by Tad Lindley
Maybe you saw the meme on Facebook. It had a drawing of the ark, and the words, FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE DROWNED EVERYONE IN IT. The intent of the meme seems to be to paint a picture of the Lord as a homicidal maniac. What do you think about the meme? True or false?
Almost sounds like scripture
You remember it don’t you? When Nicodemus came to Jesus at night in John 3, he told Nicodemus among many other important things, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) It almost sounds like that meme, but the outcome is actually the exact opposite.
But didn’t everyone drown?
You might be saying, “Yes, but God did drown everyone didn’t he?” Let’s think about what happened in the days of Noah. God did kill almost everyone on earth, but there were eight people who survived, Noah and his wife, their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and the sons’ wives. From them all people on earth are descended. So it is a lie to say that he drowned everyone. Almost everyone drowned, but if they did, it was their choice to drown.
How could it be their fault?
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. (Genesis 6:5-6) People got so messed up that God was heart-broken. He hurt so badly as he saw their sin, that he began to wish that he had never made men. Read on. And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth…but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:7-8).
What was Noah doing all those years
God’s decision to flood the earth happened way before the flood. Noah was building the ark for between 80 and 100 years. Not only was Noah logging, making lumber, and boat building, he was also preaching. Yes, Noah was a preacher. He rarely gets credit for that, but he was reaching out to the people around him, hoping that they would believe the message that God gave him. The proof of this claim is found in II Peter 2:5 (And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.)
Noah vs. Jonah: what a head scratcher
Noah preached for at least 80 years, and at the end of that time, only 7 other people were saved as a result of his preaching. Jonah on the other hand preached for only a day, and at least a quarter of a million people were saved. Why didn’t people listen to Noah? They did not believe his preaching until the door to the ark was shut and the rain began to fall. And though they must have tried to claw their way into the ark, it was too late.
Back to the meme
So Jesus sent the ancient world a preacher, but they would not hear him. For those who think that the Lord had any pleasure in the destruction of most of humanity, you misunderstand Jesus completely. You see, when God was manifest in the flesh in the womb of Mary, he dwelt among men. He didn’t just send a preacher, he came himself and he preached and reached for the souls of men. And it was he alone that was destroyed at the cross of Calvary. His broken and humiliated body was taken down from the cross and placed in a borrowed tomb. And on the third day he was resurrected from the dead. Do you know what he did in between the cross and the resurrection? He had church. He went to hell and preached to those who died in the days of Noah. Listen, friend, if you think that Jesus gladly destroyed the disobedient you are so wrong. It was apparently such a burden, that the first thing he did after Calvary is discussed in I Peter: For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us…(3:18-21)
The ones that didn’t get on the ark
God so loved the world in the days of Noah that he sent them a preacher waiting patiently for 80 years. And when they still would not get on Noah’s ark or build their own arks, the time was up. But God so loved the world that when he came again he even descended into hell to preach to them himself. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Reverend Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
