And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever.” Genesis 6:3.

In Noah’s day all people were not in the fullest sense heathen idolaters…. The class who professed a knowledge of God were the ones who had the greatest influence and took the lead in making of none effect His word spoken to them by Noah. They not only rejected the message of the faithful preacher of righteousness themselves, but like their master the devil they sought every means in their power to prevent others from believing and being obedient to God…. While Noah was sounding the note of warning of the coming destruction of that generation, was their day of opportunity and privilege to become wise unto salvation. But they gave their minds to the control of Satan rather than God, and he deceived them as he did our first parents….

The world before the Flood reasoned that for centuries the laws of nature had been fixed. The recurring seasons had come in their order. The rivers and brooks had never yet passed their boundaries but had borne their waters safely to the proud sea. Fixed decrees had kept the waters from overflowing their banks. But these reasons did not recognize the Hand that had stayed the waters, saying, thus far shalt thou go and no farther…. They reasoned then as people reason now, as though nature was above the God of nature, and her ways were so fixed that God Himself could not change them, thus making in the minds of the world God’s messages of warning a delusion, a grand deception, reasoning that if the message of Noah was correct, nature would be turned out of her course of order….

Human nature in Noah’s day, uninfluenced by the Spirit of God, is the same in our age. Jesus in His assertions and representations recognizes Genesis as the words of inspiration. Many admit the New Testament to be divine, while they show no special regard for the Old Testament Scriptures; but these two grand books cannot be divorced. Inspired apostles who wrote the New Testament are continually carrying back the minds of the searchers of Scriptures to the Old. Christ carries the minds of all generations, present and future, to the Old Testament. He refers to Noah as a literal person who lived; He refers to the Flood as a fact in history; He shows the specification of that generation as characteristic of this age. The Truth and Life has anticipated the questioning and doubts of men and women in regard to the Old Testament by pronouncing it divine.—Signs of the Times, December 20, 1877.

From From the Heart

Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. Genesis 6:9.

How simple and childlike amid the unbelief of the world was the faith of Noah…. His faith was perfected by his works. He gave to the world an example in believing just what God had said. He commenced under the directions of God to construct the ark, an immense boat, on dry ground. Multitudes came from every direction to see this strange sight … and to hear the earnest, fervent words of this singular man who seemed to believe every word he uttered…. A power attended the words of Noah, for it was the voice of God to the people through His servant. Some were deeply convicted and would have heeded the words of warning, but there were so many to jest and ridicule the message of entreaty and warning to repentance that they partook of the same spirit, resisted the invitations of mercy, … and were soon among the boldest and most defiant scoffers; for none are as reckless and will go to such lengths in sin as those who have once had light, who have been convicted and resisted the Spirit of God. Amid popular contempt and ridicule, amid universal wickedness and disobedience, Noah distinguished himself by his holy integrity and unwavering obedience…. He was one in the world, but not one of the world. Noah made himself the object of contempt and ridicule by his steadfast adherence to the words of God….

While the voice of God, through Noah, was making itself heard in entreaties and warnings in condemnation of sin and iniquity, Satan was not asleep; he was mustering his forces…. Noah was tested and proved. Opposition met him from the great men of the world, from philosophers and men of science, so-called, who tried to show him that his message could not be true, but his voice was not silenced; one hundred and twenty years the words of warning continued to be heard in earnest tones and were sustained by his energetic work upon the ark…. God’s Spirit was striving with the people to lead them to accept and believe the truth, but Satan’s suggestions were also heeded; their own wicked hearts were more inclined to harmonize with the sophistry of the father of lies than with the pleadings of infinite love. They manifested their indifference and contempt of the solemn warnings of God in doing the same as they had done before the warning had been given….

The days of Noah, Christ tells us, were as the days prior to His appearing in the clouds of heaven.—Signs of the Times, December 20, 1877.

From From the Heart

Make yourself an ark of gopherwood. Genesis 6:14.

In how short a time from the first sin of Adam did sin increase and spread like the leprosy. It is the nature of sin to increase. From generation to generation sin has spread like a contagious disease. Hatred of God’s law and—as the sure result—hatred of all goodness became universal. The world was in its infancy, yet after sin was first introduced, it soon became fearful in its proportions until it deluged the world. God, who created mankind and gave them with an unsparing hand the bounties of His providence, was slighted and despised by the recipients of His gifts…. But notwithstanding sinners forgot their benevolent Benefactor, God did not slight and turn away from them and leave them to perish in their violence and crime without setting before them their wickedness and the result of the transgression of His law. He sent them messages of warning and entreaty….

God, whom men and women had slighted and dishonored and whose gracious love and benevolence they had abused, still pitied the race and in His love provided a refuge for all who would accept it. He directed Noah to build an ark and at the same time preach to the inhabitants of the world that God would bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy the wicked. If they would believe the message and prepare for that event by repentance and reformation, they should find pardon and be saved. God did not remove His Spirit from the human race without warning them of the sure result of their course in transgressing His law….

The Spirit of God continued to strive with the rebellious until the time God had specified had nearly expired, when Noah and his family entered the ark and the hand of God closed the door of the ark. Mercy had stepped from the golden throne, no longer to intercede for mankind.

Notwithstanding God was working to draw sinners to Himself by the conviction of His Holy Spirit, they in their rebellion were drawing away from God and continually resisting the pleadings of infinite love. Noah stood up nobly in the midst of a world who were disregarding God and were indulging in all manner of extravagant dissipation which led to crimes and violence of every kind…. What a spectacle to the world as Noah stands forth connected with God by his obedience, in contrast to the world.—Signs of the Times, December 20, 1877.

From From the Heart

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. Genesis 6:5.

The inhabitants of the world at this time are represented by the dwellers upon the earth at the time of the Flood. The wickedness of the antediluvians is plainly stated, “And 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.” God became weary of this people whose thoughts were only of sinful pleasure and indulgence. They sought not the counsel of God who had created them, nor cared to do His will. The rebuke of God was upon them because they followed the imagination of their own hearts; and there was violence in the land. “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth….”

In His teachings Christ referred to this. “But as the days of Noe were,” He said, “so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” …

The inhabitants of the antediluvian world had the warning given them prior to their overthrow, but the warning was not heeded. They refused to listen to the words of Noah; they mocked at his message. Righteous people lived in that generation. Before the destruction of the antediluvian world, Enoch bore his testimony unflinchingly. And in prophetic vision he saw the condition of the world at the present time. He said, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.” …

It is living earnestness that God requires at this time. Ministers may have but little learning from books, but if they do the best they can with their talents; if they work as they have opportunity; if they clothe their utterances in the plainest and most simple language; if they walk in carefulness and humility, seeking for heavenly wisdom; if they work for God from the heart, actuated by love for Christ and the souls for whom Christ has died, they will be listened to by those of even superior ability and talents. There will be a charm in the simplicity of the truths they present.—The Review and Herald, November 1, 1906.

From From the Heart

He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,” and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Luke 1:17.

In John the Baptist God raised up a messenger to prepare the way of the Lord. He was to bear to the world an unflinching testimony, reproving and denouncing sin…. John had not been educated in the schools of the rabbis. He had obtained no human scholarship….

To prepare the way before Christ, one was needed who, like the prophets of old, could summon the degenerate nation to repentance, and the voice of John was lifted up like a trumpet. His commission was “Shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” …

In this age, just prior to the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, God calls for workers who will prepare a people to stand in the great day of the Lord. Just such a work as that of John is to be carried on in these last days. The Lord has given messages to His people, through the instruments He has chosen, and He would have all give heed to the admonitions and warnings He sends. The message preceding the public ministry of Christ was, Repent, publicans and sinners. Repent, Pharisees and Sadducees. Repent, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Our message is not to be one of peace and safety. As a people who believe in Christ’s soon appearing, we have a message to bear—“Prepare to meet thy God.” We are to lift up the standard and bear the third angel’s message. Our message must be as direct as was the message of John. He rebuked kings for their iniquity. Notwithstanding that his life was in peril, the truth did not languish upon his lips. And our work in this age must be as faithfully done….

Look at the picture which the world presents today. Dishonesty, fraud, and bankruptcies, violence and bloodshed, exist on every hand…. Thus the discernment and sensibilities have become deadened as to what constitutes right principles…. The light given, calling to repentance, has been shut out by the thick cloud of unbelief and opposition brought in by human plans and human inventions….

The prayerful, earnest appeals that come from the heart of the wholehearted messenger will create conviction…. All who know the only true and living God will know Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, and they will preach Christ and Him crucified.—The Review and Herald, November 1, 1906.

From From the Heart