Pre-Flood Days of
Noah
INTRODUCTION
In the pre-Flood days of Noah the descendants of Cain and Seth began to intermarry and there sprang up a race distinguished for their wickedness. Scripture reveals: God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth (pre-Flood days of Noah), and that every imagination (thought) of his heart was only evil continually (all the day) (Genesis 6:6).
The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence (Genesis 6:11). Man become more corrupt, and God was determined to sweep the earth of its wicked population. God said to Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them (the wicked) with the earth (Genesis 6:13).
Pre-Flood Days of Noah
Destruction Foretold
Noah was uniquely righteous in a total corrupt age! He was warned of God that the world would be destroyed by water. He was given exact instructions for building an ark. An interval of one hundred and twenty years elapsed while the ark was being built, during which time Noah bore constant testimony against their unbelief and wickedness.
One week before the Flood, God led Noah and his family into the ark, and then supernaturally directed the animals and birds, male and female, to be preserved for the replenishment of the earth. When all was safety inside God shut the door of the ark!
Destruction Then and
Now
Scripture reveals: The flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased and bare (lifted) up the ark and it was lift up (rose high) above the earth (Genesis 7:17). All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died (with the acceptation of those in the ark of safety) (Genesis 7:22).
The Flood was described as a global flood. Apostle Peter addressed the Flood: Whereby the world that then was (pre-Flood days of Noah), being overflowed with water perished; but the heavens, and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against (until) the day of judgment, and perdition (destruction) of ungodly men (2 Peter 3:6-7).
Gravitation of Ungodliness
We are seeing gravitation of ungodliness sweeping forward, as a great flood, bringing us toward the beckoning of another great judgment! Nations once of a godly nature; were saturated with the Word of God and obedient to its life-flowing message, but allowed the ungodliness of man to corrupt the earth and God’s originally intent for it.
It was noted that the problem with us is us! After the Great Flood (in Noah’s day), people were given a fresh start; a clean slate to begin anew! What happened; the ancient evil erupted with a vengeance. Our problem is not external; it is in our hearts.
Day of the Lord
Apostle Peter revealed a reason as to why destruction has been forestalled: The Lord is not slack concerning his promise (destruction of the wicked), as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation (conduct) and godliness (2 Peter 3:9-11). God is not willing that any should perish clearly expresses desire for the salvation of all who will trust in Him!
God's Intent for Mankind
Apostle Peter revealed hope for the future; after identified destruction takes place: Nevertheless we (the believer in Christ), look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness (God’s intent for mankind all along); wherefore seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless (2 Peter 3:13-14).
Peter gave further warning: Seeing you look for these things before (beforehand), beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked (as in the pre-Flood days of Noah), fall from your own steadfastness (faithfulness). But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:17).
Course of Life Prior
to the Flood
Jesus said: As the days of Noah were, so shall the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood (pre-Flood days of Noah), they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be (Matthew 24:37-39).
It was noted that we are given a comparison to the days of Noah (pre-Flood days of Noah), which illustrate and prefigure the condition of humanity at the time of Christ’s return. The last generation, like the one of Noah’s day, will be pleasure-oriented and self-gratifying (an accurate description of our present day); carrying on the course of life without heeding the impending judgment!
Characteristics of Today
Apostle Peter identified characteristics that one can readily see in our modern day setting; he was speaking of false prophets and teachers, but could readily be applied to others as well: Those who secretly being in destructive heresies with many following their pernicious ways by which the way of truth shall be evil spoken of (2 Peter 2:1-2).
They that walk after (according to) the flesh (fleshly desires), in the lust of uncleanness; are presumptuous and self-willed. Speak evil of the things that they understand not; who shall utterly perish in their own corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in (into) bondage (2 Peter 2:19).
Cultural Drift
Pollution of the mind is greatly enhanced through an electronic age that is aligning with the pre-Flood days of Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Babylon, the hold of every foul spirit, settings! The cultural drift of some churches has allowed such settings to be drafted in rather than strict adherence to the Unadulterated (Pure) Word of God!
The Prophet Amos revealed there will be a time that the fruit of righteousness will be turned into hemlock (Amos 6:12). It is interesting to note that the word hemlock refers to a plant that poison is derived from. Poison infects or pollutes the body until injury, illness, or death results. It can be of a harmful influence such as will ruin, taint, inhibit, or embitter.
When this influence creeps into a church, oftentimes unawares, it creates “A powerless church.” A church in which the righteous man is ridiculed, whose influence no longer has any effect! A church of pomp and splendor, where true worship is taboo and sin no longer identified. Lives are without change or with little endurance if change occurs.
Vain (Wicked) Thoughts
The Prophet Jeremiah cried out: O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved, How long shall your vain (wicked) thoughts lodge with you (Jeremiah 4:14)? Today such thinking can arise from many sources: Absorbing immoral movies and television; carelessly surfing the Internet; listening to malicious talk; ignoring the Word of God; giving into a materialistic worldview.
Will we allow the sanctifying Scriptures and
the purifying blood of Christ to cleanse our heart and mind or will we persist
in sin-filled thinking and experience God's judgment? Many voices have cried out; as Noah in the
days prior to God’s judgment being unleashed; as Lot prior to judgment taking
place in Sodom! Is there a dereliction of duty today in sounding the alarm?
Sounding the Alarm
A legendary evangelist of the First Great Awakening, Charles G. Finney, noted that preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the land (as the pre-Flood days of Noah), the fault is ours to a great degree. If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of Justice, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.
Let us not ignore this fact; but let us lay it to heart, and awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation. Voices of the past have sounded the alarm, but is such falling upon deaf ears; as in the pre-Flood days of Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Babylon the hold of every foul spirit?
Judgment or Deliverance
Apostle Peter revealed: God spared not the angels that had sinned (Satan and his cohorts), but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. God spared not the old world (pre-Flood days of Noah), but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly (2 Peter 2:4-5).
We live in a world that is ripe for judgment; having forsaken the Word of God, allowing ungodliness to flourish and openly proclaimed with pride and a demand that acceptability take place! God delivered just Lot, vexed (oppressed) with the filthy conversation (conduct) of the wicked; for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed (troubled) his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.
The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the Day of Judgment to be punished (2 Peter 2:7-9). The deliverance of Lot from Sodom illustrates that God will deliver His own from coming universal judgment!
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