In Genesis 4, though Cain has murdered his brother, God displays His mercy by placing a mark on Cain to preserve his life. Grace and mercy had been displayed beforehand when God allowed Adam and Eve to continue living even though they deserved death. Even more wonderfully, God intends to redeem His people through a promised deliverer (3:15)
The story carries on with Cain's descendants abusing God's preservation and falling more deeply into sin, rejoicing in their disobedience without even showing the degree of remorse that Cain displayed (4:23-24). Yet God's patience continues particularly shown in Genesis 5 which records a genealogy of patriarchs with very long lives. But in Genesis 6:3, God in response to very serious sin, significantly reduces the life span of human beings. His patience is drawing to an end.
Man does not heed this warning. They reach a peak of sinful rebellion (6:5) and God destroys all but one family through a great flood.
In Genesis 7:11-12, we read that "all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights."
In the first three days of creation, God divided the heaven, the earth, the sea (Gen 1:3-13) and the water 'under the expanse' from the water above it (1:7). What God divided in Genesis 1, He now brings back together. At His word, creation collapses in upon itself. The waters above and the waters below again meet and God's judgment falls on all except Noah's who "found favor in the eyes of the Lord" (6:8).
It is not that man's sin has been washed away in the Flood but rather that every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood (8:21). The flood alone cannot deal with sin. Sinfulness is nothing less than human nature. It is in Noah's family as much as in the familes that were destroyed (9:20-24). Noah's family is saved by grace, not by their goodness.
Thousands of years later, Peter carries the comparions of the flood to an even greater destruction, one of fire rather than by water (2 Peter 3:5-7). We realize that we as well are in a period of God's patience. A period where God is preserving the world to give people time to repent of their sins and believe in Christ (2 Peter 3:9). Shouldn't this motivate us to repentance and evangelism? God's patience will again come to an end. There will again be a time like the days of Noah and God will come in judgment when men least expect it.
References:
John Frame, The Doctrine of God
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