Genesis 6: 5 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. 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
[Patriarchs & Prophets pp 91] They delighted in destroying the life of animals. The world was in its infancy; yet iniquity had become so deep and widespread that God could no longer bear with it… That this was indeed the case can clearly be seen by the very few who were saved, out of billions of folks who were alive back then. When God crunched the numbers, He only found eight persons that he could save to repopulate the earth afterwards.
And even as He destroyed the earth, His love drove Him to bury vast amounts of trees, so that America, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Russia could have vast reserves of oil and natural gas to heat homes during in winter, thousands of years later. So yes, even destruction, when it comes from God is founded upon the same basic principles of love that moved Jesus to die for our sins on Calvary.
Both the cross and the flood have their origin in the principle of love, for whatsoever God does, comes from that same springboard of love. It may not seem so up front, but behind the scenes it is God’s love that’s working things out for the best good of everyone. One day, every person on planet earth together with all the unfallen worlds and even the devil and his angels will confess this singular and sacred truth, that everything God does, or has done, was always done on the basis of love.
Genesis 7:1 And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
May God add His blessing to the study of His word. “Good night” and God bless!