As in the Days of Noah
by William Akehurst, HSWC
We are seeing evidence of the End Times. Just as in the Days of Noah, the bible promises Christ will return at such a time as this. Are you ready?
Scriptures Used
Genesis 6:5-12
Matthew 24:36-44
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
Romans 12:1-2
Ephesians 4:22-24
Genesis 6:5-6, 8-9, 11-12
5 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. 6 … and He was grieved in His heart.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9 …Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.
As in the days of Noah.
We know Noah was told by God to do a task that didn’t seem to make sense to his world around him. Yet he obediently and unwaveringly obeyed.
I’m sure he took quite a jeering from his peers, to the extent that he probably was viewed as a lunatic
When God called him into the ark and shut the door, the people were probably still laughing and ranting at him.
But when the first droplet of water came, it was then too late for those on the outside of the ark.
The folks were a wicked bunch. Eating, drinking, marrying, engaging in things that God would frown upon.
We are in those days of Noah. We see the very same thing going on. It was not that long ago, we had 9-11, and the nation turned to God, but now, our nations heart has hardened. People are back to their same games. With the gas crunch and financial and economic disaster lurking around the corner, we will see people cry out.
As in the Days of Noah…
We are living in perilous times.
The enemy, Satan is attacking the very essence of our lives and future.
And he is doing it so subtly, by desensitizing the general population to evil.
The Bible talks about man being given over to his own imaginations.
These are vain imaginations.
When we read in the Bible that man built or cast idols out of wood and gold, made them with their own hands, and then bowed down to worship these things, which they themselves made. Making something, then bowing to it.
Makes no sense does it. But that is how the Deceiver takes us further and further away from the truth. By using our imaginations to control us into thinking that what is wrong, is right.
When it comes to the imagination, what comes to my mind are not books or reading materials, although there are plenty of them on the market today. But for the next generations, they are not bookworms, no, they are looking for interaction with their imagination. And what better vessel then the video game. Games of fantasy and war all wrapped into one. Games of crime and evil.
Take for instance this ‘best seller’ Grand Theft Auto. I have not seen the actual game, but have read and heard the reviews and view it as a game of subtle desensitization of our youth.
It has even been called a game that is ‘training criminals of the future’ to dodge the police, and wreak havoc on society. No wonder there is so many children taking weapons into the schools.
Jeremiah 7:24 “But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
Our society is falling more and more away from God.”
Think back to 9-11. There was such a cry out to the LORD for our nation. Churches were packed with people searching for God. And then…silence. They forgot what they were searching for. Then they became complacent when the tragedy and troubles seemed to cease.
It seems that everyone went back to do what they were doing prior to their cry out to the LORD.
Just as in the Days of Noah, society is caught up in their own imaginations. Doing evil and every conceivable thing they could imagine.
Think of what it must have been like for Noah.
But when we see these days as the days of Noah,
And just as in those days, The Lord saw the wickedness of man, and it grieved his heart. It broke his heart.
Our sins break the heart of God as much as the sins of the people in the days of Noah.
Sin breaks God’s heart, much in the same way that a parent is heartbroken over a rebellious or wayward child.
God was sorry that the people would chose sin and death over a relationship with him.
But there is something we must learn of this as we to look at Noah.
While everyone around him chose to sin and rebel against the LORD, Noah remained steadfast, fixed if you will, in his relationship with the Lord. Noah conducted himself and his affairs in accordance with God’s will for his life.
And the Lord saw this and it pleased him. And God was gracious to Noah.
It says, he walked with God.
In these days, as in the Days of Noah, we too must keep our minds focused on the LORD. I love how David describes it in the Psalms when he says he keeps is heart FIXED on the LORD. Psalm 108.
We too must not allow ourselves to give over to vain imaginations. But rather take our thoughts captive obediently in Christ. Understanding that this war is of a different realm than the physical, it is a spiritual battle we are facing daily.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
So, as in the days of Noah, we too must not be conformed to the world around us, but be conformed rather to Christ. Presenting ourselves as holy and acceptable unto the LORD, just as Noah kept himself apart from his surroundings and conducted his affairs as in the will of God.
Romans 12:1-2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
This requires that we keep our mind refreshed and renewed in the WORD. By putting off our old ways, and putting on the ways of the LORD. Following Christ’s example of right living and holiness.
Ephesians 4:22-24
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Just as in the days of Noah, the rains came without notice. Noah was ready. He spent years upon years in obedience to the LORD. Building that which seemed useless and impossible at the time. But the LORD used his work. The LORD used his obedience, and spared his life.
Matthew tells us
Matthew 24:36-44
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 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, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 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. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Matthew tells us, we must be ready. Just as in the Days of Noah, the Judgment of the LORD came quickly and swiftly with the Floods.
These are the end times. The Bible tells us that the Son of Man will come at such a time as it was in the days of Noah.
We see it around us.
For the Lord is coming.
Are you ready for His return?
