form and intermarried with the daughters of men. This happened during the time when the world was populated, so if you read in Genesis 5, you see the population of the world is happening. The daughters who were married to these fallen angels bore giants, which are called Nephilim(Genesis 6). The purpose of this intermarry was to taint the line of the Seed, and therefore, Jesus would not be pure if the world continued in this manner.
As we read in Genesis 6, the world became corrupt because of the influences of Satan and his fallen angels. I remember reading in Exodus, specifically the chapters on the plagues, and Pharaoh had magicians that tried to replicate the plagues God sent on Egypt. However, by the third plague, they soon realised they could not do what the Lord can do.
Side note, we see that Satan tries to replicate God, but he fails miserably every time because he is not the ALMIGHTY, ALL KNOWING, ALL POWERFUL, SOVEREIGN GOD!!
Anyway, I recall saying to the Lord at that time, where did the magicians come from, because this would not have come from Him. God brought me back to Genesis 6. Satan and his fallen angels would have taught the people an alternative to serving God. Remember the scriptures I shared earlier indicates that satan wanted to be like God, and therefore, would want to be served and glorified like Him too. Could it be in this time, that he taught the people trickery, magic, idolatry, and a desire to be wise like God? Remember that’s how he deceived Eve, he told her if she ate of the fruit she could be wise like God (Genesis 3:4-6). During this time, of intermarrying with the daughters of men, I do believe it was Satan and the fallen angels who were in fact teaching the people corruptible ways.
Although we see the horrific and corrupt behaviours which grieved God in His heart (Genesis 6:6), we also see the patience and long suffering nature that He displays, wishing for no one to perish. I’ll explain how…
There was a man named Enoch that comes from the line of Seth, Adam and Eve’s son. Enoch was 65 years old when he had his son Methuselah. It says in Genesis 5:22 that Enoch walked with God after he had Methuselah. He walked with him for 300 years and then God took him, he would have been 365 years old. The point is this, Enoch walked so closely and pleased God so much that Enoch got caught up (caught up in Greek means harpazo and in Latin means rapturo, which means rapture in case anyone wondered where that word came from). Do you suppose that God told Enoch of the coming destruction of the Flood? When we think of other people in the bible that walked closely with God, they too were informed of impending judgements or things to come e.g. Abraham was told by God in Genesis 15:13-16, that he was going to have a great nation but his descendants will be in a land that is not theirs, and will be taken into captivity for 400 years, a judgement will be on that land and his descendants will leave with great possessions. This knowledge that the Lord gave to Abraham was the prediction of the Israelites being enslaved for 400 years in Egypt, the plagues brought on the Egyptians and then finally their departure from Egypt leaving with silver, gold and clothing (Exodus 12:35-36). Another example would be when Daniel had visions of the coming empires that would rule over the world; Ezekiel informed of Israel becoming a nation again (which took place 1948) and of impending wars or another example would be of Paul, when he spent time with the Lord on Mount Sinai and He revealed to Paul of the coming Antichrist, tribulation on the world and the saints being raptured by the Lord. These are but a few examples of those who were living closely with the Lord and he revealed future events to them. Could it then be, that this happened with Enoch?
If we look at the name Methuselah, we see that it has a few meanings, some say it means “when he dies, judgement” others have said it means “when he is dead, it shall be sent” and others have said “man of dart” or “javelin.” Regardless, of the meaning, I find it amazing that when he died, the flood happened not long after.
Let’s take a look at the timings in Genesis 5:
Enoch was 65 when Methuselah was born and as mentioned, Enoch had gone up to be with the Lord at 365 years old.
Methuselah was 187 years old when he had Lamech - Methuselah died at the age of 969.
Lamech was 182 years old when he had Noah - Lamech died at the age of 777 years old.
Noah was 500 years old when he had all three of his sons.
Let’s do the math!
Methuselah was 187 years old when his son was born. Lamech was 182 years old when Noah was born, meaning Methuselah would have been 369 years old at the time of his grandson’s birth.
By the time Noah had all three children, he was at the age of 500. Which means Methuselah had to be at the age of 869 years old.
187 + 182 = 369 yrs - age of methuselah
369 - 969 = 600 yrs remaining until methuselah death
600 - 500 = 100 yrs it took to build the ark, until the death of methuselah and the coming flood
As we read in Genesis 7, Noah is 600 years old when he is called to go into the Ark. Methuselah, would have been 969 years old at this point. Now, if we go off the definitions of what Methuselah means, I believe the flood was not to come until Methuselah passed away. His life is what delayed the coming judgement upon the Earth. Whilst it says in 2nd Peter 2:5, Noah was preaching about the impending judgement on the earth, I believe Methuselah was doing the same!
Now why does sin still exist, well remember, Noah, his wife, son’s and their wives as well as the animals were saved. So whilst the world was eradicated from the corrupted line that Satan was trying to distort - sin still remained. If you recall back in Genesis 3, God cursed the ground. The animals were corrupted by the sin that came into the world, hence why we not only see fighting amongst their own kind but fighting with other kinds too - this is not what happened in the Garden of Eden, everyone was living in an harmonious environment. In addition, Noah and his son’s would have seen the corruption prior to the flood, there is a chance that the practices done before had been carried out after the flood, with the influence of Satan. The Devil cannot make you do anything, he doesn’t have power or authority over God’s creation. It all comes down to free will, if the devil sees your weakness he will exploit it, meaning you will succumb sinful thing(s) - it’s only under the precious Blood that Jesus shed on the Cross and His saving grace why we can learn to say no to the devil and say yes to Jesus!!
Question, have you ever thought about what has delayed Jesus' coming (if in fact He is delayed)? Could it be because he wants as many people saved from the impending judgement, and has sent his people/saints to preach the gospel to warn all those who do not know the Lord to come to him; otherwise they’ll face the coming judgement on the world?
Hence, why I say we see the long suffering and patience of God, not only in this situation re. The Flood, but in countless situations as you read throughout the bible and even more so in our lives today. The Lord does not want anyone to perish, he wants it so that everyone is saved. He is doing everything in his power to take back what the Devil/Satan has stolen from Him and that is His children - all it takes is for you to say yes to Him and He will do the rest!
As I mentioned before, the Devil’s motive and has been since he was kicked out of Heaven, was to make man fall and take as many people with him into Hell and unfortunately, there are people there today wishing they had listened to the Gospel. Don’t be that person who reads this and disregards the message. Don’t read this, knowing who Satan is, what his MO is, and still allowing for yourself to be swept away by deceit and lies of the enemy.
Methuselah’s life was critical to when the pending judgement came on the world. Once his death happened and Noah was asked to go into the Ark, it was too late for the people to repent of their sins - the door was closed. Don’t let this be you, a coming judgement is coming on the earth, and I believe the judgement will happen when the saints have been raptured/caught up to be with the Lord Jesus Christ! Don't wait - give your life today! Amen! X