(Genesis 6:5&6) 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.  The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.

God set in motion a plan to bring a worldwide flood on the earth that would reboot his creation.  The flood would eliminate all of mankind, sparing only eight people. Before the flood people lived 800 to 900 years, but after the flood, man would be allowed only 120 years of life.  Rain did not fall on the pre-flood world because water came from springs in the ground, but since the flood, rain has been the method for watering earth.  The sons of God no longer married the daughters of man as was done before the flood.  These are only a few of the changes that God made. I assume there were many.

I tried to figure out how long the preflood world lasted.  My best guess is somewhere in the range of 1,600 years. To get an idea of how long that is count back 1,600 years, and you’ll find yourself in the year AD 425.  That is around the time of the fall of the Roman Empire.  God was surely patient with those early humans.

I have heard people say, “I can’t believe that a loving God would wipe out all those people.”  Well perhaps he was simply showing them mercy.  They were living in a world where every heart was bent on evil, and their life span was hundreds of years. That sounds like the flood must have brought them relief.  I’m reminded that death is only part of the physical world.  When they died, their spirits went to the spirit realm.

 God never lost sight of them, and he didn’t annihilate them.  Peter tells us in his first letter: (1Peter 3:18-20) For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.  He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.  After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits – to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built…

God created this world, and he has always loved his created ones.  He is working out a plan that is way beyond our understanding.  Remember, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)