As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when Jesus returns.
We don’t know what it was like in the days of Noah, but the world will get a glimpse of that history before Jesus returns. Many people might be correct when they argue that society has already reached the norms set during the days before Noah’s flood. I don’t believe we are at that point yet. Of course, the Book of Revelation gives us important details of what appears to be a sudden crash into extreme moral and societal decay. When the four horsemen of the apocalypse arrive on the scene things will escalate to the extreme and beyond.
But for those who like to wait until the last minute, the Lord has a warning for you.
No one knows the day or the hour. Stay awake and alert.
Don’t forget the context:
Remember the questions the disciples asked Jesus that led to this long discourse in Matthew 24.
Matthew 24:3
While Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will all this happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”
They asked three questions:
- When will it happen?
- What will be the sign of your coming?
- What will be the sign of the end of the age?
Matthew 24:36 No one knows the day
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”
In order to keep the context in focus, I started this article with the inclusion of this key verse. I’ve included this verse in the two prior posts in the series.
When the Lord departed to heaven he deflected the question as to the timing of his return. He knew it wouldn’t be for nearly two thousand years. But exactly when was for the Father’s knowledge only. Read the context of the Acts chapter one passage to understand the message that Christ gave them as he left. He might as well have said, “Get busy building the church because I won’t return for a long time.” But in order to maintain the attitude of watchfulness he didn’t.
Acts 1:7
Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.
Matthew 24:37 Like the days of Noah
“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
There will be a stunning lack of concern for morality when the Lord returns. Paul gave us the bloody details when he wrote to Timothy regarding the conditions of the earth’s societies and cultures in the last days.
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 37. – As the days of Noe were. In citing this example, the Lord has special reference to the fact that the warning then is given was not heeded (Genesis 6:3). If, as seems probable, the antediluvians had more than a century’s warning of the coming flood, it can hardly be only the suddenness of the calamity to which Christ would point (1 Peter 3:20). He has used the illustration elsewhere (Luke 17:26, 27), where also the destruction of Sodom is adduced as a type of the last day. So shall also The parousia of Christ shall fall on a world incredulous and heedless.
Matthew 24:38 The days of Noah, before the flood
“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark.”
A casual reading of this text makes it appear as though things were almost Mary Poppins-perfect during the days of Noah. People were taking care of daily needs and getting married and raising a family. It was almost a picture-perfect world in the days of Noah.
Not even close. The angelic forces of evil were stepping into overdrive in their efforts to thwart the will of God. They were hell-bent on destroying humanity then, and that desire has not changed.
The days of Noah were times of incredible brutality and evil that is unmatched in human history. God wiped out every human but eight. If you haven’t studied this event beyond the typical nursery rhyme theme then you don’t realize how bad things really were.
From Got Questions website:
The biblical account of Noah begins in Genesis 6. Approximately 1,600 years had passed since the creation of Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:26–27). As the earth’s population exploded in number, it also exploded with evil. Long forgotten was the righteous sacrifice of Abel (Genesis 4:4) as “the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Verses 11 and 12 say, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” However, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (verse 8).
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 38. – They were eating, etc. The Lord describes the reckless way in which men went on their usual course, pursued their pleasures and avocations, with the doom. hanging over them, in spite of the warning given. The word for “eating” (τρώγοντες) implies the idea of gnawing food greedily like an animal, hence eating gluttonously. They had learned to drink to excess long before Lot’s time (Genesis 9:20, 21). The periphrastic form of expression, η΅σαν τρώγοντες… πίνοντες, denotes not a single act, but habitude. Until the day. Though they had watched Noah building the ark and heard him preach righteousness for many a year, they took no heed. It must be observed that Christ here confirms the historical accuracy of this episode in Genesis.
Take note in the comments above regarding the animalistic nature of humanity the biblical narrative describes in the days of Noah.
Matthew 24:39 Evil at its worse
“And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
In the days of Noah, they were unaware of the severity of their own evil. It was all normal and accepted. As the frog is slow-boiled in the broth, humanity gradually heats up in an ever-increasing love for wretched behavior. As it was then, so shall it be when the Lord returns. The love of evil will grow worse than it is now.
We need to forget about the happily stuffed floating zoo we read about in our Sunday school classes years ago. The reason why this story is repulsive is the thought that God would judge so rashly the millions of innocent people.
Excuse me: there weren’t any. It was like a scene from fury road but worse.
From Got Questions website:
The depravity and ungodly lifestyles of the entire world at that time were enough to cause the Lord to “regret that He had made man” (Genesis 6:6). Many scholars believe that part of the need to destroy every human being except Noah and his family was the sin mentioned in Genesis 6:1–4, when “the Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them.” As evil reproduced and overtook the world, the most merciful act God could perform was to start over.
Matthew 24:40 Two men in the field
“Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.”
There is no respect of persons with God. Two men working side-by-side in the field may look identical to others but to the Lord, he knows the difference. The Lord knows those who are his and will decide without wavering. During the days of Noah, men had the option of watching Noah build his boat or ignoring it. In our modern times, men have the option of listening to the words of Christ as the preparations are made for his sudden return. The depravities of each era are the same, and the suddenness of God’s decision will be as well.
From Got Questions website:
It is interesting that God allowed Noah nearly one hundred years to complete the building of the ark. Through all that time, God patiently waited (1 Peter 3:20). Scripture seems to imply that Noah preached to the people of that time about what was coming (Hebrews 11:7). They did not believe Noah and were content with their wickedness and idolatry. Their hearts were hard and their ears dull. No one repented, and no one cared to seek God.
Matthew 24:41 Two women at work
“Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.”
The Lord will not hesitate when he must choose between two men in the field. And the same truth applies when he sees two women at work. He knows their hearts and will easily determine who serves him and who does not. It won’t help if a person ran into his or her confession box the night before. It’s not determined by who attended church the most in the prior month. One’s name or societal status won’t be part of the discussion when the Lord is ready to choose his men, women, and children.
He already knows. The work of God was already done on the cross. There is no work left to be done. Claim the blood of Christ as your only covering, for it is the only one that will suffice.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(41) Two women shall be grinding at the mill.–The words bring before us the picture of the lowest form of female labor, in which one woman holds the lower stone of the small hand-mill of the East, while another turns the upper stone and grinds the corn. In Judges 16:21, and Lamentations 5:13, the employment appears as the crowning degradation of male captives taken in battle. It is probable that in this case, as in that of the fig-tree, the illustration may have been suggested by what was present in our Lord’s view at the time. The Mount of Olives might well have presented to His gaze, even as He spoke, the two laborers in the field, the two women at the mill.
Matthew 24:42 Stay awake, the Lord is coming
“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”
During the days of Noah, the people wasted their lives in pleasure and wickedness. We see much of the same today. By God’s standards, there is none righteous in comparison to the Lord. But we’re not talking about the obvious shortcomings of mankind in relation to the holiness of God. We’re talking about the rampant love of evil at extreme levels. They reached that level in the days of Noah. We’re not there yet but are approaching it. Stay awake and alert because we won’t know when the day arrives.
Stay awake.
From Got Questions website:
When Jesus described the events that will surround His second coming, He said, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26–27).
Matthew 24:43 If they had known
“But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.”
In the days of Noah, they didn’t know God was serious. There was no time for God in their lives. They had parties and pleasures to go to. It was assumed they could continue to pour their lives out on the altar of filth and crap and sensual pleasures. They were wrong.
Sin feels good for a season, but the consequences of falling in love with that lifestyle lead to a debt that is impossible to pay. Don’t do it.
It is not worth the price you will pay.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
The goodman of the house.–Better, as in Matthew 20:1., householder.
In what watch.–The night-watches were four in number, of three hours each. So in Luke 12:38, we have “the second or the third watch” specified. The allusion to the “thief coming” would seem to have passed into the proverbial saying, that the day of the Lord would come “as a thief in the night,” quoted by St. Paul in 1Thessalonians 5:2.
Matthew 24:44 Be ready, the Son of Man is coming
“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
The message is clear for those of us willing to take notice. We must be ready and remain ready. A second chance will not be granted. All those second chances will have come and gone by then. If we try to give an excuse. “Oh, I didn’t know.” Excuses will not be accepted at Heaven’s Gate. “No one told me,” won’t get you any slack at all.
Jesus is going to return. Those who place this in the realm of a fairy tale will reap the dreadful reward of ignoring the prophet’s warning and Jesus’ clear message. He will return in a day and hour which we do not know. He will return with rewards for those who were faithful. The days of mercy will be over then. Don’t plan on begging for another chance. He has warned us all.
As it was in the days of Noah, the door on the giant ship was closed. Another closing day is approaching. Give your life to Christ now before it’s too late.
Did the Church Fathers know something you don’t?
Find the answers here
Let me know what you think.