Every Thought of Their Hearts: Genesis 6:5-22

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.

Every inclination. Only evil. All the time.

The diagnosis is total. Not occasional sin but constant corruption. Not some bad thoughts but every thought bent toward darkness. The image-bearers had become monsters, the garden's promise rotted into worldwide rot.

The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.

Divine grief. God's heart troubled by what his hands had made. The very creatures he had blessed and commissioned had become a source of sorrow to their Creator.

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."

Judgment was coming. Not a local correction but total annihilation. The world that God had called "very good" would be unmade.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

One man. In a world drowning in wickedness, one man found grace. His name meant "rest" or "comfort"—and he would become exactly that for humanity's future.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

Righteous. Blameless. Walking with God. Not perfect—the Bible would later record his failures—but faithful. Set apart in a generation set on destruction.

God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark."

An ark—not a boat to sail but a box to float. The dimensions were specific: three hundred cubits long, fifty wide, thirty high. A vessel the length of one and a half football fields, designed not for navigation but for survival.

"Make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out."

Waterproofing. Compartments. This was no fairy tale—it was engineering for apocalypse.

"I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you."

The first use of the word "covenant" in Scripture. In the midst of judgment, a promise. God would preserve Noah and through him preserve the world.

"You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you."

Every kind of animal. A floating zoo. A gene bank for the reboot of creation.

Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

No questions recorded. No bargaining. No delays. Noah heard the impossible command and obeyed completely. For perhaps a hundred years, he built a massive boat on dry land while his neighbors mocked.

He did everything just as God commanded.

That obedience would save the world.