The Unchanging God's sorrow over human sin brings judgment

Introduction: This passage contains some difficult concepts. Expository preaching does not skip or ignore difficult texts. God put this passage in His Bible for a reason, and it is important for us to interact with and learn from even the hard passages.

Long lives of the antediluvians leads to a population explosion (6:1)

In His grace, God allowed the generations before the flood to live very long life spans. Even though the land was cursed due to sin entering the world, the conditions for human flourishing were probably very good and the people probably had large families. In the 1650 years between creation and the flood the population could have been considerable.

The wickedness of humanity increased generation by generation (6:2, 5)

Sadly, the vast majority of humans lived for self instead of God and the downward spiral into wickedness was rapid. The focus of these eight (8) verses is that the entire race degenerated into a level of wickedness that brought God’s judgment of a global flood. What level of sin could account for this dire consequence?

One possibility was the godly line of Seth indiscriminately mingled with the line of Cain

2nd possibility was fallen angels possessed men of old and came into the daughters of man and wreaked destruction

There is only one correct position - both cannot be correct. It is important to see the big picture and not get bogged down in the details - either of these interpretations lead to the same conclusion: mankind was exponentially willfully rebelling against God, crossing His boundaries, and trying to “become like God.”

I lean to the 2nd possibility - fallen angels

It is the oldest position that was held by the Jewish scholars and the early Church fathers

It seems to fit better with a reason for the release of God’s judgment. Mankind conspiring with fallen angels in an effort to become more advanced, more powerful more god-like. Yet, God’s final assessment of the product of these unions was “he also is flesh” (Gen 6:3)

The term for sons of God, while not overly frequent in the OT, refers to angels in other passages

It fits with the passages in the NT which deal with the punishment of fallen angels (2 Peter 2:4-6; Jude 6; 1 Peter 3:19-20)

Even if the other position is the correct one, the outcome of humanity’s decision to live apart from God’s design brought serious consequences.

One of God’s judgments on the widespread wickedness was to shorten the life span (6:3)

The extremely long lives of those who rebelled against God made room for advances in wickedness. Instead of using the gift of time for godly purposes and human flourishing, the wickedness increased by more opportunities for rebellion.

The reason that people no longer live as long as the antediluvians is because God removes His spirit of life from mankind after a much shorter life span.

There is another possibility: the 120 years refers to the period of time that Noah preached repentance or the time it took to build the ark. The problem with this interpretation is that Noah lived for 350 years after the flood (Gen. 9:28) Noah died at 950, so he was 600 years old at the time of the flood. (Gen 7:6). Noah was 500 years old when he had his three sons (Gen 5:32), and all three sons had wives by the time of the flood. That doesn’t leave time for the 120 years.

The sin of man grieves the heart of God and brings judgment (6:6-7)

This is the third and most difficult concept presented in this passage. The text reads that “it repented the LORD that He had made man (v. 6) and the same concept is repeated again in verse 7. This language goes against our understanding of the nature of God. We are presented with the idea that the Eternal God who is all-wise and all-knowing has changed His mind about something.

God is the One who inhabits Eternity (Isaiah 57:15); The One who does not change (Malachi 3:6); the One who knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9-10); the One with no shadow of turning (James 1:17); and the Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8)

In Numbers 23:19 we hear from God who describes Himself in this way: “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”

This clearly states that God does not repent or change his mind. The word used in Numbers 23:19 is NOT the same Hebrew word used in Gen. 6:6; that word is better translated regret, or to express sorrow. This gives a more clear understanding of the passage and it focuses on God’s response to sin. He knew in Eternity Past that man would sin, and He knew that mankind’s sin would increase exponentially and that He would judge the world through the flood. God does not change His mind based on receiving “new” information - He is omniscient!

In summary, God is a God who is personally involved in the affairs of humanity. He knew before He created that we would sin, and He chose to allow this to come to pass. The God of the Bible is Holy and Just, and He judges sin. God cares deeply and the sin that requires His justice also grieves His heart.

God is a Covenant-Keeping God and will always have a remnant (6:8)

One way to look at the Flood is to view the Creator as a failure. The Creator messed up and had to start over. This is the view of the atheist who dismisses the Biblical account as myth.

The reality, however, is that a global flood highlights God’s role as a Promise Keeper. Our God is a Covenant-Keeping God who is faithful and dependable. In Genesis 3:15 God promised that the seed of the woman would crush the head of satan. God NEVER goes back on His promises. In spite of Judgment, God will ALWAYS have a remnant.

In the midst of the prevailing wickedness and corruption that was ravaging the vast throng of humanity at the time, Noah found GRACE in the sight of God. Noah was a man of faith and God declared that he was “a righteous man who was blameless in his generation.

Conclusion:

God is unchanging and faithful to His promises

Humans are prideful and self-centered and continually sin against God’s loving boundaries

God is Holy and just and will judge our sin

In His Judgment, God offers the means of Grace for a believing remnant.