The Deluge
The end is near brothers and sisters never before in the history of this world has there been such an aura of this event. Read the headlines. The constant accounts of violent crimes, businesses folding, divorces, wars, earthquakes, floods, and attendance in churches are at a standstill. It reminds me of Jesus’ reply to his disciples when they asked him when shall the end of all things be:
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the son of man be.
(Matthew 24:37-39)
From reports of false Christs to celestial wonders and from the attitude of the world to the disposition of the church, Jesus explained to the disciples the events that were to precede His second advent.
To give them a more clear-cut and precise picture of how it will be, Jesus comparatively describes it as the days of Noah. If we too, take a look at the Flood and the times of the antediluvians, it may just help us to prepare for the times ahead and avoid the fate of the antediluvians.
[GIVE SERMON TOPIC AND PRAY]
Lets take a look at the time of Noe as alluded to by our Saviour. [READ Genesis 6:1-8]. After 1400 years that man had existed on the earth, God was ready to destroy him. After sin entered the world through Adam, the Lord began a series of curses, first upon the serpent, then upon Eve, and last upon Adam. The earth was slightly cursed at sins initial entrance with the growth of thorns and thistles, but when Cain murdered his brother, Abel, God cursed the earth’s ability to bring forth growth in her fullest strength because the blood of Abel was received into the ground.
But man became progressively worse and sinful exceedingly. God could no longer tolerate the accelerated growth of sin in the world. In fact the world had become so revolting and repulsive because of the ungodly and wicked manner of men that God repented of having created him.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. Genesis 6:5, 6
Curses will no longer do. Given the condition of the world, God had enough and was ready to finish what He had started. He declared that His Spirit shall no longer be with man and that he was going to destroy him. In Genesis 6:17, we hear the pronounced sentence by the Heavenly Judge:
And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
This was a solemn sentence but to Noah was given pardon and exemption from its execution. Why? Why was Noah exempt? No wonder Christ said like it was in the days of Noah because Noah was the one with whom God established his covenant and the only one whose household was left alive. Can you imagine of all of the people who existed prior to the flood that eight people were saved from that destruction? I tried to imagine that feeling. I compared it to being the only Seventh-day Adventist in my family, and the only one who lives in the city of Dallas and not like the Cowboys, or perhaps even it was as serious as being a Black man or woman living in the times of the civil rights movement. Noah was the only one of the antediluvians who believed and trusted in the word of God. And as a result, God would allow him to become the progenitor of the human race after the flood. I should say that Noah was not the only one. The Spirit of prophecy tells us that Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather, not only believed in God but helped preach and build the ark.
Amid the prevailing corruption Methuselah, Noah, and many others labored to keep alive the knowledge of the true God and to stay the tide of moral evil. A 120 years before the flood, the Lord by a holy angel declared to Noah his purpose, and directed him to build an ark. While building the ark he was to preach that God would bring a flood of water upon the earth to destroy the wicked. Those who would believe the message, and would prepare for that event by repentance and reformation, should find pardon and be saved. Enoch had repeated to his children what God had shown him in regard to the flood, and Methuselah and his sons, who lived to hear the preaching of Noah, assisted in building the ark. Patriarchs and Prophets, page 92
Interestingly the servant of the Lord was shown the acts of the early patriarchs toward this coming judgement.
Enoch walked with God 300 years preaching about God’s coming judgement upon the antediluvians. (Jude 14, 15) We like to think that God gave them only 120 years to get it right, but Enoch preached 300 years about the flood and when you throw in Methuselah’s ministry (969 years-old when he died, Genesis 5:27) whose very name means “when he dies it is sent forth” or “when he die it shall come” God gave the antediluvians over a millennium to repent. But they rejected the preaching of Enoch, Noah, and Methuselah and consequently sealed their fate.
God richly rewarded these three patriarchs in a unique way. Enoch was translated to show to the world that there is a reward for those who trust in God. Methuselah was the John the Baptist of the day who was the pivotal point to the coming judgement and was given the privilege of being a waymark of the future. The year that he died was the very same year of the flood just as his father Enoch prophesied and Noah witnessed. The antediluvians witnessed the translation of Enoch, and they knew that Methuselah’s name meant “when he die it shall come,” but they did not choose to worship God. Why? The Spirit of prophecy tells us that:
Many at first appeared to receive the warning; yet they did not turn to God with true repentance. They were unwilling to renounce their sins. During the time that elapsed before the coming of the Flood, their faith was tested, and they failed to endure the trial. Overcome by the prevailing unbelief, they finally joined their former associates in rejecting the solemn message. Some were deeply convicted, and would have heeded the words of warning; but there were so many to jest and ridicule, that they partook of the same spirit, resisted the invitations of mercy, and were soon among the boldest and most defiant scoffers; for none are so reckless and go to such lengths in sin as do those who have once had light, but have resisted the convicting Spirit of God. Patriarchs and Prophets, page 95
Sin and the constant rejection of truth and the continued admonitions caused the antediluvians their lives. But Church, oh, when the true test comes we think that we will be ready. For up until that time the earth was watered by a midst which came up from the ground. Genesis 2:5, 6 records this fact:
And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
Water had never before fallen from the sky. Here is this man claiming to be God’s messenger telling us number one that there is going to be a flood. Uh, Hello, but you have to have rain before it can flood!” And they continually were mocking Noah said, “Hey Noah why are you building that boat in the middle of the field?” Wise men and avid church going people came far and wide to see this fanatical man preach about a Flood and at the same time he’s building a boat. They told throngs and multitudes of people to “Ignore him! He is mad! Nature forbids such an act! It has never rained!”
They did not believe that God was going to destroy the world. They could only see error in Noah and not in themselves. The antediluvians really believed that it was impossible for Noah to be right when such an act has never occurred. But the time of probation closed Church, and the animals started falling in the clean beasts by seven pairs and the unclean by two’s (Genesis 7:2). Methuselah had died, and Noah was in the ark but there still was no rain. Church don’t you know we have our trial coming too. Noah was in that boat in the middle of the pasture with all those animals, skunks, raccoons, goats, lions, and etc. and still no rain. For seven days they just sat there waiting for the flood to come. The antediluvians just railed on Noah because they thought the man was a complete idiot. Ellen White comments on this trying time for the eight persons on the ark:
During this period their faith was tested. It was a time of triumph to the world without. The apparent delay confirmed them in the belief that Noah’s message was a delusion, and that the Flood would never come. Notwithstanding the solemn scenes which they had witnessed—the beasts and birds entering the ark, and the angel of God closing the door—they still continued their sport and revelry, even making a jest of these signal manifestations of God’s power. They gathered in crowds about the ark, deriding its inmates with a daring violence which they had never ventured upon before. Patriarchs and Prophets, page 99, 100
You know the rest of the story. Jesus said, “that they knew not until the flood came and took them all away,” that flood which washed away all life on earth and gave the earth a face lift. We know about the rainbow which signified God’s promise of never destroying the earth again with a flood. We know the story. But there is the warning given by Christ, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.”
There is something about that Flood, Church, that seems to catch my attention. The Deluge is one of nature’s most vicious weapons. Tornadoes are mean, hurricanes can make you pack up and get out of town, but a flood will track you down and carry you away. In these last days, Church, we have a very paralleled plot to that of Noah’s time. But I want to show you that this time there is going to be another flood not one after the natural origin but one of supernatural force with equaling and surpassing the strength of a regular flood. I have even titled this sermon “The Deluge” because I don’t want you to confuse this flood with that of the Great Flood. The word deluge simply means a flood. But it’s the purpose of this flood and the nature of this flood which warrants a different name altogether than that of the Great Flood.
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. Revelation 12:13-16
John the Revelator is caught away in vision to see the deluge or flood of the dragon. Let’s see his purpose for using a flood. In verse 13 we see he persecuted the woman so much so that the woman took flight to the wilderness. And because the dragon was unable to slow her progress he sought to carry her away with a flood. Adventists are students of prophecy and the purpose of the dragon’s deluge will be clearly understood after the symbols are decoded. The dragon represents the devil (Revelation 12:9), the woman a church (Jeremiah 6:2, II Corinthians 11:1, 2), and the flood or water which came from the dragons mouth represents peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues (Revelation 17:15). Follow me now as I paraphrase Revelation 12:13, 14. The devil was trying to wipe out the church but when he saw that God protected her by allowing her to continue to gorw during the time of this all out attack against her, he tried another tactic. It was more or less, “If you can’t beat them, join ‘em.” Satan knew the more he persecuted the church the more she grew the bible says she was nourished for three and a half years. “If killing them isn’t going to work, then I’ll just have to become one of them and get them to disbelieve so that they will be “carried away by my flood of antediluvians.” The prophet Isaiah saw this new strategy a long, long time ago:
So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. Isaiah 59:19
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. II Corinthians 11:13-15
Satanic agencies are clothing false theories in an attractive garb, even as Satan in the Garden of Eden concealed his identity from our first parents by speaking through the serpent. These agencies are instilling into human minds that which in reality is deadly error. The hypnotic influence of Satan will rest upon those who turn from the plain word of God to pleasing fables. Testimonies to the Church, volume 8, page 294
The tactics that Satan used on the antediluvians are the same tactics that he is using own us. His deluge is not for the destruction of the world but for the destruction of the church. He is trying to get the water inside of the ark by becoming a Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, or even a wife of one of those men. Don’t you see? Satan’s deluge is all around the church of God today. He has flooded the place with antediluvians and antediluvian thoughts. What are antediluvians? The word antediluvian means people who existed before the Flood. But spiritually Jesus characterized them in Matthew 24:38, as a people who were so caught up into what they were doing that they didn’t realize or recognize the signs of the times. There isn’t anything wrong with eating, drinking, or marrying. These are basic social graces. But even the basic things in life can be perverted when not used for the base purpose for which it was designed. Marriage, the Bible says, is “honorable and the bed undefiled.” (Hebrews 13:4) Even this institution was perverted because the people used it for there own selfish desires. Patriarchs and Prophets, page 91 and 92, the servant of the Lord writes:
Polygamy had been early introduced, contrary to the divine arrangement at the beginning. The Lord gave to Adam one wife, showing His order in that respect. But after the Fall, men chose to follow their own sinful desires; and as the result, crime and wretchedness rapidly increased. Neither the marriage relation nor the rights of property were respected. Whoever coveted the wives or the possessions of his neighbor, took them by force, and men exulted in their deeds of violence. They delighted in destroying the life of animals; and the use of flesh for food rendered them still more cruel and bloodthirsty, until they came to regard human life with astonishing indifference.
Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 7, page 972 says that the flood composes not only of persecution but false doctrine as well. Now the flood had to get in here some way. Let me demonstrate my meaning. In Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus tells us that everybody that is in the Church is not his. Not only are they not his but they look like and sound like one of his. [continue elaborating on the parable of the wheat and tares] Christ said that while men slept the enemy put them there. Furthermore Mrs. White inspiringly writes about this class of believers in Selected Messages, book 3, page 410:
I have been shown that evil angels in the form of believers will work in our ranks to bring in a strong spirit of unbelief. Let not even this discourage you, but bring a true heart to the help of the Lord against the powers of satanic agencies. These powers of evil will assemble in our meetings, not to receive a blessing, but to counterwork the influences of the Spirit of God. Take up no remark that they may make, but repeat the rich promises of God, which are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. We are never to catch up the words that human lips may speak to confirm the evil angels in their work, but we should repeat the words of Christ. Christ was the Instructor in the assemblies of these angels before they fell from their high estate.
Hebrews says that we entertain angels unawares (Hebrews 13:2), but know today that there are some demoniacs in here right now disguised as Seventh-day Adventists. The deluge is in here Church. And it’s no wonder that our fundamental beliefs are being slightly and wholly changed. The Church no longer counsels against divorce, but as it seems, we have couples who have been marrying-divorcing-marrying-divorcing, and marrying and divorcing. In our eyes we don’t see anything wrong with that, but Jesus said in Matthew 19:8 “… from the beginning it was not so.”
There are only two reasons for remarrying, really one. And those two reasons are sexual acts outside of the marriage and death. These are the only two reasons the Bible give and even we are expected of God to forgive in the first one. The Church use to uphold this institution but it just shows the effect of the deluge. It is permissible now to be remarried. The Bible says that the day will come when one man shall have seven wives (Isaiah 4:1). You thought that you were free from that first marriage oh but in the eyes of the Great Minister the first one you let go is still your spouse. Herod thought he was married to Herodias but oh, John the Baptist told him you are committing adultery with your brother, Phillip’s wife (Mark 6:17, 18)
We need to realize Church, that things are looking pretty bad. Compromise, compromise and no more sacrifice give it all up for Jesus. We went from an Edenic diet doctrine of healthy eating to well, eat what you want as long as it is permissible and you pray over it, from abstaining from worldly dress all together to modesty is the policy. We have digressed from “Look out, God’s judging!” to “That’s all right baby, Jesus understands,” from knocking on doors sharing the end time message to picking up phones and sharing a little backstabbing gossip. Let’s not pass out tracts but pass me a fork. And the flood level of complacency keeps getting higher and higher until it is 15 cubits above the highest peak. The woman or Church has lost her peculiarity and is ultimately carried away by the deluge.
Jesus said what good is salt if it has lost its savor? (Matthew 5:13) We might as well open up the proverbial floodgate and let all the antediluvians come. We don’t disfellowship people anymore to as the Bible says make an example of such a one (I Corinthians 5:13) It’s all right for people to work on the Sabbath of the Lord, after all they are providing for their family. What about God? He does not and will not change; the man that was gathering sticks on the Sabbath was stoned (Numbers 15:32-36). And I’m sure he probably wanted to cook a meal for his family or he wanted to warm himself because he was cold. Whatever the reason, God said it wasn’t good enough.
The little bit of holiness that the Church of God has today is the Sabbath, but to long we have allowed the desecration of God’s Sabbath via unholy conversation, unnecessary engagements, and to much of anything going on. The Sabbath is no longer the Lord’s Day, but Family Day. Instead of the family coming together to worship before God, they’re out on the Sabbath doing there own thing. I’m not fussing, Church, I just believe that now is the time that we get our water buckets of rebuke and reproof and start pailing out the deluge of the devil before the flood carries us away. Take the Holy Bible and stand firm, holding close the faith of Jesus Christ and obeying all ten of God’s commandments not in words but in action.
Jesus told his angels to leave them because you just may pluck the wrong one. If angels can’t separate us what makes one of us think that we know the difference between a Noah and an antediluvian or wheat from a tare? Jesus will put the goats on the left and the sheep on the right. Lets love the infidel and unbelieving, and lift the Standard ever high. Encourage one another to fight the fight of faith and not give up. Oh but church just as the antediluvians had there time to get it right so we the church have ours. Don’t bet on tomorrow. Tomorrow is not promised. God knows that everybody in here does not belong to him according to Matthew 7, so that is why He must get rid of the deluge.
The woman is the bride of Christ and she must be presented to Christ as a beautiful and chaste virgin. Too much water has the tendency to make your skin wrinkle if allowed to stay on you long enough. Not enough water or moisture causes dry skin to appear and the skin starts to flake leaving spots. But just the right amount of water cleanses and purifies the cells making the skin shine as healthy looking as a new born babe. What are you talking about preacher? Well you see Church, the Bible says in Ephesians 5:26, 27, that Christ is going “to sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
God has got a plan to get rid of this flood out of the Church. It’s called the Shaking. And some believe that this is already taking place. We are not going to get into what all the shaking is but to give you an idea what it will be like lets go back to Revelation 12. [read v. 16] The Bible said that the earth opened her mouth to help swallow up the flood. How does the earth open her mouth? An earthquake. Yes a shaking of the foundation. In the book of Numbers, Moses wrestled with the same problem of flooding in Dathan, Korah, Abiram, and On. [Read Numbers 16:3, 27-30] Every now and then the Lord will allow the very foundation of the church to be shaken to see where you stand. He will allow people to come in with their new ideas to see where you will stand. Right now many of us straddle the fence of good and evil but know there is going to come a time when the door of this ark is shut and just like Noah’s day, when they ran up to the ark as the rain fell, Noah couldn’t open it because Jesus said no man can open what He has shut neither can no man shut what He has opened.
As I close I would like to encourage you to know that it may look like the ship of Zion’s hull is full of water all the way up to its deck, but we have the assurance from the Spirit of prophecy that the ship is going through:
I testify to my brethren and sisters that the church of Christ enfeebled and defective as it may be, is the only object on earth which He bestows with His supreme regard. Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, page 15
Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out--the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths. We must be divested of our self-righteousness and arrayed in the righteousness of Christ. Selected Messages, book 2, page 380
Brothers and sisters don’t leave the church. Don’t keep going in and out of the door of the ark just because it is open. What are you going out there for anyway? The flood is strongest outside the ship. There is no salvation for you out there. Jesus is Captain of this ship, and He is controlling its every maneuver. The Psalmist understood this:
If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Pslam 130:3-8
[CLOSE WITH READING FROM THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, PAGE 640 “THE VOICE OF GOD”]
