The Days of Noah

Just as unprepared men were destroyed by Noah’s Flood, so unrepentant men and apostates will be overtaken by destruction when Jesus arrives.

Jesus compared the final years before his return to the days before the Great Flood. “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be” when the “Son of Man” returns. Some interpreters take this as a prediction of the return of the same conditions that existed in Noah’s day, including the moral anarchy and violence that prompted God to send the floodwaters.

This popular interpretation misses the passage’s point. All periods of human history are characterized by immorality. The fuller version of the saying is found in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus compares this final period to the “days of Noah” and the “days of Lot.” Both analogies stress the same thing - (Luke 17:26-30).

[Flood - Photo by Chris Gallagher on Unsplash]

Since no one except God knows the timing of that final day, we must remain vigilant and prepared for its sudden arrival – “as a thief in the night”. The comparison with the “days of Noah” illustrates this. Jesus said nothing about the return of gross sin, violence, or terrestrial upheaval in the final days of this fallen age.

Men will continue in their daily routines - “Eating, drinking, marrying, planting, building, buying and selling.” This describes everyday life, not chaos or egregious sin. Men and women will go about their business as if nothing unexpected will ever occur despite the testimony of preachers of righteousness and the lessons of history:

• (2 Peter 2:4-9) - “For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to the Pit and committed them to chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment; and spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked <…> the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment.”

The problem in Noah’s day was the failure of humanity to heed the call for repentance, just as men and women today ignore God’s gracious offer of salvation. We live as if the judgment will never come until the moment when destruction inevitably comes.

Christ’s analogy pictures our foolish indifference to warnings of inevitable judgment. Only Noah and his family believed God “about things not yet seen,” and therefore, Noah prepared the ark, and he and his family were saved - (Hebrews 11:7).

NORMALCY, NOT CHAOS

But the Flood did arrive for the rest of humanity. Men did not listen to Noah’s warnings and chose instead to close their ears to his voice. Likewise, the sudden arrival of the “Son of Man” will take many men by surprise. The conditions described by Jesus portray normalcy, not chaos.

In the account in Luke, Jesus declares that the Kingdom will not come “with observable signs” (‘paratérésis’). This translates the Greek word used by medical practitioners for diagnosing diseases by observing symptoms, and for making careful observations of the movements of stars and planets.

We cannot calculate the timing of Christ’s return by watching for cosmic signs. When he does come, it will be like “lightning flashing out of the one part under heaven and flashing into the other part under heaven” - sudden, unmistakable, and visible to all men.

Jesus added an illustration from the “days of Lot.” Before the “Son of Man” arrives, people will conduct their regular affairs, “eating, drinking, marrying, being given in marriage, buying, selling, planting and building.” In Lot’s time, fire fell suddenly from heaven and destroyed the city of Sodom, and so “will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” Disciples must not become too comfortable in this life. They must take heed:

• “Lest at any time your hearts are overcharged with drunkenness and the cares of this life, and so that day comes upon (‘ephistémi’) you unexpectedly (‘aiphnidios’). For just as a snare, it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch, therefore, and pray always to be accounted worthy to escape (‘ekpheugō’) all these things.” – (Luke 21:34-36).

The Apostle Paul uses this saying of Jesus in his letter to the Thessalonians to make a similar point:

• (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3) - “For yourselves know accurately that the day of the Lord is coming as a thief in the night. For when they will say, ‘Peace and safety,’ then unexpected (‘aiphnidios’) destruction comes upon (‘ephistémi’) them as travail upon a woman with child, and they will not escape (‘ekpheugō’).”

The Greek term translated as “unexpected” ('aiphnidios') occurs nowhere else in the New Testament except in these two verses. The “Day of the Lord” will arrive when it is least expected, “just like a thief in the night.” A homeowner does not know when a thief will strike! So, likewise, Peter warned of the coming time when:

• “Scoffers walking after their lusts will scoff; Where is the promise of his coming, for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation! <…> But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein will be burned up” - (2 Peter 3:2-10).

During global catastrophes, even atheists believe something “apocalyptic” is imminent. However, in periods of peace and prosperity, we assume that life will continue as usual. Whether the final days before Christ’s return will be characterized by chaos is not the point of the comparison with the “days of Noah” and the “days of Lot.”

Jesus paints a picture of normalcy for the period leading up to his return, not one characterized by cosmic catastrophes, unrestrained violence, or moral anarchy. The unprepared will be overtaken by his sudden and unexpected “arrival.” Therefore, we must remain ever vigilant and prepared for that day.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Great Gathering - (The saints will be assembled before Jesus on the Last Day, and the wicked will be collected for judgment and cast from his presence)

• The just judgment of God - (The arrival of Jesus will mean vindication and rest for the righteous, but everlasting loss for the wicked - 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10)

• The Coming Storm - (The New Testament warns of a future apostasy caused by deceivers and a Lawless One that will precede the Day of the Lord)

• His Return - (The whole earth will witness the Son of Man arriving on the clouds to gather his elect to himself)