Grace: From Adam to Noah

Once again we must go back to the Garden of Eden as a point of reference.

Genesis 3:15

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

This is the promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who was to destroy the works of the devil. This is the promise that was passed down through the generations of Adams’ seed. Consider the genealogy from Adam to Noah.

What about these people who lived in the days of Adam and Noah? Did they have a chance to become partakers of the grace of God? We never read where Adam or Eve ever pleaded for mercy, or even asked for forgiveness. It was the love and grace of God that pitied them enough to provide a Deliverer. Though the promise was made to Adam, by the time Cain went in the land of Nod, Adam’s descendants could have numbered over 32,000. Thousands were born upon the earth after Seth was conceived. Did these all hear of the promise? If so, when did they hear of it? The scripture below has haunted me for many years. Apparently, the same is true of other theologians for many do not agree on its meaning.

1 Peter 3:18-20

18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

The passage clearly states that Jesus, by the Holy Ghost, went into hell and preached to the souls who were disobedient in the days that Noah was preparing the ark. Yes, this is very clear. But what was the content of the message, or the purpose of it? Was this preaching designed to bring souls to repentance on the other side of the grave, or was it a mere confirmation of a message that had already been preached?

To understand the grace of God, this issue needs to be settled once and for all. Moses wrote in Genesis 6 concerning the disposition of the Lord during that time.

Genesis 6:1-3

1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

The Spirit of the Lord strove with man in those days. God did in fact attempt to communicate with fallen man. However, only a few would hear the pleading of the Spirit of God. Jude also wrote of the activities of these times.

Jude 1:14-15

14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

15 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.

Enoch preached the coming of the Lord over three hundred years. He also walked with the Lord in a manner that was an example to all. His translation was truly evidence that God was with man.

We must also remember, at that time, all men were of the same language and were mostly settled in close proximity of each other. Therefore, it was easy to spread the gospel to all.

2 Peter 2:4-5

4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; Even as Enoch, so was Noah, a preacher of righteousness.

Yes, these all heard the gospel but would not submit to the righteousness of it. They chose to live ungodly lives in spite of the promise and warnings God sent by His Spirit in the mouth of His Prophets. Note that Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather and another in the line of believers, lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years and died just before it began to rain upon the earth. All that was left, excluding Noah and his family, were unbelievers and rejecters of the covenant. Therefore, the preaching of Christ in hell had to be a confirmation of the word these patriarchs had already ministered. So, did anyone come out of hell with Christ? If so, who were they?

Matthew 27:52-53

52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

It was the saints of God. It was those who believed in the promise and submitted to the remedy God gave for sin in their dispensation. It is the obedient that rose with Christ. The Lord was faithful to keep His Word before the people of the earth. It was in no wise the fault of God that man did not submit to the Word preached by the prophets of old. The promise of a merciful Savior was proclaimed among the people of the earth. The coming of Christ into the nether parts of the earth was to declare not only the faithfulness, but also the truthfulness of God.