What Grieves God

One day the Lord’s disciples came to Him with this question: "What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3).

Jesus answered, "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (verses 37–39).

In this significant statement, Jesus not only was verifying the historicity of the Flood spoken of in Genesis, but He also was encouraging us to look carefully at the way things were before the Flood came, because these are characteristics that will be prevalent in the time before He comes again.

There are some striking parallels between Noah’s time and our time. Noah was living in his last days. He was living in a time right before judgment came in the form of the Flood. And we are living in the last days, the time before the judgment that will come during the Great Tribulation.

As Genesis 6 opens, things had gone from bad to worse on Planet Earth. The Bible tells us, "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart" (verses 5–6).

God was grieved that His creation was living that way. This shows the heartache of God over the rebellion and wickedness of men and women.