Question:
Answer:
God created mankind perfect in the beginning, on a perfect earth, able to live forever, if they stayed in their close relationship with God. He gave them, as He had given the angels, the power of free choice. God wanted humanity to love Him as He loved them, but He wanted only love that was freely given, not enforced. He gave them thousands of fruit and nut trees in the Garden of Eden, and kept only one for himself. That was to be the tree that would be the place of choice. Of that tree, God said to Adam and Eve, If you eat of it, you shall surely die. Please note that He did not say, If you eat of it, I’ll kill you! He was their Creator, and if they went against His commands, turned from Him in rebellion, then the natural result of walking away from the Life Giver, would be death. With the devil’s lies, the couple were deceived into joining the devil’s rebellion against God, and they ate of the tree’s fruit. They knowingly chose death, and brought sin into the world.
But God had worked out a plan, as He knew that free choice could lead to a wrong choice. And so, in Genesis 3:15, Adam and Eve received a promise that a Messiah, a Saviour, would one day come, to destroy the devil’s hold over the earth. But mankind chose mainly to follow the devil’s ways, and not God’s, so the decline was rapid, so much so that the first man to be born on earth, killed the second one that was born. Sin’s terrible effects seemed to take even God by surprise.
Genesis 6 5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God
looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
God looked at the situation on the earth, about 1500 years after sin had entered the world, and things were so violent that it was evident that humanity would destroy itself, with the able help of the devil, before the promised Messiah could appear to solve the sin problem (Genesis 6:13). So, to stop humanity’s self-extinction, and provide enough time for the Messiah to come to earth, God took 8 people who were still faithful to Him, and set them to building a big boat. With enough supplies, and pairs of all species of life forms on earth, they could escape the worldwide flood that would wipe out everyone who declined the invitation to join them and stay alive. Over the 120 years of boat building, Noah explained to everyone exactly what God had planned, and invited whoever was willing, to join him on the ark. Not a single soul was interested, which tells us exactly what the state of the earth was like. So, you can say that God killed them all, but He also gave each person the free choice of joining the crew of the ark, or not. They just had to live (or die) with the consequences of their choices.
2 Peter 2:5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly …
The Bible says that the same situation that existed in Noah’s time, will again exist in the end time, and the same invitation will again be given, in fact is right now being given. God has given us all the power of free will, and our choices right now will determine whether we join God on His retrieval mission for mankind, or are destroyed with the devil and his demons in the fire. Our choice, as in Noah’s time. The choices and their results have been clearly stated, by Jesus when He walked the earth.
John 3 14 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
God could have pressed the destroy button for all of humanity a long time ago if He wanted to, but He chose to let sin play out to the end, to let all of heaven, the universe and humanity, witness what sin causes, if allowed to. In that way, when He finally does destroy the devil, his fallen angels, and those who choose to reject God’s free gift of salvation and eternal life with Him, there would be no objection from anyone if sin did arise again, and it was immediately destroyed. Meanwhile, many people chose to follow Him, and will be with Him in His kingdom. The ones that God destroyed, chose to reject His offer of salvation, and paid the price for their choice.
From your question, you sound as if you have already condemned God, as if you don’t believe at all that God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). The fact that the earth was totally violent, that most of the population had turned their backs on God, and were following the devil, seems to make no difference to you. Are you perfect, that you are able to condemn God, when the Son of God came down from heaven to pay for your sins on the cross, and died to give you the chance of salvation and eternal life? Once again, you have the choice to believe what you want to, but be aware that every choice has consequences. For myself, God has been amazingly patient, forgiving and kind to me, and I gladly accept His free gift, and am looking forward to spending eternity with Him, face-to-face.
God bless as you make your choice!
