While the Ark Was Prepared

The disloyal course of the angels apparently continued for centuries without any outward manifestation of God's ability to check them. Thus all the holy angels were tested, and all who chose "were disobedient in the days of Noah."--1 Peter 3:20.

Noah's family was singled out as exceptional, in the statement, "Now Noah was perfect in his generation"--implying that few or no others were perfectly generated--of pure Adamic stock. (Genesis 6:9.) Noah's family, therefore, included all the uncontaminated--only eight persons. They, by Divine command, built the Ark, and thus witnessed to the world the Divine intention respecting a Deluge.

Noah's message respecting a Divine judgment by a Deluge seemed ridiculous. Until the Deluge there was no rain. The last of the great "rings" which then flooded the Earth was of pure water. For centuries it was spread out over the firmament. The whole Earth was a great hothouse. There were practically no changes of seasons, nor storms, because the great water canopy preserved it in perpetual Summer. Of that period we read: "For as yet there was no rain on the Earth." (Genesis 2:5.) Noah, the preacher of righteousness, was mocked and considered a fool because of his faith in God's Word, just as others of the Lord's people at various times have been mocked by those who lacked faith, and are yet mocked.

Finally, the Deluge came. "The fountains of the great deep [canopy] were broken up." The breaking of the canopy precipitated millions of tons of water at both poles, forming two great tidal waves, covering the Earth for a great depth, deepening the ocean beds, and throwing up additional mountains.