Waiting can be difficult for all of us.
We live in an age of instant access. If I want to see the latest weather forecast, I instantly bring it up on my smart phone. If I want something warmed up, it only takes a few seconds in the microwave.
Perhaps this is why waiting is so difficult for us, especially when it comes to waiting for something that was promised us two thousand years ago. As we see biblical prophecy springing to life in our world against the backdrop of wickedness and violence we often ask, “How much longer, Lord?”
The Apostle Peter long ago predicted that as a result of our long wait people would scoff at our continuing faith in the Lord’s soon return asking, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Pet. 3:3-4).
Peter further explained that such mocking would result from overlooking the story of Noah and God’s judgment via the flood (2 Pet. 3:5-7). Jesus also compared the season of His coming with the Genesis flood saying, “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
What is there about Noah’s day that signals the nearness of the Lord’s return and the end of our waiting for it?
Noah Lived During a Time of Great Violence
When God told Noah of His intention to judge humanity in his day He said this, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them” (Gen. 6:13). Besides the great wickedness and demon activity in the pre flood world, the Lord highlighted violence as a key factor behind His determination to judge the world.
The Bible does not provide many details of the violence in Noah’s day, but we know of the great violence that fills our world today. Here is just a sampling of it:
– Since 1973, 63,000,000 children have been murdered in the United States through abortion.
– In just past couple decades, mass killers have used guns, knives, and trucks to kill thousands of people.
– At the halfway point of 2018, Muslims in Nigeria had already killed six thousand Christians.
– The Iraqi military recently discovered 200 mass graves with at least 12,000 bodies. These people, many of them Christians, were tortured and murdered by the Muslim group ISIS.
– Almost every day we hear of killings related to terror attacks in our world.
Just like in the days of Noah, violence is rampant in our world. I am not a prophet, but I know the Lord will not let these things continue indefinitely without intervening. He did so in Noah’s day; will He not do so again? Is this not the point Peter sought to make?
No One In Noah’s Day Expected God to Intervene
In His comparison of His return to the days of Noah, Jesus stressed the unawareness of people 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, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:8-39). Despite over a century of listening to Noah warn about God’s coming judgment, no one expected it to happen. Life went on as though God would do nothing to stop the violence, wickedness, and heightened demonic activity.
Is this not also true today? Although we expect those who reject Christ to be dubious regarding God’s intervention, sadly this is also prevalent among many believers. They either do not believe the story of the flood in Genesis or do not understand its relevance for today.
Despite all the signs of the end of the age and all the warnings of so many preachers and teachers today that judgment is coming, most people go about their lives as though the Lord will never intervene in our world. They live as though the affluence of our day will never end for them or their future generations.
God Judged the Wickedness of Noah’s Day
The Apostle Peter’s main complaint against the latter day scoffers is their ignorance regard the relevance of Noah and the Genesis flood. Because they refuse to believe it happened, they cannot see its warning for their lives.
Such people fill our world today and sadly occupy many pews in our churches. Those that ridicule our hope have zero expectation that God would judge our nation or world. However, if they rightly understood the story of Genesis 6-8, they would realize that God is not only capable of judging sin in world but will certainly do so (see 2 Pet. 3:8-13).
Our nation recently elected a House of Representatives that is decidedly pro-abortion, one that will keep funding Planned Parenthood and do everything in its power (and beyond) to keep abortion legal. Could this be a tipping point? Does not God see that our nation has chosen death over life (Ps. 33:13-15)?
If I knew nothing of biblical prophecy but only saw that our Congress did nothing to stop the killing of tens of millions of unborn children through the ninth month and went so far as to fund an organization that sold the body parts of these precious lives to the highest bidder, I would fear greatly for the future of our country.
Ruth Graham once said, “If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” If she believed that over a decade ago, what might she think today if she were still alive? Would she add the people of Noah’s day to her list of those to whom God would need to apologize?
Storm Clouds
You do not have to be weatherman to see that the storm clouds are growing darker every day. You do not even have to believe in the rapture to understand that the Lord will not let the violence and wickedness of our nation continue unabated. At some point He’s going to say, “Enough!!”
I firmly believe Jesus is coming for His church before the tribulation period spoken of throughout the Old Testament and in Revelation chapters 6-16. The Lord is patient and is delaying this time of intense judgment as long as He can, but someday His patience will come to an end and His wrath will fall upon an unbelieving and unsuspecting world.
I realize it’s quite difficult to keep waiting expectantly for Jesus’ return; like many of you I have done so for decades. Some days I struggle to keep my heart focused on Jesus’ imminent appearing.
However, the gathering storm clouds tell us that it must be soon. While we cannot know the day or hour, we can know the season and all the signs point to this being that season.
Our wait may soon be over.
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