Posted on 06/26/2010 8:00:45 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
As in the Days of Noah
And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man:were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage,until the day Noah entered the Ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.It was the same as happened in the days of Lot...( luke 17)
Jesus warned us that the end of days would be just as it was in the time leading up to the flood and also as in the last days of Sodom and Gommorah.
The saying, the Days of Noah and of Lot, has a specific meaning in scripture. We can identify the end of time by what scripture says about those times.
The days of Noah have seven characteristics, according to Genesis 4-6 . God tells us that those times were marked by; rapid advances in technology, a disregard for marriage, a population explosion,a radical increase in corruption and violence, the general rejection of the call to repentance,the loss of distinction between the line of Seth and that of Cain, and open communion between Humans and fallen angels.
* Rapid increase of technology,and the arts- Genesis 4:21-22 tells us that the sons of Cain developed agriculture, animal husbandry,and metallurgy. They invented musical instruments, and new alloys to form iron and bronze tools.
* Disregard for marriage- Lamech is an example of the degeneration in the concept of marriage as God had defined it, "for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife...".In Genesis 4;23 Lamech sings a song of proud boasting to his two wives,Adah and Zillhah.
* Population explosion- Now it came about,when men began to multiply on the face of the earth...(Gen 5:1) As in those days, these days also are marked by an explosion of population, and that in spite of the godless attempts at so called "zero population growth" by leftists and Maoists. The exponential phase of population growth is here!
* Corruption and violence-Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth,and behold it was now corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.Then God said to Noah,'the end of all flesh is come before me,for the earth is filled with violence because of them, and behold i am about to destroy them with the earth."(Genesis 6:11-13)
It had gotten to the point that the corruption of humanity was almost complete, particularly in the imagination of men...Think about the constant filth running out of televisions, computers, I pods- etc. People can so program their minds by the new technology that the chance to actually think in solitude becomes a rarity! And what are they filling their minds with? And the God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every thought in the imagination of his heart was evil continually(Genesis 6:5)
*The rejection of the call to repentance- There had been a long line of preachers leading up to Noah,Seth, Enoch, Methuselah,Lamech, and finally Noah himself. All of these and others, warned of the coming wrath,called for all to humble themselves,turn back to God, and break off of sin,seeking forgiveness and redemption in God.
Methuselah, even today remembered as the oldest man ever, was the sign of the longsuffering God. His very name is a prophecy, "When He goes it shall come...", meaning the judgment.As long as he lived, people could see the forbearance of the Holy God. The year he died, the flood came and wiped out the earth.
But the kindness of God, in His delay of judgment was wrongly interpreted as it is today. People don't believe they are in danger of judgment, because it hasn't happened yet, in spite of ever bolder and more outrageous sin.This generation has no excuse either, having been warned time and again.
*The loss of distinction between the confessing people of God and the godless- The degeneration of the church, with the exception of remnants here and there, is another sign of the days of Noah. There was a definite line of Cain, known for their godlessness, they developed a civilisation, they advanced in technology, music the arts. At the same time there was a godly line of Seth who were different, because they called upon the name of the Lord. But by the time of the Flood, that distinction had been wiped out, there was no difference.
*The unlawful communion between the "sons of God"(fallen Angels) and the daughters of men.- This is the sin that finally brought upon the world the flood, because by this sin the very make up of the human race was in danger of being distorted. Fallen Angels began desiring and having human wives, and siring a kind of evil prodigy, the Nephilim, "the fallen ones"- mighty ones of evil.
It is interesting that many of the "heroes of greek mythology, are "half man half god",like Hercules, products of the unions between the vile greek gods and humans. Could these be distant memories of such pre flood prodigies?
It is also ominous that the theme of the carnal union of Angels and humans is a recurring motif of many Hollywood movies.
And finally Jesus said it would also be as in the days of Lot. The last days before jesus comes back would be like the last days of Sodom and Gommorah.Even the freerepublic forum testifies of this in a particularly appalling way, in the report of a debauched "Gay Rights" march in Arkansas, which used a ten year old boy as the 'Grand Marshall' of the parade!
Unfortunately we have arrived at the place Jesus warned of, the very days of Noah and Lot, the days of the coming of the Son of Man. it is time to get right with God, to confess that we are sinners and to call upon Him for mercy and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. "Whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved"
As we say done here in Alabama, that’ll preach.
Thank You
She'd about had it with Lot when they arrived at Sodom and Gomorrah and she found the men there were actually more interested in each other or other men ~ and certainly not her daughters.
Having failed in her task she and her family ran off into the wilderness where she was turned into stone, and her former husband ended up sleeping with the daughters.
That's roughly the story as told on pictoglyphs in the Kola Peninsula dated as nearly 7,500 years old.
I just added the names because we don't know the characters' names but we can pretty well guess what they were when we can see the same ancient play staged in the pages of the Bible.
No, that alternative reading that has Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed over questions of hospitality just doesn't fit the main line when you track Lot and his family. This particular tale is decidedly feminist in orientation ~ it's about a woman and her daughters, and the curse that destroys the family when she fails to get them suitible husbands.
Thanks Pastor Bill, I always love reading your articles.
People have discussed the Second Coming, Armageddon, Tribulation, whatever, and many believe it is coming.
So, what can one person do?
The Bible doesn’t set a ‘date’ for this ‘event’, instead it sets a ‘condition’. That condition is when there is more evil than good dominating mankind.
So, each person that can keep good in triumph over evil in their life, helps delay the onset of the event.
It is possible for us to delay it a very long time. It all depends on us.
I assure you, God has His timing just right, and there’s nothing we can do to “delay” Him. Besides, why do you cast His return & taking His flock to be with Him to be a bad thing?
Take care that you don’t sound like Peter when the Lord told him He would be taken, suffer, and die. Peter’s response was that this will not be. Do you recall the Lord’s response to Peter? “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
Rejoice - the day of His return draws near! It’s only a thing of dread for those who reject His free gift of salvation.
Food for thought, Amen.
It is amazing to me how much of this type of preaching I see these days. Granted, as you said, most of the church is in a fallen state, but if you look around you'll see people, like yourself, who are calling out to the unrighteous and warning them to repent before the end comes upon us.
Keep preaching brother, keep preaching!
May I have a link to the Kola Peninsula pictoglyphs you’ve mentioned?
The disasters of the old testament were cosmic. You'd have centuries worth of warning of anything like that particularly with the kinds of telescopes we have now, and there is nothing like that on the horizon for any future which is in any rational manner foreseeable.
Wendy - the point is not the particular natural disaster,or it’s predictability, the point is the ripening and universalism of human evil and corruption which will bring about the final judgment of this earth at the coming of Jesus, and whether or not you or I are personally ready to meet God.
Were Jesus Christ himself to return to Earth and present the whole history of the Earth and mankind and civilizations to everyone, exactly as it happened, I would bet 95% of mankind would not even listen or believe it.
The stories in the Bible are meant to teach us something about the nature of man. That many are just knockoffs of earlier stories from earlier civilizations does not diminish the message.
The problem is understanding the message. Which explains why the same messages are repeated throughout history, civilization after civilization, religion after religion.
If found the best example to be contained in the Bible where the Jews roamed the desert, lost. Actually, the ‘story’ was that they kept walking round the same mountain, over and over, never noticing it was the same.
It was the biggest thing within their view. How could they not notice?
Because they were stubborn. I don’t think the story was really about Jews, at all. It was likely a different ‘tribe’ of a different civilization from a time long past, long forgotten.
The message, though, is exactly the same. That is what is so important about the Bible. It is (by God’s wish?) a compendium of the lessons of Earth’s civilizations. It is there to help guide us spiritually and morally.
Yet, we walk around lost in the desert, wandering around the same darn mountain year after year, and wondering why things don’t change.
One must admit, the opinions expressed by God, Jesus, the authors of the Books of the Bible, concerning the nature of man are spot on.
P4L
I wasn't. It's that 'just prior to being whisked away to heaven' part that is the bad thing.
Do you recall the Lord’s response to Peter? “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
Yes. And that makes me curious. What do you think The Lord was saying to Satan, by that remark?
He was saying that to deny that the Christ would fulfill His purpose on earth (through death, burial, & ressurection) was a message from Satan.
Methuselah, even today remembered as the oldest man ever
Wouldn't that be Enoch, as he is still alive?
The Second Coming has come — if you have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Thanks. May I offer my interpretation?
I thought the message being given was that Peter was acting like Satan, who tried to put himself ‘in front of’ Jesus and God. I have the feeling that the terms ‘in front of’ and ‘behind me’ were just like the military command chain.
You don’t stand in front of the General, and you don’t tell him his orders are wrong.
Jesus was telling Peter he was acting just like Satan, and should follow God and Jesus instead of thinking he knew better and should decide what happens.
Maybe we are saying the same thing. I don’t understand how it would be a message from Satan, though.
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