End Times Doctrine
“Days of Noah”
*** Watch: https://youtu.be/I8_aDNuCy2w
As we look at the deteriorating moral values of our nation, the increasing divorce rate, abortion, pornography, drug addiction, child abuse, along with sexual deviancy in all its various forms, violent crimes and the violence that is filling our streets, we wonder, “What’s this world coming too?”
And Jesus gives us the answer.
“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:37 NKJV)
Now, when we talk about the end times, there are many signs surrounding the Lord’s return, like those mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24, such as earthquakes, famines, natural disasters, wars and rumors of wars, false prophets, and believers who fall away from the faith, and these will only increase in frequency and intensity as a woman whose about ready to give birth, Jesus said.
But it is the statement that Jesus makes in Matthew 24:36-39 that has the most significance for our day, and what we see happening within our society and culture. This was actually a part of a much larger response to the question the disciples made of Jesus.
They said, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3 NKJV)
And after quite a lengthy list of what to watch out for, and right before He tells them to watch and pray, because no one the hour of His return, Jesus said,
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:36-39).
Just like the people in Noah’s day, people in the end times will be ignoring the warning messages and rejecting God’s righteous ways.
What does it mean “Days of Noah?”
The Days of Noah can actually be seen in three parts
A. Living As If Nothing Will Happen
The people were doing normal things—“eating and drinking” and “marrying and giving in marriage.” Jesus is telling His audience that life will be going on as usual when He returns.
“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)
The people during the time of Noah were living their lives as they always had, and while Noah, a “preacher of righteousness,” had been warning them of God’s upcoming judgment, it would seem as if they were oblivious to the impending disaster.
This leads me into our second point.
B. The World’s Ways Were Corrupt
Look at what it says about what it was like in the days of Noah.
“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5 NKJV)
“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 NKJV)
Because of this, God said that He was “sorry” that He created mankind (verse 6) and told Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth” (verse 13).
God’s grieving was not sorrow for making a mistake. God doesn’t make mistakes. God gave His human creation the freedom to choose between right and wrong (Proverbs 1:29-31), but He was grieved to see how far humanity had fallen from what He originally intended.
During the days of Noah, God gave humanity 120 years to repent, to change its evil ways. God said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3).
The 120 years of Genesis 6:3 refers to the time God’s long suffering would continue with that generation. But as I have said in the past, that while God may be long suffering, He is not forever suffering.
During those 120 years, Noah preached God’s warning message. Unfortunately, the people didn’t respond. They didn’t care. They continued to live their lives the way they pleased. And so God’s judgment was released.
Romans 1:21 records this process in speaking to all humanity. “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
In Luke’s gospel it records Jesus making a connection to these “Days of Noah” and the coming judgment with the “Days of Lot,” and how the people were going about business as usual, which would include the ungodliness that was going on in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And in His judgment, God rained down fire and brimstone and destroy them (Luke 17:26-30).
Therefore, the judgment of God in Noah’s day was no different than the judgment of God upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Lot’s day. The only difference was in Noah’s day God’s judgment was a flood, while in Lot’s day it was by fire.
And so, from these first two points, what we see is that there was and is little or no fear of God’s judgment upon sin, and therefore there is a total disdain for anyone who would suggest it.
This leads me into the third point about this time of Noah, and that is it’s a time of unbelief, and hence a time of scoffing or mocking of those who do believe.
C. Unbelief
The people were living their lives as they always had, completely oblivious to the coming judgment of God. There was no awareness that the judgment of God was about to fall upon them. They did not realize anything was wrong until Noah entered the ark and the rain began.
People today do not realize how ripe the world is for judgment. They see a worldwide financial crisis, disasters, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, floods, famines, unprecedented violence, and a pandemic that is sweeping across the globe, and they are completely oblivious. And try as we might to show them what the Bible says that these are God’s warning signs of upcoming judgment, they laugh and think we’re spouting a child’s fable.
People will scoff, that is, they will make a mockery of God’s word, which seems to have been, and continues to be, the way of this world.
The Apostle Peter brings out this truth saying, “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’” (2 Peter 3:3-4 NKJV)
Of Noah it is said that he was “a preacher of righteousness,” but it would seem like no one was listening. As he was building the Ark, he would have kept up this message to the people, but it never changed a single heart. Noah and his family were the only ones to enter the Ark and escape God’s judgment (2 Peter 2:5).
Today, while evidence around the world exists for the Flood of Noah’s time, and even the Ark itself, many scoff, and mock those who do believe, much like they are scoffing and mocking those who believe in the Rapture and that Jesus’s coming is imminent.
And so, when the world becomes like it was in the days of Noah, the Son of man will come.
The Reappearance of the Time of Noah
The change that we see today is moving away from what is good, and is rapidly and dramatically increasing as it sweeps across our country, that is a change from what is good to what is evil, and the consequences of this change are frightening.
The prophet Isaiah wrote: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).
Humanity is becoming more corrupt every day. Biblical moral values are condemned, and those things that are evil are now being held in high esteem. People are reveling in their sin, and as a result they have lost all dignity and integrity.
In 2 Timothy 3:1-5, the apostle Paul confirmed that before Christ’s return, the world would be in the throes of such evil, searching for pleasure and possessions, and in the process rejecting the Lord and His word.
Jesus said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19 NKJV). And we are now living in a time where these are more commonplace than ever before.
The prophet Hosea said, “There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away.” (Hosea 4:1-3 NKJV)
When Jesus referred to the days of Noah He pointed out that people would be unaware of His return. Sadly, this is the testimony of the vast majority of the earth’s inhabitants as they live ungodly lives in a world filled with violence.
Therefore Jesus tells us to watch and pray.
Watch and Pray
Let me make this point, and that is, the Days of Noah is what the world is going to look like when the Rapture will occur.
{You can find more about this doctrine on our YouTube channel at “Mesquite NV Living Waters Fellowship or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CorlfF_1vk0&t=4s }
This is seen in Jesus description talking about the days of Noah saying, “Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:40-42 NKJV)
And to get this point across, Jesus used the example of when a thief comes to a person’s house to steal their goods.
“But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:43-44 NKJV)
So Jesus’s warning was that when He returns in great power and majesty to save an unsuspecting world, the vast majority of people will still be eating and drinking, focusing on their everyday lives, unaware of the dangerous times they’re living in.
In that context Jesus said, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly ... Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34 NKJV)
Jesus in telling us to watch and pray, His warning for us is not to become so caught up in our everyday lives and thus forget that God’s Kingdom is about upon us, and that we are truly in the last days.
Jesus gives us this sound piece of advice as we consider the days we are living in, and how they are like the Days of Noah.
He said, "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on ... But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Luke 12:22-23, 31 NKJV).
The unfortunate reality is that the very things that caused God to destroy the world in Noah’s day, and Sodom and Gomorrah in Lot’s day are the very things that are entertaining the people of our day.
This then is what I believe comprises the end time doctrine of the Days of Noah.
