Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God,
and the earth was filled with violence.
(Genesis 6:11, NASB)

Opening Prayer: Lord, You warned that the Last Days would be like the days of Noah. Help us to understand what You meant, and what we should do about it.

Today we'll look at one of the most controversial passages in the Bible. Critics of the Bible say that chapters 5 through 10 of the book of Genesis are preposterous. They're too different from life as we know it. Nevertheless, a thoughtful observer can spot many similarities in addition to the differences.

For a taste of how different things actually were, let's read Genesis chapter 5, verses 18-21:

And Jared lived a hundred sixty and two years, and begat Enoch: ¹⁹and Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: ²⁰ And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. 21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah.

First of all, we see that some things haven't changed: men still get born, get married, beget children and eventually get buried. In their behavior, they were much like people today. But these fellows lived to incredible ages by current standards. So either the Bible is wrong or people lived much longer back then. The Bible says that Jared fathered a son at age 162, and that he lived 962 years total. How could people live that long? Were living conditions that much different in those days? Has something happened to the gene pool since then to shorten life spans?

If you believe the college textbooks, you'd think that the world hasn't changed much in the past million years, since "evolution" mysteriously stopped. The folks who control public education insist that because of evolution, human beings are better, smarter and healthier than ever before.

Perhaps we are, but I doubt it.

The Bible says that the world was a better place before the Flood, and that people back then lived much longer than we do. So we have a conflict here. Both view points cannot be correct at the same time. Somebody must be lying. Fortunately, it isn't hard to figure this one out.

Long Ago?

To really understand the conflict, you must uncover the assumptions that "scientists" begin with, because the assumptions shape how they interpret the data. The key assumption behind virtually all college textbooks is a charming fairy tale called "Evolution."

According to the storytellers, all the complex life we see around us just happened by a series of happy accidents! You see, a VERY long time ago (millions and maybe billions of years ago), the earth was just a big rock circling the sun. Nobody can explain how an infinitely small point of nothingness (The Singularity) could go "BANG" and produce the earth, the sun and the stars, but that's where the story begins.

Then rains eroded the rocks into dirt and mud. Nobody can explain how the earth developed an atmosphere so that rains could happen, but obviously they must have because we have an atmosphere and rains now!

At last, when there was enough water and dirt and mud, life just sort of happened one day. Lightning hit the mud and somehow created a living single-cell creature. Somehow, this original single-cell creature reproduced itself and became a virtual army of single-cell creatures. Then, over millions and millions of years, these ambitious single-cell creatures reorganized themselves (by a series of fortunate mutations) into more complex creatures. So here you are!

Of course, there are a few scientific impossibilities in this story.

• First of all, single-cell creatures are not simple. They have sophisticated internal chemical factories, and they can reproduce themselves. Scientists can't fabricate anything as complex as a single cell, so it's difficult to believe that lightning did it.
• Every living cell has something called DNA, which is its complex genetic blueprint. DNA is more than just a sophisticated digital computer program. DNA is also the computer that reads the code, the machine that does work in response to the code, and the technician who adjusts the code to allow the living creature to adapt to its environment. Scientists and computer programmers cannot create computer systems as complex as DNA, so it's difficult to believe that lightning did it.
• Scientists have observed mutations for hundreds of years and classified them into three general groups: (a) Neutral, with respect to the strength and survivability of the species; (b) Harmful to the strength and survivability of the species; and (c) Fatal. No scientist has ever documented a mutation that increased the complexity and survivability of a species. The so-called hybrids have just involved a rearranging of the existing genetic information.
• Over the past 4 decades, researchers with computer-controlled equipment and knowledge of the chemical composition of living cells have attempted to create life by sparking various combinations of these chemicals in their laboratories. None have succeeded.
• Even if lightning could spark life into existence (complete with its DNA), billions of years isn't enough time for randomly occuring mutations to change single-cell creatures into multi-cellular creatures and then human beings. The mathematical likelihood of these mutations changing viruses and bacteria into intelligent life is absurdly small, even if it were possible for the mutations to add complexity to genetic information (which has never been observed).
• Nobody has ever discovered a transitional fossil. Species appear in the fossil record as fully developed creatures, with remarkable stability down to present times. Scientists haven't found any reptile with a half-formed wing (in the process of evolving into a bird) or any fishes with half-formed lungs (in the processes of becoming a land creature).
• Nobody has ever discovered a true transitional human being. The Neanderthal people were highly advanced humans who lived immediately after the Flood. (Their bone density, cranial structure, and dental wear patterns indicate that their average lifespan was about 200-300 years, consistent with biblical accounts.) Aside from Neanderthal, all other candidates proposed as "missing-link" fossils have been proven to be either extinct monkeys or fakes. Amazingly, the majority of proven fakes and extinct monkeys still appear in textbooks that our kids are forced to ingest.
• Structures as complex as the human eye or ear cannot be explained by chance mutations. Neither can evolution explain how a bat navigates by sonar or how pigeons can find home.
• The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that matter and energy are constantly moving from more-organized states to less-organized states. In other words, the world is wearing out instead of becoming more complex.

By contrast to the evolution theories, the Bible says that God created the world from nothing, quickly added a variety of living creatures, and gave ideal living conditions to the very first humans. Even after Adam sinned and the earth was cursed, living conditions were still good enough for people to routinely live 900 years. The Bible documents the long lifetimes of people before the Flood, and the progressively shorter lifetimes of people after the Flood. The clear message of the Bible is that life on earth was very different from now.

Even the evolutionary scientists are forced to admit that this earth was very different at some point in the past. Some dinosaurs and flying reptiles could only have lived in an environment where (a) atmospheric pressure was higher than present levels, (b) oxygen content of the atmosphere was higher, (c) general living conditions were more favorable than present, and (d) the speed of light (and corresponding speed of neural responses) were significantly faster than today. Without all four of these conditions, dinosaurs could not have lived long enough or eaten enough food to attain and sustain their massive size.

The issue of a faster speed of light deserves more attention than it has received. I recommend reading Barry Setterfield's excellent study: Zero Point Energy and Gigantism in Fossils. The key take-away point is that without a significantly faster speed of neural responses, neither dinosaurs nor the gigantic plants could have achieved the size they did. For a complete list of Barry Setterfield's excellent research papers, click here: Genesis Science Research.

Scientists love to speculate on what type of world-wide catastrophe might have caused the dinosaurs to become extinct. Is it possible that the same world-wide catastrophe that made the world unfit for dinosaurs also made the world barely tolerable for humans? Think about it.

For now, let's answer a different question: What is the meaning of the name "Methuselah" in verse 21? Loosely translated, it means "when he dies, the end comes." His father, Enoch, was a man of God, and was probably divinely instructed to assign that name.

Now let's read verses 22-27 and see how Enoch responded to his kid's unusual name:

And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: ²³ and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: ²⁴ and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. ²⁵ And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: ²⁶ and Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters. ²⁷ And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.

How did Enoch relate to God after Methuselah's naming? It says that he walked with God -- he lived in close fellowship with God for at least the 300 years after his son's birth, and probably had a good relationship beforehand.

Then what happened to Enoch?

God took him home early -- apparently by some miraculous means. Remember this for later.

New question: This problem child of Enoch's -- how long did he live? After all, God had said that the world they knew would come to an end at Methuselah's death. Methuselah lived to be 969 years old -- older than any other person described in the Bible.

What does Methuselah's lifespan teach us about the character of God? For starters, we see that God must be a lot more patient than I am. Something was troubling God so much that He resolved to destroy the earth. Yet He waited nearly a thousand years -- hoping that either the situation would rectify itself, or that as many people as possible would avail themselves of His means of escape.

But if something was so wrong that God would decide to destroy the world, why would He wait 969 years to do something about it? Just like today, with crime in the streets and corruption at all levels of our government, why doesn't God take immediate action to blot out the evildoers? Why is God so patient?

The answer is that God loves you, remarkable as that may seem at times. He also loves people who are a lot less lovable than you, miraculous as that may seem. We'll learn more on this subject later, in Part 2 of this study.

Now let's read Genesis 5, verses 28-32:

And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: ²⁹ and he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, [which cometh] because of the ground which Jehovah hath cursed. ³⁰ And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: ³¹ And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. ³² And Noah was five hundred years old: And Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

These verses give you some background about Noah and his family. But why did Lamech call his son Noah? Apparently Lamech had enough spiritual discernment and knowledge of history to know the truth of the curse. He knew the reality of Adam and Eve's fall in the garden, and that God was displeased with the way mankind had become. Furthermore, Methuselah was Lamech's father and Enoch was his grandfather, so Lamech had been hearing all his life that the earth was living on borrowed time. So apparently the Lord spoke to either Methuselah or Lamech that Noah would somehow be part of God's plan of deliverance.

Let's continue with Genesis chapter 6, verses 1-5. And let's see what we can learn from these verses about WHY God was so displeased with the human race:

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born unto them, ²that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose. ³And the Lord said, My spirit shall not strive with man for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years. ⁴The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. ⁵And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Right away, did you notice something very strange happening in verses 1, 2 and 4? Can it possibly be true that demonic fallen angels were mating with human women?

Yes. The devil knew that God's plan of salvation was to bring a spiritually conceived Messiah into the world through a human woman. Therefore the devil determined to bring his counterfeits onto the scene early, and distract sinful man away from God's plan. Apparently, the evil plan worked well enough to get the whole world destroyed by flood.

My logical mind has trouble believing that anybody could be silly enough to worship beings that were half human and half demon. But then I did a Web search on mythology. Try it and you'll find that virtually all the historic religions (except Judaism and Christianity) were based on the antics of capricious, evil spirit beings who mated at will with humans. Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Babylonians, Sumerians, Arabians -- all worshipped similar demonic creatures under different names. Islam is based on the antics of one particular capricious spirit being called "Allah" who denies the existence of the other spirit beings.

Just because those religions (except Islam) were long ago and far away, don't think they haven't touched you or your family. Does the name "Hercules" sound familiar to you? Did you take your kids to see the highly sanitized and Disney-ized "hero" who was half-human, half-demon? Do your kids watch reruns of the Hercules or Wonder Woman TV series? Think about it.

Notice in verse 5 that the wickedness of men grieved the Lord's heart. Does the behavior of "modern" men grieve the Lord's heart? Can the Lord be pleased when mere humans (whose brains aren't fully formed until age 25 but whose hearts are fully self-centered from birth) deny the existence of an intelligent Creator and teach preposterous fairy tales like evolution in colleges? Sounds like "modern" folks make the same mistakes as folks in Noah's day.

Let's continue with Genesis 6, verses 6-10:

And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. ⁷And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repenteth me that I have made them. ⁸But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. ⁹These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, [and] perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God. ¹⁰And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

So what made Noah different from his neighbors?

The Bible says Noah was "perfect in his generations," which could also mean "perfect in his genealogy." Noah's bloodline wasn't contaminated by any of the demonic influence we just discussed.

Equally important, Noah "walked with God" -- a compliment also paid to his ancestor Enoch. This means Noah cared enough to actively seek the fellowship of the Lord and the truth of God's dealings with men.

Good bloodlines didn't save Noah; his walk with God saved him. Surely he had brothers, sisters and cousins, none of whom joined him in the ark. Their good bloodlines didn't save them. Likewise Christian ancestors won't save you or me.

Let's continue with verses 11-13:

And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. ¹³And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Do these verses remind you of current events? Corruption and violence filled the earth back then. They fill our television sets, our schools and our streets today.

Does this comparison make you uncomfortable? Our history professors would have us believe that people in Noah's day were prehistoric barbarians while 21st-Century humans are educated and civilized. But has our world harvested a crop of civility from its investment in education? You tell me.

And were the "prehistoric barbarians" of Noah's day actually ignorant and barbaric? Let's think about it. If people lived 900 years, we must infer several things:

• It must have been normal to be physically and mentally strong for at least the first 800 years or so.
• There was time to raise several families, gaining greater wisdom and knowledge to pass along to each group of kids.
• There was time to earn the equivalent of several college degrees, pursue several careers, travel around the world and retire several times between families and careers.
• Not only would you be able to amass knowledge, wisdom and wealth, but you would have several hundred additional years of experience available from your parents and grandparents. Just think how smart you could be -- or how smart you'd THINK you were! But for this longevity to be possible...
• People must have been much healthier than today. This, in turn, means that...
• The gene pool of mankind had not yet been damaged by thousands of years of geographic separation and specialization. For perspective, witness how certain breeds of pedigree show dogs are fragile and short-lived compared to most mutts.

So was there something shielding these people before the Flood? We will examine some possibilities soon. For now, let's just observe that the pre-Flood people lived long enough to become very educated and very prosperous.

Evidence of Pre-Flood Civilization

Is there any evidence outside the Bible hinting that pre-Flood people were not barbarians and savages? I'm glad you asked. For one thing, archeologists have observed that groups like the Sumerians seemed to appear from nowhere, fully developed and possessing sophisticated written and mathematical skills.

Archeologists have also noted that the mathematics and astronomy of the historical civilizations seemed to follow reverse evolution. The Romans copied the Greeks, who copied the Egyptians and Babylonians, who copied the Sumerians. And it seemed to get less precise and less sophisticated with each copying exercise. This clearly implies that the origin of the mathematics was prior to the establishment of the Sumerian kingdom -- most likely prior to the Flood.

Some archeologists claim to have found marks of water erosion on the Sphinx and evidence of salt water stains inside the Great Pyramid next door. Those monuments were the products of an advanced group of builders, and the workmanship of the Great Pyramid has not been equalled by any builders of known history.

Let's continue with verses 14 through 17:

Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. ¹⁵And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. ¹⁶You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. ¹⁷And 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.

Does this passage describe a practical boat? Could it possibly have been large enough? Yes, it was practical. The proportions are a close match to modern commercial and military ocean-going vessels. A boat of those dimensions would certainly have been seaworthy.

But could it possibly have been large enough for all the animals? Yes, it certainly could. Consider:

• The boat was big, at least 450 feet long. The Hebrew text says the ark was 300 cubits by 50 cubits by 30 cubits. The common (and smallest) cubit in the days of Moses was 18 inches. Archeology has also found evidence of larger cubits, sometimes called royal cubits, ranging from 21 to 25 inches. If the ark was measured in one of these larger cubits, it could have been more than 600 feet long and 100 feet wide.
• The ark had 3 decks, with subcompartments ("rooms") on each deck for different animals. That means there was between 150,000 and 190,000 square feet of floor space with fairly high ceilings. And with some stacking of cages for smaller creatures, they could be just fine.
• Many animals hibernate, further reducing the space and food required to support the animals.
• Many of the bulkier animals (giraffes and elephants come to mind) could have been brought aboard as weaned juveniles. Others simply were not summoned by God to make the trip.

Let's continue with verses 18-22:

But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark--you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. ¹⁹You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. ²⁰Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them." ²²Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

What two important spiritual principles are illustrated here?

First of all, if you noticed the word "covenant" in your first reading of verse 18, congratulations! Most of us would be so focused on the physical details of the story as to miss the important spiritual aspect. God had promised Adam and Eve that He would send a Messiah to redeem fallen man. But while Noah's contemporaries were too fallen to be interested in the promise, they could not change or annul God's faithfulness.

Second, every command of God is intended to preserve life. Sure, it was inconvenient to leave the family home and move into a boat full of smelly animals. ("Noah, we've worked 400 years on this house, and you expect ME to buy into all that flood stuff?") But the alternative was worse.

Closer to home, we know that obeying God's commands will make us stronger and have eternal benefits. Yet we don't always do what we know we should .We worry about missing out on some momentary sensation or experience. Maybe the rest of the world has a misinformed opinion of Christian and Jewish people. But in the long run, whose opinion matters?

Then what happened?

See Part 2 of this lesson.