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As the Days of Noah Were
Brothers and sisters, what do you think are four major acts of God recorded in the Old Testament? 1. Creation 2. the Flood 3. the Exodus 4. the Return from Babylonian Exile This morning let us think of how we should live in the end time as we focus on the event of the Flood out of the four.
Genesis24:37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 24:38 "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, 24:39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Jesus said, “His own coming is just like the days of Noah,” which referred to the event of the flood which occurred while Noah was living. People in those days did whatever they wanted until the flood came. They ate what they wanted to eat, drank what they wanted to drink, and just married ladies whom they liked, without restraint. They did not mind marrying many ladies. Their consciousness was very weakened by the degenerated society. So that they were not aware of the gravity of their sinfulness until the flood came and took all of their property and their life. The second coming of Jesus will just like the days of those kinds of people. They indulge appetite and sensual desire without restraint, and go deep into a sinful life. Jesus said, “I will surely come again when modern society becomes like the days of the antediluvian world.”
Now how destructive was the flood of Noah which Jesus compared to His coming? Let us look at Genesis7:11,12.
Genesis7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 7:12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
A great mount of waters came from the ground and from heaven. Under the earth all the fountains of the great deep were broken, and the waters burst. On the other hand much rain continued to pour down above the earth. Ellen White described the situation like this;
“Water appeared to come from the clouds in mighty cataracts. Rivers broke away from their boundaries, and overflowed the valleys. Jets of water burst from the earth with indescribable force, throwing massive rocks hundreds of feet into the air, and these, in falling, buried themselves deep in the ground.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p99
She describes this disaster worse than tsunami or hurricane. Rains came down like cataracts, ground water burst like a bomb, and massive rocks were thrown high into the air. An excessive energy was released. Ellen White later said that even Satan himself feared for his own existence. It seems that the earth went back to the chaotic condition as it was before Creation. Let us look at Genesis7:14.
Genesis7:14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.
Here the text says “every bird of every sort” entered the ark. Don’t you think that description very strange? I understand that chicken entered the ark. But even birds which flew in the air entered the ark, too. Generally speaking, birds fly freely in the air with the wings. Supposed all the area of Ontario flooded, the birds could wing across Quebec. If Quebec flooded, they could wing across a nearby province. They can fly wherever they want, and survive. But God put every bird of every sort into the ark. Why did He do that? That was because the flood of Noah was so destructive that the birds would lose their life if they stayed outside. Let us look at Genesis6:13-16.
Genesis6:13 And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 6:14 "Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. 6:15 "And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 6:16 "You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
A cubit is the distance between an adult's elbow and tip of the finger. Supposed the cubit were 18-inches, the ark would have been 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. It means 101,000 square feet. This ark might have been an extremely big one at that time. And it was built on a 1:6 ratio, that is, 50 cubits:300 cubits, and this ratio was the most stable for a vessel according to the science of naval architecture, and today all ocean going vessels use this same ratio. Why did God order Noah to build such a big stable ark? Isn’t it because that the flood was so destructive that it could cover the whole earth?
Then how long was the duration of the flood according to the biblical record? Let us look at two verses.
Genesis7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 7:12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
The flood began in the 17th day of the second month when Noah was 600 years old.
Genesis8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 8:14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.
The earth was dried up in the 17th day of the second month when Noah was 601 years old. From these two texts we can see that the duration of the flood was just one year. It lasted for a long time. The whole earth was covered with water for a year.
Thus, when you see how thoroughly God executed the judgment upon those people, you can imagine how sinful they were.. Please look at Genesis6:5. “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.”
The state of the world will be as in the days of Noah more and more as the end draws near. Wickedness will increase. Christ raised a serious question, “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Apostle Peter warned as follows.
2Peter3:3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 3:4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."
The flood of Noah is not the past event of history. It is a warning to the coming event of another judgment of God. Jesus said, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Apostle Peter continued to say the following about the final judgment of the earth.
2Peter3:5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 3:6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 3:7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
God set up the laws of nature. He controls them. He even changes them to serve His own purpose. The flood of Noah was just what God had done. So will be the second coming of Christ, and extraordinary phenomena in heaven and earth will surely happen.
Now there is one thing that you, our brothers and sisters, should remember. That is the importance of having faith in God; faith to obey His commands. Noah, though he was sinner, had a life of faith and obedience. He believed everything that God had ordered, and he obeyed it all. He built the ark. He preached God’s judgment to people. He entered the ark with his family. He entrusted to God the rest of all things. By this faith Noah and his family were saved, and from the family a new human history restarted.
The essence of faith is trusting God. It is believing that He loves us. It is believing that He knows and does what is for our good. Faith is not sight. It is not understanding. It is trusting that whether or not it shines good. Noah had faith and endured the judgment of the flood. He obeyed God’s commandments.
Noah, his family, and company stayed in the ark for a year. What did he think about when he heard rain falling like cataracts? What did he think about when he felt the ark shaken by the waters bursting from the ground? What did he think about when he heard people shouting out for help? The Bible does not say anything about his thoughts. I am sure that he was very shocked to see the people dying. And he must have learnt how important it is for him to have faith in and obedience to the Lord.
Genesis11:7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
To have faith or not to have it, that is a matter of life and death. This is what we can learn from the event of the Flood of Noah. Let us trust in the Lord and obey Him and get ready for the great coming of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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