![]() ![]() It was an age when mighty men roamed the earth. It was an age of music, fine arts and literature. One translation of verse 39 says “they did not know.” What a damning indictment. “The rains came down and the flood came up.” I’m sure in that day the people started beating on the door but it was too late. But at last the day came when Noah entered the Ark. As he warned them of impending judgment, they paid him no mind whatsoever. Maybe he was regarded as a local whacko whose oddities were tolerated and made the butt of cocktail-hour humor. They evidently paid no attention to “crazy Noah” and the big boat he was building in his backyard. Children went to school each day, businessmen made deals, teachers taught, doctors dispensed healing, farmers tended their crops. They were buying and selling and continuing in all the usual activities of human life. They were eating and drinking (nothing wrong with that), marrying and giving in marriage (nothing wrong with that). And what do we find when we examine the world of Noah’s day? Write over it this phrase in large letters: BUSINESS AS USUAL. The spiritual conditions of the pre-flood world will be replicated in the days preceding the return of Christ to the earth. Study the days of Noah because what happened in those days will happen again at the end of this age. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away so shall the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37-39 NASB). “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. He tells his disciples that the past is the key to the future. In order to help them understand that future event, Jesus draws a fascinating comparison with the days of Noah. The subject is the return of our Lord to the earth at the end of the age. This passage is part of a longer section called the Olivet Discourse, a private message given by Jesus to his disciples on the Mount of Olives two or three days before he was crucified. In order to answer that question, let’s take a look at the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:37-39. ![]() But what could the people of the pre-flood world have done that was so horrendous that it made God decide to hit the “Delete” button and wipe out all humanity with the exception of Noah and his family? What sort of sin brings on a judgment like the flood? I. Why would God do such a thing? We know that the flood was a judgment on human sin. As you try to think about a flood of that magnitude, one question keeps floating to the surface. ![]() The event itself is so stupendous as to be mind-boggling. But Genesis describes a vast flood that covered the entire earth. The other disasters were all local in nature. If we accept the biblical record, then no such list could be complete without including Noah’s Flood in the Number One spot. ![]() As I studied the list, it struck me as incomplete. It included a typhoon in Hong Kong, a landslide in Peru, a tsunami in Japan, a volcano in Indonesia, an earthquake in China, a cyclone in Bangladesh, a drought in Africa, a flood in China, a hurricane in Bangladesh, and as the greatest natural disaster of all time, a famine in China that killed an estimated 40 million people. It’s Number One and there really is no Number Two.Ī few days ago I began surfing the Internet to see if I could find a listing of the Top Ten Natural Disasters. It is so great, so vast, so enormous, that no other event in earth history comes close to it. As we begin our study of this important event, I’d like to focus our attention on a very crucial point: If this story is true, that is, if it really happened, if there once was a great flood that covered the entire earth, then what the Bible is describing in Genesis 6-9 is the single greatest natural disaster in the history of the world. This is the first of several sermons on Noah and the flood. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |