Noah
In the days after Cain killed Abel, when men began to multiply on the earth, there was a man named Noah. In the days of Noah, men were wicked in all their thoughts and ways all throughout the world, even worse than the way things are today. This of course did not make God happy.
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. (Genesis 6:5)
And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had
corrupted his way upon the earth.
(Genesis 6:12)
And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him
at his heart. (Genesis 6:6)
So because God saw how bad
things were everywhere in the world, he
decided to wipe everything out.
But Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:8)
...Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
(Genesis 6:9)
Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. (Genesis
6:22)
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. (Genesis 7:1)And the Lord said, I will destroy man
whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man, and beast, and the
creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made
them. (Genesis 6:7)
And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy
all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing
that is in the earth shall die. (Genesis 6:17)
Now salvation during this time came by having faith, and by having faith, doing what God said. Remember that since the fall of Adam and Eve, it was necessary to make an animal sacrifice as payment for your sins. If you didn't have faith in what God said, than you wouldn't bother with any sacrifices and that is where faith is a part of salvation during this time. The Lord told Noah to build an ark and fill it with 2 and 7 pairs of every living thing so that they would survive the flood. Noah and his family were the only ones in the world that had faith to do what God asked of them.
So God flooded the earth and killed everything that was in it. It rained upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights and the water covered even the mountains. After many months the water slowly decreased and it came time for Noah and his family and all the beasts and creeping things to come out of the ark. The first thing Noah did when he got off the ark was make animal sacrifices to God.
And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (Genesis 8:20)
After the flood, God uses Noah to set up the first Government. God again gives dominion over the whole earth and over every creature to Noah and his family. Noah's sons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth, spread throughout the earth and were under the control of Noah. Ham went to Africa, Shem went to Asia, and Japheth went to Europe. The reason for this is that God made a covenant with Noah and told Noah how people should live. If anybody had any questions about what was expected of them or what God wanted, they were to go to Noah for the answer.