The Flood Day 6

Today we will share our last lesson about Noah and the Flood. I will not even pretend that we have exhausted all that there is to learn, but as we wrap up I feel we have at the very least done justice to it's depths. God's Word is perfect. Within in are the keys to Eternity, when we are faithful to study His Word, no matter how familiar we are with it, He is always willing to reveal a fresh Truth that draws us closer still.
"As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that is yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:10 & 11
At this point we have looked at the Flood from several points of view. We looked at the conditions leading up to the Flood. How God's heart was broken by the sin and corruption. How a Holy God cannot over looks sin, but must eventually judge the wicked. We've seen that through the Flood, God's grace was sufficient for Noah and his family. And we've seen how even the detail of the story point forward to Jesus. Now we are going to look at the the major theme, judgment and grace, as the Flood points us further forward to a judgment yet to come.
While Jesus walked the Earth, He spoke often of a time when He would return again. Though His disciples didn't understand until after His resurrection, Jesus came the first to seek and save the lost. Through His death and resurrection He opened the way to the Father, but His work is not complete. The time is coming (and has been since He ascended) when Jesus will return to the Earth, not as a Servant , but as LORD.
There are few more controversial issues in the Church today than Christ's return. Though it is a clear doctrine, and there are actually more references to His second coming then to His first, the how and when have sadly created great division within the body. So today I tread lightly. I have no desire to create further divisions, nor do I wish to challenge any of the many perspectives on the End of Days. However I cannot shy away from Scripture nor I will not skip over that which is uncomfortable. The whole Bible is the Council of the LORD, 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that;
"All the Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
With that is mind we keep our focus on the Word of God and I leave you to draw your own conclusions.
In Matthew 24, the disciples asked Jesus what would be the sign of His [second] coming, and of the end of the age. Jesus described the End as birth pains. There would be false prophets, wars, famine, earthquakes. Christians would be persecuted and some would even fall away from the faith. Yet all of this would just be the beginnings of birth pains. Sin in the world would grow continually worse until the moment of Jesus return. Jesus was clear that there would be indications but He also stressed that no one would know exactly when He would return.
"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 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." Matthew 24:36-39
This same message is echoed in the Luke 17: 26 & 27. When Jesus returns there will be a similarity to Noah's day. There are many ideas within the Church as to how exactly the End Days will reflect Noah's days. There are scholars, infinitely wiser than me, who love the Lord with all their hearts, who disagree on the full meaning of these verses, but what we can know for sure is only what Jesus said. In Noah's day the people lived as though life would go on forever, and were caught off guard when the Flood waters came.
Jesus said they "knew nothing about what would happen." There are a few words in the Greek that mean, to know. Oida is the most commonly used in the New Testament and it implies a possession of information, being able to use the knowledge attained. Jesus used the world ginosko, which is a more basic understanding.* Noah had been preaching righteousness and coming judgment his whole life. Enoch, before him had preach of the coming judgment. It wasn't that the people hadn't heard that judgment was coming they just didn't believe it. They had no understanding of what was to come because they rejected the Word of God.
Peter tells us that it will be the same in the last days.
"First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ' Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.' But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heaven and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:3-7
We do not know the day or the hour when Jesus will come again, but we do know that He will return, this time in glory and judgment.
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world'...Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Matthew 25:31-41
There is another judgment coming. There will be a time when once again, God can no longer tolerate the rampant sin on this earth and will punish the wicked. Once again there will be those, like Noah, who will be saved, but there will also be those on whom God's wrath will pour out.
It is not pleasant to think about God's wrath. For those of us who are saved through faith in Christ Jesus, we have nothing to fear, yet we have a responsibility. Before Jesus departed this earth the first time He gave His commands to His disciples.
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20
Noah preached righteousness until the moment he got on the ark, God expects us to do the say until He returns. Whether He comes tomorrow or a thousand years from now, Believers have a responsibility to share their faith, and draw others into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
"So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be fund spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation." 2 Peter 3:14 & 15

* Goodrick, Edward W. & John R. Kohlenberger III. The Strongest NIV Exhaustive Concordance. Grand Rapids, MI. Zondervan. 1999. pg. 1538, 1575