Genesis tells us more about how the pre-Flood earth differed from later times. When Adam and Eve sinned, God directly intervened and decreed the punishment. Even as human population grew, as it obviously had by the time Abel was murdered, God did not resort to human justice systems. In fact, He specifically forbade other humans from taking matters into their own hands and punishing Cain. God's response to Cain's worry that someone would harm him is very revealing:

"Not so, if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance [from Me] seven times over" (Genesis 4:15).

God reserved for Himself the prerogative to directly punish the wicked in the pre-Flood world. Those who defied Him suffered a manifold increase in the punishment He had earlier dealt! And for the purposes of understanding Earth's history, we need to especially note that in both the case of Adam and of Cain, the punishment was related to the Earth itself.

People seemed to automatically understand that God personally took revenge for sin by increasing the penalty (the Curse). Later when Lamech killed a man he boasts:

"If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times" (Gen. 4:24).

Rebellion against God became worse and worse. Men seemed to pride themselves in defying God and boasting about their evil deeds and God's reaction to them. This must have filled the pre-Flood world with terror and violence as evil deeds multiplied.

Eusebius of Caesarea (c. AD 260-339) is called the "father of church history." His record of the early beliefs and happenings of the church is most valuable and it also provides us with his view of the pre-Flood earth and how God interacted with it.

Speaking of Christ's pre-existence and His part in Creation, Eusebius also adds the sad state of the world and how humanity fell into rebellion after Creation.

"At the beginning, after the original state of blessedness, the first man disregarded the command of God and fell into this mortal state, exchanging the delight of heaven for the curse of the earth. His descendants, who filled our world, showed themselves even worse, except for one or two, choosing a brutal existence and a life not worth living. City, state, art, knowledge, laws, virtue, or philosophy were not even names among them…and in their madness prepared for war with God himself and to fight the famed battles of the giants, trying to fortify earth against heaven and, in their delirium, to do battle with the supreme Ruler himself.

"In response, God sent them floods and conflagrations, famines and plagues, wars and thunderbolts – punishments progressively drastic – in order to restrain the noxious illness of their souls." [9, pp. 25-26]

Notice that not only does Eusebius speak of floods and conflagrations, but specifically says the punishments grew "progressively drastic." This is a key element of the CCC model.