The Days Of Noah (Part 6)

Continued from Monday . . .

Jesus said in Matthew 24 that it would be like the days of Noah when He returns. Today we conclude this series, with the fifth and final lesson, about what we learn from the days of Noah, as we approach the day of Christ's return and judgment.

LESSON 5 - GOD PROVIDES A WAY TO SAVE WICKED PEOPLE

Could the ark hold all the animals?

It is a sad fact that sunday school lessons and pictures perpetuate the idea of a fairy tale via the cartoon like pictures of an old man in an oversized bathtub with an elephant bulging over the sides and a giraffe poking his head out through the roof. The picture above gives a more realistic idea of the dimensions and awesome size of the ark Noah spent over a century building. I don't think the greenies of Noah's day would have been too pleased with Noah's carbon footprint. We're talking a lot of old growth forest for building that hulking vessel.

We need to remember that the animals came after their kind. So you didn’t need 2 poodles, 2 bassett hounds, 2 great danes etc. Just 2 dogs. What about the dinosaurs? Yes it would have had dinosaurs onboard. Based on a worst case scenario it would have needed to hold 45000 animals at an average size of a sheep. That would take 190 railway cars. Well guess what - the ark was as big as 520 railway cars. Even with food it would have used another 150 railway cars. That leaves another 180 railway cars. What do you think all that space was for? Why do you think Noah was preaching for 120 years? I believe God provided plenty of space for people to repent and come onto the ark (source Answers In Genesis).

God has provided an ark for the wicked generation of today. An ark for repentant sinners to flee into before the great and terrible day of God's judgment. Don't be deceived by the ease and comfort of western life in the 21st century. That's just how it was in Noah's day and the flood was upon them before they even realized. And be warned - something worse than a flood is coming . . .

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Revelation 6:15-17)

This ark God has provided for us has a Name. It is the Name above all names, the Name that shall cause every knee to bow and tongue confess His Lordship - His Name is Jesus Christ. The first ark may have cost a lot of wood but the new Ark cost Jesus His precious blood. God made a way in spite of our rebellion against him. Many people ask why a loving God sends people to hell when they should be asking how God can save anybody without violating His character and nature. The answer lies in the Penal Substitutionary Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was more than the corrupt Jewish judges, or the savagery of the Roman executioners, or the schemes of Satan that caused Jesus' primary suffering on the cross. It was the cup of God's wrath against the endless mass of human sin that Christ drank in full on that cross at Calvary.

Did you ever wake up in the morning and wonder “where did all the stars go?” Did they all just disappear? No – but we only ever see them shining in their glory against the background of a dark night sky. And the cross of Jesus Christ shines in its glory against the dark background of our sin against Him. It was only when God helped me to see the awful darkness of my sin against Him that I could start to see the depth of His love for me in sending Jesus Christ.

Gaze into the mirror of God's law and see your need for Christ while there is still time to repent. Flee into the Lord Jesus Christ trusting Him alone for pardon from sin, His righteousness credited to your account, and salvation from the wrath to come.

God has appointed Noah’s for the people of today – us, to be preachers of righteousness! The kindness of God in saving wicked sinners like us should be the fuel that drives us to preach like Noah for the rest of our lives – even if no one repents – because God’s Name must be glorified. And guess what – I actually believe He might save people in this fallen evil world – He saved me!

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The Days Of Noah (Part 5)

Continued from Wednesday . . .

Jesus said in Matthew 24 that it would be like the days of Noah when He returns. Today we continue on this series with the fourth lesson, of five important lessons, on what we learn from the days of Noah as we approach the day of Christ's return and judgment.

LESSON 4 - WE THINK OF NOAH AS A BOAT BUILDER BUT GOD CALLED HIM A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly (2 Peter 2:5)

We must be preachers of righteousness to the evil world around us. It is sad to say that many modern preachers have made the Gospel about happiness instead of righteousness. But our greatest need is righteousness because of our unrighteousness and we must see our unrighteousness in order to hunger and thirst after the righteousness found only in Christ. That is why we must proclaim God’s Holiness and His law before we talk about Christ and the cross.

Did you ever wake up in the morning and wonder “where did all the stars go?” Did they all just disappear? No – but we only ever see them shining in their glory against the background of a dark night sky. And the cross of Jesus Christ shines in its glory against the dark background of our sin against Him – and it was only when God helped me to see the awful darkness of my sin against Him that I could start to see the depth of His love for me in sending Jesus Christ. We must be preachers of righteousness.

Noah preached righteousness for 120 years to a wicked and perverse world and no one repented. Was there a problem with Noah’s preaching? Poor Noah, maybe no one got into the boat because he didn’t have the Prayer of Jabez or wasn't teaching the Purpose Driven Life. Poor Noah must have been living his worst life then. No No No, Noah was a great preacher because he was faithful in the message he was called to preach. We must measure the success and health of our churches and as individuals by our faithfulness to the Gospel God told us to preach. It is God Who converts people. God was glorified in Noah’s day by judging the world that refused to respond to Noah’s preaching. God will be glorified, if we proclaim the Gospel, either in saving wicked sinners like us, or in judging our society for not repenting. But we have no choice – we must preach and be faithful in our preaching.

To be concluded on Wednesday: Lesson 5 - God Provides a Way to Save Wicked People.

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The Days Of Noah (Part 4)

Continued from Wednesday . . .

Jesus said in Matthew 24 that it would be like the days of Noah when He returns. Today we continue on this series with the third lesson, of five important lessons, on what we learn from the days of Noah as we approach the day of Christ's return and judgment.

LESSON 3 - DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE WICKEDNESS OF MANKIND

God described the days of Noah, prior to the flood, as a time when:

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)

Has anything changed? The Apostle Paul gives a resounding No:

As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:10-18)

But could Jesus say something like that? Yes He did just after John 3:16 in fact:

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:17-20)

When witnessing to atheists, I always find that all their intellectual reasons for not believing in God are a façade for the fact that they love their sin. That is why we should preach the law of God prior to preaching grace, because the problem with our lost friends is never a matter of knowledge but always one of morality. We should not be surprised that God instructed Israel to wipe out entire nations. Especially when we consider that not one single person would repent in 120 years of Noah’s preaching. What should surprise us is that God doesn’t destroy everybody right now. That is the right question to ask.

Do our lost friends hate God? Yes – but so did we!
Do our lost friends love sin? Yes – but so did we!
Do our lost friends deserve hell? Yes – but so did we!

We should preach because we remember where we came from, and what Christ has done, that He may receive the reward of His suffering. We can take no credit – it is only by God's grace and so it was with Noah . . .

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:8-9)

And it is important to know that Noah’s righteousness was the same as New Testament righteousness – only by faith:

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. (Hebrews 11:7)

Noah, just like New Testament Christians, was saved by faith. Not of works, so no man can boast. In fact when all our works are laid before the righteousness of God, we will be exposed for the miserable wicked wretches that we are . . . unless we have the imputed righteousness of Christ as our substitute. So the next time someone asks you how a loving God can send people to hell or how does a good God allow evil - tell them that they're asking the wrong question . . . just like Voddie Baucham did!



To be continued on Monday: Lesson 4 - We Think of Noah as a Boat Builder But God Called Him a Preacher of Righteousness.

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The Days Of Noah (Part 3)

Continued from Monday . . .

Jesus said in Matthew 24 that it would be like the days of Noah when He returns. Today we continue on this series with the second lesson, of five important lessons, on what we learn from the days of Noah as we approach the day of Christ's return and judgment.

LESSON 2 - GOD'S GREAT MERCY HAS A LIMIT

Methuselah teaches us three powerful lessons about God. First that His mercy is very great, secondly that God ALWAYS keeps His word no matter how long it takes, and thirdly that His great mercy has a limit. Methuselah’s name seemed to have great prophetic meaning that something terrible would happen when he died.

Let’s do some math to see a little diamond hidden in Scripture:
(Genesis 5:25) Methuselah had a son called Lamech when he was 187 years old. (Genesis 5:28) Lamech had a son called Noah when he was 182 years old. (Genesis 7:6) The flood came when Noah was 600 years old. Therefore the flood came (187 + 182 + 600 =)969 years after Methuselah's birth.

So how old was Methuselah when he died? Genesis 5:27 reveals that Methuselah lived to be 969 years old. Wow! He died the year the flood came and he was the oldest man who ever lived. Methuselah’s death did bring disaster. But God’s great mercy was demonstrated by allowing Methuselah to live longer than anyone else in history. This was in order to delay His wrath, giving people time to repent. But when God’s wrath came – it was devastating!

Jesus warned us that something much worse than the flood is coming. He was true to His word with the flood and he will be true to His word with the coming judgment – something so horrific that the book of Revelation describes it:

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Revelation 6:15-17)

When we consider the evil around us and how bad the coming judgment will be we should be amazed at the mercy of God. That He gave us time to repent . . . and that He has given us time to preach the Gospel.

To be continued on Friday: Lesson 3 - Do Not Underestimate The Wickedness Of Man

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The Days Of Noah (Part 2)

Continued from Wednesday . . .

Jesus said in Matthew 24 that it would be like the days of Noah when He returns. Today we continue on this series starting with the first of five important lessons we can learn from the days of Noah as we approach the day of Christ's return and judgment.

LESSON 1 - JUDGMENT IS COMING

Let’s start three generations before Noah at Genesis 5:21 where we’ll find the answer to the riddle which I posed at the end of last wednesday's post - the oldest man who ever lived died before his father.

When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. (Genesis 5:21-24)

Something happened with Enoch when Methuselah was born. Methuselah was the oldest man who ever lived but he died before his father because Enoch never died. God took Enoch whilst still alive - possibly in the same way that He took Elijah. We know so little about Enoch and I’d love to know so much more. But all God thought necessary for us to know was that Enoch walked with God for 300 years after the birth of Methuselah.

The New Testament also reveals these little windows of information about Enoch:

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5)

It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones" (Jude 1:14)

So we know that Enoch was a changed and transformed man after Methuselah's birth. At 65 years of age, and from then on, Enoch walked with God as a prophet among a wicked and perverse society (which will be discussed in part 4). The name Methuselah seems to carry the meaning “his death shall bring” (according to scholars including Dr. Henry Morris). It seems to be that God grabbed Enoch’s attention that judgment was coming – the great flood - and Enoch was a changed man from that day on.

Jesus also warns us that just as the flood came when no one was ready, His day of judgment is coming too and it will hit us before we know it! Like Enoch, we must feed off that revelation. By the Holy Spirit, it must fuel our preaching to continually warn of the coming judgment on a society that continually spirals downward in the pursuit of carnal pleasure that is grievously offensive to God - much like they did in the days of Noah!

To be continued on Wednesday: Lesson 2 - God's Great Mercy Has A Limit



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The Days Of Noah (Part 1)

It was the day before Good Friday in 2007. Denmark had become my new homeland just two months earlier. I witnessed to some people asking them if they knew what Easter was about. Noone had the foggiest idea. As I watched the shoppers scurrying about spending their money and seemingly oblivious to the reason for the holiday I was pierced with a dreadful irony. Firstly, that they gave no thought or regard for the reason why they got to enjoy several days off work. Secondly, the reason these people had affluence and the technology it could buy can be traced back to the days when Christian Reformers blazed a Gospel trail across Europe lifting it out of the dark ages. The tragedy was quite grievous to an outsider saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and inspired by reformers like Martin Luther.

As I stood to preach in the town square I couldn't help but feel like I was standing amidst the ruins of the mighty reformation that happened almost 500 years earlier. And Jesus words from Matthew 24 took on a spooky reality:

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:37-39)

How terrifying to think that those swept away by the flood of Noah were oblivious until it was upon them and it will be just the same for those oblivious to the coming wrath of God that draws closer every day. The day when Jesus Christ returns, not as a Lamb, but as a Warrior making war with His enemies (see Revelation 19:11-21).

Theologians tell us that we have been in the “last days” ever since Christ’s return to the Father and the day of Pentecost. Maybe we are getting close to Christ’s return but the issue I desire to stress is the darkness of our day, the urgency of the hour, and the power of the Gospel.

Since it shall be like it was in the days of Noah, I believe it a worthwhile exercise to take a closer look at the days of Noah, and turn to the book of Genesis. I have five major lessons from the days of Noah that I will be revealing over the coming days but in the meantime I have a riddle for you to try and solve before it gets used as a prop in the next post. Here it is - the oldest man who ever lived died before his father! Answer that and you will go a long way towards the subject of Friday's post - Lesson 1 From the Days of Noah . . .

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