What is the meaning of Genesis 6:7? So the LORD said “So the LORD said” (Genesis 6:7) signals that the coming judgment is not a natural disaster but a deliberate, moral response from the Creator. The same voice that spoke creation into being (Genesis 1:3; Psalm 33:9) now speaks of judgment. God’s words are decisive (Isaiah 55:11) and rooted in His holy character (Leviticus 19:2). He is not distant; He observes the thoughts and intentions of every heart (Genesis 6:5; Hebrews 4:13) and responds personally. I will blot out man, whom I have created • “Blot out” evokes erasing ink from a scroll (Exodus 32:32-33), a total removal from the record of life. • God’s ownership is emphasized: “whom I have created” (Genesis 2:7). Humanity is accountable to its Maker (Romans 14:12). • Judgment is the righteous wage of sin (Romans 6:23), yet even here mercy is on the horizon—Noah “found favor” (Genesis 6:8), foreshadowing salvation in Christ (1 Peter 3:20-21). from the face of the earth The judgment’s scope is global. As the floodwaters will cover “all the high mountains under all the heavens” (Genesis 7:19), so sin’s corruption is universal (Romans 3:23). God’s promise later never to destroy the earth by flood again (Genesis 9:11) underscores both His justice and His covenant faithfulness. Peter alludes to this historical flood when he describes a future, final purification by fire (2 Peter 3:6-7). every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air Human sin drags the wider creation into consequences it did not initiate: • At creation, mankind was tasked with stewarding the earth (Genesis 1:28). • When that stewardship fails, even animals suffer (Hosea 4:3). • Paul notes that “the whole creation has been subjected to futility” (Romans 8:20-22) and longs for redemption—anticipating the new heavens and new earth (Revelation 21:1). for I am grieved that I have made them • God’s grief is not regret born of ignorance but sorrow rooted in love (Ephesians 4:30). • He is “slow to anger” (Exodus 34:6), so this grief has built over generations of escalating violence (Genesis 6:11). • The verse affirms God’s emotional engagement with His creation (Isaiah 63:10; Mark 3:5). Judgment flows from holiness, but it costs Him; later He will bear the cost Himself at the cross (Romans 5:8). summary Genesis 6:7 shows a holy God personally responding to pervasive human sin. His spoken decree reveals: • Authority—He alone determines life and judgment. • Justice—Sin demands a righteous reckoning that affects all creation. • Sorrow—Divine grief underscores that judgment is never capricious. Yet within the same context God preserves a remnant through Noah, pointing to the ultimate deliverance offered in Jesus Christ (John 3:16). The verse urges us to take sin seriously, marvel at God’s patience, and cling to the salvation He provides. |
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