72 Q. Did the Son of God become man immediately after the sin of our first parents?  A. The Son of God did not become man immediately after the sin of our first parents, but He was promised to them as a Redeemer.

God did not say to Adam when He would send the Redeemer, and so the Redeemer did not come for about 4,000 years after He was first promised.  God permitted this long time to elapse in order that mankind might feel and know how great an evil sin is, and what misery it brought upon the world.  During these 4,000 years men were becoming gradually worse.  At one time—­about 1,600 years after Adam’s sin—­they became so bad that God destroyed by a deluge, or great flood of water, all persons and living things upon the earth, except Noe, his wife, his three sons and their wives, and the animals they had in the ark with them. (Gen. 6).  Let me now give you more particulars about this terrible punishment.  After God determined to destroy all living things on account of the wickedness of men, He told Noe, who was a good man, to build a great ark, or ship, for himself and his family, and for some of all the living creatures upon the earth. (Gen. 6).  When the ark was ready, Noe and his family went into it, and the animals that were to be saved came by God’s power, and two by two were taken into the ark.  Besides the two of each kind of animals, Noe was required to take with him five more of each kind of clean animals.  Clean animals were certain animals which, according to God’s law, could be offered in sacrifice or eaten; they were such animals as the ox, the sheep, the goat, etc.  Therefore, seven of each of the clean animals, and two of each of the other kinds.  Why did He have seven clean animals?  Two were to be set free upon the dry earth with the other animals, and the other five were for food and sacrifice.  Noe spent a hundred years in making the ark.  At that time men lived much longer than they do now.  Adam lived over 900 years and Mathusala, the oldest man, lived to be 969 years old.  There are many reasons why men live a shorter time now than then.  When the door of the ark was closed, God sent a great rain that lasted for forty days and forty nights.  All the springs of water broke forth, and all the rivers and lakes overflowed their banks.  Men ran here and there to high places, while the water rose higher and higher till it covered the tops of the mountains, and all not in the ark were drowned.  The big ark floated about for about a year; for although it stopped raining after forty days, just think of the quantity of water that must have fallen!  Think of the rain what would fall during the whole of Lent from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday—­forty days.  It took a long time, therefore, for the waters to go down and finally disappear.  When the waters began to go down, Noe, wishing to know if any land was as yet above the water, opened the little window, and sent out a raven or crow over the waters.  The raven did not come back, because