Continuing with His discourse as recorded by Matthew in chapter 24, Jesus said that as the age draws to a close, society will be like it was in the days of Noah. The fact that Jesus prophesied that,“As the days of Noah were, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be,” it is important to understand what these days included. But before that we need to ask ourselves some important questions:
What were the distinctive features of these societies? How do we compare those days with the days of this modern world? Why did God send the judgment of the Flood in the days of Noah?
More than a historical narrative of what really happened, the events that led to the Flood are essential to understanding the prophetic implications of what the Lord Jesus says about His Second Coming.
For a description of those days, we have to look at the Book of Genesis. The sons of God described in this verse are the angels. These angelic beings came down and had sexual relations with the daughters of men and they bore children with them.
The Bible tells us that when this began to happen, God’s Spirit was grieved and He could not put up with humans for such a long time, so He set a definite lifespan of man for which is not more than 120 years (see Genesis 6:1-4). In verse 4 of Genesis 6, the New Living Translation says:
In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women; they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.
The word Nephilim derives from a Hebrew root- which means to fall. So Nephilim means the fallen ones or fallen apostates. The apostle Peter also tells us that:
For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:4-5 NKJV).
In the time of Noah there was this unnatural procreation between the occult realm and the human race and this is one of the main reasons that led to judgment of the Flood. In verse 5 of Genesis 6, The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.
The entire civilized world at that time had become totally evil to the point that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. The heart of man was exceedingly perverse and corrupt, and people had become unresponsive to the offer of God’s salvation through Enoch and then Noah.
Sexual immorality was rampart which resulted in sexual degradation and perversion.
Other distinctive features which we can’t discuss in detail were: the earth was full of corruption. “The earth was depraved and putrid in God’s sight, and the land was filled with violence (desecration, infringement, outrage, assault, and lust for power) (Genesis 6:11 AMP). The earth was filled with violence “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence (Genesis 6:12 NKJV).
Noah must have managed one of the earliest recorded projects in the Bible – the building of the ark. He may not have completed it to budget, but he certainly had to finish it by a specified time – before the flood and it must have met his performance criteria, as it successfully accommodated a pair of all the animals.
The Scriptures tell us that the purpose of the Flood was to judge and destroy the world by water on account of the evil wickedness of the world. This included all the cities and all the infrastructures (see Genesis 6:17-21).
Maybe when Noah was building the ark, some of his relatives might have said, “What are you going to do with the old homestead?” Noah says, “I don’t want it. The storm is coming.” He tells them the day of grace is closing, that worldly wealth is of no value, and that the ark is the only place of safety.
We must bear in mind that these railroads that we think so much of will soon go down. They only run for a time, not for eternity. The heavens will be on fire, and then what will property, honor, and position in society be worth?
All these animals entering the ark, two by two from the desert, the mountains and from the entire world guided by some unseen hand must have been a strange sight to the people. They might have asked their statesmen and wise men what it all meant.
Well the wise men might have told them there was no sign of a Flood, God is not going to destroy the world. Business is booming, people have a very good life, they are marrying, partying. Life is so good! Do you think if God was going to destroy the world, He would let us go on prospering as He has? There is no sign of a coming storm!
The Bible says God gave the world another seven days of grace. “And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. (Genesis 7:10) Probably if people had repented during those seven days, God would have heard their cry. But there was no cry for repentance.
At long last, the last day, the last hour, the last minute, and the last second! God Almighty came down and shut the door Himself.
Once the Master of the house has risen and shut the door, the doom of the world is sealed, and the doom of that old world was sealed. A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them (Genesis 7:16).
When the door of salvation was shut, there was no hope. Their cry for mercy was too late. The day of grace was closed. The last day, hour, and minute had come and God had pleaded and invited them to come in, but they laughed and mocked. No one heeded the Lord’s clear warning to repent. Now it was too late. This is a very frightening scenario.
How would we compare Noah’s day with what is going on in our society today? People are drinking, they are marrying wives and being given in marriage not that these things are bad in themselves but we should not be occupied with only these activities that we forget to put our children in the ark.
Jesus said that when the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. Noah escaped not because he was blameless, he was justified by faith as we are, and he was saved because he responded to God’s mercy and grace.
