Jesus warned that as the end times approach, people would live as in the days of Noah. We live in a “post-Christian” society. Our world has become a place where anything goes. Our world is aflame with people who no longer respect God, other people, or the law. All they want is to do their own thing. So what does this mean, and what does Jesus say about men doing as they please? I would love to hear your comments!
2MefromHim Devotionals
The Days of Noah
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. Luke 17:26
The story of a man and his family saved from a deluge in a boat is almost universal in cultures across the world. Scientists wonder at seashells embedded in sedimentary rocks at the tops of the highest mountains, yet the answer has been in the Bible all along. Noah and the flood—a sign of warning to the ages, remains ignored by the majority of the world, both for its spiritual significance and practical evidence. Why? Because to consider it as fact denotes a responsibility to deal with its theology—a God who rules the world, demands certain standards of behavior, and punishes those who refuse to follow His commands.
Our world is aflame with people demanding the rights to do as they please, regardless of how it affects other members of society. LGBT lives matter. Black lives matter. In the wake of police officers being murdered in the line of duty—Blue lives matter. Women expect abortion on demand, all the way up to the time a child could live outside the womb. But pre-born baby’s lives matter.
Those who have not think they deserve to take from those who have, on a personal as well as national scale. Violence abounds in the name of equality. God created all men as equal from the beginning. His only dividing line lies between those who believe and obey Him and those who do not.
In God’s Book of Life, all lives matter.
The first chapter of the Book of Romans carries an indictment against “futile thinking”, all thinking that leaves God out of the equation and makes man supreme: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:18-20).
In both Matthew and Luke, Jesus hardens back to Noah, saying that as it was in Noah’s day, when God judged the earth by flood, so it will be in the times before His return to earth. People will be carrying on their lives, doing whatever they wanted and paying no attention to God. He mentions Lot, before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and how no one expected the judgment that rained down on them.
All lives matter to God. However, it’s not only our physical lives that are important. Many kind and generous people will be among those who face judgment because they ignored God. When He speaks of the days of Noah, Jesus says “People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage…” His discourse on Lot, before the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, contains similar activities, “eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building…” (Luke 17:26-35). People chose to live their own way, without regard for God, until “the flood came and destroyed them all”, until “fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.”
In these days when a vacation to Europe or a trip to the mall could end in death, it is important to see how much our actions matter to God. God explains what He thinks about people who “do their own thing” all the way back with Adam and Eve, and again before the Flood. Genesis 6:5, 6 says: “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.”
What must God think when hundreds of people are brutally murdered every day by terrorists, by those who feel life is unfair, by jealously, hatred, anger, and disillusionment. Jesus’ statement to the religious leaders of that day is probably much like what he would say today. “[H]ow often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37). It troubles God when men reject Him.
Jesus cared about people as individuals, and God always has a remnant of people he saves from the destruction. In Noah’s day, he closed eight people into the ark. In Lot’s day, God saved one family, except for Lot’s wife who looked back longing for what she was leaving behind.
In a world aflame with people who do “not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God…” Christians can be a shining beacon of hope. We can love all those people who spend their days striving for their rights. We can pray for them. We can live the love of God in front of them. We can talk to my co-workers, friends, and family members and make certain that have the opportunity to hear Jesus’ message of love and forgiveness.
How will I choose to make a difference in a world that is living as in the days of Noah?
© Copyright by Norma Gail Thurston Holtman, August 2, 2016
About the author:
Norma Gail is the author of the contemporary Christian romance, Land of My Dreams. A women’s Bible study leader for over 21 years, her devotionals and poetry have appeared at ChristianDevotions.us, the Stitches Thru Time blog, and in “The Secret Place.” She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Romance Writers of America, and the New Mexico Christian Novelists. Norma is a former RN who lives in the mountains of New Mexico with her husband of 40 years. They have two adult children.
Connect with Norma:
Website: www.normagail.org
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Book Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Land-My-Dreams-Norma-Gail/dp/1941103170
Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas Bookstore: http:// lpcbooks.com/product/land-of-my-dreams/
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2 Comments
Our pastor’s sermon this past Sunday was on this very thing. As Christians we need to be even more diligent about sharing the gospel. It’s the only hope we have.
And so many people are hopeless in our world!