The Days of Noah

January 16, 2022

But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be (Matthew 24:37-39).

During Jesus’ public ministry, the Pharisees and Scribes requested Jesus give them a sign to prove He was the Messiah. On 2 different occasions Jesus stated the sign validating His Messiahship was ‘the sign of Jonah’. (Matt 12:39-40) An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 16:4) A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. As the prophet Jonah was in the stomach of the great fish for 3 days and then was vomited out alive, so Jesus would be buried in the earth 3 days before His resurrection. And so, He was.

In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus gave the disciples signs that would indicate the approaching end of the Jewish era. He gave them no date but said that generation would experience it within a 40-year time frame. And so, they did. That end came in A.D. 70 at the hands of the Romans. Jesus also gave the disciples signs that would indicate the approaching end of the age leading up to His 2nd coming. Again, He gave no date, stating even He didn’t know the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36). But He did tell us that the generation prior to His return would not be concerned - the attitude of the people would be like those in the days of Noah. What was their attitude? They didn’t care. They didn’t believe. They ridiculed Noah and mocked God. Life continued as it always had for 120 years; their only concern was themselves. Then it started to rain.

We are beginning to see the signs leading up to the end of the age that Jesus warned us about. Yes, there have been wars, pandemics, famines, and natural disasters. But not with the frequency or intensity we are seeing now days. What’s the attitude of the generation? Global warming. A hole in the ozone layer. Biological engineering. Wall Street. Politics. Man simply needs to adjust to his changing environment. The days of Noah.

In seminary one of the Old Testament professors explained the plagues God brought on Egypt as natural disasters, not miraculous signs. He said the Nile didn’t turn to blood, rather a storm at the headwaters of the Nile caused the heavy rains cascading down the cataracts to churn up the red mud in the river causing it to look like blood. The plague of frogs was simply the fact frogs could no longer swim in the contaminated river, so they died. The plague of flies was simply the swarms of flies eating the dead carcasses of the dead frogs, etc. Natural disasters, not miraculous signs. The days of Noah.

God is preparing the world for the end of the age. Satan has done an effective job in blinding the eyes of man to this reality. What we see as natural changes in our environment is, in reality, God moving us toward the climax of His plan for the ages. Amen.

Pastor

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