And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
After the eight persons entered the ark with the housed animals and God shut the door, seven days passed with clear skies and no rain before the waters of the flood were upon the earth. That week was a severe trial of faith for those inside, who rested in God's word and used the time to prepare for their long stay, while those outside treated the delay as proof the warning was a delusion and continued in revelry, mockery and violence. When the appointed time came the rain began gently and then increased until the heavens were opened in torrents and every living thing outside perished. As men were eating and drinking and taken unawares until the flood took them away, so the seven days of careless ordinary life before doom was fixed illustrate how the coming of the Son of man will surprise those who disregard warning after probation has closed. The same situation exists today, when wickedness is repeated and probation lingers, calling all to walk obediently to God's law and be ready before it is everlastingly too late.
Seven Days Before Flood
After Noah and his family, only eight persons, entered the ark with the housed animals and God shut the door, a full week passed with no rain before the waters came upon the earth. The interval lay between the housing of the animals in the finished ark and the shutting in of the believers by an invisible hand and the coming of the flood waters, with no rain falling for that week. On the eighth day, after the seven days, and after six days of that trial week, the steady rain set in.
That week with clear skies and sun rising and setting as usual was a severe trial of the faith of those inside, with doubts suggested to them, yet they rested in God's word that the flood was coming. Daily the sun rose and set in a clear sky with no sign of the coming storm, bringing temptation to doubt and mockery from outside at shutting themselves in an ark. They used the interval to arrange the animals in prepared places and prepare for their long stay as the floodwaters covered the earth.
For those outside the week seemed a triumph and confirmation that Noah's message was a delusion and the flood would never come. Despite seeing the animals quietly enter two and two without a visible leader under God's invisible leadership and the door closed by God's invisible hand and angel, they kept up sport, revelry, noisy merriment, mockery, reviling, scoffing and daring violence, fully revealing unbelief. They gathered in crowds around the ark, made a jest of those displays of power, mocked its inmates with a daring violence they had never used before, dismissed their fears while the sun shone and the earth appeared almost as beautiful as Eden, and continued ordinary acts of violence as judgment approached.
No rain had ever fallen before, for a mist rose to water the earth, so gathering clouds and rain were an entirely new sight never seen before. At the end of the seven days clouds began to gather, a new thing never seen before, and then rain began to fall gently and slowly at first.
How the Waters Came
After the seven days were ended the waters of the flood were upon the earth, for on the eighth day the rain began. The door had been closed and Noah and his family shut inside for one full week before any rain fell, and until that time no rain had ever fallen, for only a mist had risen to water the earth. When the rain came it was a new thing never seen before, falling gently and slowly at first, then increasing in power until the heavens were opened and poured down in torrents. That steady rain continued until every living thing and every living creature outside the ark was destroyed from the face of the earth and the whole world was submerged, while the ark floated safely upon the troubled waters and only the one family inside was saved.
The breaking forth came in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month on the seventeenth day, after Noah had done all that God commanded and had gone into the ark with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives because of the waters, and after the Lord had shut him in. Then the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened, and rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The waters prevailed one hundred and fifty days, so that all the wicked inhabitants perished, who knew not until the flood came and took them all away.
The flood is real inspired history and Noah was a real person, and what had been warned came exactly as warned. Nearly the whole world had said it could not come, dismissing the message through a long period of trust that nature's regular order made a flood impossible, yet their unbelief did not make the warning of none effect. When the waters came upon the earth it was demonstrated that God, not nature, governs the earth's boundaries and can bring His warnings to pass, proving His word true and showing that those who rejected His commands faced judgment. After the flood the curse on the earth greatly increased, resting more heavily through continued disobedience upon people, animals, trees and other vegetation.
Why Judgment Fell
The waters came because human wickedness had grown great, with every imagination of the thoughts of the heart only evil continually, and the earth corrupt before God and filled with violence. Open and daring sin prevailed, justice was trampled in the dust, and the cries of the oppressed reached unto heaven. Iniquity had become so common that it no longer shocked the senses, while men lived asleep in carnal security, full of rioting and godless pleasure, awake with plans and inventions of iniquity. This corruption traced back to Adam's transgression and fall, which opened the floodgates of woe to the world.
Continual transgression of God's holy law brought the floodwaters upon the earth. The obedient inside the ark were distinguished from the disobedient outside by the standard of God's law, unbelief being fully revealed in mockery and reviling during the rainless week after the housing of the animals and the shutting in by an invisible hand. Noah and his family were preserved because they did right, and Noah passed the Ten Commandments on to his descendants. The flood thus stands as God's exhibition of power against an impenitent world, fulfilling the prophetic warning that all who would not keep heaven's commandments should drink the waters of the flood, and exemplifying the truth of His word. It gives a lesson embracing all time on the sure result of transgression, standing in one line with the destruction of Sodom for not obeying the laws of God's kingdom, the destruction of Jerusalem for not heeding messages given, and the final destruction of the world for transgression and impenitence in the closing period.
In long-suffering mercy God gave the antediluvian world one hundred and twenty years of probation to turn from sin while Noah proclaimed warning and, with helpers, constantly worked preparing the immense ark, a boat on dry land, where the obedient could find shelter until God's indignation was overpast. Men refused to obey and grew more bold in disobeying His law, continuing with extraordinary self-importance, swelling pride, and deeds of unrighteousness. Talented men of skill and knowledge became lifted up in their own imaginations, left God out of their plans and counsels, and became wise to do evil, so that, lest their wisdom work destruction to those yet to be born, the Lord cut them off. The probation given in mercy was spent in ridiculing, caricaturing, criticizing, and laughing to scorn Noah as a crazy fanatic for his peculiar earnestness about sure coming judgments, while men reasoned of science and the laws controlling nature. They rejected and despised God's love until the measure of iniquity was full, the boundaries of divine mercy were passed, the limits of grace were exceeded, and His long-suffering patience was worn out by crime, violence, and repeated rejection of sent messages. After that one-hundred-and-twenty-year opportunity to choose between evil and good was rejected by deliberately following wicked ways instead of repenting, God again grants a period of test and trial before the great destruction by fire to show loyalty to His law, leaving repentance and conversion as man's only hope. This history was known to the sons of the prophets educated in the schools Samuel established, and the children of Israel were instructed in it to prepare for the advent of Christ.
The Flood was God's own time and verdict to vindicate His authority after bearing long with sin, when punishment had become necessary and the limit of forbearance toward that guilty race had been declared. When people with light presume on mercy, despise warnings, and exceed the limits of grace, God interferes in wrath to vindicate the honor of His law, repress the increase of unrighteousness, and limit human life to prevent continual disobedience. He mercifully removed the corrupt inhabitants, declaring that the wicked are unwilling to submit to divine authority and cannot be cured of rebellion. Though the wicked said their way was hid from the Lord, He showed He beholds all works of men by interposing to sweep that wicked race away, appearing at once as avenger to the wicked and as protector of the righteous who had cried to Him with humiliation and fasting, answering their prayers by terrible things in righteousness. His long patience does not make punishment uncertain.
Warning Heard by Few
Noah faithfully bore God's message to an impenitent, pleasure-loving and corrupt world, warning that in one hundred twenty years the disobedient would be swept from the face of the earth and that all who would not keep heaven's commandments would drink the waters of the flood. While he and his helpers were constantly at work preparing the immense boat on dry land, in which the obedient could find shelter until God's indignation was overpast, he preached all the more earnestly in proportion to the universal scorn heaped upon God's law and upon himself. As the waters descended after he and his family had entered and God had shut them in, his message condemned the world.
Only eight of that vast population accepted the warning, fled for refuge into the ark, and were saved, Noah and his family alone living to enter. Many believing ones kept the faith and died triumphant beforehand. Some carpenters and converts believed for a time, then died before the flood or backslid, and many who helped Noah build the ark failed to believe the startling message, failed to cleanse themselves from all wrong principles, and failed to overcome temptation to do and say things entirely contrary to the mind and will of God.
Nearly the whole world rejected the warning, closing ears to words of truth, claiming to know more than that faithful servant, branding him a fanatic and crazy enthusiast, and laughing and mocking and scoffing at God's message through him as parables. They explained away by false science and laws of nature the statement that rain would come as foolishness and impossibility, because no signs of it had ever existed and nature's regular order seemed to make a flood impossible. Their unbelief brought darkness and God's displeasure but did not make the message of none effect nor prevent judgment, and when the waters came upon the earth and submerged the world, those who mocked finally perished in them while none but Noah and his family were saved.
Pattern of Christ's Coming
As they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, the wicked inhabitants knew not until the flood took them all away, for after Noah had done all that was commanded and had gone into the ark with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives because of the waters, and after the Lord had shut him in, the waters were upon the earth after seven days. The breaking forth came in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month on the seventeenth day, when the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened, with rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights and the waters prevailing one hundred fifty days, so that all the wicked perished, and so shall the coming of the Son of man be. Before the flood iniquity was so common that it no longer shocked the senses, and the whole world is fast becoming the same as the Spirit of the Lord is withdrawn and keeping power is refused to all who disregard the commandments. As the great deluge destroyed the wicked, so the coming of the Son of man will bring destruction and calamity with convulsed nature, burning mountains, boiling waters, earthquakes and great loss of life, yet as Noah was preserved in the ark God will be the refuge, habitation, pavilion and rock of His believing ones, and no evil or plague shall come nigh them. The people had forgotten admonition and warning, being asleep in carnal security, full of rioting and godless pleasure, awake with plans and inventions of iniquity, putting judgment afar off, laughing at warnings and calling those who would arouse them fanatics and enthusiasts, not levelheaded, and their sudden destruction is the pattern for the day when the Son of man is revealed, when the world likewise asleep and boastful that all things remain as from the beginning is taken unawares by Christ coming as a thief.
After the sign of the animals coming two by two into the ark without a visible leader, the word was given to close the ark, mercy ended, and after seven days the waters of the flood were upon the earth and its inhabitants perished. During those seven days the people continued their careless, pleasure-loving ordinary life, unaware that their doom was fixed and mocking the warnings of judgment. That delay illustrates that before Christ's coming people will carry on with ordinary life without knowing that the final decision about their destiny has been made and mercy has ended. The wickedness of the world has increased as in the days of Noah, and men blinded by peace and safety theories do not hear the last call of mercy. Time is very short, no man can serve two masters, character is fixed as holy still or filthy still, and all must humble themselves under the mighty hand, wake up and get ready before it is everlastingly too late, for the ark is closed and the time to enter is past.
Noah had faithfully warned the inhabitants of the old world while they mocked and derided him, and as the rain descended and the floods came after God had shut him in with his family, the waters descended upon the earth and one after another were drowned while they beheld the ark they had made sport of riding safely upon the waters preserving the faithful. So the people of God who have faithfully warned the world of His coming wrath will be delivered, and God will not suffer the wicked to destroy those expecting translation who will not bow to the decree of the beast or receive his mark. If the wicked were permitted to slay the saints, Satan and all his evil host and all who hate God would be gratified, and it would be a triumph for Satan to have power in the last closing struggle over those who had so long waited to behold Him whom they loved. Those who mocked at the idea of the saints going up will witness the care of God for His people and their glorious deliverance, while destruction with convulsed nature, burning mountains, boiling waters, earthquakes and great loss of life comes upon the wicked, to Satan's defeat.
The flood coming upon the earth after the seven-day wait destroyed the antediluvian world because they transgressed the holy law and would not heed the admonitions given them. It gives a lesson embracing all time on the sure result of transgression, standing in one line with the destruction of Sodom for not obeying the laws of the kingdom, the destruction of Jerusalem for not heeding the messages given, and the final destruction of the whole world for the transgression and impenitence of its inhabitants in the closing period of its history. In Noah's time God mercifully removed the corrupt inhabitants, and the future fires of judgment likewise declare that the wicked are unwilling to submit to divine authority and cannot be cured of their rebellion. As God then closed probation with destruction by water after a one-hundred-and-twenty-year opportunity to choose between evil and good, which men rejected by deliberately following their own wicked ways instead of repenting and turning to God, He again grants a period of test and trial before the great destruction of the world by fire to show whether men will be loyal and obey His law, leaving repentance and conversion as man's only hope.
Call to Present Obedience
To walk against God's Word and God's law stirs rebellion and brings ruin, even when the majority stands in opposition. The waters came upon the earth exactly as warned through Noah, though nearly the whole world thought him wrong, claimed to know more than that faithful servant, closed ears to truth, branded him a fanatic, explained away by false science the promise of rain as foolishness because no sign of it had ever existed, and laughed and mocked the message as parables. Their unbelief brought darkness and displeasure yet did not prevent judgment, and those who mocked finally perished in the covering waters. Continual transgression of God's law brought those waters, while Noah and his family were preserved because they did right, and he passed the Ten Commandments on to his descendants. After Adam's fall opened the floodgates of woe and the world became corrupt before God with only a few willing to believe, God does not compel but gives the privilege of gaining back God-given manhood and womanhood so His immortal image may be restored. Only eight of that vast, impenitent, pleasure-loving population accepted warning, fled for refuge into the ark and were saved, while the message condemned the world. The call therefore is to walk obediently, keep all His commandments, and be found on the side of the loyal and true when Christ comes.
The same situation exists today, for God looks on the world now as He looked on it then and sends messages now as He sent them in Noah's days. The wickedness before the Flood is repeated, with calamities, earthquakes, floods and disasters by land and sea increasing, and with many who helped build the ark failing to believe, failing to cleanse themselves from wrong principles and to overcome temptation to do and say things contrary to God's mind and will. Men are blinded by peace and safety theories and do not hear the last call of mercy, while talented men of skill become lifted up in imagination, leave God out of plans and counsels, and become wise to do what He never told them to do, wise to do evil, the same unsanctified wisdom from beneath at work since the fall. Probation for the old world was given in mercy for one hundred twenty years and then ended with mercy and forbearance exhausted, and after the sign of animals entering two and two without a visible leader the ark was closed, mercy ended, and after seven days the waters were upon the earth and its inhabitants perished. That closing week with no rain was a severe trial of faith inside while those outside scoffed, mocked, derided and defied God instead of humbling themselves, until rain began gently as a new thing never seen before, then increased in power and continued until every living thing was destroyed except the one family saved. As it was then so it is now, with probation lingering before cases are fixed for eternity, time to prepare to enter the city of God very short, character settling as holy still or filthy still, and no man able to serve two masters. All therefore must humble themselves under God's mighty hand, wake up, serve God singly, and get ready before it is everlastingly too late.
Though moral darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people, duty is unchanged to keep close connection with God and lift the voice in warning. That work is to show those professing to be God's children their transgressions and carry the last message of mercy to regions beyond to warn the world, to some a savor of life unto life and to others a savor of death unto death, since all in this age will have sufficient light to accept saving truth, obey God's requirements and be saved. Present truth will be believed by only a few, for great numbers do not follow Christ and few regard God's commandments. The warning is not to follow the majority and not to turn aside to fables, for following the majority leads to destruction and to missing heaven, and not to be found unprepared for the Lord's appearing.
After the eight persons entered the ark with the housed animals and God shut the door, seven days passed with clear skies and no rain before the waters of the flood were upon the earth. That week was a severe trial of faith for those inside, who rested in God's word and used the time to prepare for their long stay, while those outside treated the delay as proof the warning was a delusion and continued in revelry, mockery and violence. When the appointed time came the rain began gently and then increased until the heavens were opened in torrents and every living thing outside perished. As men were eating and drinking and taken unawares until the flood took them away, so the seven days of careless ordinary life before doom was fixed illustrate how the coming of the Son of man will surprise those who disregard warning after probation has closed. The same situation exists today, when wickedness is repeated and probation lingers, calling all to walk obediently to God's law and be ready before it is everlastingly too late.
Seven Days Before Flood
After Noah and his family, only eight persons, entered the ark with the housed animals and God shut the door, a full week passed with no rain before the waters came upon the earth. The interval lay between the housing of the animals in the finished ark and the shutting in of the believers by an invisible hand and the coming of the flood waters, with no rain falling for that week. On the eighth day, after the seven days, and after six days of that trial week, the steady rain set in.
That week with clear skies and sun rising and setting as usual was a severe trial of the faith of those inside, with doubts suggested to them, yet they rested in God's word that the flood was coming. Daily the sun rose and set in a clear sky with no sign of the coming storm, bringing temptation to doubt and mockery from outside at shutting themselves in an ark. They used the interval to arrange the animals in prepared places and prepare for their long stay as the floodwaters covered the earth.
For those outside the week seemed a triumph and confirmation that Noah's message was a delusion and the flood would never come. Despite seeing the animals quietly enter two and two without a visible leader under God's invisible leadership and the door closed by God's invisible hand and angel, they kept up sport, revelry, noisy merriment, mockery, reviling, scoffing and daring violence, fully revealing unbelief. They gathered in crowds around the ark, made a jest of those displays of power, mocked its inmates with a daring violence they had never used before, dismissed their fears while the sun shone and the earth appeared almost as beautiful as Eden, and continued ordinary acts of violence as judgment approached.
No rain had ever fallen before, for a mist rose to water the earth, so gathering clouds and rain were an entirely new sight never seen before. At the end of the seven days clouds began to gather, a new thing never seen before, and then rain began to fall gently and slowly at first.
How the Waters Came
After the seven days were ended the waters of the flood were upon the earth, for on the eighth day the rain began. The door had been closed and Noah and his family shut inside for one full week before any rain fell, and until that time no rain had ever fallen, for only a mist had risen to water the earth. When the rain came it was a new thing never seen before, falling gently and slowly at first, then increasing in power until the heavens were opened and poured down in torrents. That steady rain continued until every living thing and every living creature outside the ark was destroyed from the face of the earth and the whole world was submerged, while the ark floated safely upon the troubled waters and only the one family inside was saved.
The breaking forth came in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month on the seventeenth day, after Noah had done all that God commanded and had gone into the ark with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives because of the waters, and after the Lord had shut him in. Then the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened, and rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The waters prevailed one hundred and fifty days, so that all the wicked inhabitants perished, who knew not until the flood came and took them all away.
The flood is real inspired history and Noah was a real person, and what had been warned came exactly as warned. Nearly the whole world had said it could not come, dismissing the message through a long period of trust that nature's regular order made a flood impossible, yet their unbelief did not make the warning of none effect. When the waters came upon the earth it was demonstrated that God, not nature, governs the earth's boundaries and can bring His warnings to pass, proving His word true and showing that those who rejected His commands faced judgment. After the flood the curse on the earth greatly increased, resting more heavily through continued disobedience upon people, animals, trees and other vegetation.
Why Judgment Fell
The waters came because human wickedness had grown great, with every imagination of the thoughts of the heart only evil continually, and the earth corrupt before God and filled with violence. Open and daring sin prevailed, justice was trampled in the dust, and the cries of the oppressed reached unto heaven. Iniquity had become so common that it no longer shocked the senses, while men lived asleep in carnal security, full of rioting and godless pleasure, awake with plans and inventions of iniquity. This corruption traced back to Adam's transgression and fall, which opened the floodgates of woe to the world.
Continual transgression of God's holy law brought the floodwaters upon the earth. The obedient inside the ark were distinguished from the disobedient outside by the standard of God's law, unbelief being fully revealed in mockery and reviling during the rainless week after the housing of the animals and the shutting in by an invisible hand. Noah and his family were preserved because they did right, and Noah passed the Ten Commandments on to his descendants. The flood thus stands as God's exhibition of power against an impenitent world, fulfilling the prophetic warning that all who would not keep heaven's commandments should drink the waters of the flood, and exemplifying the truth of His word. It gives a lesson embracing all time on the sure result of transgression, standing in one line with the destruction of Sodom for not obeying the laws of God's kingdom, the destruction of Jerusalem for not heeding messages given, and the final destruction of the world for transgression and impenitence in the closing period.
In long-suffering mercy God gave the antediluvian world one hundred and twenty years of probation to turn from sin while Noah proclaimed warning and, with helpers, constantly worked preparing the immense ark, a boat on dry land, where the obedient could find shelter until God's indignation was overpast. Men refused to obey and grew more bold in disobeying His law, continuing with extraordinary self-importance, swelling pride, and deeds of unrighteousness. Talented men of skill and knowledge became lifted up in their own imaginations, left God out of their plans and counsels, and became wise to do evil, so that, lest their wisdom work destruction to those yet to be born, the Lord cut them off. The probation given in mercy was spent in ridiculing, caricaturing, criticizing, and laughing to scorn Noah as a crazy fanatic for his peculiar earnestness about sure coming judgments, while men reasoned of science and the laws controlling nature. They rejected and despised God's love until the measure of iniquity was full, the boundaries of divine mercy were passed, the limits of grace were exceeded, and His long-suffering patience was worn out by crime, violence, and repeated rejection of sent messages. After that one-hundred-and-twenty-year opportunity to choose between evil and good was rejected by deliberately following wicked ways instead of repenting, God again grants a period of test and trial before the great destruction by fire to show loyalty to His law, leaving repentance and conversion as man's only hope. This history was known to the sons of the prophets educated in the schools Samuel established, and the children of Israel were instructed in it to prepare for the advent of Christ.
The Flood was God's own time and verdict to vindicate His authority after bearing long with sin, when punishment had become necessary and the limit of forbearance toward that guilty race had been declared. When people with light presume on mercy, despise warnings, and exceed the limits of grace, God interferes in wrath to vindicate the honor of His law, repress the increase of unrighteousness, and limit human life to prevent continual disobedience. He mercifully removed the corrupt inhabitants, declaring that the wicked are unwilling to submit to divine authority and cannot be cured of rebellion. Though the wicked said their way was hid from the Lord, He showed He beholds all works of men by interposing to sweep that wicked race away, appearing at once as avenger to the wicked and as protector of the righteous who had cried to Him with humiliation and fasting, answering their prayers by terrible things in righteousness. His long patience does not make punishment uncertain.
Warning Heard by Few
Noah faithfully bore God's message to an impenitent, pleasure-loving and corrupt world, warning that in one hundred twenty years the disobedient would be swept from the face of the earth and that all who would not keep heaven's commandments would drink the waters of the flood. While he and his helpers were constantly at work preparing the immense boat on dry land, in which the obedient could find shelter until God's indignation was overpast, he preached all the more earnestly in proportion to the universal scorn heaped upon God's law and upon himself. As the waters descended after he and his family had entered and God had shut them in, his message condemned the world.
Only eight of that vast population accepted the warning, fled for refuge into the ark, and were saved, Noah and his family alone living to enter. Many believing ones kept the faith and died triumphant beforehand. Some carpenters and converts believed for a time, then died before the flood or backslid, and many who helped Noah build the ark failed to believe the startling message, failed to cleanse themselves from all wrong principles, and failed to overcome temptation to do and say things entirely contrary to the mind and will of God.
Nearly the whole world rejected the warning, closing ears to words of truth, claiming to know more than that faithful servant, branding him a fanatic and crazy enthusiast, and laughing and mocking and scoffing at God's message through him as parables. They explained away by false science and laws of nature the statement that rain would come as foolishness and impossibility, because no signs of it had ever existed and nature's regular order seemed to make a flood impossible. Their unbelief brought darkness and God's displeasure but did not make the message of none effect nor prevent judgment, and when the waters came upon the earth and submerged the world, those who mocked finally perished in them while none but Noah and his family were saved.
Pattern of Christ's Coming
As they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, the wicked inhabitants knew not until the flood took them all away, for after Noah had done all that was commanded and had gone into the ark with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives because of the waters, and after the Lord had shut him in, the waters were upon the earth after seven days. The breaking forth came in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month on the seventeenth day, when the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened, with rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights and the waters prevailing one hundred fifty days, so that all the wicked perished, and so shall the coming of the Son of man be. Before the flood iniquity was so common that it no longer shocked the senses, and the whole world is fast becoming the same as the Spirit of the Lord is withdrawn and keeping power is refused to all who disregard the commandments. As the great deluge destroyed the wicked, so the coming of the Son of man will bring destruction and calamity with convulsed nature, burning mountains, boiling waters, earthquakes and great loss of life, yet as Noah was preserved in the ark God will be the refuge, habitation, pavilion and rock of His believing ones, and no evil or plague shall come nigh them. The people had forgotten admonition and warning, being asleep in carnal security, full of rioting and godless pleasure, awake with plans and inventions of iniquity, putting judgment afar off, laughing at warnings and calling those who would arouse them fanatics and enthusiasts, not levelheaded, and their sudden destruction is the pattern for the day when the Son of man is revealed, when the world likewise asleep and boastful that all things remain as from the beginning is taken unawares by Christ coming as a thief.
After the sign of the animals coming two by two into the ark without a visible leader, the word was given to close the ark, mercy ended, and after seven days the waters of the flood were upon the earth and its inhabitants perished. During those seven days the people continued their careless, pleasure-loving ordinary life, unaware that their doom was fixed and mocking the warnings of judgment. That delay illustrates that before Christ's coming people will carry on with ordinary life without knowing that the final decision about their destiny has been made and mercy has ended. The wickedness of the world has increased as in the days of Noah, and men blinded by peace and safety theories do not hear the last call of mercy. Time is very short, no man can serve two masters, character is fixed as holy still or filthy still, and all must humble themselves under the mighty hand, wake up and get ready before it is everlastingly too late, for the ark is closed and the time to enter is past.
Noah had faithfully warned the inhabitants of the old world while they mocked and derided him, and as the rain descended and the floods came after God had shut him in with his family, the waters descended upon the earth and one after another were drowned while they beheld the ark they had made sport of riding safely upon the waters preserving the faithful. So the people of God who have faithfully warned the world of His coming wrath will be delivered, and God will not suffer the wicked to destroy those expecting translation who will not bow to the decree of the beast or receive his mark. If the wicked were permitted to slay the saints, Satan and all his evil host and all who hate God would be gratified, and it would be a triumph for Satan to have power in the last closing struggle over those who had so long waited to behold Him whom they loved. Those who mocked at the idea of the saints going up will witness the care of God for His people and their glorious deliverance, while destruction with convulsed nature, burning mountains, boiling waters, earthquakes and great loss of life comes upon the wicked, to Satan's defeat.
The flood coming upon the earth after the seven-day wait destroyed the antediluvian world because they transgressed the holy law and would not heed the admonitions given them. It gives a lesson embracing all time on the sure result of transgression, standing in one line with the destruction of Sodom for not obeying the laws of the kingdom, the destruction of Jerusalem for not heeding the messages given, and the final destruction of the whole world for the transgression and impenitence of its inhabitants in the closing period of its history. In Noah's time God mercifully removed the corrupt inhabitants, and the future fires of judgment likewise declare that the wicked are unwilling to submit to divine authority and cannot be cured of their rebellion. As God then closed probation with destruction by water after a one-hundred-and-twenty-year opportunity to choose between evil and good, which men rejected by deliberately following their own wicked ways instead of repenting and turning to God, He again grants a period of test and trial before the great destruction of the world by fire to show whether men will be loyal and obey His law, leaving repentance and conversion as man's only hope.
Call to Present Obedience
To walk against God's Word and God's law stirs rebellion and brings ruin, even when the majority stands in opposition. The waters came upon the earth exactly as warned through Noah, though nearly the whole world thought him wrong, claimed to know more than that faithful servant, closed ears to truth, branded him a fanatic, explained away by false science the promise of rain as foolishness because no sign of it had ever existed, and laughed and mocked the message as parables. Their unbelief brought darkness and displeasure yet did not prevent judgment, and those who mocked finally perished in the covering waters. Continual transgression of God's law brought those waters, while Noah and his family were preserved because they did right, and he passed the Ten Commandments on to his descendants. After Adam's fall opened the floodgates of woe and the world became corrupt before God with only a few willing to believe, God does not compel but gives the privilege of gaining back God-given manhood and womanhood so His immortal image may be restored. Only eight of that vast, impenitent, pleasure-loving population accepted warning, fled for refuge into the ark and were saved, while the message condemned the world. The call therefore is to walk obediently, keep all His commandments, and be found on the side of the loyal and true when Christ comes.
The same situation exists today, for God looks on the world now as He looked on it then and sends messages now as He sent them in Noah's days. The wickedness before the Flood is repeated, with calamities, earthquakes, floods and disasters by land and sea increasing, and with many who helped build the ark failing to believe, failing to cleanse themselves from wrong principles and to overcome temptation to do and say things contrary to God's mind and will. Men are blinded by peace and safety theories and do not hear the last call of mercy, while talented men of skill become lifted up in imagination, leave God out of plans and counsels, and become wise to do what He never told them to do, wise to do evil, the same unsanctified wisdom from beneath at work since the fall. Probation for the old world was given in mercy for one hundred twenty years and then ended with mercy and forbearance exhausted, and after the sign of animals entering two and two without a visible leader the ark was closed, mercy ended, and after seven days the waters were upon the earth and its inhabitants perished. That closing week with no rain was a severe trial of faith inside while those outside scoffed, mocked, derided and defied God instead of humbling themselves, until rain began gently as a new thing never seen before, then increased in power and continued until every living thing was destroyed except the one family saved. As it was then so it is now, with probation lingering before cases are fixed for eternity, time to prepare to enter the city of God very short, character settling as holy still or filthy still, and no man able to serve two masters. All therefore must humble themselves under God's mighty hand, wake up, serve God singly, and get ready before it is everlastingly too late.
Though moral darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people, duty is unchanged to keep close connection with God and lift the voice in warning. That work is to show those professing to be God's children their transgressions and carry the last message of mercy to regions beyond to warn the world, to some a savor of life unto life and to others a savor of death unto death, since all in this age will have sufficient light to accept saving truth, obey God's requirements and be saved. Present truth will be believed by only a few, for great numbers do not follow Christ and few regard God's commandments. The warning is not to follow the majority and not to turn aside to fables, for following the majority leads to destruction and to missing heaven, and not to be found unprepared for the Lord's appearing.