The Island of Righteousness in a Sea of Filth Text: Genesis 6:9-12
Introduction: A Tale of Two Humanities
We come now to a pivotal moment in the history of the world. The story of humanity, which began with such high promise in the Garden, has taken a desperately dark turn. The experiment of human freedom, apart from God, has proven to be an unmitigated disaster. The world is not just flawed; it is rotten to the core. It is not just bruised; it is gangrenous. And God, who is not a sentimentalist, is preparing to perform radical surgery.
But in the middle of this universal rot, we find a man. One man. The text pivots from the sweeping condemnation of all mankind to the particular grace bestowed upon one man and his family. This is the pattern of Scripture. God's grace is always particular. He does not save abstractions; He saves people. He calls them by name. And in this case, the name is Noah.
This passage sets up a stark and absolute contrast. It is the world versus the man who walks with God. It is the culture of death versus the family of life. It is the city of man, filled with violence and corruption, set against the ark of God, a vessel of righteousness. We must understand that this is not simply an ancient story about a flood. This is a paradigm. It is a template for how God deals with the world, and it is a picture of the Christian life in every generation. We too are called to be Noahs, building an ark of faithfulness in a world that is rushing headlong toward judgment. We are called to be islands of righteousness in a sea of filth.
The modern world, much like the ancient one, does not like this kind of talk. It despises the black-and-white distinctions. It wants a God who winks at sin, a God who would never condemn, a God who would certainly never destroy. But that is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is holy, and His holiness is a consuming fire. His grace is astonishing, but His judgment is terrifying. And here, in the days of Noah, we see both on full display.
The Text
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among those in his generations; Noah walked with God. And Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Now the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
(Genesis 6:9-12 LSB)
The Character of the Remnant (v. 9-10)
The narrative zooms in from the wide shot of a wicked world to a close-up on one man.
"These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among those in his generations; Noah walked with God. And Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth." (Genesis 6:9-10)
The phrase "these are the generations of" is a structural marker in Genesis. It signals a new section of the story. But it is more than a chapter heading. It points to the history, the outcome, the downstream effects of a man's life. What will be the legacy of Noah? It will be the preservation of the human race and the continuation of the line of promise that will ultimately lead to Christ.
Three things are said about Noah's character, and they are a package deal. First, he was a "righteous man." This means he was right in his standing before God and right in his conduct before men. It is a legal and ethical term. He adhered to God's standard in a world that had abandoned it entirely. This righteousness was not self-generated. We know from the previous verse that "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Grace always comes first. God's favor produces man's faithfulness. It is not the other way around. Noah was righteous because God's grace was operative in his life.
Second, he was "blameless among those in his generations." The word for blameless is tamim. It is the same word used to describe a sacrificial animal without spot or defect. Now, this does not mean Noah was sinless. Only Christ was sinless. Rather, it means he was a man of integrity, whole, complete, and without hypocrisy. His life was a seamless garment. And notice the qualifier: "in his generations." In the context of a thoroughly debauched and perverse culture, Noah stood out. It is one thing to be godly among the godly. It is quite another to be a lily growing on a manure pile. Noah's righteousness was not a hot-house plant; it was tested and proven in the teeth of a hostile world.
Third, and this is the root of the other two, "Noah walked with God." We have only seen this said of one other man, Enoch, who was so close to God that he was simply taken into glory without dying. This phrase describes a life of intimate, moment-by-moment fellowship. It's not about a weekly visit to a holy place; it's about a continuous, conversational journey with God. How can two walk together unless they are agreed? Noah was in agreement with God. He loved what God loved and hated what God hated. This walk was the engine room of his righteousness and the source of his blamelessness.
The Condition of the World (v. 11)
From the portrait of this one man, the camera pans back to reveal the condition of the world he inhabited.
"Now the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." (Genesis 6:11 LSB)
Two words describe the state of humanity: corrupt and violent. The word for corrupt is from the same root that means to be ruined, spoiled, or rotten. It describes something that has been twisted from its original design. Humanity was made in the image of God, but they had systematically defaced that image. The corruption was "before God," meaning it was not hidden. It was blatant, open rebellion in the very face of the Creator. Men were not sinning in corners; they were parading their depravity in the streets.
This internal corruption inevitably produced an external result: "the earth was filled with violence." The Hebrew word is hamas. It means more than just physical brutality. It carries the idea of injustice, cruelty, oppression, and wrongdoing of every kind. When men abandon God, they do not become noble atheists. They turn on each other. When the vertical relationship is broken, all horizontal relationships shatter. The society was saturated with hamas. It was in their business dealings, their family lives, their legal system, such as it was. It was a world where might makes right, where the strong devoured the weak, and where every man did what was right in his own eyes, which meant he did whatever his lusts dictated.
The Divine Verdict (v. 12)
Finally, we get God's own assessment of the situation. This is not man's opinion or a historian's summary. This is the view from the throne of the universe.
"And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth." (Genesis 6:12 LSB)
God "saw" the earth. This is the language of judicial inspection. Just as He "saw" that His creation was good, He now sees that it has become rotten. The word "behold" invites us to be shocked, to see the world as God sees it. The corruption was not isolated; it was total. "All flesh had corrupted their way." This is a statement of universal depravity. It wasn't just a few bad apples; the whole barrel was rotten. Every class of person, every race, every tribe had turned aside.
Notice the active voice: "all flesh had corrupted their way." They were not passive victims of a corrupt system. They were the active agents of their own corruption. They chose this path. Sin is not a disease you catch; it is a rebellion you choose. They had taken the good way God had established for them and deliberately twisted it into a path of destruction. This is the essence of sin: taking God's good gifts, His good world, His good law, and perverting them for our own selfish ends.
The Ark and the Cross
This grim diagnosis sets the stage for God's terrible and merciful remedy. The judgment will be a flood, a de-creation, washing the world clean. But the mercy will be an ark, a floating vessel of salvation for the one man who walked with God, and for his family.
And here we must see the typology. Noah is a type of Christ, a righteous man in a world condemned. But Christ is the greater Noah. Noah was righteous in his generation, but Christ is righteous in Himself, the very standard of righteousness. Noah walked with God, but Christ is God, walking among us.
The ark is a picture of salvation in Christ. It was an object of ridicule to the world. Imagine Noah, preaching for decades about a flood that had never been seen, building a massive boat on dry land. He was a fool in their eyes. And the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
The ark had one door. Not many ways in, but one. Jesus said, "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved." God Himself shut that door, sealing Noah and his family in, and sealing the wicked world out. On the day of judgment, there will be a final separation. Those who are in Christ will be sealed in safety, and those who are outside of Christ will be sealed out, facing the flood of God's wrath.
The world today is no different than the world in Noah's day. It is corrupt before God and filled with violence. Our culture celebrates what God condemns and mocks what He commands. The storm clouds of judgment are gathering. But God, in His grace, has provided an ark. He has provided His Son, Jesus Christ. The call to us is the same call that Noah preached for a hundred and twenty years: Repent, believe, and come into the ark. For the day is coming when the heavens will open, the fountains of the great deep will burst forth, and the door will be shut.