BIBLE PASSAGE:
Just as it was in the days of Noah,
so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
(Luke 17:26)
MEDITATION:
When we see what Jesus says about
“how the world will be when He returns”,
we may have this question,
“What was it like in the days of Noah?”
As the earth’s population exploded in numbers, it also exploded with evil.
Abel made a righteous sacrifice which pleased the Lord (Genesis 4:4), but
the people of the world had forgotten and abandoned righteousness. Look
at how the scriptures describe the world at that time:
“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually” (Genesis 6:5)
The people thought God was not aware of (or even cared about) how
they were living; they were living in an unrighteous manner (and it
was getting worse daily). But, God knew about them in the days of
Noah, and He knows about the people today as well.
Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.
God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on
earth had corrupted their ways. (Genesis 6:11-12)
In Luke, Jesus was pointing out that, the people of Noah’s day
were totally depraved and not the least bit concerned about how
they were living. They were carrying on the events of their lives
without a single thought of the judgment of God.
Noah, who is described as a “preacher of righteousness”
(2 Peter 2:5), spent years warning his friends and neighbors
what the Holy God was about to do, but nobody listened.
However, their refusal to listen did not stop Noah from
continuing to warn them.
The depravity of the people and their ungodly lifestyles at that time
were enough to cause the Lord to regret He had made mankind.
The LORD regretted that he had made human beings
on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.
(Genesis 6:6)
It sounds as if the Lord observed evil reproducing and overtaking
the world and knew there would be no reversal of the evilness of
the people, so His most merciful solution was to save the righteous
as a group for “starting over” and destroy everyone else. And, that
is precisely what He did.
Even in His disappointment and disgust, God still loved the people
and gave them ample opportunity to change. He allowed Noah nearly
100 years to complete building the ark; during that time, God showed
great patience.
To those who were disobedient long ago when God waited
patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.
In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water.
(1 Peter 3:20)
We can see that during the lengthy timeframe,
Noah continued to preach to the people about what was coming.
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen,
in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith
he condemned the world and became heir of the
righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
(Hebrews 11:7)
How did the people respond to Noah’s warnings? They did
not believe Noah and were content with continuing in their
lifestyle of wickedness and idolatry. Their hearts were hard;
their ears were numb; they were very comfortable with their
lifestyle and ignored God’s guidelines for His creations. No
one repented, and no one wanted to seek God.
Jesus said that the world will be much the same
before He returns to set up His earthly kingdom
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the
angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All
the nations will be gathered before him, and he will
separate the people one from another as a shepherd
separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the
sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
(Matthew 25:31–33)
Just as judgment was passed on the people during the days of Noah
(when the righteous were separated from the unrighteous), it will be
the same type of judgment when Jesus returns. Just as Noah warned
the people of his days, Jesus warns the people of today.
You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come
at an hour when you do not expect him. (Luke 12:40)
The scriptures give us a clear picture
of the state of the world before Jesus returns.
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful,
proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful,
unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without
self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash,
conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
(2 Timothy 3:1-4)
They didn’t listen to Noah back then and the chances of people
listening to Jesus today are probably the same. Jesus said when
He returns the world will be the same as it was in the days of Noah.
Imagine for a moment that you are God looking down on your
creations. How would you feel if you saw people destroying your
creations (some before they are even born)?
To put it in perspective, let’s assume you love someone very much
and you decided to bless them with some special gift (maybe it was
something you built with our own hands). However, after you gave
it to them, you found out later that they smashed what they should
have cherished, and threw it in the trash. How would you feel?
As God, how would you feel as you watch people stealing, murdering
and practicing all kinds of vile evilness? How would if affect you as
you watch people driven by lust for selfish pleasure, fame, wealth,
and how they were perversely abusing the gifts you gave them? How
would you feel as you witnessed people rewriting your commandments
to ‘fit’ their own desires?
The righteous and holy churches are crying out to the people,
but church attendance is shrinking and a growing number of
churches are being forced to close their doors. That is a testimony
of how people are not listening today (as in the days of Noah), and
how a growing number of people don’t want to listen.
Government leaders are not only failing to find ways of reducing
violence and crime, but they seem to be promoting the acceleration
of both. Law enforcement is under attack as some elected officials
are restricting their ability to enforce the laws, and are reducing
the funding required to sustain an effective law enforcement
organization. God’s desire is to have a structured government
which supports enforcement of the laws and strict punishment
of those who violate them.
We also have seen how the educational institutions have become
a platform where radical and unrighteous concepts are imposed
on students (none of this has anything to do with math, science,
English, etc.).
Even in the elementary schools, some educators are choosing to
confuse children and indoctrinate them to consider vile activities
as normal. If you were God, how would you feel as you watch
people corrupting the lives of innocent children? What possible
rationale could anyone have for this (or any kind of) child abuse?
It has to be the result of depraved and perverted minds under
the control of Satan, wouldn’t you agree?
Whenever people no longer have love for precious and innocent
children, but want to corrupt and confuse them, then we know
that what Jesus said will occur before He returns, is happening.
He tells us that the love of most will “grow cold”. When love grows
cold, the door is opened for even more evilness to flourish.
Because of the increase of wickedness,
the love of most will grow cold (Matthew 24:12)
How should believers react to this kind of evilness invading
our world (and growing worse)? Jesus tells us to “stand firm”.
In other words we should refuse to allow any perverse and
perverted ideas to change our resolve to be faithful to the
Lord. Even if it means walking in the opposite direction from
the rest of the world and its ideas, we will continue walking in
a righteous direction and refuse to compromise or apologize
for our faith.
but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
(Matthew 24:13)
We will not hide our faith in order to be accepted, but we will boldly
wear our faith in hopes of having a positive impact on someone who
is lost and needs Jesus. Showing an unwavering faith is one way we
can serve the Lord. Others are not going to care how much we know
about scriptures unless they know how much we care about loving
and obeying God with an undeniable sincerity.
Jesus also tells us that there are some (like Noah) who will preach
a warning to the whole world. We need to be thankful for, and
pray for the boldness of those God has called. They have been
tasked by God to share the gospel in a world that does not want
to hear any words from the Lord.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached
in the whole world as a testimony to all nations,
and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)
How much is enough for God to repeat His actions in the days of
Noah? We don’t know God’s “tipping point” but as we read His
Word, we can get a good idea that the return of Jesus is getting
nearer (and is accelerating). It we want to compare today’s world
with the world in the days of Noah, we can compare what we see
on the news, to what was described in the scriptures.
So what can the righteous people do?
We can…
– continue boldly expressing our faith.
– resist the influence of a depraved world.
– pray for God to give us new leadership that is full of
people of faith in Him (and then vote appropriately).
– pray for a great revival that will sweep across our hearts,
our families, our communities, our cities, our counties,
our states, our nation, and around the world.
– pray for the salvation of the lost.
– use the gift God has given us to serve.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received
to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its
various forms. (1 Peter 4:10)
ACTION:
The scriptures promise that Jesus will return, and based
on the track record of other biblical promises, we can be
sure that He will return. And when He does, we will all
stand before Him and await His judgment.
However, His judgment will not resemble the kind of
judgment we receive from manmade court systems.
There will be no appeals by clever lawyers, and no
excuses from each person awaiting His judgment
specifically assigned to them.
For some it will be a day of rejoicing as they are welcomed
into their new homes in heaven, but for others it will be a
terrible day as they are sentenced to an everlasting separation
from the God who loved them (along with an eternal suffering
that is a result of their choosing their own will over His will for
them and their lives).
God loves everyone and wants every person to be with Him in
heaven eternally. He gives everyone the same opportunity of
making a choice of how they will live now, and how they will
spend eternity. Some will listen and heed the words of God,
but others who choose to close their ears and ignore His words
and warnings will face the consequences of their decisions.
Is our world similar to the one Noah lived in? When we observe
the things happening around us, it sure seems that we are. As
“in the days of Noah” we can choose to listen to God’s warnings
and make wise decisions, or we can choose to go our own way (it
is our choice). We need to choose wisely and realize that not
choosing is the same as choosing unwisely.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me and for
Your desire for me to be with You after my life on
earth has ended. Forgive me for the wrong choices
I have made and help me to make the right decision
regarding where I will spend eternity. Show me how
to serve You, which confirms my decision is sincere.
Help me with my battles against returning to my old
life style and choices as the ‘tempter’ tries to destroy
my peace and joy. Thank You, Jesus for paying the
penalty for my sins so that I can make wise decisions,
including who’s will is in control of my life.”
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