How Was the Flood a Blessing?

            My Come, Follow Me studies for this week took me to Genesis 6-11 and Moses 8. According to the Old Testament Come, Follow Me – For Individuals and Families, the story of Noah and the Flood has inspired generations of people. However, people who live in the latter days should pay special attention to it. As Jesus Christ was teaching His followers how to watch for His Second Coming, He said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man” (Joseph Smith – Mathew 1:41). The words used to describe the days of Noah are the same ones used to describe our day – words such as “corrupt” and “filled with violence” (Genesis 6:12-13; Moses 8:28). The same is true of the story about the Tower of Babel and its description of pride, confusion, and division.

            The manual continued by telling us that such “ancient accounts are valuable” for several reasons. They teach us that “wickedness repeats itself throughout history,” but they also teach us what we should do about it. Noah “found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Moses 8:27) even though he was surrounded by wickedness. Jared, his brother, and their families and friends “turned to the Lord and were led away from the wickedness in Babel” (see Ether 1:33-43). These familiar stories in our studies this week can teach us how to keep ourselves and families safe.

            Through Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have more information about Noah than is found in the Old Testament. Joseph Smith was inspired to translate Genesis 6 (found in Moses 8), which tells us that Noah was a great prophet of God. “He was ordained and sent forth to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, he walked and talked with God, and he was chosen to reestablish God’s children on the earth after the Flood.” (See also Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 104, 201.)

            The manual tells us that Noah’s day was similar to our day in several ways. For example, the people rejected God’s servants (Moses 8:18, 20-21, 23-24); they were complacent and worldly (Moses 8:21); they had evil imaginations and thoughts (Moses 8:22), and corruption and violence were widespread (Moses 8:28). Here are a few quotes about Noah from the prophets and apostles of the latter days.

From the days of Father Adam to the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his successors, whenever the priesthood has been on the earth, a major responsibility has been the preaching of the saving, eternal principles of the gospel – the plan of salvation. Father Adam taught these things to his own children. (Moses 5:12.) Consider Noah’s long years of missionary effort and the preaching of all the ancient prophets. (Moses 8:16-20.) Each in his day was commanded to carry the gospel message to the children of men and call them to repentance as the only means of escaping the pending judgments” (Ezra Taft Benson, “Missionary Work: A Major Responsibility,” Ensign, May 1974, 105, as quoted in Pearl of Great Price Student Manual [2017]).

Noah, who built the ark, was one of God’s greatest servants, chosen before he was born as were others of the prophets. He was no eccentric, as many have supposed. Neither was he a mythical figure created only in legend. Noah was real….

Let no one downgrade the life and mission of this great prophet. Noah was so near perfect in his day that he literally walked and talked with God….

Few men in any age were as great as Noah. In many respects he was like Adam, the first man. Both had served as ministering angels in the presence of God even after their mortal experience” (Mark E. Petersen, Noah and the Flood [1982], 1-2, as quoted in Pearl of Great Price Student Manual [2017]).

So the Lord commanded Noah to build an ark into which he was to take his family and the animals of the earth to preserve seed after the flood, and all flesh that was not in the ark perished according to the Lord’s decree. Of course this story is not believed by the wise and the great among the children of men, any more than was Noah’s story in his day (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie [1956], 3:39, as quoted in Pearl of Great Price Student Manual [2017]).

God destroyed the wicked of that generation with a flood. Why did He destroy them? He destroyed them for their benefit, if you can comprehend it (John Taylor, “Discourse,” Deseret News, Nov. 7, 1883, 658; see also “Discourse,” Deseret News, Jan. 16, 1878, 787, for President Taylor’s view of the Flood as an act of love; as quoted in Pearl of Great Price Student Manual [2017]).

            The above quotes tell us that Noah was one of the greatest prophets of God, one who walked and talked with Him. Noah was chosen before his birth to be a prophet of God, and several prophets knew about him long before his birth. Just as every person living on earth today is a descendant of Adam, we are also descendants of Noah.

            President Taylor said that the people in Noah’s day were destroy “for their benefit.” I have not read his discourse, but I can understand why his words are true. The people were so wicked that they had passed the point of repentance. The Flood benefitted them because death stopped their sinning. Their spirits were sent to spirit prison where they waited until Jesus Christ visited the righteous in spirit paradise. From among the righteous spirits, Christ organized missionaries to carry His gospel to the people in spirit prison. Those who accept Jesus Christ can begin to advance in their eternal lives. Those who reject the gospel are still waiting in prison.

            The Flood also benefitted us and all the people who have lived on earth since the time of Noah. Because wickedness was destroyed off the face of the earth, we had the opportunity to learn of the gospel of Jesus Christ and choose whether we would accept it. This would not have been possible in a world totally corrupted by wickedness.