{"id":534,"date":"2022-03-16T17:06:49","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T17:06:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/?p=534"},"modified":"2022-03-16T17:12:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T17:12:07","slug":"parallels-between-noahs-day-and-the-last-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/?p=534","title":{"rendered":"Parallels Between Noah’s Day and the Last Days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some say Noah\u2019s Ark and the Genesis flood are just Old Testament legends. However, Noah is mentioned eight times in the New Testament. Even Jesus referred to the flood as a literal event. In fact, He prophesied, \u201cBut as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. And did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be\u201d<\/em> (Mt. 24:37-39). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

History often repeats itself. What we learn from history is we don\u2019t learn much from history. Humanity has fallen into the same spiritual state which caused God to send the flood. Observe seven parallels between Noah\u2019s day and our day:

1. Population Explosion:<\/strong> \u201cWhen men began to multiply on the face of the earth . . .\u201d<\/em> (Gen. 6:1). There are an estimated 7.9 billion people alive on this planet now. Globally, about 385,000 babies are born daily or 140 million per year

2. Ungodly Marriages<\/strong>: \u201cThe sons of God saw the daughters of men . . . and they took wives for themselves\u201d <\/em>(Gen. 6:2). Marriage is honorable since God instituted it (Heb. 13:4) but these were polygamous and\/or ungodly unions which grieved God. Same sex marriages do the same today, and just because they are legal, doesn\u2019t make them right in God\u2019s sight. True marriage has always been traditionally, Biblically, and historically a union between one man and one woman.

3. Reduced Lifespans: <\/strong>\u201cMy Spirit shall not strive with man forever . . . yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years\u201d<\/em> (Gen. 6:3). In Genesis 5, people lived over 900 years. Due to man\u2019s tendency for evil, God drastically shortened his lifespan. While life expectancy in America is about 78 years, many lives are cut short due sickness, accidents, violence, or self-destructive behavior.

4. Widespread Wickedness: <\/strong>\u201cThen the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth\u201d<\/em> <\/strong>(Gen. 6:5). No new sins are being committed today, there are just more sinners alive at one time. Plus, technology has made sin convenient. Sins that used to hide in the shadows on back streets now parade proudly down main street. Jesus predicted, \u201cBecause lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold\u201d (Mt. 24:12).

5. Rampant Violence: <\/strong>The antediluvian world was \u201cfilled with violence\u201d<\/em> (Gen. 6.11-13). Today, a tsunami of violence floods the news, TV shows, movies, video games, and society. Murder and violent crime rates are escalating in our angry, cruel culture.\u00a0

6. Mass Deception:<\/strong> Noah\u2019s peers were spiritually blind to looming judgment even though they were warned repeatedly. They carried on business-as-usual right until the deluge drowned them all. Many today are oblivious to spiritual danger, consumed with the cares of life, and ignore God\u2019s call to repent and be saved.\u00a0 \u00a0

7. God had a righteous remnant: <\/strong>\u201cBut Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord\u201d <\/em>(Gen. 6:8). Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound! It was a small minority, but God found favor and started over with eight people. God always has a faithful few\u2014\u201cEven so then, at this present time there is a remnant<\/strong> according to the election of grace\u201d<\/em> (Rom. 11:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main takeaway from this true story is\nsimply\u2014don\u2019t miss the boat! The ark is a symbol of salvation. If you\u2019re not\nsafely in the ark of salvation, you will drown in sin. Noah\u2019s generation was\nindifferent, indulgent, and ignorant. They ignored God\u2019s warnings and were suddenly\ndoomed. Unrepentant sinners are like a man who jumps from a 50th floor window.\nHalfway down, someone asks, \u201cHow are you doing?\u201d He answers, \u201cI\u2019m doing fine so\nfaaarrrr!\u201d You may be doing fine now, but it won\u2019t end well if you\u2019re not saved.\nIt pays to serve God. It pays to serve the devil too but you won\u2019t like the\npaycheck (Rom. 6:23).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noah was 500 years old when God told him\nto build the ark; he was 600 when the flood came (Gen. 5:32; 7:6). As \u201ca\npreacher of righteousness\u201d (2 Pt. 2:5), he spent 100 years building the ark and\nwarning the wicked. Some wonder, how could a loving God drown all those\n\u201cinnocent\u201d people? First, they weren\u2019t so innocent as noted above. Second, God\nwarned them by Noah giving them ample opportunity to repent and be saved. People\nstill reject God\u2019s offer of salvation today and pay a terrible price. Hell is\nnot full of people who God rejected; hell is full of people who rejected God (Jn.\n1:10-12; 6:37). It\u2019s not His will that any should perish but that all should\ncome to repentance (2 Pt. 3:9). There\u2019s a universal invitation to salvation\u2014\u201cWhosoever\nwill, let him take the water of life freely\u201d<\/em> (Rev. 22:17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in judgment, God showed mercy. How? Methuselah\nwas Noah\u2019s grandfather. His name means \u201cflood at my death\u201d or \u201cit shall be sent\n(a deluge).\u201d Some scholars believe he died the very year of the flood. God revealed\nto Enoch that judgment was coming and so he named his son \u201cMethuselah.\u201d His\nlifespan was the longest of any person in recorded history (969 years\u2014Gen.\n5:27). Even in judgment, God was extending mercy by giving mankind the maximum\namount of time to repent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God was the ARKitech (pun intended) of\nthis floating zoo. He gave Noah the blueprint and every detail is significant.Noah\u2019s ark was one big ship with three levels. This speaks of the Trinity\u2014one\nGod who expresses Himself in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The\nark was pitched inside and outside for waterproofing. We also have a double\nseal\u2014the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Amazingly, this huge ark only had\none small window in the top. God didn\u2019t want Noah looking down at all the suffering,\nHe wanted him to look up to his source. Jesus reminded us, \u201cNow when these\nthings begin to happen, look up<\/strong> and lift up your heads, because your\nredemption draws near\u201d <\/em>(Lk. 21:28). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ark only had one door. God gave Noah\nspecific measurements for the ark and the window, but not for the door. Why?\nBecause the door represents JESUS and there is no limit to His power to save\n(Is. 59:1, Heb. 7:25). Jesus said, \u201cI am the door<\/strong>. If anyone enters\nby Me, he will be saved\u201d<\/em> (Jn. 10:9). Jesus is the one and only door to\nsalvation (Jn. 14:6; Ac. 4:12, 1 Tim. 2:5). Then God shut the door (Gen. 7:16).\nThe door of grace is still wide open now but the time will soon come when God will\nclose it suddenly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noah didn\u2019t hunt down and trap all the animals.\nGod drew them sovereignly at the right time. Likewise, His Spirit is drawing\npeople into the ark of salvation in these last days. Yes, we must witness and\npreach, but unless God draws people, they won\u2019t respond (Jn. 6:44). Remember,\nthe ark started in the plain but landed on Mount Ararat (modern Turkey\u2014Gen. 8:4).\nAll the storms in our lives will only take us higher if God is the captain of\nour ship. Also, the ark did not have a rudder or steering wheel because God\nguided it by His own hand. If God is our pilot, He will lead us safely to our\ndestiny (Ps. 37:23). Notice only one family was saved from the flood (Noah\u2019s).\nOne family was saved from Sodom (Lot\u2019s). One family was saved from Jericho\n(Rahab\u2019s). When judgment falls in these last days, only one family will be\nsaved again\u2014the blood-washed, born-again family of God (1 Th. 5:9). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remarkably, baptizing the whole world in\nwater didn\u2019t cure the sin problem. Later, Noah\u2019s descendants did the same sinful\nthings. God painted a rainbow in the sky, a token of His promise to never again\ndestroy the earth by water. Next time, it will be with fire (2 Pt. 3:10-13).\nWater cleanses; fire purifies! Water baptism is important but it is not a cure\nall. John the Baptist said, \u201c<\/em>I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He . .\n. will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire\u201d<\/em> (Mt. 3:11). John used the waterworks; Jesus brought\nthe fireworks! All believers need the fire baptism of the Holy Spirit to transform\nus from the inside out (Ac. 1:4-5, 8). Are you saved? Are you ready to meet\nGod? If you miss God\u2019s provision of salvation, you\u2019ll miss everything. \u201cWhat\nwill it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?\u201d<\/em> (Mk.\n8:36). The door of grace is still wide open. Friend, whatever you do, don\u2019t\nmiss the boat!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some say Noah\u2019s Ark and the Genesis flood are just Old Testament legends. However, Noah is mentioned eight times in the New Testament. Even Jesus referred to the flood as a literal event. In fact, He prophesied, \u201cBut as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=534"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":540,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions\/540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}