3. NOAH – UNIVERSAL IMPACT OF THE FLOOD
Visiting Armenia my mind was filled with sadness thinking of an entire race that was wiped out. Somewhere here God had to start all over again with Noah and his family. Listen to the sad story of the antediluvians.
Mercy had ceased its pleadings for the guilty race. The beasts of the field and the birds of the air had entered the place of refuge.
Genesis 7:16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.
What happened next?
A flash of dazzling light was seen, and a cloud of glory more vivid than the lightning descended from heaven and hovered before the entrance of the ark.
The massive door, which it was impossible for those within to close, was slowly swung to its place by unseen hands. Noah was shut in, and the rejecters of God’s mercy were shut out.
The seal of Heaven was on that door; God had shut it, and God alone could open it. So when Christ shall cease His intercession for guilty men, before His coming in the clouds of heaven, the door of mercy will be shut.
Then divine grace will no longer restrain the wicked, and Satan will have full control of those who have rejected mercy. They will endeavor to destroy God’s people; but as Noah was shut into the ark, so the righteous will be shielded by divine power. For seven days after Noah and his family entered the ark, there appeared no sign of the coming storm.
During this period their faith was tested. It was a time of triumph to the world without. The apparent delay confirmed them in the belief that Noah’s message was a delusion, and that the flood would never come.
Notwithstanding the solemn scenes which they had witnessed–the beasts and birds entering the ark, and the angel of God closing the door–they still continued their sport and revelry, even making a jest of these signal manifestations of God’s power.
They gathered in crowds about the ark, deriding its inmates with a daring violence which they had never ventured upon before. But upon the eighth day dark clouds overspread the heavens. There followed the muttering of thunder and the flash of lightning.
Soon large drops of rain began to fall. The world had never witnessed anything like this, and the hearts of men were struck with fear. All were secretly inquiring, “Can it be that Noah was in the right, and that the world is doomed to destruction?”
Darker and darker grew the heavens, and faster came the falling rain. The beasts were roaming about in the wildest terror, and their discordant cries seemed to moan out their own destiny and the fate of man.
Then “the fountains of the great deep” were “broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” Water appeared to come from the clouds in mighty cataracts.
Rivers broke away from their boundaries, and overflowed the valleys. Jets of water burst from the earth with indescribable force, throwing massive rocks hundreds of feet into the air, and these, in falling, buried themselves deep in the ground. {PP 99.1}
The people first beheld the destruction of the works of their own hands. Their splendid buildings, and the beautiful gardens and groves where they had placed their idols, were destroyed by lightning from heaven, and the ruins were scattered far and wide.
The altars on which human sacrifices had been offered were torn down, and the worshipers were made to tremble at the power of the living God, and to know that it was their corruption and idolatry which had called down their destruction.
As the violence of the storm increased, trees, buildings, rocks, and earth were hurled in every direction.
The terror of man and beast was beyond description. Above the roar of the tempest was heard the wailing of a people that had despised the authority of God. Satan himself, who was compelled to remain in the midst of the warring elements, feared for his own existence.
He had delighted to control so powerful a race, and desired them to live to practice their abominations and continue their rebellion against the Ruler of heaven.
He now uttered imprecations against God, charging Him with injustice and cruelty. Many of the people, like Satan, blasphemed God, and had they been able, they would have torn Him from the throne of power.
Others were frantic with fear, stretching their hands toward the ark and pleading for admittance. But their entreaties were in vain. Conscience was at last aroused to know that there is a God who rules in the heavens.
They called upon Him earnestly, but His ear was not open to their cry. In that terrible hour they saw that the transgression of God’s law had caused their ruin.
Yet while, through fear of punishment, they acknowledged their sin, they felt no true contrition, no abhorrence of evil. They would have returned to their defiance of Heaven, had the judgment been removed.
So when God’s judgments shall fall upon the earth before its deluge by fire, the impenitent will know just where and what their sin is–the despising of His holy law.
Yet they will have no more true repentance than did the old-world sinners.
Some in their desperation endeavored to break into the ark, but the firm-made structure withstood their efforts. Some clung to the ark until they were borne away by the surging waters, or their hold was broken by collision with rocks and trees.
The massive ark trembled in every fiber as it was beaten by the merciless winds and flung from billow to billow. The cries of the beasts within expressed their fear and pain. But amid the warring elements it continued to ride safely.
Angels that excel in strength were commissioned to preserve it. The beasts, exposed to the tempest, rushed toward man, as though expecting help from him.
Some of the people bound their children and themselves upon powerful animals, knowing that these were tenacious of life, and would climb to the highest points to escape the rising waters.
Some fastened themselves to lofty trees on the summit of hills or mountains; but the trees were uprooted, and with their burden of living beings were hurled into the seething billows.
One spot after another that promised safety was abandoned. As the waters rose higher and higher, the people fled for refuge to the loftiest mountains.
Often man and beast would struggle together for a foothold, until both were swept away. From the highest peaks men looked abroad upon a shoreless ocean. The solemn warnings of God’s servant no longer seemed a subject for ridicule and scorning.
How those doomed sinners longed for the opportunities which they had slighted! How they pleaded for one hour’s probation, one more privilege of mercy, one call from the lips of Noah!
But the sweet voice of mercy was no more to be heard by them. Love, no less than justice, demanded that God’s judgments should put a check on sin. The avenging waters swept over the last retreat, and the despisers of God perished in the black depths.
“By the word of God . . . the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:5-7.
ESCHATOLOGY
Another storm is coming. The earth will again be swept by the desolating wrath of God, and sin and sinners will be destroyed.
The sins that called for vengeance upon the antediluvian world exist today. The fear of God is banished from the hearts of men, and His law is treated with indifference and contempt. The intense worldliness of that generation is equaled by that of the generation now living. Said Christ,
“As in the days that were before the Flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the Flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:38,39.
God did not condemn the antediluvians for eating and drinking; He had given them the fruits of the earth in great abundance to supply their physical wants. Their sin consisted in taking these gifts without gratitude to the Giver, and debasing themselves by indulging appetite without restraint.
It was lawful for them to marry. Marriage was in God’s order; it was one of the first institutions which He established. He gave special directions concerning this ordinance, clothing it with sanctity and beauty; but these directions were forgotten, and marriage was perverted and made to minister to passion.
A similar condition of things exists now. That which is lawful in itself is carried to excess. Appetite is indulged without restraint. Professed followers of Christ are today eating and drinking with the drunken, while their names stand in honored church records.
Intemperance benumbs the moral and spiritual powers and prepares the way for indulgence of the lower passions. Multitudes feel under no moral obligation to curb their sensual desires, and they become the slaves of lust. Men are living for the pleasure of sense; for this world alone.
Extravagance pervades all circles of society. Integrity is sacrificed for luxury and display.
They that make haste to be rich pervert justice and oppress the poor, and “slaves and souls of men” are still bought and sold. Fraud and bribery and theft stalk unrebuked in high places and in low.
The issues of the press teem with records of murder–crimes so cold-blooded and causeless that it seems as though every instinct of humanity were blotted out.
And these atrocities have become of so common occurrence that they hardly elicit a comment or awaken surprise.
The spirit of anarchy is permeating all nations, and the outbreaks that from time to time excite the horror of the world are but indications of the pent-up fires of passion and lawlessness that, having once escaped control, will fill the earth with woe and desolation.
The picture which Inspiration has given of the antediluvian world represents too truly the condition to which modern society is fast hastening. Even now, in the present century, and in professedly Christian lands, there are crimes daily perpetrated as black and terrible as those for which the old-world sinners were destroyed.
Before the Flood God sent Noah to warn the world, that the people might be led to repentance, and thus escape the threatened destruction.
As the time of Christ’s second appearing draws near, the Lord sends His servants with a warning to the world to prepare for that great event.
Multitudes have been living in transgression of God’s law, and now He in mercy calls them to obey its sacred precepts. All who will put away their sins by repentance toward God and faith in Christ are offered pardon.
But many feel that it requires too great a sacrifice to put away sin. Because their life does not harmonize with the pure principles of God’s moral government, they reject His warnings and deny the authority of His law.
Of the vast population of the earth before the Flood, only eight souls believed and obeyed God’s word through Noah.
For a hundred and twenty years the preacher of righteousness warned the world of the coming destruction, but his message was rejected and despised.
So it will be now. Before the Lawgiver shall come to punish the disobedient, transgressors are warned to repent, and return to their allegiance; but with the majority these warnings will be in vain. Says the apostle Peter,
“There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning.” 2 Peter 3:3, 4.
Do we not hear these very words repeated, not merely by the openly ungodly, but by many who occupy the pulpits of our land?
“There is no cause for alarm,” they cry. “Before Christ shall come, the entire world is to be converted, and righteousness is to reign for a thousand years. Peace, peace! all things continue as they were from the beginning. Let none be disturbed by the exciting message of these alarmists.”
But this doctrine of the millennium does not harmonize with the teachings of Christ and His apostles. Jesus asked the significant question, “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8.
And, as we have seen, He declares that the state of the world will be as in the days of Noah.
Paul warns us that we may look for wickedness to increase as the end draws near: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” 1 Timothy 4:1.
The apostle says that “in the last days perilous times shall come.” 2 Timothy 3:1. And he gives a startling list of sins that will be found among those who have a form of godliness. As the time of their probation was closing, the antediluvians gave themselves up to exciting amusements and festivities.
Those who possessed influence and power were bent on keeping the minds of the people engrossed with mirth and pleasure, lest any should be impressed by the last solemn warning.
Do we not see the same repeated in our day?
While God’s servants are giving the message that the end of all things is at hand, the world is absorbed in amusements and pleasure seeking.
There is a constant round of excitement that causes indifference to God and prevents the people from being impressed by the truths which alone can save them from the coming destruction.
In Noah’s day philosophers declared that it was impossible for the world to be destroyed by water; so now there are men of science who endeavor to show that the world cannot be destroyed by fire–that this would be inconsistent with the laws of nature.
But the God of nature, the Maker and Controller of her laws, can use the works of His hands to serve His own purpose. When great and wise men had proved to their satisfaction that it was impossible for the world to be destroyed by water, when the fears of the people were quieted, when all regarded Noah’s prophecy as a delusion, and looked upon him as a fanatic–then it was that God’s time had come.
“The fountains of the great deep” were “broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened,” and the scoffers were overwhelmed in the waters of the Flood.
One day somewhere in the future, I would love to see this event on heaven’s TV history channel.
With all their boasted philosophy, men found too late that their wisdom was foolishness, that the Lawgiver is greater than the laws of nature, and that Omnipotence is at no loss for means to accomplish His purposes.
“As it was in the days of Noah,” “even thus shall it be in the days when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:26, 30.
“The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:10.
When the reasoning of philosophy has banished the fear of God’s judgments; when religious teachers are pointing forward to long ages of peace and prosperity, and the world are absorbed in their rounds of business and pleasure, planting and building, feasting and merrymaking, rejecting God’s warnings and mocking His messengers–then it is that sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape. 1 Thessalonians 5:3. {PP 103.3}