– Genesis 6:13
I just knew the people of Noah’s time were destroyed by God because of their excessive evil and corruption. But later, I saw a passage in a gospel book and understood that there is God’s disposition in it.The words say, “There is another revelation of God’s disposition here: In God’s eyes, there is a limit to His patience toward man’s corruption, toward the filthiness, violence, and disobedience of all flesh. What is His limit? It’s as God said: ‘God looked on the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way on the earth.’ What does the phrase ‘for all flesh had corrupted his way on the earth’ mean? It means any living thing, including those who followed God, those who called on the name of God, those who once sacrificed burnt offerings to God, those who verbally acknowledged God and even praised God—once their behavior was full of corruption and reached God’s eyes, He would have to destroy them. That was God’s limit. So to what extent did God remain patient to man and the corruption of all flesh? To the extent that all people, whether followers of God or unbelievers, were not walking the right path. To the extent that man was not just morally corrupt and full of evil, but where there was no one who believed in God’s existence, let alone anyone who believed that the world is ruled by God and that God can bring people light and the right path. To the extent that man despised God’s existence and did not permit God to exist. Once man’s corruption reached this point, God would no longer have patience. What would replace it instead? The coming of God’s wrath and God’s punishment.”
From this passage, I got to know that God’s destroying mankind involved His righteous disposition. Not only were those who didn’t believe in God morally corrupt and debauched, but those who once believed in God, those who sacrificed burnt offerings to Him and praised Him didn’t fear God without His place in their hearts but followed the world’s evil trends. What they did had ran counter to God’s expectations. He couldn’t bear mankind’s sins, and mankind showed no signs of repentance. When Noah followed God to build an ark and spread the message of the flood destroying the world, no one took his words seriously, nor did they seek and investigate, much less did they believe that their evil deeds had provoked God’s disposition. Later, after the door of the ark was shut and the flood came, mankind was then swallowed by the flood and died at sea. From these, we can see God’s wrathful disposition. Once to the extent that man despises God’s existence, His anger will come upon man.