You nailed it perfectly.
Plus the Lord doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezk 18:32; 33:11) because judgment, condemnation and punishment are his strange work (Isa 28:21;' Gen 6:6)) . And even more than this -- Noah preached to them for 120 years (Gen 6:3), which was clearly an expression of God's grace. Yet, because of the
total depravity of the antediluvians' hearts (Gen Gen 6:5), none but Noah and his immediate family was saved. The rest of the world refused to repent and be saved because it was not in them to do so! They
could not repent and believe Noah's preaching of the "gospel" (such as it was at that time); for they
could not change what they were, i.e. their essence (Jer 13:23), which testifies to the sad truth of this passage:
Isa 26:10
10 Though grace is shown to the wicked,
they do not learn righteousness;
even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil
and regard not the majesty of the LORD.
NIV
External expressions of God's grace never has saved anyone! The power of Grace works only when God internally applies it to a depraved heart, for He is greater than the human heart (1Jn 3:20), which is the fountainhead of all evil, according to Jesus (Mat 15:18-20)! This is precisely why God
cannot love anything or anyone that is evil. He can love only that which reflects his glory and his thrice holy character.
Therefore, God hates sin and the sinner, as so many passages teach
! But thanks be to our Glorious Lord and Savior that He so loved his elect in Christ before time began! Now that is something worthy over which to loudly sing our praises
to our Great and Awesome and Merciful and Compassionate God! But if any of us NOW can't find it in our hearts to rejoice and praise God over these great truths I just shared, how will we be able to find those things in our hearts in the next age? Isn't this age preparing us for the age to come?