What three groups of people faced the flood and how were they distinctly dealt with? What are the eschatological inferences therein? BIB502-1-12-3.

The three groups of people facing the flood were:
• Those that were removed prior to the Flood

• Those that were preserved through the Flood

• Those that perished in the Flood

Enoch walked with God for 300 years and God took him. However, Enoch named his son Methuselah (his death shall bring) providing centuries of warning to repent. God called Noah a righteous man and spared him and his family from drowning in the flood. As an aside, it was God who closed the door of the ark, not Noah. And the third group, Genesis 6:17, “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die.”

As concerns eschatological inferences, Enoch represents the Church which will be raptured before the Tribulation. Those who perished in the Flood would be the unsaved who died either during the Tribulation or survived only to be judged at the Second Coming; Revelation 20:15, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Noah and his family were preserved through the Flood and are more difficult to place with respect to eschatology. I would expect the modern day Noah’s would be raptured and at the very least today’s Ham to be left behind to face the Tribulation and not become a believer. The rest of Noah’s family would likely represent those who became believers and survived the Tribulation

Noah and his family found the Post-Flood world to be changed. The thermal blanket was gone; the climate now had cycles and more. The long lives pre-flood were gone. The unbelievers who survive the destruction caused by the Rapture will also face a very changed world, a world devoid of those pesky Christians and children below the age of accountability.

So even with the evil state of the world, God did not leave us without a way of salvation. Noah was without fault and saved by grace as we can be today, The apostle Paul says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9).

There are several lessons in the building of the ark by Noah:

• Do as God commands

• The grace of Noah also allowed his family to be saved

• When God says to enter the boat, do it

• Once the door closed there was no chance for anyone else to be saved

• Accept the gift of grace provided by Jesus before your close your eyes for the last time, like boarding the ark before God closes the door.