by
Steve Butler
But
as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as
in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying
and
giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know
until the flood came, and took them all away; so also will the coming
of
the Son of Man be (Matt. 24:37-39;NKJV).
Likewise
as it was also in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they
sold, they planted, they built; But on the day that Lot went out from
Sodom
it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even so will
it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed (Luke 17:28- 30;NKJV).
With
these words, Jesus Christ answered His disciples' questions about the signs of
the end of the age.
Christians
today call this time the "second coming of Christ" and, like the
first disciples, are very interested in the characteristics of earth's final
generation.
What will those times be like? How will they compare to the days of Noah and
the days of Lot? Could our present generation be the one that
Jesus
was speaking about?
Jesus
stated in verse 36 of the "Olivet Discourse," as this section of
Matthew's Gospel is called, that ". . . of that day and hour knoweth no
man, no,
not
the angels of heaven, but my Father only." The Lord was cautioning His
followers not to speculate about the exact date and time of His return and the
judgment
of the world, but He did urge believers in every generation to ". . . be
ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect
him"
(Matt. 24:44;NIV).
In
the Olivet passage, Jesus is describing some of the basic activities of human
life - eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage. Luke's inclusion
of
the activities of Lot's day also include buying, selling, planting, and
building. What Jesus seems to be saying is that people will be going about
their
everyday
business when He suddenly returns for His church and ultimately judges lost
mankind.
What
about the days of Noah and the great flood? Why did Jesus refer to Lot and the
destruction of Sodom? Why were these two events linked together in Luke's
record
of Christ's discussion of the Second Coming? Because God's judgment came
swiftly upon two civilizations that were perverse and wicked beyond turning
back.
By
examining the biblical record of the Genesis account of Noah's times and the
days of Lot, some sobering light may be shed upon parallels between those
days
and the 1990s.
And
it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and
daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men
that
they were fair; and they took wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said,
My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh:
yet
his days shall be an hundred and twenty years (Gen. 6:1-3).
The
sixth chapter of the Book of Genesis describes the expansion of the human race
both numerically and geographically upon the earth. As mankind populated
the
earth, it seems that the sons of the descendants of Seth, the third son of Adam
and Eve, desired the daughters of the descendants of Cain and intermarried
with
them. Apparently, the desire for Cainite wives, as well as for the daughters of
the Sethite line, was based on sensual appetite rather than on love,
common
heritage, and especially, godly virtue.
This
practice greatly displeased the Lord God because, by this time, the righteous
Sethite line had departed from its former dependence on God and followed
its
debased yearnings that resembled the natures of ungodly and defiantly
independent Cainites.
In
Genesis 6:3, God said, ". . . My spirit shall not always strive with man,
for that he also is flesh. . . ." The Holy Spirit of God would not abide
as
a
moral, ruling force in the lives of straying rebellious people. There would be
a limit to the patience of a righteous and generous God who was the only
source
of restraint upon a race that was willingly dominated by the
"flesh."'
The
term "flesh," in biblical terminology, refers to man's carnal nature,
not to his creaturely kinship to the animal world through a material body.
Mankind
resisted
the influence of the Holy Spirit and had become flesh .2 As a result of
sensuality and willfulness, the human race's days upon the earth were
limited
to 120 years.
God
reveals His pending judgment even as He allows time for repentance through His
grace.
Along
with marriages based on the unequal yoking of godly and ungodly partners, men
of violence and lawlessness seemed to roam the earth, contributing to
the
general atmosphere of vanity and ungodliness that dominated the age before the
flood.
There
were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of
God came unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them,
same
became the mighty men which were of old, men of renown (Gen. 6:4).
The
term "giants" is better translated as those "who fall on
others" or falling ones." Nephilim is a more accurate name from the
Hebrew, Naphal, "to fall."'
The
Nephilim were probably roving men of violence who preyed on the population as
robbers and tyrants (according to Luther, Keil and other commentators)
.4
They may have been warriors of large physical stature like the Rephaim (mighty
ones) of Deuteronmy 2:11 and the Anakim (long-necked ones) of Numbers
13:22
and Joshua 15:13-14 in the Old Testament.
Whoever
the Nephilim were, they were present before, during, and after the birth of the
offspring of the Sethite men and the Cainite daughters. Many of
these
children grew up to be "mighty men," (Hebrew, Gibborim - the strong,
impetuous heroes), and "men of renown," literally, "men of the
name," known
by
many. They may have been, according to Calvin, "honorable robbers who
boasted of their wickedness."
Then
the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the
Lord
was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
So the Lord said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face
of
the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am
sorry that I have made them.' But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord
(Gen.
6:5-8).
Through
His patient oversight, God saw the wickedness of man was widespread on the
earth and that every fashioned purpose of the thoughts of his heart (the
seat
of the emotions of the mind) was only set on evil literally every days. Mankind
had become depraved to the extent that evil was the race's sole identifying
characteristic.
Such
a state was the result of man's willful rejection of his Creator and moral
guide and his enjoyment of brute force and self-gratifying indulgence as
he
oppressed those who were weaker. Obviously, the law of the jungle and the rule
of the strongest prevailed over the moral restraint encouraged by God.
Verse
6 states that the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth and He was
grieved in His heart. God was sorry that He had put men on His earth,
and
He grieved because He still cared for man. Man's depravity merited his
destruction as the judgment of God would blot out man's reign of corruption.
Even
the lower animals would be recipients of the consequences of man's removal.
Fortunately
for the race, during the 120 years of grace, Noah found approval before God,
and he and his family would be saved when judgment would come through
the
great worldwide flood. This family would be God's remnant through which mankind
would populate the earth after the Flood.
As
the rains came for 40 days and nights upon the civilization of Noah's day, so
fire and brimstone rained from heaven upon the wicked society of Sodom
and
Gomorrah.
But
on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven
and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of
Man
is revealed (Luke 17:29-30).
In
each of these biblical accounts, judgment came swiftly from God as the iniquity
of people became full. Destruction was the final answer to continued
sin
and lack of repentance.
Jesus
reveals to us that these same conditions will prevail upon the earth when He
returns for His church and judges earth's last generation. How were the
days
of Lot like those of Noah?
The
eighteenth chapter of Genesis describes a startling visitation of God and two
of His angelic messengers to Abraham, the patriarch of the Hebrew people
and
uncle of Lot. This "theophany," or visible appearance of God in human
form, was to announce the promised birth of a son to the aging Abraham and wife
Sarah,
and to conduct God's judicial investigation of Sodom and Gomorrah's sins.
Verses
20-21 record the Lord's statement that "... the outcry against Sodom and
Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down
now
and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it
that has come to me; and if not, I will know."
Of
course, God already knew the sins of the "cities of the plain," but
He apparently wished to demonstrate the justice of His judgment to His servant
Abraham,
who
represented God's chosen, righteous people. Abraham and his family would be
God's instruments for explaining His judgments to an unbelieving world.'
Being
a man who had great compassion for others, Abraham seemingly did not understand
the magnitude of God's grace and tolerance. The patriarch sought a
reprieve
for Sodom and Gomorrah by asking if the cities would be spared if 50 righteous
men could be found in Sodom. God was patient with His servant,
but
after the number was reduced to 10, Abraham, too, realized that righteousness
was not to be found within the city.
As
soon as He was finished speaking to Abraham, the Lord disappeared. Grace was
shown to Abraham's nephew, though, as the two angels continued on to Sodom
where
they encountered Lot.
Genesis
19 continues the narrative of the angels' interaction with Lot and the perverse
men of Sodom. Lot was sitting in the gateway area of the city when
he
noticed the strangers. Hospitable like his uncle Abraham, Lot offered his own
home as lodging for the angels to spend the night. There is no indication
that
he assumed they were anything but mortal men.
The
divine messengers declined Lot's invitation at first but later gave in to his
persistence. One can deduce that Lot's earnestness may have been a combination
of
the eastern custom of hospitality and his concern over the travelers' safety
among the Sodomites at night.
After
eating supper at Lot's home before bedtime, the angelic guests and their host
heard the presence of the men of Sodom who "... both old and young,
all
the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and
said to him, 'where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them
out
to us that we may know them carnally"' (Gen. 19:4-5).
Lot
responded to the Sodomites' homosexual lust (hence, the term "sodomy"
for such acts) by going out the door and imploring the men of Sodom not to
violate
the
law of hospitality to strangers. Desperate to protect his guests, Lot offered
his virgin daughters to the perverse mob (Gen. 19:8). By doing so, Lot
revealed
the effect that living in such a perverse city had on his own moral character.
The
unruly multitude, which represented men of all ages from every part of the
city, was so far gone in degradation of body and mind that it would not be
satisfied
with abusing the young women. Instead, it mocked Lot and threatened to do worse
to him than to his guests.
As
the men sought to break down Lot's door, he withstood them until the angels
pulled him into the house and shut the door. And they struck the men who
were
at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they
became weary trying to find the door (Gen. 19:11).
The
angelic messengers struck the Sodomites with blindness, yet they still groped
for Lot's door, until they all tired. This is another indication of the
depths
of sexual perversion and inordinate lust to which the people of that wicked
city had fallen. Even blindness could not deter them from seeking to
molest
Lot and his guests. Only physical tiredness and the inability to enter the
house caused them to depart.
Afterward
the angels warned Lot to speak to his family and sons in-law and prepare them
to leave Sodom, "For we will destroy this place, because the outcry
against
them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to
destroy it" (Gen. 19:13). Lot's future sons-in-law thought he was
joking
with them and didn't heed his advice.
Sodom's
attraction to Lot and his family seemed to continue as the angels sought to
lead them out of the city the next morning. The messengers had to take
Lot,
his wife, and two daughters by the hand and lead them out of the city before
punishment befell the area.
While
being instructed to flee to the nearby mountains for safety, Lot begged to be
allowed to go to the little town of Zoar (originally named "Bela")
and
that
it might be spared as the other cities of the plain were destroyed. Lot gave the
impression of being an obsessive urbanite.
After
the angel allowed Lot to journey toward Zoar, the Lord rained down fire and
brimstone out of heaven upon Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other cities of
the
plain, causing a geological upheaval that obliterated the once-fertile area. At
the same time, Lot's wife disobeyed the angel's directive not to look
back
or stay anywhere in the plain, and she perished, becoming a pillar of salt
(Gen. 19:15-26).
The
wayward spirit of Sodom did not cease to influence Lot's family after the
destruction of the cities of the plain and the death of his wife. Lot and
his
two daughters later left Zoar and took up residence in a mountain cave,
"For he was afraid to dwell in Zoar" (Gen. 19:30).
Fearing
that none of the local men would take them as wives, the older daughter
persuaded the younger one to plot with her to get their father drunk and
then
to have sexual relations with him while he was in a stupor. The plan worked
during two consecutive nights and eventually two offspring were born from
their
incestuous acts, and their father's lineage was preserved.
Lot's
perverse daughters evidenced no shame for their abnormal sex acts because they
named their respective sons in descriptive terms. The older daughter's
son
was called Moab, "from the father," and the younger daughter's child
was called Ben-Ammi, "son of my people .118 Each of these sons would be
the forefather
of
nations that would be perpetual enemies of Israel after the conquest of the
Promised Land. They were known as the Moabites and the Ammonites.
As
the biblical record reveals, sin, if not repented of and cleansed, will produce
pride, lust, violence, and destruction. Though God is loving and patient,
He
is also just and righteous. That is, by His very nature, He will not tolerate
the revolting activities of man's selfish desires forever.
The
apostle James wrote that "Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his
own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth
to
sin; and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death" (James 1:
14-15).
The
selfish desires of the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah produced their own
destructions. The twisted procreative desires of Lot's daughters resulted in
the
deaths of multitudes of Moabites, Ammonites, and Israelites in territorial wars
that were waged among them over the centuries.
Sin,
which is rebellion against the holy purposes of God and His authority to guide
human lives, always leads to alienation and judgment. So it was in the
days
of Noah and so it was in the days of Lot.
What
about our day, the 1990s? Is judgment coming upon our society in the United
States and upon the world? Are there parallels in the lifestyles of our
generation
to those of these previously judged generations? Is man coming to that place in
history when God says, "Enough!" and sends His Son Jesus Christ
to
retrieve His church and execute judgment on a wicked and defiant world system?
Jesus
said, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour in which
the Son of Man is coming" (Matt. 25:13).
Our
generation has suffered through 30 years of a gradual abandonment of what has
been called "traditional values." These are the ethical mores and
standards
of
right and wrong that guided the United States for more than 200 years.
Actually, these values and standards of thinking, acting, and viewing life have
been
referred to as the Judeo-Christian ethic.
Since
our nation and much of our western world has abandoned these traditional
values, mankind has paid a heavy price for the illusionary and nonexistent
happiness
and "freedom" that moral relativism has promised but not delivered.
Writing
in the August 8, 1994, issue of U.S. News & World Report, editor-in- chief,
Mortimer Zuckerman asks "Where Have Our Values Gone?" He notes that
three
out of every four Americans think we are in moral and spiritual decline. Two
out of three think the country is seriously off track. Social dysfunction
haunts
the land:
crime
and drug abuse, the breakup of the family, the slump in academic performance,
the disfigurement of public places by "druggies, thugs, and
exhibitionists."
Zuckerman
goes on to say:
We
certainly seem to have lost the balance between societal rights and individual
freedoms. . . . Crime is sanctioned by the fact, real or imagined, that
the
criminal had an unhappy childhood. Gone are the habits America once admired:
industriousness, thrift, self-discipline, commitment.... Instant gratification
is
the new order of the day. Personal impulses, especially sexual, are constantly
stimulated by popular music and television, with other mass media not
far
behind. TV and music often seem to honor everything that the true American
ethic abhors violence, infidelity, drugs, drinking - and to despise everything
that
it embraces - religion, marriage, respect for authority. No wonder it is
difficult to sustain parental values and parental continuity. Zuckerman also
laments
that "altruism is not encouraged in a culture of acquisitive
individualism."
Self-centeredness
is definitely at the heart of man's problems, whether in America or the rest of
the world. Generosity and self-sacrifice are necessary
ingredients
for marriages, families, and nations to prosper. The alternative is division,
strife, and the splintering of a society.
According
to Steven Roberts, in another article from U.S. News & World Report, the
family structure is continuing to change in America. The Census Bureau
reports
that the birth rate for unwed mothers has jumped 82 percent in the past 10 years,
and the number of divorced Americans has increased almost four
times
since 1970. Roberts observes that more kids are being raised with less
supervision and fewer resources, putting them at greater risk of delinquency.
An
article by Phillip Elmer-Dewitt in Time magazine notes that single parents in
America number more than 9 million. 10 Population watchers have pointed
out
that children raised by single parents are more likely to get in trouble."
The
most criminally active males are between 15 and 29 years old, and the number of
teenagers is expected to increase in the general population by 23 percent
over
the next decade. From 1965 to 1990, juvenile murder arrests alone rose 332
percent. Citing these figures in Newsweek Michel Marriott deduces that
the
trend is likely to continue in the years ahead due to deepening child poverty,
destabilization of families, and more guns, drugs, and nihilism among
young people.
If
the grim state of American society is not enough to sober any thinking person,
consider the international situation. Wars and rumors of wars blot the
globe.
Hundreds have been killed in Bosnia, as have possibly half a million or more
Tutsis in Rwanda. Haiti is still tumultuous, and Russia's democracy
could
easily fall. In the Middle East, peace is more prevalent but fragile.
Instability seems to be the only consistent trend. The world needs a deliverer,
but
only One from heaven can do the job - Jesus Christ.
The
days of Noah and Lot were much like our own: violent, proud, indulgent, and
perverse. Noah's generation was noted for its defiance of God's rule and
its
tendency toward violence and sexual lusts. Lot's generation in Sodom was known
for its obsession with sex to the point of homosexual rape and incest.
This
behavior was contrary to the laws of God and man. Our own society now condones
sexual appetites of every persuasion, just as Sodom did. Should we
be
spared?
Judgment
may very well be upon us in reaping the bitter harvest of moral relativism that
our modem world has so eagerly sampled. The fruit of this harvest
is
very bitter, and the solutions to our problems are beyond the resources of
politics, economics, and academics.
The
solutions are found only in the good news of a Savior who has offered to enter
the hearts and minds of every person who will accept His deity, sacrificial
payment
for their sins, and the forgiveness of a holy and gracious God. Obedience to
God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ will change
the
hearts of people. When a person's heart is changed, his life can change; and
when people change for the better, societies and governments change for
the
better.
Jesus
Christ told His followers nearly 20 centuries ago that ". . . This good
news of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all
the
nations, and then the end will come" (Matt. 24:14).
The
good news is being preached on every continent on the globe today. Many people
have heard the gospel, but others have not. When they hear, earth's final
generation
will see Jesus.
It
may be very soon. Are you ready?