As in the Days of Noah

Luke 17:26 - 27: And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man, they  were eating and drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. (see also Matthew 24:37)

What were the days of Noah like?

          During the days of Noah and today, Satan was busy turning humanity away from God and His truth through falsehoods, twisting scripture to fit their understanding, seduction, sin, and hypocrisy. Satan would even work through God’s own professed people to establish his kingdom on earth which is contrary to God’s Kingdom.  Satan perverts the truth to succeed. To pervert means to change the meaning of or be vague about in order to deceive or mislead. While Jesus tries to lift us up out of the degradation of sin, Satan works to bring us down into the belly of the earth – our earthly ways – because that is his end and he wants company.  By worshiping our own conceptions of truth, we lose the knowledge of the truth and God. Lacking the understanding and knowledge of the Truth will put us in danger of being manipulated by the devil.

            When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he quoted scripture but left out words that made its message vastly different from God’s true message. Jesus, however, could not be tricked because He is the Truth of God from beginning to end. Satan had perverted the Word of God with God’s people, but he could not pervert it with Jesus. Satan’s deception of truth blinded the minds and hardened the hearts of God’s people. They were oblivious to this and going about their everyday business. Satan debased the image of God in humanity through His deceptive and evil ways. Only Noah heard the Word of God, believed it, and acted upon it.

The Bible says that Noah was righteous and preached repentance to the people. Because of God’s love for humanity, He will always give warning to His people of what He is about to do.  Repent and turn back to God and His holiness. For hundreds of years, Noah preached repentance, righteousness, and God’s judgment to come to the people on earth at the time, but the people would not listen. In the New Testament, Peter says in 2 Peter 2:5 that Noah was “a preacher of righteousness.” Unfortunately, the people ignored Noah, ridiculed him, and refused the mercy and grace that would have saved them. As grieved as God was over sinful humanity, He called His faithful follower Noah to build an Ark to save whoever would enter it. This is God’s love! He gives mankind every chance to turn to Him through His Son Jesus. He is long-suffering wanting that none should perish but have everlasting life in Jesus. Through Noah, God offered a way of escape from His judgment. God will go to extremes to save mankind because we were originally created in His image and likeness.

There are many prophetic words being spoken now about the storm of God’s judgment coming. God is long-suffering with humanity but at some point, as He did in the days of Noah, He will send judgment to cleanse the earth. He will begin with His Church. Why His church? Because the church is full of untruth and sin. They have been taught that God’s grace is easy and little is required of them. Jesus did it all. As He did in the days of Noah, God sent His Righteous One Jesus to save and cleanse those who love and serve Him of their marred character full of sin so He could use us to reflect Jesus to a world full of sin and bring glory to Jesus. The foundation of His Church must be founded upon Truth – Pure Truth. Jesus is Pure Truth! Christ’s Church has conflicting doctrine. The Baptists believe one thing and the Pentecostals another. The Catholics believe one thing and the Episcopalians another. And on and on. Satan has been successful in deceiving even the Body of Christ. Pure Truth is attainable, but it will require us to lay down our own conception of truth and allow Jesus the Word and the Holy Spirit to teach and train us. This will take an enormous amount of our time because we must feed on His Word and compare scripture with scripture. This will require sacrifice and study.

Jesus counted the cost of saving the world. It cost Him everything. While testing His disciples, Jesus said, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it.” Luke 14:27-28 There is a cost my Christian brothers and sisters. Grace is not “easy.”  Half-hearted Christianity is not going to build Christ’s Church. False and divided Truth is not going to build Christ’s Church. Hearts who reflect more of the world and its ways instead of Christ’s ways will not build God’s Church. His Church must be built on pure Truth and the ways of Christ. And the first ingredient to attain this is our love for Jesus and His pure Truth. Then we can begin building! It is pure Truth and humble hearts who love Jesus with all their hearts, souls and minds who will build His Body who reflect Him in their actions, words, and deeds. God through the Word of God Jesus is sending a wakeup call to His Body of believers. Those who hear the voice of God calling through His anointed ones and turn back to Him will be saved. Noah by faith began building the Ark of Safety according to God’s instructions. People mocked and laughed at him and ignored his warning, but He kept building according to God’s Word and he and his family were saved. I pray that there will be many Noahs who will keep building according to God’s instructions – Truth.

We will build Christ’s house on the Foundation of Jesus who is Grace and Truth or on sinking sand. The choice is ours.