“For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah 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 24:37, 3837But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38For 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, (Matthew 24:37‑38).
IF we go back to the fourth chapter of Genesis, we find Cain the murderer going out from the presence of the Lord, settling down in the land of Nod, surrounding himself with all that the natural man delights in, away from God. “They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage.” They had the art of building cities, and they gave them names; they were acquainted with the arts and sciences, and able to embellish their abodes with great skill (Tubal-Cain being an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron); in fact, they lived in an atmosphere of human delight, luxury, and ease; solaced by the soft strains of music. They bought, they sold, they planted, they builded.
What a picture of the natural man as we see him in this nineteenth century! How comfortable he has made himself! How anxious is he in the interests of his family, and careful that his name shall not be lost sight of by others! He is interested in politics: every measure calculated to improve the town, or locality, in which he resides has his earnest consideration. The first city that Cain built was no doubt a model one in every respect, for it was called Enoch, which means “well regulated.” It is not difficult to trace this vast godless system called the world. It is that which has grown up since the fall, since man forsook God and placed himself under the dominion of Satan. It is that which interests, absorbs, flatters, and fascinates man apart from God. It is the use man makes of all the abilities God has given him, after having left His presence. Man uses all his powers (of course under the guidance and influence of Satan) to make himself happy and comfortable on this earth without God. He desires not the knowledge of His ways.
We see this exemplified in Matthew’s Gospel, for after Jesus had cast out the devils in the country of the Gergesenes, we read that the whole city came out and besought Him that He would depart out of their coasts. The devil, after showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, said, “All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine” (Luke 4:6, 76And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. (Luke 4:6‑7)). There is no question, then, but that all the power, and the glory, that this world can offer, is of the devil. He is the prince of this world: “The god of this world who hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
Dear reader, if you are one whose whole life is a round of these things, “What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” pause, I pray you, and consider that “now is the judgment of this world,” that the whole world is brought in guilty before God. That it is rushing along, hoary with age, stained with the blood of prophets and of saints, “reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men,” What an awful fate will be yours when the Lord comes as a thief in the night,―for when they shall say, “Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” You may not have committed any very great sins, or lived an immoral life, ―that is not the point. You are going on from day to day, and from year to year, quietly it may be, and respectably it may be, but you are going on WITHOUT GOD, and such the Scripture saith hath NO HOPE.
The destroying angel will soon pass through this scene, and nothing but death, and judgment, will be your doom? What is it, then, that can shelter you from the coming storm? What is there that you can avail yourself of, ere that awful day―the day of the Lord―bursts with all its terrors upon this guilty scene? Will thy prayers protect thee? (There will be a great prayer-meeting then, Revelation 6:14-1714And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:14‑17).) Will thy reformation avail thee? Will thy works stand thee instead?
No, dear friend, none of these things, blessed and important as they are, can shelter you from coming wrath. Nothing but the blood of the Lamb of God’s own providing will avail in danger’s hour.
R. M. H.