“As It Was in the Days of Noah”

 •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 8
The state of the world today shows that it is like it was in the days of Noah, when men had corrupted their ways so that “the earth was filled with violence” and God had to pronounce judgment upon it.
God warned them, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man” (Genesis 6:33And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. (Genesis 6:3)). He told Noah “I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy” (Genesis 6:77And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. (Genesis 6:7)). Men, however, would not hearken any more than now.
Referring to this, the Lord Jesus said, “As in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:38-3938For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:38‑39)). “Take heed to yourselves lest  ...   that day come upon you unawares” (Luke 21:3434And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. (Luke 21:34)).
I dare say men thought the days of Noah were days of wonderful progress. Many of the men of that age might have said, “Oh no, Noah; you are quite mistaken; it is only your opinion: you had better give up working at that great ship, and give up preaching such peculiar views. Come and enjoy yourself, man, and don’t be such a narrow-minded bigot. Do you think everybody is wrong but you?”
“But God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth” (Genesis 6:55And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)), just as today He sees all these vile and fierce atrocities. The flood came and destroyed them all, except those who had taken refuge with Noah inside the ark. Every soul that was not shut in with Noah was shut out. There was then no hope; it was too late!
It will be as literally true as it was then, far more than men expect. The world will be taken with as great a surprise as it was then. Only those who will have taken shelter in the blessed Saviour will escape.
God is speaking loudly to men. “The end of all things is at hand” (1 Peter 4:7). “The coming of the Lord draweth nigh” (James 5:88Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. (James 5:8)).
As terrible as world wars are, they are but the preliminaries to that which is ahead, (not a great flood as in Noah’s day, but that which will be far worse), “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:2121For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21)).
Earth, what a sorrow lies before thee!
None like it in the shadowy past,
The sharpest throes that ever tore thee:
E’en tho’ the briefest and the last.
The man of Calvary, now the gracious Saviour in the Glory, will come again in all the power and majesty of His eternal Godhead, in judgment upon those who have rejected Him! (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
Thinking men realize that these are indeed ominous times. Statesmen are baffled. “Distress of nations, with perplexity  ...  men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming” (Luke 21:25-2625And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Luke 21:25‑26)).
The most privileged nations have in these latter years become materialistic, pleasure loving, and acting in all respects as if God’s existence had no bearing upon their course of conduct. God gave man a mind; and he in turn is using it to reason against God, and today more than ever, is inventing diabolical weapons with which to kill his fellowman!
For sixty centuries men have tried in vain to patch up the poor world with education, reformation, legislation, and every kind of political government. However, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:99The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)), so no amount of effort on the part of men can permanently remedy the world. God has not forgotten that this world murdered His Son, and He will shortly make requisition for His blood. “I will punish the world for their evil” (Isaiah 13:1111And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. (Isaiah 13:11)). “His blood is required” (Genesis 42:2222And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required. (Genesis 42:22)). Still, in grace He is presenting Jesus the crucified as the only way of escape.