The Pain of With

The Wickedness of Man

Genesis 6:1–5 (NIV)

When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

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 Sons of God and the Daughters of Men

Nephilim and the heroes of old

The focus is to see how the wickedness of man had overtaken the face of the earth. Mankind fueled by pride allowed their hearts to be turned away from the Lord in such a way that there was little to no hope of their hearts being turned back toward the Lord.

The Response of the Lord

Genesis 6:6–8 (NIV)

The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Verse 6 describes the depth of the Lord’s pain as He gazes upon the brokenness of His creation. He regretted not as One who had made a mistake for the Lord does not make mistakes. This is not the Lord wishing He had never created in the first place, but rather this is a deep sorrow found when all hope of opportunity has been squandered. God suffered on behalf of His creation. He regretted that He had made.

This sets the stage for the God’s plan of salvation. God meets evil with the simultaneous extremes of judgment and salvation. Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

The word favor here is the same word as grace. God poured out his grace on Noah like He pours out His grace on us. Through God’s grace, Noah becomes the picture of Christ in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise that the seed of the woman would bring deliverance to mankind and victory over death.