On January 1st I told my wife that I hoped I would never hear the phrase Y2K again. I was so tired of hearing it all through 1999, only to have it go by without a glitch. But then we had to wait until the first business day before we really knew if we got by Y2K A.O.K. Still, not the slightest hint of something going wrong related to computer hardware or software. But the reports were foreboding. Planes were supposed to crash. Bank computers would scramble our accounts. The stock market would plunge. Stores would run out of food. Traffic lights would not work. So people stock piled food, topped off their gas tanks, bought lots of bottled water, took out large amounts of cash from their banks, stayed away from planes and stayed home on New Years Eve. And then the clocks struck 12:00... and nothing happened. Neither did anything happen the first business day. There was plenty of food. Planes flew; traffic flowed; accounts were correct; lights were on and there was water at the tap. All of the talk of terrorists activities proved unfounded. In fact, life continued on so normal that it was almost boring.
There were people who prospered during the whole enterprise. Some people sold lots of books. Others sold great quantities of dried food, guns and ammo, generators and batteries. The food banks are benefitting by people giving away what is now unnecessary surplus. Suddenly, freeze-dried turkey doesn’t seem so desirable.
Christians were not without their share of guilt in adding to the frenzy and hype. Many were selling books and materials to get people ready for the impending disasters associated with the coming of the new millennium. (Interestingly enough, this is not really the new millennium. The next millennium starts January 1, 2001.) Some Christian leaders were advising people to stockpile dried foods and even telling them to have plenty of guns. I was personally grieved to hear this, not because people were told to be prepared, just in case, but because there was no Christian voice advising people to stockpile in order to share with others if a crisis did come about — which, of course, would be the true Christian response.
But many others were predicting the return of Jesus Christ at the stroke of midnight, January 1st of this year. Christians gathered in Jerusalem, and some even sold or gave away all their possessions in preparation. But nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. There were no computer glitches, no planes crashed and there were no terrorist attacks. And most of all, Jesus did not return. For the most part this is all good news. Our lives are allowed to continue unimpeded by the problems which were predicted, and the world has not come to an end. But there is a hidden danger here as well. The result may be that the people of the world are not only breathing a collective sigh of relief, but they now believe that since nothing did happen, nothing can happen. And the danger is we will continue in our self-assured arrogance. There may be an unrealistic feeling that we are in control and that we are in charge of our destiny. The temptation is to ignore the problems we are facing and believe that they will go away as quickly and easily as all the recent prophesies of doom and gloom. The apostle Peter warned: “First of 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 fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:3-7).
So what happens when the warnings are real? What happens when God is saying something we should take seriously? What happens when God is about to do something? What do we do now about the fact that the Bible says Jesus Christ will return to the earth and that someday the world will end? What if we don’t take what God is saying seriously and fail to make the right kind of preparation? Jesus, in talking about the end of the world said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 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 24:35-39). What he was saying was that people will be going about life as usual, believing that nothing will happen.
The people of Noah’s day laughed at him the whole time he was building the ark. It took many years to build, and the entire time Noah was warning people of the danger that was about to come, but they laughed him to scorn and refused to take him seriously. They lived as though nothing was going to happen, but the flood did come and they were swept away. It would be a serious mistake to think that the scriptural admonitions to obedience and warnings of impending judgment are “much to do about nothing” as the recent prognostications were. The second coming of Christ will not come with a lot of imminent warning. We will not know the exact date or time. The Bible says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:10). Remember that it was not raining when Noah started to build the ark — so be prepared no matter what the weather looks like, and don’t miss the boat.
The story of Noah has some important messages for us. First of all, it tells us that: God holds the world accountable for its behavior. It tells us that God is grieved over our sin and the harm it does to others. He will not put up with it forever. We live in a moral universe, and to go against the moral laws which God has built into the world invites disaster. Sin affects our personal lives, our families, our church, our community, our nation and ultimately our world. The Bible says that every mouth will be silenced and that the whole world will be held accountable to God (Romans 3:19). We cannot escape the fact that we are responsible to God for our behavior and that a future judgment is coming when we will answer for the way in which we have lived. The Bible says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). That simple fact should dramatically affect our perspective in life and make us desire to be faithful to the God who has been faithful to us. The problem is that we live as though there is no tomorrow. We live for the moment and do not take into account that there is a future day of reckoning.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel awoke one morning to read his own obituary in the local newspaper: “Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who died yesterday, devised a way for more people to be killed in a war than ever before, and he died a very rich man.” There was only one problem, Alfred Nobel had not died. Actually, it was his older brother who had died, but a newspaper reporter had somehow gotten it wrong. Regardless of how it happened, the account had a profound effect on Alfred Nobel. He decided he wanted to be known for something other than developing the means to kill people efficiently and for amassing a fortune in the process. So he initiated the Nobel Peace Prize, the award for scientists and writers who foster peace. Nobel said, “Every man ought to have the chance to correct his epitaph in midstream and write a new one.”
How would your obituary read if it appeared in tomorrow’s newspaper? How different would your life be if you began to look at it as though you would stand before a righteous God at the end and explain why you lived your life as you did? The end of the world may not come for another thousand years, but your world will come to an end much sooner, and it is imperative that you are ready to give an account before the God of all creation on that day.
The second thing that the story of Noah tells us is that: God is in control. You are not in control. The government is not in control. The scientists are not in control. Evil is not in control. God is in control. This is his world and he will have his way. Paul wrote to the Philippians saying, “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!” (Philippians 3:18-4:1).
God is in charge of all things because he created all things and the only way the world continues is by his divine will and purpose. The whole world belongs to him. The Bible says, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live” (Acts 17:24-26). God was in control of the beginning of the world and he is in control of the end of the world. Because God is in control he can afford to be patient.
The third thing that the story of Noah tells us is that: God is patient. God takes no delight in judgment. He is not anxious to “get even” with his adversaries. In fact, he is extremely patient with them. The Bible says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). If God had his way every person would be saved and be a part of his eternal kingdom, but he never forces anyone and always gives them the opportunity to say yes or no to him. Those choices have eternal consequences, but God waits patiently for us to make the right choices. Remember how he was patient with you. That is the way it was in the days of Noah, for the Bible says, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built” (1 Peter 3:18-20).
God was patient because he waited many years before he sent the flood. First, he waited to see what people would do without his warning them of impending judgment. Secondly, he waited while Noah built the ark and preached to the people of his day. He told them what was going to happen. He gave them a chance to turn their lives around. He waited for them to listen and obey, but they did not. God never brings judgment without giving people a warning and plenty of time to turn from their sin and turn to him. He is patient because he cares.
In May of 1984 National Geographic magazine showed color photos and drawings of the swift and terrible destruction that wiped out the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in A.D. 79. The explosion of Mount Vesuvius was so sudden that the people died in the middle of the routines of life. Common people were in the market, the wealthy were in their luxurious baths, slaves were at their backbreaking work. They died after breathing superheated gases and then were buried in volcanic ash. Life was going on as usual, but sudden destruction overtook them on that terrible day. The tragic thing is that the people did not have to die. The article stated that scientists have verified what some of the ancient Roman records indicate: that there were weeks of rumblings and tremors preceding the actual eruption. There were even ominous plumes of smoke visible from the mountain several days before the volcano erupted. If only they had responded to Vesuvius’s warning! God was warning them, but they were not paying attention. They went about their lives as usual instead of paying attention to the warning which God had provided. Speaking of the second coming of Christ, Paul wrote these words to the Thessalonians: “Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).
By way of contrast, the Bible says, “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 comes by faith” (Hebrews 11:7). This leads to the final thing that the story of Noah tells us: God rewards the righteous. When God warned Noah he listened and he did what God told him to do. I have to believe that God spoke to other people who did not listen. Certainly they heard the warning of Noah, and there were many years for the message to spread throughout the inhabited world. But only Noah listened and obeyed. He alone was found righteous and therefore he found favor in the eyes of the Lord. God blessed Noah and saved him and his family. God used him to rescue the animals. God used him to begin a new race of people on the earth. God put a stop to evil and restrained its harmful influence in the world, and by doing so he greatly limited the pain caused by evil in the lives of the human family.
But even though it was necessary to put a stop to evil, because “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5), it grieved God to have to do it. He said, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease” (Genesis 8:21-22). Then God placed his rainbow in the sky as a sign of his covenant with Noah.
It is interesting that many people, when they get their pay check, smile and feel good. But when they have to write a check to the church or a charitable cause they feel pain. But there is one time every year when these same people have exactly the opposite reaction to the same checks — tax time. Then they frown at the amount that they have to declare as income and smile at the amount they have given to the Lord. When we reach the end of the age there will be a similar reversal of how we see things. Some things that we once found pleasure in will bring emotions of sadness and shame. Other things that we had little interest in will suddenly seem very important. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields — and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mark 10:29-31). At the end of the world we will discover that the rewards that God has waiting for us are more than the heart can imagine.
God is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6). He rewards those who live their lives as though they are accountable to a holy God. They realize the truth of the scripture that says, “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice” (Acts 17:31). They take seriously the words of the Bible: “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness.... then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:4-9).
May the God of all grace rescue you from trials, empower you to live a life of faithfulness and bring you through the judgment into his everlasting halls of joy and peace.
Rodney J. Buchanan
January 9, 2000
FLOOD INSURANCE
Genesis 6:1-13
“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8).
The story of Noah tells us that:
1. God holds the world _____________________________ .
2. God is ___________________________________________ .
3. God is ___________________________________________ .
4. God _____________________________________________ .
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION (Jan 9, 2000)
1. Read the account of Noah in Genesis 6:1-13. What was the problem with the world in Noah’s day. See especially verses 5, 11-12. How does this compare with our society?
2. Why was God willing to destroy the world?
3. What do you find most disturbing about our society today?
4. What problems does evil impose on our culture? What would the world be like without evil? What does God do to limit evil today?
5. What would it have been like to be Noah before, during and after the flood? Why is it sometimes hard to follow God?
6. What made Noah different? Why is it important to be different today? Why are we afraid to be different?
7. What was Noah’s first response when he got off the ark? See Genesis 8:20. What was God’s response to him?
8. Read 2 Corinthians 5:10. If people really believed this how would it affect their lives?
9. Read Matthew 24:35-39. Why is it that people want to avoid God’s warnings? What are the dangers of this?
10. Read 2 Peter 3:9. How does this verse affect you? Are you glad it is true, or does it frustrate you?
11. Read 2 Peter 3:10-13. In light of this lesson, how should we live?
