MERCY OF JUDGMENT...MERCY IN JUDGMENT

“…and the Lord shut him in…Only Noah and those who 

were with him in the ark remained alive.”  (Genesis 7.16, 23)

According to the genealogy of Chapter 5, Methuselah lived 969 years, 369 of those before Noah was born.   Then God’s judgment fell on mankind in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, the same year that Methuselah died.  People in Methuselah’s day watched as he surpassed 800 years, then 850, then 900, then 950.  Perhaps they thought he would never die.  Perhaps they thought they would never die.  But the day came when God’s judgment fell and the entire world perished except Noah and the seven family members he carried into the ark.  The flood of Noah’s day raises a crucial question: 

Who will survive God’s judgement?

When God’s judgement falls, it is too late to make decisions – too late for those who would perish and too late for Noah and his family to help.  Noah was helpless to help any of his family and friends because God shut him in the ark.  In Revelation 3.7, Jesus says that He alone is able to open so that no man can shut and shut so that no man can open. 

“It is appointed unto man once to die; after that, the judgment.”  (Hebrews 9.27)

But just as certain as impending doom for the ungodly, God’s protection of His own will not falter or fail.  Not only were they saved, they were safe – safe from the torrential and all-encompassing judgment on every side outside the ark.

Jesus referred to the flood of Noah’s day as a reminder that when God’s timeline for grace and mercy expires, judgment will come without warning:

"But as the days of Noah, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.  For in the days before the flood, they were eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark. They [had no warning] until the flood came and took them all away, so it will also be with the coming of the Son of Man.”   (Matthew 24.37-39)

God’s love and future plan for the world would not have come to pass with the wickedness of mankind in Noah’s day, a day when those who were known by name to be godly intermarried with those who were known to be ungodly.  Sad is the fact today that – today – as in Methuselah's day, many feel their time will never come to an end.  Yet God’s love and mercy requires Him to deal with the sinfulness of mankind through judgment.  That same love and mercy compels Him to guide His children safely through the time of worldwide judgment.  

The blessed comfort – blessed hope – of God’s people is this:  When Jesus returns, God’s love for those who will inhabit His eternal kingdom will again bring a worldwide judgment that will destroy the wicked.  Yet, His people will be saved and safe from the worldwide storm that rages.  (1 Thessalonians 4.13-18)