Are We Living in the Days of Noah?

by Tim Groves
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Recent floods remind many of the days of Noah. Incredibly, the Bible talks about the last days being like the time of Noah. Are we living in those times now?

In the past month some 21 inches of rain fell on Boulder, Colorado, destroying some 1,600 homes and damaging 20,000 more. The National Weather Service referred to “biblical rainfall amounts” that caused flooding in the Boulder area.

Yet Colorado isn’t the only area being affected by flooding. The U.S. Northeast was pummeled with rain and floods this past summer, and just recently the Pacific Northwest was hammered by rain. A series of flash floods in northern India and Nepal claimed more than 1,000 lives in June. Europe has been the hardest hit with flooding, and the costliest natural disasters around the world this year have been floods.

When Jesus Christ walked the earth 2,000 years ago, He said that just before His second coming, the world would be like it was in the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37-39). Almost everyone associates the account of Noah with a worldwide flood. But was Jesus Christ referring to a future time of destruction—or was He referring to much more?

The world at the time of Noah

Many know about the story of Noah and the Flood. But how many know why the Flood came, and why Noah was saved from that worldwide disaster?

Notice what God says about the condition of the entire world in Noah’s time: “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5, emphasis added throughout).

Does this sound like our world today?

Let’s review some of the major acts of evil we have seen in headlines throughout the past year:

• Senseless murders. Just this year two teenagers killed a man just to know what it was like to kill a person. People enter public places to gun down and blow up innocent people.
• Sexual immorality. Young women are kidnapped daily and used as sex slaves all around the world. Premarital sex is encouraged, and same-sex relationships are not just approved of but glorified in the news.
• Sexual and violent entertainment. Movies and video games viewed and played by millions are violent and often pornographic. Celebrities—widely followed by impressionable, young people—dress and perform lewd acts in music videos and on television.
• Theft. All around the globe hackers steal people’s identities and rob them every day.

While all the above are shown front and center on the news and in the media, almost anything associated with God and the Bible is hidden or labeled intolerant.

Yes, this is the world we live in. And such was the world Noah lived in.

That should concern you and me, especially when we consider the words of Christ about the condition of the world just before He returns.

God’s judgment

It was the abundance of this evil that led God to destroy most of humanity from the earth (Genesis 6:5-7).

We must not forget that God also destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness (read “The New Morality and an Old City”). God sent His chosen people Israel into captivity because of their evil ways. Do we think that God won’t hold modern nations accountable for their evil as well?

Christ said, “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” (Matthew 24:38-39).

God’s judgment on this world is going to come upon many by surprise.

In the parallel account in Luke, Christ added, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).

Yes, God’s judgment is coming to those who choose to live contrary to His laws. Though it will not be another worldwide flood (Genesis 8:21-22; Isaiah 54:9), destruction is prophesied to come because of humanity’s sin. And that judgment will be the horrors of the Great Tribulation and the Wrath of God—times of intense sorrow and suffering. The Great Tribulation will be the most severe experience in the history of mankind—a time that would destroy all of mankind if it weren’t for righteous people like Noah (Matthew 24:21-22).

God saved Noah

God only spared righteous Noah and his family from the Flood (Genesis 6:8; 2 Peter 2:5). And God will preserve righteous people today as He did Noah. Yes, Christ encourages you and me to pray that we will be accounted worthy to escape the coming worldwide trouble (Luke 21:36).

But the only way we will be able to escape is by repentance and living a righteous life. We cannot expect God to protect us if we habitually break His 10 Commandments. We cannot expect God to mercifully preserve us if we entertain violence and immoral behavior. To have God’s protection, we must have a deep fear of God and shun evil.

Will we heed God’s warning?

Noah preached and warned those around him, but none repented. Only Noah and his immediate family were spared from the destruction of the Flood.

Just as Noah warned of God’s judgment thousands of years ago, we at Life, Hope & Truth are warning the world today of God’s coming judgment. Through our blogs, articles, video productions and soon-to-be-published bimonthly magazine, we are exposing the serious issues that face our world today and proclaiming the only solutions. Will you take these words to heart and turn your life around and be preserved like Noah? Or will you ignore the warning and perish like those in Noah’s day?

We hope you make the right choice. Continue visiting this site regularly to find answers to what God expects of you and what He has planned for all of mankind.

To help you do that, sign up for our free Life, Hope & Truth weekly newsletter. It will keep you updated on vitally important new content that is continually being added to this website.

Date Posted: October 2, 2013