But as the days of Noe were...so it is today
Perilous times had come. Evil men and seducers had waxed worse and worse. The LORD had said "My spirit shall not always strive with man...yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years" [Gen. 6:3]. By the grace of God, Noah preached and warned to the end, but God had a set time, and would bring things to a close. He would intervene in the affairs of mankind, for they had irretrievably corrupted themselves. And that he did, sending the flood in upon the wicked [Gen. 6:5,17].
"But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the son of man be" [Matt. 24:37]. The LORD has another scheduled time for another intervention into the affairs of mankind, for they have thoroughly corrupted themselves once again. This time it will be personal. The rejected Son of God, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, will break in upon this lost world, and that also, as at the first, at a set time [2Thes. 1:8-9]. No man knows the day or hour, no, but the "coming of the Son of man" is as certain as was the arrival of the day of the flood in Noah's time [Luke 17:26-27]. Surely, as we watch the course of events in the world today, none would argue against the truth that perilous times have once again overtaken the earth, and that evil men have once again waxed worse and worse [2Tim. 3:1,13], rejecting God Himself, and setting themselves in his place. Truly it is today as it was...in the days of Noe.
The "day of the Lord" draweth nigh. It will be at the appointed time. In Noah's day, "they knew not until the flood came and took them all away" [Matt. 24:39]. Before that day breaks suddenly upon this hopeless antichrist loving world and sweeps away the reprobate among men, the Lord Jesus Christ has promised to first come for his own [John 14:2-3]. If the one is close, how much closer the other? The book of Hebrews tells us that Noah "moved with fear, [and] prepared an ark to the saving of his house" [Heb. 11:7]. Are you prepared..? for ye know not when that day cometh.
In this little sermonette, written in 1861, highly regarded Bible expositor Charles Henry Mackintosh (CHM), in dealing with these subjects, spoke of a time as of then yet future. The conditions he speaks of had not been completely fulfilled in his day, but they are the very conditions in which we find ourselves living in today, one hundred fifty-two years later, which he aptly describes as "a more hideous deformity than ever":
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Matt. 24:37 'But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be'
"And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth......Make thee an ark of gopher wood..." [Gen. 6:12-14]
And [God] 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. [2Peter 2:5]
Here was man's ruin, and God's remedy. Man had been allowed to pursue his career to the utmost limit, to bring his principles and ways to maturity. The leaven had worked and filled the mass. The evil had reached its climax. "All flesh" had become so bad that it could not be worse; wherefore nothing remained but for God to destroy it totally (Gen. 6:7). Let us glance, for a little, at the condition of those, to whom Noah had so long preached righteousness.
The long-suffering of God, and the testimony of His servant had both been slighted. Present things had engrossed them. The word of God was rejected. He told of judgement; but they did not believe. He spoke of sin and ruin; but they were not convinced. He spoke of a remedy; but they would not give heed. They went on with their own plans and speculations, and had no room for God. They acted as if the earth belonged to them, by a lease, for ever. God was shut out. "Every imagination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5); and hence, they could do nothing right. They thought, spake, and acted for themselves. They did their own pleasure, and forgot God.
And, my reader, remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, how He said, "as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man." Some would have us to believe, that ere the Son of man appears in the clouds of heaven, this earth shall be covered, from pole to pole, with a fair mantle of righteousness. They would teach us to look for a reign of righteousness and peace, as the result of agencies now in operation; but the brief passage just quoted cuts up by the roots, in a moment, all such vain and delusive expectations.
How was it in the days of Noah? Did righteousness cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea? Was God's truth dominant? Was the earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord? Scripture replies, "the earth was filled with violence." "ALL flesh had corrupted his way on the earth." "The earth also was corrupt before God" (Gen. 6:11-12). Well, then, "so shall it be in the days of the Son of man." This is plain enough." "Righteousness" and "violence" are not very like each other. Neither is there any similarity between universal wickedness and universal peace. It only needs a heart subject to the Word, and freed from the influence of preconceived opinions, in order to understand the true character of the days immediately preceding "the coming of the Son of man."
Let not my reader be led astray. Let him reverently bow to Scripture. Let him look at the condition of the world, "in the days before the flood;" and let him bear in mind, that "as" it was then, "so" shall it be at the close of this present period. This is most simple — most conclusive. There was nothing like a state of universal righteousness and peace then, neither shall there be anything like it by and by.
No doubt, man displayed abundant energy in making the world a comfortable and an agreeable place for himself; but that was a very different thing from making it a suitable place for God. So, also, at this present time; man is as busy as he can be, in clearing the stones off the pathway of human life, and making it as smooth as possible; but this is not "making straight in the desert a highway for our God;" nor is it making "the rough places smooth," that all flesh may see the salvation of the LORD. Civilization prevails; but civilization is not righteousness. The sweeping and garnishing are going forward; but it is not in order to fit the house for Christ, but for Antichrist.