TITLE: THE DAYS OF NOAH - A DESCRIPTION OF THOSE DAYS
TEXT: [Matthew 24:36-37]
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
The 2nd Coming of Jesus is a basic and blessed doctrine of the Christian Faith. No one knows the exact Day of Jesus' Return, but Jesus does give us a description of what that time will be like when He does return.
Jesus described those days as like the Days of Noah. We find a detailed record of those days in Genesis 6 & 7.
1. THOSE WERE REAL DAYS [2 PETER 2:3-7]
2 Peter 3:3-7 tells us that in the last days scoffers will come walking after their own lusts and scoffing at the preaching of judgment and the example of Noah's Day.
They will conveniently ignore and deny those days really happened. No doubt it will comfort them to believe if they never took place then they will never take place again.
Self deception is the worse kind of deception. Those were real days.
2. THOSE WERE REVOLUTIONARY DAYS [Genesis 1:24; 6:5]
In Noah's Day we are told that as God looked upon the earth that He had witnessed that a revolutionary change had taken place, it was a people and a world that He no longer recognized. We are told in Genesis 1:24 that at the finish of His acts of creation that He looked upon all that He had created and said; "...it was good", but now He looks down "And God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and the imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" [Genesis 6:5].
Now the Scriptures tells us:
"And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them".
[Genesis 6:6,7]
We are told that in Noah's Day the whole known world had undergone a great revolution. All the norms had been replaced by the abnormal. All the Laws of God had been cast aside and replaced by the lawlessness of man, All that was once taboo was now in vogue. All the institutions of God had collapsed and all of society was coming unraveled.
It was a long way from looking like the Garden of Eden. It was more like hell on earth.
In my lifetime I've seen Revolutionary Days in America and around the world, so revolutionary that I no longer even recognize the America that I grew up in.
The new normal is to be abnormal (Bruce Jenner, Homosexual Marriage, etc.), the taboos of my childhood are now vogue, a once stable America is now coming apart at the seams, patriotism has been replaced by Anti-Americanism, those institutions we once revered and trusted, we no longer trust, nor respect. Crime and violence was rare and now it's the norm.
The Days of Noah were Revolutionary Days and so are these days.
3. THOSE WERE REBUKED DAYS [ Hebrews 11:7;2 Peter 2:5]
2 Peter2:5 tells us that in those Revolutionary Days that God raised up a single voice to rebuke and warn that evil generation of the coming consequences for the evil they had and were continuing to commit.
Hebrews 11:7 tells us that Noah, by his preaching and building of the Ark condemned his generation. His preaching and preparing of the Ark was God's rebuke to the wickedness of his generation and left them without excuse for their failure to repent, when the Lord's judgment finally fell upon the earth.
In the Days of Noah the Lord had only a single vessel fit for the masters use, but that lone voice was enough to condemn the world and leave it worthy of the judgment which eventually flooded the earth.
Think of America, just a single nation among many nations in the world. A nation with hundreds of preachers that are still preaching righteousness and warning of the judgment to come. How much sore judgment are we worthy of.
Let every person understand that Jesus still rebukes and condemns the evils of Noah's Day, they are no more acceptable in His sight today than they were in Noah's Day. Jesus still rebukes them and everyone who claims to be a voice for the Lord must rebuke them as well. Let every unrepentant and unregenerate soul within the sound of your voice know that Jesus rebukes them for the wickedness of their Unbelief and commands everyone, everywhere to repent and flee to Jesus at the first sound of that rebuke. God give us some Noah's that in these Days, be preachers of Righteousness.
Let every preacher understand, these are not the days to be preaching Peace and Safety to a nation and a world that is drowning in a sea of evil and wickedness and who are on the verge of Sudden Destruction (1 Thessalonians 5:3). This is a generation that must be rebuked and called to repentance and faith in Jesus, the ONLY Ark of Refuge from the judgment to come.
The Days of Noah were Real Days, they were Revolutionary Days, they were Rebuked Days.
4. THOSE WERE REGULATED DAYS [Genesis 6:3]
The Bible tells us that the Lord had decreed the world would be judged and had fixed the time of that judgment to be 120 years from the time that Noah received the Lord's call to begin to build an Ark and preach righteousness as a rebuke and warning to his evil generation. It was no longer to be a matter of, IF the Lord would judge, but WHEN He would judge and the Lord told Noah He had fixed that time at 120 years in the future, a period of grace that was plenty of time for everyone to repent and enter the Ark of Jesus, the salvation found in Jesus and Him alone.
A. The Coming of Jesus For His Church Ends the Opportunity to Be Saved From Judgment. [ 1 Thessalonians 5:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12]
Our world is also condemned already, For this world, it too is not a matter of IF God's judgment will fall upon us, but When.
We know that when Jesus suddenly and without warning comes to rapture and rescue His people, then sudden judgment will fall upon the earth as travail upon a woman with child (1 Thessalonians 5:3). When He snatches us out of the world as He snatched Lot out of Sodom, the fires of God's judgment will fall upon this as surely as they fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 makes it very clear that anyone who has heard the Gospel and its call to repent and has rejected that call before the Rapture takes place and is left behind will never again have the ability and opportunity to be saved. The time to be saved is before the rapture.
B. The Coming of Death Ends One's Opportunity to Be Saved From Judgment. [Hebrews 9:27; Psalms 90:8-12]
God has regulated all of our days. "...It is appointed unto men, once to die, but after this the judgment." [Hebrews 9:27]. God has numbered all of our days. He has that appointment day on His calendar already. It is no wonder then that we are told in Psalms 90:10-12 that Moses prayed the following prayer for his rebellious generation:
"10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom". [Psalms 90:10-12]
All of us have our days numbered by the Lord and may the Lord give you the wisdom to repent and turn to Jesus for salvation before your number is up.
C. The Possibility of Sinning Away Your Day of Grace Ends Ones Opportunity to Be Saved. Matthew 19:41-44; John 6:44; Hebrews 3:7-19]
Many people have the false belief that they can repent and come to Jesus whenever they get ready to do so, but Jesus clearly tells in John 6:44 that one can only come when he or she is drawn to Christ by the Father and Matthew 19:41-44 and Hebrews 3:7-19 record two examples of that truth.
In Matthew 19:41-44 we see Jesus lamenting over Jerusalem because she has missed her opportunity to repent and now she is destined for judgment. Again, in Hebrews 3:7-19 we are told that the 1st Generation that came out of Egyptian bondage had been led by the Lord to the very border of their Promised Land, but because of the rebellion and unbelief to initially refuse to enter, then the Lord immediately withdrew the opportunity and would never again repeat that offer to them. Wandering in the desert became their destiny until death came calling.
God has regulated all of our days and all of our opportunities to be saved and follow him. May the Lord teach each the wisdom to number their days and apply their hearts unto wisdom.
5. THOSE WERE RAINY DAYS [Genesis 7:10-12]
The torrential rains suddenly began to fall and they fell for 40 days and nights. The earth belched and all the fountains of the deep burst loose upon the earth, the floodgates of heaven were opened and the waters crashed to earth.
There were no hiding places to escape to, there was no mountain high enough to save them. The door to the Ark was now shut and judgment would take them all.
In Matthew 24:21 Jesus gives us a foreboding forecast for the future of planet earth.
"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. [Matthew 24:21]
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened".
A. The Coming Judgment Is To Be More Severe
It is to be a time of tribulation that has never before been seen upon the earth, a time that would take the lives of ever living soul upon the face of the earth if it is not stopped. Even in Noah's Day he and his family were never in jeopardy once they entered the Ark.
.B.The Coming Judgment Is To Be Longer In Duration
We are told this time of Tribulation upon the earth will last longer that it did in Noah's Day. In Noah's Day many calculate the the Flood was upon the earth for around one year, but the coming Tribulation upon the earth the Lord forecasts will last a full seven years. No wonder it is worse. Worse in its severity and worse due to its length.
I can only imagine how shocked and horrified the people of Noah's Day were as it began to rain. I can hardly imagine what it will be like to be left behind at the Rapture of the Church and begin to see all of these horrors as they begin to unfold, knowing they had missed the boat, they were now left to judgment and even more horrifying, to know that after this period of time and eternity in hell awaits them. I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemies.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:36, that no one knows the exact Day of the Lord's Return, but He goes on to give us a Description of those days in Matthew 24:37-41. "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be". [Matthew 24:37]
As we have looked at the Days of Noah there can be little doubt that we are once again in those days. The only doubts we can have, is about how long they will last before judgment falls. Noah and his generation had the benefit of knowing the had 120 years from the call of Noah, this generation doesn't have the benefit of knowing how long we have before God's judgment once again falls upon the earth.
What we must do we must do quickly. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation" [2 Corinthians 6:2]
Noah's generation let their day slip by and, "How shall we escape, if we (too) neglect so great salvation?" [Hebrews 2:3]
~Jack Woodard
