Tag Archives: Noah

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – JUST AS IN THE TIME OF NOAH

Bible Study, ,

JUST AS IN THE TIME OF NOAH

“‘The time of the Son of Man will be just like the time of Noah – everyone carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ship. They suspected nothing until the flood hit and swept everything away.

“It was the same in the time of Lot – the people carrying on, having a good time, business as usual right up to the day Lot walked out of Sodom and a firestorm swept down and burned everything to a crisp. That’s how it will be – sudden, total – when the Son of Man is revealed.'” Luke 17:25-30.

People have a morbid fascination with the end of the world. Nostradamus predicted it would happen on 21/12/2012. Movies and TV programmes present the event as exciting forms of entertainment. Prophecy teachers go to great lengths, with charts and PowerPoint presentations, to explain its sequence and to paint vivid word pictures of antichrists, Armageddon battles and the gloom and terror of seven years of tribulation under a terrible world dictator. Writers make a fortune from the royalties garnered from their “Left Behind” books.

These may all be good for box office takings and royalties but are they true to the words of Jesus and the drift of Scripture?

First of all, in spite of the general fascination with the idea, somehow there is a strong resistance to the sober warning of Jesus. There is no doubt that it will happen and He does not leave us in the dark about what to do about it. And yet the majority of people still ignore what He has to say and create their own version.

Books and movies tell us it will happen but they don’t tell us what to do. Run for cover? Won’t work! Stockpile provisions and live underground? Won’t work either! Evacuate the planet? Good idea but highly impractical! Create a new version that has nothing to do with how we respond to our Creator? Won’t change the truth!

There is only one sensible thing to do – take what Jesus said seriously, and why not? After all, everything else He predicted was accurate; for instance, His death and resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the destruction of Jerusalem, so why not trust what He said about His return?

Secondly, just what did He say? He said it would happen so suddenly and so quickly that there would be no time to react. People would be unsuspecting, getting on with their lives and taking no notice of His warnings and the warning signs He predicted. Like a flash of lightning, He would come; no time to bargain, no time to make good on empty promises made in a moment of crisis.

Jesus’ counsel was to be ready long before that moment. How? By embracing the life He offers through faith in His sacrifice to forgive sin, and entrusting ourselves to Him as our God for the rest of our days. That’s the beginning but it will issue in changes that give evidence of a changed heart – selfishness giving way to generosity of attitude and action, a new purpose and a new destiny, living a life of fruitfulness instead of futility.

When Jesus returns, He will destroy everything that stands in opposition to Him and His purposes. Every worthless thing will be consumed, including everything that is not in perfect harmony with who He is – all sin, evil, pain, sickness, sorrow and death – and all those who refuse to submit to His authority. He cannot do otherwise to be true to Himself. He must give to every person what they chose when they had the opportunity, and the consequences of their choices.

This is not revenge – this is justice. On earth, humans can manipulate justice but not in God’s economy because He cannot deny Himself.

If we think that following Jesus will make us losers, we need to re-evaluate. Yes, we are losers, but what do we lose? We lose all our sin with its guilt, shame and fear and gain the peace of God; we lose our insecurities and our fear of death and gain the assurance of eternal life; we lose our helplessness and hopelessness, our meaningless and purposeless existence and gain the guiding hand of a loving Father; we lose our orphan status – we are now sons and daughters of the living God; we lose our slavery to the devil and gain a new Master who loves us passionately; we lose our destiny on the trash heap of worthlessness and gain eternal life with God.

Isn’t it worth it to make sure now?

Jesus Did Not Say That The Ungodly Would Be Left Behind

Apologetics, , ,

JESUS DID NOT SAY THAT THE UNGODLY WOULD BE LEFT BEHIND

Amazing how biblical expositors can twist the Bible to mean what they want it to mean, and even more amazing that thousands of people believe them without checking the facts!

Take the popular theory that Jesus will take believers to heaven when He comes and that the ungodly will be left behind. “Left Behind” is even the theme of a series of novels which have garnered millions of dollars in royalties but do not have a shred of truth in them. Many have even based a false hope on the idea that they or their loved ones will get a second chance to believe in Jesus when the church is “raptured” and the antichrist takes over the world. Where in the world does that idea come from and how can they justify it from the Scriptures?

Now let’s look at what Jesus did say.

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the Ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. (Matt. 24: 37-39)

“As it was . . . so it will be” is quite clearly a comparison. Just as it happened then, so it will happen now. That is clear, isn’t it? So what happened then? God told Noah to build an ark because it was going to rain. The people of the earth had become so corrupt that God decided to purge the earth of its evil and rescue only one family, Noah’s. It had never rained before because the earth was watered by a mist (see Gen. 2: 5-6).

While Noah and his sons constructed the ark, Noah warned the people of coming judgment.

. . . If He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others . . . (2 Peter 2: 5)

Whether his preaching was verbal or silent, Peter did not say but, what he and his sons were doing was enough to alert his neighbours that something big and catastrophic was about to happen. But they obviously refused to take him seriously because they carried on living the way they always did until the flood came.

What was God’s provision for the Noah family? He did not rapture them to heaven. He protected them from the flood in a well-constructed boat. Here again is what Peter had to say about the event.

. . . To those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water . . . (1 Peter 3: 20)

Peter compared what happened to Noah and his family when God rescued them from the flood by protecting them in the ark, to what happens to those who are baptised, implying that they have been identified with Jesus’ death and resurrection and have been initiated into God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The very water that took the lives of the ungodly in Noah’s day was the water that saved him because he was in the ark.

Jesus’ comparison falls flat if we insist that it was the ungodly who were “left behind”. Clearly Noah and his family survived the flood when everyone and everything that was not in the ark perished. God did not destroy the earth with the flood. He re-established it in another form. Everything was changed by the water which fell from above and burst out of the ground.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month – on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. (Gen. 7: 11-12)

At the end of the catastrophe, who emerged from the ark onto a transformed and purged earth? Who was left behind? Many thousands of corpses and one living family, Noah’s! God had accomplished His goal. He preserved a righteous man and his family to start all over again.

Where, then, does the idea come from that Jesus will whip the righteous from the earth and leave the ungodly behind to carry on as normal? Before you get hot under the collar and point me to the “rapture”, we have to examine the big picture. This is only point one. Jesus did not say that He would take the church out and leave the ungodly behind. He did say that, just as Noah was saved in the ark when God poured His judgement on the earth and its corrupt inhabitants, so those who are “in Him” will be protected when He brings judgment on the earth and its corrupt people once again.

As the writer to the Hebrews testified:

See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven.  At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain. (Heb. 12: 25-27)

Tomorrow we’ll examine point two of what Jesus did not say and what He did say.  

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Watch this space. My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, will soon be on the bookshelves.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

Temporary Dwellings

Bible Study, , , ,

TEMPORARY DWELLINGS

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

By faith, Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Heb. 11: 7-10).

Two more great heroes of faith! What did they do? Different things, obviously. There is no formula to faith and obedience.

Noah was instructed to build a boat. What? A boat in the middle of nowhere! Why? Because it’s going to rain, Noah! Rain? What is rain, God? Never mind. Just build the ark and you’ll find out soon enough.

So Noah and his three boys got busy and began to build the boat. They had no power tools. It was a long and tedious task. They had to cut and fashion each piece and put them together as instructed, to the exact design and dimensions given them by God. How did God give them the details? Did He put pictures in Noah’s mind? Did He write down the description and measurements on tablets of clay just like He wrote the Ten Commandments on stone? We have no idea how He did it.

How long did it take Noah and company to build the ark? The Bible gives no answer – long enough for people to repent, but they didn’t.

The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Noah was described as a “preacher of righteousness.” He did not keep quiet while he worked. He obviously told the curious onlookers what he was doing. They scoffed at him until the rain fell, but it was too late. The ark was sealed, shut by God and they perished in the flood. Who was right and who was wrong? The ark became his home for a whole year – unstable in the wind and waves, but safe because God was there, protecting them because Noah believed God.

Abraham, another of God’s heroes! His circumstances were different from Noah’s. He didn’t need an ark. He needed a tent. God told him to get out of town. Ur was a place of idolatry – the aftermath of Nimrod’s rebellion and the false religion he set up at Babel. If he stayed there he would perish in his idolatry and unbelief. Where, God? Never mind, Abraham. No directions; no explanations; just go!

So Abraham packed up and went. Which way, God? Just keep going, Abraham. So Abraham followed the river. He needed water for his household and livestock. Miles and miles of desert, wind and sand, living in tents. Day after day he had to pack up and move on, uproot his home, fasten everything securely on camels, only to do it all over again tomorrow. How much time did it take to do all that? How much travelling time did he have each day? But had kept going.

How much further, God? Just keep moving, Abraham. I’ll tell you when you have arrived. What faith to keep going! What patience to persevere! Why did he do it? Why didn’t he turn around and go home after the first few weeks? Because he believed God! Imperfect, faltering faith, but somewhere up ahead he knew that God had a permanent place for him. How did he know? Because God said so.

And God was pleased with Noah and Abraham, because they believed Him. Imagine that! They were counted as righteous before God because they believed what He said and did what He told them to do. There was no Jesus to save them, yet, but they were accounted righteous anyway, acceptable before God because they trusted Him.

Isn’t that what God requires of us? To trust Him with our eternal destiny because His word tells us that Jesus died in our place? To trust Him with our day to day lives because He is with us and will never leave or forsake us? To trust Him when He tells us what to do because He is in charge? He isn’t looking for great exploits. He’s looking for simple trust that issues in prompt ad implicit obedience – that’s all!

We are also in our temporary dwelling, but God has a permanent place for us, in His eternal home – if we believe and obey.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.