The chapter begins by telling us about sons of God marrying daughters of men. It’s not clear who these sons of God are. Many think they are angels who followed Satan, whom we now call demons. Others think they are just godly men marrying ungodly women. The point is to let us know people are doing whatever they want, and this is leading to more evil than has ever been experienced before or since. Jesus makes reference to this time in Matthew 24:37-39. He says the world will become that evil again just before he returns to the earth. All this leads to God making the decision to destroy everything in creation. God’s instructions to Noah allow him and his family to be saved and to preserve enough animals to repopulate the earth. Only six chapters into the book and God has intervened against the evils of humanity three times. The evils are increasing from one simple act of disobedience to murder to every desire of people’s hearts being evil.
In many generations, people have wondered if now is the time things have gotten as bad as the time of Noah. They are wondering if Christ is about to return. We never know, but we should always be ready. God’s rescue plan today isn’t a boat, it’s trusting Jesus.