The Deluge

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