Reflection for Noach
“The Days of Noah”
Matthew 24:37-42
Luke 17:26-27
1 Peter 3:18-22
2 Peter 2:4-5
Hebrews 11:7
excerpted from TorahScope Apostolic Scriptures Reflections
As one moves from Bereisheet (Genesis 1:1-6:8) to Noach (Genesis 6:9-11:32), there is a passage of the text which bridges these two readings. It contrasts the differences between the degeneration of humanity, and the blameless righteousness of Noah, the man who walked with God. While the gross sinful actions of people provoked God to the point of having to exterminate the human race, there was one man who did find favor with Him. The human race would survive, in spite of the horrific consequences of the devastating Flood:
“When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. The LORD said, ‘My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.’ The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil. The LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. The LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the LORD’s eyes. This is the history of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. God said to Noah, ‘I will bring an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them and the earth’” (Genesis 6:1-13, WMB).
The narrative of Genesis chs. 1-11, depicts how humanity fell headlong into depravity. Although the absolute meanings of “sons of God” and Nephilim are debated—suffice it to say the lust of the flesh began to prevail in sexual relationships. Whether men were having multiple wives, simply taking women off sexually because of their beauty, or whether angelic beings were actually interbreeding with humans—the fact remains that from God’s perspective, “every plan devised by [humanity’s] mind was nothing but evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5, NJPS). This total debauchery and wickedness, grieved God’s heart, to the point of needing to start over. Thankfully, upon surveying humanity, God’s eyes fell upon the one man who had not succumbed to the wickedness. As a result, the grace of God was able to be displayed toward one family, and through the progeny of Noah, his sons, and their wives, the human race was not totally eliminated.
Naturally, the story of the Flood and its aftermath, as we read in the Holy Scriptures, was also distorted into mythological stories by other ancient cultures down through the ages. Different civilizations have altered elements of the account, as perhaps best seen in tales like Atrahasis or the Epic of Gilgamesh. Nevertheless, for those who hold to a firm belief in the veracity and authority of the Holy Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16-17), the fact that Messiah Yeshua, the Apostle Peter, and the author of Hebrews mentioned Noah—reaffirm how Noah and the Flood are a critical part of human history (references further offered). The recorded details are much more than simply an historical, meteorological event which affected the world, but rather an account of how the Creator God judged people because of their abhorrent transgressions. These figures of the Apostolic Scriptures all treated the Flood and Noah as real events—not as some repackaged mythology—and so should we!
Living in more modern times, we should note the rapidly decreasing level of morality—as humanity at large heads once again toward total depravity. The words of Yeshua, which instruct His followers about this, are especially alarming. In His Olivet Discourse, Yeshua said that His Second Coming will occur at a time which is similar to the days of Noah. When people will be engrossed by their great evil, and when the cavorting in eating and drinking and marrying without any concern for righteousness is rampant, the Messiah will then return. He may even come without the great majority of humanity even realizing that He is coming to judge the Earth:
“As the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and they didn’t know until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left. Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes” (Matthew 24:37-42, WMB).
“As it was in the days of Noah, even so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married, and they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26-27, WMB).
The fact that Messiah Yeshua used the account of Noah, to make some important points to His Disciples, is an indicator that He treated him as an actual historical person. If the Genesis 6-9 Flood were not a real event, then I do not believe that the Messiah would have mislead His followers, in using it as a point of reference for teaching. The Flood gives Bible readers the first theology of judgment seen in the Scriptures, and is very much a foreshadowing of the greater judgment which will come at the time of His return.
The Apostle Peter, too, alluded to the Genesis 6-9 Flood, in describing not only God’s patience, but also the redemptive work of the Lord via His sacrifice:
“Because Messiah also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, in whom he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, who before were disobedient when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. This is a symbol of immersion, which now saves you—not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him” (1 Peter 3:18-22, WMB).
In his second epistle, Peter launched into a timely explanation about the insidious nature of false teachers and false prophets, inserting a comment about God’s ability and desire to preserve those who seek righteousness. The Flood was used, among several examples, as a means by which He judged the ungodly. Since passages like this are quite instructional—given how today the proliferation of false teaching (and/or worldly philosophy) will inevitably lead the world back to a time like the “days of Noah”—the entire passage is appropriate to consider. Note how many of the elements Peter described are noticeable, as one surveys the religious world today. For that same matter, what he detailed might compose various known descriptions of the kind of depravity, which existed in the time prior to the Flood:
“But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned. In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber. For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment; and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a proclaimer of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live in an ungodly way, and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don’t bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed, receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and defects, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you; having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin, enticing unsettled souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing; but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A speechless donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error; promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him. For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Yeshua the Messiah, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, ‘The dog turns to his own vomit again’ [Proverbs 26:11], and ‘the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire’” (2 Peter 2:1-22, WMB).
What is most critical for modern-day Believers to consider here, especially when it comes to contemplating your own personal pursuit of faithful righteousness, is the possibility of falling away from the faith—by being deceived by any false teachers, prophets, or evil people. Peter stated, without reservation, that it would be better for anyone not to have known the way of righteousness, than to turn away from the salvation God has provided.
As you consider the story of Noah and the Flood this week, recognize how there is a time coming when the world will very much return to the depravity reminiscent of Noah’s generation. Just as God used the Flood to judge sinful humanity, His righteousness requires Him to execute an even greater judgment on a modern world, which will, sadly and most lamentably, largely refuse to repent.
Yeshua’s First Coming was to save the world:
“For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him” (John 3:17, WMB).
There is a time coming when the world will be judged by the returning Messiah. As Paul elucidated to the Athenians:
“The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31, WMB).
It is incumbent upon each one of us to be heirs to righteousness—just like Noah—and possess the faith to endure, whatever difficult times we may face in the future, rejecting the temptations of sin. As the author of Hebrews observed,
“By faith Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (Hebrews 11:7, WMB).
If those living in ancient times did not have an excuse for their lack of faith and commensurate righteousness, then what about those of us living today—with all of the available Biblical resources outlining how to appropriate saving faith? Certainly, for those seeking righteousness, the current world scene seems to be on the verge of becoming like the days of Noah. But as hard as it is to believe, things can and probably will become much worse.
It is not our job to try and determine the exact time, when such future days of Noah may manifest themselves, fear mongering and focusing on things which are completely out of our control. Instead, we should possess the faith of people like Noah, Peter, and Paul. We should be examples, to our generation, of spiritually transformed people who are wholeheartedly seeking righteousness, by allowing the Holy One of Israel to accomplish His works through us. Of course, to do this, we must willingly choose Him and work together as a living sacrifice to the Almighty (Romans 12:12). Such obedience to the Lord might require some of us to do things which are not consistent with what the prophesied “Noah like days” will view as “normal.” Yet our infinite God has a multitude of ways, as He uses His vessels to accomplish His will. In the case of Noah, it was to build an ark. Messiah Yeshua became the Sacrificial Lamb to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and no one need be consumed by the future flood of His judgment!
What about you? The days of Noah will get here sooner or later. What has our Creator created you to accomplish for Him? If you do not know what you have been created for, then ask Him! You just might get an answer…
