As Was In The Day Of Noah: Today's Warning

Scripture Verses: 'As it was in the day of Noah, so it will be at the coming of Son of Man'....Matthew 24:37 NIV

'When the wicked increase, sin increases; but, the righteous will see their downfall'... Proverbs 29:l6 NIV

It has come to be the habit around our house that as soon as our son wakes up, he enjoys turning on the news channels. It was while listening, yet another day, to the condition of our country and the world, the most recent riots, killings, reports of imminent stock market crashes and the coming worth of the dollar, it made my head spin to be honest. All this took me back many years as a senior in government class that the teacher imprinted a quote into my head that I remember until this day...'If you don't learn from history, you are bound to repeat it.' As the day went on, the more I thought of that quote from so long ago, my mind just seemed to zoom back to the days of Noah and what it must have been like for him and his family.

Growing up in church, we learned some initial things about Noah but not much. He built a big boat, the Ark, animals went into the boat two by two. God shut the door. He sent out doves and he landed on the mountains of Ararat. That just didn't seem like much after so many years of church attendance. So, I decided to delve in a little deeper understanding and perhaps find some lost nuggets not only to learn for myself but so we could pass onto others.

My lst question was, “Why did God bring the judgment on the world during those days? Was it that we had a vengeful God who slammed His angry fist down upon the earth? No, it was actually because of the gross sin that was upon the earth, God's Spirit was grieved. He was sorrowful. Their actions emotionally affected Him. Come to find out, instead of the crotchety old God who just sits up there looking down watching us and just looking for some way to punish us for every wrong we have committed, much to the contrary, Father God has a tender heart, more affectionate than mortal man could ever imagine. He is compassionate, holy gracious, righteous, merciful, and true. So, why would this Holy God bring judgment upon the face of the earth?

It all is found in His character. A grieving God emerges. His heart is torn in two. We see through the Word how His creation had fallen into a downward spiral into sin, moral madness, and decadence. Could it be that to save His humanity that He had to destroy it?

So, what does this mean for us today? Let's look back in time and compare it to our world today...

Widespread Violence

The Lord has said through His Word that the last days would parallel the society of Noah's day . In the book of Genesis, Chapter 6, it explains what conditions were like at that time.

Not long after God placed human beings on the earth, mankind quickly went head-long toward self-destruction. Following Adam and Eve's example of rejecting God's instructions in the Garden, humanity became increasingly hostile and corrupt as time went by. By the time of Noah, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)

God's grieving was not sorrow for making a mistake. God gave His human creation the freedom to choose between 'right and wrong' (Prov. 1:29-31) and thus was why He was grieved in His heart to see how humanity had deeply fallen from what He had originally intended.

Living In Perilous Times

It seems the Lord gave humanity many years to change its evil ways. Many have seen Noah as a man building an Ark for l20 years and being the butt of jokes, made a fool, a mad story teller, and, no doubt, their day's 'prophet of doom'.

However, if we look at God's tender mercy, we find that God's warning started many, many years earlier through the life of Methuselah. Methuselah was 849 years old when God spoke to Noah, his grandson, about building the Ark. Methuselah's meaning of his name meant much to the people of that day. What was that meaning? 'When he is gone, it shall be sent' or 'his death shall bring it.' But bring what? As we look at the examples in Genesis, we see the Flood happened when Noah was 600 years old. That wouldn't mean much; but, it was the exact year Methuselah died...thus 'His death shall bring it.'

The Lord sent a warning like a flashing light embedded in one man's name. Methuselah, a prophet like his father Enoch, Methuselah's name could utter a prophecy without saying one word. As long as he was alive, judgment would not come. Every time someone mentioned his name, the warning was given. Each time his name was mentioned, part of the billions of people living on the earth heard the prophecy.

Noah also was at work not only building the Ark and obeying God; but, during those years, Noah preached a warning message and the Lord waited patiently for the people's hearts to turn back and 'awaken' to Him before it was too late but to no avail. They just continued to mock, laugh, and turn away.

Violence Today

The apostle Paul said that before Christ's return that the world would live in perilous times, filled with 'self', pleasure seeking, materialism, gross immorality, idolatry, idleness and a gross rejection of the things, character, and attributes of God. (2 Tim.3:1-5)

Consider the age we live in. There's been an increase in global violence just within the past 50 years or so. Wars in the past 90 years have killed more people than during the previous 500 years.

A silent form of violence is perpetrated around the world by deliberate abortions of innocent unborn children. Each year about 44 million abortions are performed globally.

Terrorist activity is on the increase. “Sadly, it seems to be increasingly acceptable in certain belief systems to kill any other members of other religious communities as possible. Moral restraint seems to be eroding”.

Things are definitely changing and not for the better. Jesus says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew l5:19) So, we can see how life today exemplifies 'as it was in the days of Noah'.

History Repeats Itself

In Noah's day, the time of punishment came when God 'saw that the wickedness was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was to do evil continually... Genesis 6:5.

That is the risk people take when rejecting God's merciful call to 'repentance' today, to turn, and live for Him in their daily lives. God says, 'In accordance with your hardness and our impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who 'will render to each one according to their deeds..Rom.2:6.

As the time of Christ's second appearing draws near, the Lord sends his servants out with a warning message to the world today to 'prepare' for what lies just ahead. As the world has been living in transgression of following the very Spirit of God and living in obedience to Him as King, once again, in His 'mercy', He sends 'a message of warning' to arouse their attention, to 'awaken' to the 'Light of the World'. Within the pages of the Bible, His Holy Word is a life and instructions to shine as a mirror into which we can look and discover the defects in our moral character and return to God before it is too late.

If the decision is made to repent and turn from our wicked ways, we can be part of the 'Bride of Christ', the coming together, as Christ now becomes not only our Savior but our King coming to love and direct His Body and our lives into the greatest moments of church history.

If we will just only make that heart-felt decision to turn, to have revival begin in our own hearts, to begin to rise up and share our faith with others through our actions, words, and deeds, showing Christ's love in all we do, those who will be pardoned through the merits of the blood of Christ, for this is the only hope of the transgressor of the law of God.

'As was in the days of Noah', there will be with the majority a total disbelief of the warnings and testimonies the Lord has sent forth through His church and today's prophets.

The Lord's love calls His children home before the coming disaster that is coming upon the earth. We, here at Life-Light Ministries, are calling out in the love of God in His love to warn.

As the contemporaries of Noah laughed to scorn as they listened to the preacher of righteousness in their day, so has the solemn messages of warning been ridiculed today.

Where will your heart lie when the time of judgment comes...on the narrow path with God or on the wide-road that leads to destruction with everybody else? The time is 'Now' to decide.

Examine your heart and we beseech you to knell at the feet of Jesus and follow Him with your whole heart as King of your life. Amen? Amen.

End Notes:

'Noah's Time and Ours'...http://www.preparingforeternity.com/st010378.htm

'As in the Days of Noah...http://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/end-times/as-in-the-days-of-noah/

* All scriptures taken from the NIV Version of the Bible.