Then and Now

Lessons from the Days of Noah

Genesis 6:5-14 HCSB When the LORD saw that man's wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, (6) the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. (7) Then the LORD said, "I will wipe off the face of the earth: man, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky--for I regret that I made them." (8) Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (9) These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God. (10) And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (11) Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. (12) God saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth. (13) Then God said to Noah, "I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth. (14) "Make yourself an ark of gofer wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside.

There's a blonde and a red head. It's 10'oclock at night and they're at the blonde's house watching the late news. On the news was a story of a man who was threatening to commit suicide. The redhead turns to the blonde and says "I bet $50 you he'll jump", and the blonde says "ok I bet $50 you he won't ".

The man jumped, so the blonde pulls out her purse and says "here's your $50", and the redhead said "no I can't accept it. I watched the early news and heard that he jumped". Then the blonde replied "So did I but I didn't think he'd jump again!"

When you’ve seen something happen again, you’d think that you’d be a little better prepared the second time around! You’d think that you’d be able to break the cycle or at least come out better than you did the first go round!

Tomorrow is Memorial Day; a day dedicated to remembering those who have died in our defense. More importantly, to my mind at least, Shavuot arrives this Thursday evening. Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day when God gave us the Ten Commandments (along with the rest of the Law) on Mount Sinai. So, in view of the theme of remembrance, this week holds and continuing the process of working through the major stories of the Bible, I felt led to draw parallels between Moses’ account of the Great Flood and our days. Hopefully, we’ll be able to learn some lessons that will help us avoid making some serious mistakes.

1. As a Flood was coming so a cataclysm called the Day of the Lord is coming. (Genesis 6:7; Isaiah 13:6-12)

· Genesis 6:7 HCSB Then the LORD said, "I will wipe off the face of the earth: man, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky--for I regret that I made them."

· Isaiah 13:6-12 HCSB Wail! For the day of the LORD is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty. (7) Therefore everyone's hands will become weak, and every man's heart will melt. (8) They will be horrified; pain and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look at each other, their faces flushed with fear. (9) Look, the day of the LORD is coming--cruel, with rage and burning anger--to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners on it. (10) Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shine. (11) I will bring disaster on the world, and their own iniquity, on the wicked. I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant and humiliate the insolence of tyrants. (12) I will make man scarcer than gold, and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir.

2. As the cause of the first was man’s wickedness so the second will finally be brought on by Mankind reaching the limits of Yah’s patience. (Genesis 6:5-7; 18:20-21; Daniel 8:23-26)

· Genesis 6:5-7 HCSB When the LORD saw that man's wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, (6) the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. (7) Then the LORD said, "I will wipe off the face of the earth: man, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky--for I regret that I made them."

· Genesis 15:16 HCSB In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

· Genesis 18:20-21 HCSB Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious. (21) I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to Me. If not, I will find out."

· 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 HCSB They killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and persecuted us; they displease God, and are hostile to everyone, (16) hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. As a result, they are always adding to the number of their sins, and wrath has overtaken them completely.

· Daniel 8:23-26 HCSB Near the end of their kingdoms, when the rebels have reached the full measure of their sin, an insolent king, skilled in intrigue, will come to the throne. (24) His power will be great, but it will not be his own. He will cause terrible destruction and succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the powerful along with the holy people. (25) He will cause deceit to prosper through his cunning and by his influence, and in his own mind he will make himself great. In a time of peace, he will destroy many; he will even stand against the Prince of princes. But he will be shattered, not by human hands. (26) The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true. Now you must seal up the vision because it refers to many days in the future."

3. As people went blithely on drinking, singing and marrying – so too today. (Genesis 6:5; Ezekiel 16:49-50; Matthew 24:37-44)

· Genesis 6:5 HCSB When the LORD saw that man's wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time,

· Ezekiel 16:49-50 HCSB Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, plenty of food, and comfortable security, but didn't support the poor and needy. (50) They were haughty and did detestable things before Me, so I removed them when I saw this.

· Matthew 24:37-44 HCSB As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. (38) For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark. (39) They didn't know until the flood came and swept them all away. So this is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be: (40) Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one left. (41) Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one left. (42) Therefore be alert, since you don't know what day your Lord is coming. (43) But know this: If the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into. (44) This is why you also must be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

4. As the world was filled with violence then – so too today. (Genesis 6:11; 2 Timothy 3:1-5)

· Genesis 6:11 HCSB Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence.

· 2 Timothy 3:1-5 HCSB But know this: difficult times will come in the last days. (2) For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, (3) unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, (4) traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (5) holding to the form of religion but denying its power. Avoid these people!

5. Yah provided the antediluvian world a means of salvation. (Genesis 6:14)

· Genesis 6:14 HCSB "Make yourself an ark of gofer wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside.

6. Just as Noah and his family had to go through a doorway to be saved, God has provided an Ark of salvation for each of us to be saved from the judgment to come. Our ‘Ark’ today is the Lord Jesus Christ. who said,

· John 10:9 HCSB I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.

7. Both means required faith-driven obedience to God’s commands. (Genesis 6:22; 7:5; Hebrews 11:7; 1 John 5:2-5)

· Genesis 6:22 HCSB And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.

· Genesis 7:5 HCSB And Noah did everything that the LORD commanded him.

· Hebrews 11:7 HCSB By faith Noah, after being warned about what was not yet seen, in reverence built an ark to deliver his family. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

· 1 John 5:2-5 HCSB This is how we know that we love God's children when we love God and obey His commands. (3) For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden, (4) because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. (5) And who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

8. As the first was preached for many years before it finally came; so the coming destruction has been predicted and will inevitably arrive. (Genesis 6:3; 2 Peter 3:2-12)

· Genesis 6:3 HCSB And the LORD said, "My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years."

· 2 Peter 3:2-12 HCSB so that you can remember the words previously spoken by the holy prophets, and the commandment of our Lord and Savior given through your apostles. (3) First, be aware of this: scoffers will come in the last days to scoff, following their own lusts, (4) saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation." (5) They willfully ignore this: long ago the heavens and the earth existed out of water and through water by the word of God. (6) Through these the world of that time perished when it was flooded by water. (7) But by the same word the present heavens and earth are held in store for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. (8) Dear friends, don't let this one thing escape you: with the Lord one day is like 1,000 years, and 1,000 years like one day. (9) The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. (10) But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed. (11) Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness (12) as you wait for and earnestly desire the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be on fire and be dissolved, and the elements will melt with the heat.

Conclusion: (1 Peter 3:20; Romans 3:25-26; Hebrews 3:12-13)

My friends, as Noah preached of a coming cataclysm to the people of his day, so I am prophetically speaking to you of the coming Day of the Lord. I urge you to consider these two questions:

“What happened to those who failed to listen to the prophet Noah?”

“What do you think will happen to those who ignore God’s demands today?”

· 1 Peter 3:20 HCSB who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while an ark was being prepared; in it, a few--that is, eight people--were saved through water.

· Romans 3:25-26 HCSB God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. (26) He presented Him to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.

God may be patiently waiting for you to come to grips with your own sin and your need for a Savior but I assure you, He will not wait forever.

· Hebrews 3:12-13 HCSB Watch out, brothers, so that there won't be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. (13) But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception.

Addendum:

The expression “Yom Yahweh” occurs in the Tanakh sixteen times (Isaiah 13:6, 9; Ezekiel 13:5; Joel 1:15; 2:14; 3:14; 4:14; Amos 1:18 (twice), 20; Obadiah 1:16 (cp Hebrews 1); Zephaniah 1:7, 14 (twice) and Malachi 4:5 (cp Hebrews 3:23).

In four other places the phrase has the preposition lamed which is “for” or “to”, before the noun Yahweh. In Isaiah 2:12; Ezekiel 30:3 and Zechariah 14:1 it means “a day for Yahweh”; and in Zechariah 14:7 it means “a day (known) to Yahweh.”

In other places there is some other word between yom and Yahweh such as “wrath” or “vengeance”; i.e. “the day of the wrath of the Lord”.

In the New Covenant the expression occurs four times; viz. 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Peter 3:10 and Revelation 1:10.