Messiah and the Days of Noah

When the Messiah first came He prophesied that He would return to rule the world. At that time, He will judge the nations, and will administrate righteousness to all peoples; and from that time His rule will continue, forever. Replying to His disciples who had asked what the signs would be indicating His return, the Messiah pointed to the days of Noah.

"And as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man: they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." (Luke 17:26-27)

The days of Noah were filled with violence and corruption. Today we see violence everywhere. It is not unusual to hear reports of fighting, aggression and hostility. Significantly, the violence we experience today is not limited to the terrorist with a weapon, but like in the days of Noah, it has penetrated deep into the moral fabric of society in which we live. Values and standards of behaviour are constantly under siege. We live in a society, a world community, where God's standards are rejected. Violence against His justice, for example, is an everyday occurrence in the world in which we live.

In what way is justice violated? While God has given man authority to rule and adjudicate, it is man who chooses which law to legislate and to enforce. It does not automatically follow that he will uphold God's justice. Indeed, God's law is not the governing rule of any nation, today. Consequently, those deserving justice are robbed and scorned. This is not how the poor, the needy, the widow and the fatherless are supposed to be treated -- God's justice is violated. Those in authority violate God's standards and cause the people to walk in the path of the ungodly. This is what happened in the days of Noah.

Abortion, sexual immorality, adultery, perversion, and rebellion are not the fruits of a righteous society. However, these are patterns of normal behaviour of our world today.

The people of Noah's day rejected the message of repentance and continued living as though everything was fine. The Messiah pointed to this attitude being present in the days of His return. " . . . they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark . . . " Many people today conduct their lives without any thought of God. Their family structure is godless causing dysfunction and abnormal behaviour. They eat and drink without acknowledging Him, yet without His goodness there would neither be food nor drink. Marriage is a God thing. He invented it. From the very beginning men and women have been joined in marriage by God -- a unique relationship throughout Creation. Yet today, many marry intentionally leaving God out of the ceremony, or perhaps they try to include Him like an insurance clause (just to be safe). Yet God's role in marriage and the family is beyond any insurance policy. And His continued involvement in every husband and wife relationship is crucial and unequalled. Without God, marriage is certain to fail. Consequently, marriage today has certainly become defiled, and not what God intended. Yet like those in Noah's day, people today do not see any need to repent. They rejected the warning of impending judgement in Noah's time, so too, people today dismiss the warnings and explain away the signs.

In his letter, Simon the Rock (Simon Peter) warns, " . . . that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 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.' This they forget . . . The LORD is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night . . . " (2 Peter 3:3-5, 9-10) The Messiah will come as a thief to the lawless, the ungodly -- to those who are unrepentant.

The Messiah speaks of His sudden appearing, and compares it with how the flood came upon those in Noah's day. "And as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man: they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." (Luke 17:26-27) They didn't expect judgement then, so too, when the Messiah arrives to judge the nations. At that time, the unrepentant will not expect Him and will be awe-struck and ashamed at His appearing.

Noah called his generation to repentance. Likewise people today need to repent. Noah warned his generation of the impending judgement if they failed to turn away from their immoral behaviour. Likewise, judgement is coming, and will overtake those who do not repent.

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy messengers with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

"And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

"Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world . . . '" (Matthew 25:31-34)

We are living as it were in the days of Noah, exactly as foretold by the Messiah. The King Messiah is coming with judgement in His hand.

May there be many today who return to God, our Father in Heaven, the only One True God, and come to the knowledge of His Anointed, even Yeshua whom He sent.

Mark Warren

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