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“Behold, I have told you before…For as in the days that were before the flood 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…Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matthew 24:25,38–39 and 42).
We do well to pay careful attention to these words of Jesus: “Behold, I have told you before!” He wants to make quite sure that when the sudden fulfillment takes place, you will not be able to say, “I didn’t know.” Be careful, because as surely as this Jesus once came and ascended into heaven, He will come again. For this reason, the Bible gives us unmistakable signs that directly precede His coming.
The mighty sign that the light of grace is gradually receding from the nations is once again being concentrated on Israel. Israel will move more and more into the limelight, because – and this is of greatest importance – God is engaged in building the throne of His Son. This, my dear friend, is why the focus of history will increasingly be on Israel. However, the brighter the light becomes over Israel, the darker it will become over the nations (Isaiah 60:1–2). Do you know the reason for this darkness? Jesus told us that the time of His return would be like the days of Noah.
What was Noah’s day like? The Son of God listed several things about it: “They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.” In other words, materialism in those “whose God is their belly” and eroticism were rampant at that time. Is this not true of our day of divorce and remarriage?
Do you know why Noah’s time was the darkest of all times? Because occultism was so widespread. But it is written of Noah, “Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). Noah probably gave up his trade or profession in order to build the ark. Do you know that in the dark times in which we are living we also have an ark? It has only one door. Jesus Christ said, “I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9). How did He become the saving, open door for us? By dying on Calvary’s cross where the door into the saving ark was opened for you and for me.The door to God was closed because of our sins, Jesus was judged in our place, so the gate of mercy is now open. If you do not pass through this door and accept Jesus as your personal Savior, you will remain outside, inevitably abandoned to God’s judgment.
There must have been many types of people even then. For instance, there would have been rich people. They listened to Noah’s preaching and perhaps were impressed. But the words of Jesus come to my mind: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25). Why? Are we not allowed to be rich? Yes, but that money may not possess us because that is fatal. O, my friend, free yourself from it now, for it is later than you think!
If there were rich people in Noah’s day, there must have been poor people, too, just as in our day. Perhaps you are one of those who have worked your fingers to the bone, and have had to work and worry to bring your family through. Were such people saved at the time of the flood? Jesus said in Luke 17:27: “The flood came, and destroyed them all.” This means the poor today. Why? Had they not worked hard enough? Of course they had. Or had they not looked after their families properly? Of course they had done this too. But one thing they failed to do was to go into the ark themselves.
There were also old people during Noah’s time. Today a person is considered old when he reachese 100, but at that time, life began at 100! People of Noah’s time lived anywhere from 300 to 800 years old. But the shocking fact remains that at the time of Noah, not one single old person was saved except for Noah and his family.
The aged are very close to my heart because I know that they are close to the end of their journey. Do you belong to this category? I have asked so many elderly people if they were saved. So often I received the terrible stereotypical answer: “I’ve been through so much in my lifetime!” When a person says that to me, I know that he or she is lost. The fact that you have been through so much, and I do not doubt that your life has been a hard one. But you have only been through so much trouble in order that you should come to Jesus. But this is what you have not done.
Another group of people who lived during Noah’s time were young people. I have much hope for young people because the younger a person is, the more open he or she is to the truth. The older a person without Jesus, the more distorted his thinking becomes. Jesus said, “Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice” (John 18:37). The younger a person is, the more he is gripped by the mighty truth that he needs Jesus! But the shocking fact of Noah’s time remains: All of the young people were destroyed. Jesus said, “The flood came and destroyed them all.”
But why? Why wasn’t any young person converted? For exactly the same reason that you have not yet been converted because you think this ark is so boring and uninteresting! My young friend, I understand where you are coming from because there was a time when I also thought that way. I was afraid of conversion. I grew up in Christian circles, and when I regarded the faces of those Christians, I used to think: that must be awfully boring! That is, until I found Jesus and broke out of that “Christianity” and turned to the Living Christ. Come to Jesus because only He can help you. He said: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). This is a glorious reality!...