Throughout his ministry, Jesus Christ reminded his followers that life consists of more than meets the eye and that their time on earth is very brief.
He warned that the world they know is fatally flawed and is scheduled for demolition. He cautioned them not to be taken by surprise by this:
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, 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.”1
Jesus always referenced historical biblical events with great care; the “days of Noah” era was no exception.
Similar to the RMS Titanic’s passengers and crew (discussed in a previous column), the people in the “days of Noah” were collectively blinded by “grotesquely misplaced complacency and pride” in their own limited resources. Deceived by self-invited ignorance that was reinforced by pervasive groupthink, these first-generation secular humanists were eventually swept away by a catastrophic worldwide judgment.
So, what can we learn from this ancient story concerning our lives today?
In his book Earth’s Earliest Ages, English theologian G.H. Pember showed how conditions in Noah’s day bear a striking resemblance to conditions in our more modern times:
» Worship of a god who is neither personal nor caring — the god of the deist. This kind of “god” is more of a “thing” (“the force be with you”) than a personal being possessing intellect, will, and emotion.
» A change in the relation of the sexes, along with a “disregard for the primal law of marriage.” Today, these formidable trends dominate the headlines, divide whole societies and are charged with extraordinary emotion.
» An explosion of “creature comforts” — luxury and entertainment, all of which greatly mitigate the curse in the Garden of Eden. With possessions comes the soul-deadening desire for more, coupled with a boastfulness about what one already has.
» A steady, corrosive movement to join the nominal church with the world’s culture, virtually obliterating any distinction between the two. This is also marked by grand buildings, ornate ceremonies and outlandish wealth, while still proclaiming allegiance to a founder who died a penniless criminal.
» A vast increase in the population of the world. The population of the world in the antediluvian days of Noah was likely in the range of 5 million, the numbers had skyrocketed from a handful of tribal families in a relatively short (geologically speaking) time period. Likewise, the population of the “modern” world has increased geometrically from about 300 million at the time of Christ to upward of 7.3 billion in 2015. It is noteworthy that we did not cross the 1 billion mark until the year 1800.2
» A hardening of men’s hearts to the pleadings of God through his word and his ministers to repent and turn toward God before it is too late.
» An increase in occult practices which intermingle human and angelic spirits. This is particularly prevalent in today’s New Age movement.
Pember concluded, of these two ages:
“These causes (listed above) concurred to envelop the world in a sensuous mist which no ray of truth could penetrate. They brought about a total forgetfulness of God and disregard of his will; and thus, by removing the Great Center who alone is able to attract men from themselves, rendered the dwellers upon earth so selfish and unscrupulous that the world was presently filled with lewdness, injustice, oppression and bloodshed.”
Do these conditions sound at all familiar? It’s like reading today’s news headlines or listening in on a contemporary college philosophy or social science class.
Mankind hasn’t changed much in the intervening millennia. Could those times that Jesus predicted be closer than we think?
Maybe it’s time to check the bilges of this creaky old “earth ship” and start looking around for a “spiritual lifeboat” that can take us safely to our home port?
But don’t be surprised if you find yourself leaving a lot of friends and relatives behind. It’s sobering that “those brave souls who opted to enter tiny lifeboats were defying the prevailing mood, they were swimming against the tide, but their conscious and independent choices would save their swimming later.”
— D.C. Collier is a Bible teacher, discipleship mentor and writer focused on Christian apologetics. A mechanical engineer and Internet entrepreneur, he is the author of My Origin, My Destiny, a book focused on Christianity’s basic “value proposition.” Click here for more information. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
1. Matthew 24:32–39 New International Version (NIV)
2. How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?” How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth? N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.