"Noah's Flood Myth or Fact" - Pastor Stephen Bohr

so we bow our heads for prayer our Heavenly Father we thank you so much for the opportunity of gathering together to study the marvelous things that you have for us in your Holy Word we ask that as we study about the flood the worldwide Cataclysm which once destroyed the world and how it represents what will happen in the end time we ask for the guidance of your Holy Spirit teach us the lessons that we need to learn and we thank you for hearing our prayer for we ask it in Jesus name Amen we want to begin our study today at Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 which is the verse that has kind of guided us in our study together it says there in genesis 3:15 god is speaking to the serpent to the devil and i will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel as we've studied god was telling satan that he was going to send a seed to this world born of a woman to do battle with the devil in the process of the battle the devil was going to be able to bruise the keel of the seed of the woman but the seed of the woman was going to crush his head in the process we've noticed that when the serpent when the devil heard these words he made up his mind that he was not going to allow that seed to come and so the first method that the devil uses to try and keep the seed from coming is to attempt to kill the seed and we find this method of the devil illustrated in the story of Cain and Abel in that story we have all four elements of genesis 3:15 have enmity we have a woman we have a serpent and we have two seeds and of course the story as it develops we find Cain killing Abel and of course the devil is very happy because he feels that God's plant has been frustrated now no seed can come from from this lineage but God knew better and so we find in Genesis chapter 4 and verse 25 that God gave Adam and Eve another seed well actually let's read that verse Genesis chapter 4 and verse 25 it says and Adam knew his wife again and she bore a son and named him Seth and then she explains why he was called Seth it says there for God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel whom Cain killed and so through Seth the lineage continues and soon the devil thinks in his mind if I attempt to kill all the seeds and God brings another seed in place of the one that I killed I'm never going to be successful there has to be a better method of doing away with the possibility of this promise of God being fulfilled and so the devil goes to his second plan Plan B and by the way the devil in the course of time after Cain killed Abel and in the succeeding years he noticed that these preliminary seeds were not really the seed that was promised he soon was able to determine that what God was doing was preparing a lineage or a genealogy from which these seed would eventually come and so the devil says if I cannot kill all of this seeds I'm gonna use a different plan what I'm going to do is try and corrupt the lineage corrupt the genealogy and if I can corrupt the holy line and I can lead them to sin and to forsake God there'll be no holy line through which to bring the Messiah into the world and this is where we come to the story that we would like to study in our lecture today the story of the worldwide Cataclysm in the days of Noah actually this story in Genesis is a type or an illustration of events that will take place at the very end of human history let's turn in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 24 and verses 37 to 39 Matthew chapter 24 and verses 37 to 39 Jesus understood this story of Genesis to be a typological story that means a story which has a prophetic dimension it says there in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 37 Jesus is speaking but as the days of Noah were so also will the coming of the Son of Man be see that comparison there the days of Noah will be very similar to the days when Jesus returns verse 38 for as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until that 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 so Jesus understood the story of Genesis 6 7 and 8 as a type or an illustration of events which will happen in connection with his second coming and so we are to look at the story in Genesis and find the sequence of events and the lessons which illustrate what will take place in the future go with me Chapter six and verses one through four Genesis chapter six and verses one through four it says here now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose and the Lord said my spirit shall not strive with man for ever for he is indeed flesh yet his days shall be 120 years there were giants on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them those were the mighty men who were of old men of renown now there are several things that we need to look at in this passage the first thing and the foremost is the identity of the sons of God and the daughters of men who are the sons of God and who are the daughters of men well many scholars today particularly liberal scholars who do not believe in the inspiration of Scripture believe that the sons of God were angels and the daughters of men were human women and that the angels came and had sexual relations with the human women and as a result you have what is called the Giants in Genesis chapter 6 I want to tell you that I do not believe that these Giants were actually the result of the crossbreeding of angels with human beings and you say how do you know that well first of all as we read in Genesis chapter 6 it tells us that there were giants not only after the sons of God entered into the daughters of men but it says that there were giants before they went in and so the Giants were not the proud of crossbreeding between the sons of God and the daughters of men because there were giants before the sons of God entered to the daughters of men now who are these sons of God and who are the daughters of men I must tell you that the Protestant reformers Martin Luther John Calvin etc all believed that the sons of God were those who belong to the holy line of Seth whereas the daughters of men represented the wicked women who were found in the genealogy of Cain in other words the sons of God were the righteous and the daughters of men were the wicked you say was there any biblical basis for this view absolutely if you look at Genesis 4 you have the genealogy of Cain and there are three women mentioned in the genealogy of Cain in Genesis chapter 5 you have the genealogy of Seth and then in Genesis 6 1 2 4 you have the sons of God and the daughters of men so the immediate context of Genesis 6 1 through 4 is Genesis 4 the genealogy of Cain Genesis 5 the genealogy of Seth and then you have the sons of God and the daughters of men clearly according to the context the sons of God are the descendants of Seth and the daughters of men are the descendants of Cain that's the immediate context the broader context is the book of Genesis and in the book of Genesis as we've seen there is a controversy between twosies between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the woman the seed of the serpent by the way are human beings who have the spirit of Satan then we have here the sons of God and the daughters of men we have Cain and Abel see the two seeds we have the builders of the Tower of Babel and Abraham we have Isaac and Ishmael we have Jacob and Esau we have Joseph and his brothers the broader context of the book of Genesis indicates that the two groups that are at war are our human groups it's not an angelic group and a human group and then of course you have the broadest context of Scripture and that is we need to determine from the Bible itself what is meant by the expression sons of God the sons of God in other places in Scripture represent those individuals who have been converted in their hearts for example first John chapter 3 in verse 1 says behold what manner of love the father has given us that we should be called the sons of God the sons of God are those who have been converted they are the ones from the holy line from the genealogy of Seth so we find that the immediate context the broader context and the broadest context of Scripture as well as the great theologians throughout Christian history have understood the sons of God to be the righteous and the daughters of men to be the wicked now I'd like to just pause for a moment and ask this question how many people do you think lived in this world the day before the flood a thousand five thousand fifty thousand a hundred thousand a million I can assure you that on this earth the day before the flood there were millions and millions of inhabitants the Bible says that the whole earth was filled with violence you say why is this important I'm going to explain the reason why they're worse 1656 years which transpired between creation and the flood 1656 years in a world where there was hardly any disease in a world where there was no scarcity of natural resources in a world where men live to be almost a thousand years old how many children can a nine hundred and sixty nine year old man have I mean when he's 500 he's he's just middle-aged so you can imagine God said be fruitful and multiply there's no doubt that the earth was filled with millions of people and yet I want you to notice the terrifying thought out of all those millions and millions of people when the flood came there were only eight that remained faithful to God let me ask you what was the devil's agenda in this story we have to look at what his agenda is his agenda is related to genesis 3:15 says this scene is gonna come he's gonna crush my head I cannot allow the seed to come so what does he do he intermingles the righteous with the wicked in the hopes that the wicked will swallow up the righteous and there will be no holy line through which to bring the promised Messiah into the world in other words the devil's strategy was seen centered he said if I cannot kill all of the seeds I will corrupt the holy line and in that way the Messiah will not be able to come to the world and folks the devil's plan almost met with success because there were only eight righteous people left in fact the Bible says that there was one man found righteous and his family tag-along the Bible doesn't say that but the Bible says that only Noah was found righteous and perfect before the Lord and so the devil strategy was to get believers to intermingle with unbelievers so that they could lose their identity and the holy line would disappear now let's examine the events that transpired before the flood there's a lot more that we could say about the sons of God and the daughters of men later on in in the follow-up series that we're going to have we have a whole topic which is titled the base crime of amalgamation where we're gonna deal with the sons of God and the daughters of men more specifically but let's examine the events that led up to the flood Norris Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5 Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5 here we find a description of the condition of the inhabitants of the pre-flood world by the way this is immediately after it says that the sons of God intermingled with the daughters of men this is the result that we're going to read now it says there in verse 5 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 isn't that quite a description of the moral condition of the world once again it says the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually notice the superlatives that we find in this verse it was a very very wicked world and as a result of this wickedness of the intentions of the heart we find in Genesis chapter 6 verses 11 and 12 the result it says the earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence so God looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth what a tremendous description of the moral condition of the pre-flood world so God says I'm sorry that I created this world it pained God in his heart and so God says I'm going to have to destroy the world but before God sends destruction he always sends a message of warning god never destroys a civilization or a city or an individual without first of all giving them an abundance of light to choose the Lord side first and of course God sent a messenger with a message for that pre-flood world his name was Noah not a second Peter chapter 2 and verse 5 about this message that Noah presented we we kind of catch a glimpse of what Noah was like 2nd Peter chapter 2 and verse 5 and did not spare the ancient world but saved Noah one of eight people and now notice a preacher of righteousness bringing in the flood in the world of the ungodly do you know that in Genesis it doesn't say that Noah preached it says that Noah built but when we go to 2nd Peter it says that Noah preached what did he preach he preached righteousness he called people to be righteous to obey the law of God to be holy to change their ways notice also hebrews chapter 11 and verse 7 hebrews chapter 11 and verse 7 gives us an additional description of noah it says by faith Noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen moved with godly fear prepared an ark for the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith folks know I did not present a politically correct message it was not a smooth message it was not a message that everything is fine and everything is okay his message was a message calling people to repentance to change their ways and by the way it was a message of love because God did not want to destroy anyone and so he's warning the world he's saying please have a change of heart and a change of behavior so I don't have to destroy you this message is strong but it's a message of God's love now the interesting thing is that this evangelist didn't seem to have very much success imagine we live in a world today where people think that God is with the large churches with the majority with where the great crowds are listen folks in Scripture the majority has never been with God it is the minority that is with God in fact we noticed that Noah's preaching only moved the hearts of his own family imagine preaching for 120 years and showing as a result only 8 Souls and all of them are from your own household I'll bet if he had been a pastor of a church today he would have been fired because he had no success in his work but God does not go by numbers God just asks us to preach the message to plant the seed and then people decide on the basis of what they hear now I want you to imagine how difficult it was for Noah to preach this message do you know that before the flood it had never rained I'm just gonna mention this I'm not gonna read the verses because we don't have the time and by the way in the copy of the lecture you have much more information than what I'm able to give here in the time period that we have because we're doing this of course for for television but I want you to notice several details about the world before the flood as it concerns the way in which the world was watered in Genesis 2 5 and 6 we are told that the world was actually watered by a mist that came up from the earth in other words God incorporated in the earth a sort of automatic sprinkler system and the sprinkler heads came up and they watered the earth at certain times during the day in other words the water did not come from above the water that water the earth came from below now where did God get the water to do this well in Genesis 1 and verse 2 were told that the world was covered with water before creation so what God did the second day of creation was take part of the water and place it under the earth that's the Fountains of waters and he took another portion of the water and he put it above on the other side of what Genesis calls the windows of Evan which at this time by the way were closed but at the flood the windows of heaven were opened and so God did not invent water for the flood he simply took the water that was on the planet and he put part of the water above and he put part of the water below so when the flood came god did not have to create water all he did was bring the water that he had placed above through the windows of heaven and he brought the water that he had placed below up again which is called The Fountains of the great deep in Genesis chapter 7 in verse 11 can you imagine Noah preaching to a civilization building a boat on dry land and saying that water was going to fall from heaven when it had never rained I mean he must have been considered a lunatic I don't know how they didn't put him in a mental institution because it had never rained he imagined Noah preaching there's going to be a water coming from heaven and from deep under the earth and it's gonna fill the earth with water and that's why I'm building this boat it was absurd scientifically and historically ridiculous philosophically impossible and so the people before the flood said but Noah trusted God's Word now allow me to tell you something about faith there's a lot of talk about faith in the Christian world today and there's a lot of definitions of faith listen we don't have to complicate what faith is faith is very simple it means acting upon God's Word God speaks and we do what God tells us to do God said to Noah Noah I want you to build a boat he didn't say what for he said okay I'll do it right now he trusted God even though it had never rained he said I believe that what God is saying is true because I believe his word it's time to build a boat and if you look at all of the other heroes in Hebrews 11 you'll find that all of them are acting all of them are doing something based on what God has said God tells Moses get out of Egypt with Israel he gets out God says to Abram get out of thy country and go to Canaan Abraham says let's pack and let's get going God says to say unto Abraham you're gonna have a child in your own age and so I am says it's time to have sexual relations because we believe what God says are you understanding what I'm saying Noah showed his faith not only by his words but he showed his faith by his what by his actions and he invested everything he had in that Ark he invested his time he invested his talents he invested his money he invested all of his strength there were no distractions no side issues that he dedicated his time and energy to he was unit focuses a flood was coming and I must use everything I am in everything I have for the honor and the glory of God he was different than that civilization by the way the message of Noah was accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit notice Genesis chapter 6 and verse 3 Genesis chapter 6 and verse 3 it says here God is speaking and the Lord said my spirit shall not strive with man for ever for he indeed is flesh yet his days shall be 120 years what was the Holy Spirit doing as Noah was proclaiming his message the Holy Spirit accompanied his message the Holy Spirit was striving with the hearts of human beings the Holy Spirit's telling them change your ways change your behavior receive the Lord because God doesn't want you to be destroyed and his message was with the power of the Spirit but then the moment came the hundred and twenty years were almost up noha now stands in the door of the ark and suddenly something very strange begins to happen from all parts of the earth animals start coming to the ark in pairs and by the way it's not the Hollywood version in the Hollywood version you have no one his sons you know that's suing the animals and jerking them and pulling them towards the ark no in Genesis chapter 7 and verses 8 & 9 if you go with me there Genesis chapter 7 verse 8 and 9 we're told that Noah was at the ark and the animals came to him at the ark Genesis chapter 7 and verses 8 and 9 it says here of clean animals of animals that are unclean and of birds and of everything that creeps on the earth two by two they went into the ark two Noah male and female as God had commanded Noah they went into Noah and let me tell you something I believe that God gave us this description of the animals because he wanted to show that those who live before the flood had descended to sub animal level because the animals listened to the voice of God and they obey God and human beings know God spoke to them through the power of the Holy Spirit rejected the voice of God in others the brute beasts had more sense than the human beings and then of course when all of the animals were in the ark Noah stands at the door makes one final plea please come into the ark it's gonna rain you're all gonna be destroyed they thought it was a myth they saw that thought it was a fable it was scientifically impossible and so in Genesis chapter 7 and verse 16 after Noah makes his final plea we find a very significant event that takes place Genesis 7 and verse 16 says so those that entered male and female of all flesh went in as God had commanded him and the Lord shut him in who closed the door of the ark the door of the Ark was closed by the Lord God closed the door of probation for the plea pre-flood race now as soon as the door closed it started to rain no good please protest it did start to rain as soon as the door was closed how many days transpired after the door closed seven days have you ever wondered why God would keep Noah and his family in the ark for seven days after the door closed before it started to rain and the world was destroyed let me ask you this do you think that the faith of Noah and his family was severely tested in that Ark absolutely one day goes by two days go by three days go by four days no rain no rain it must have occurred to Noah and his family Wow what if we were wrong maybe God has forsaken us their faith was severely tested how do you suppose the people outside acted as each day went by oh listen to that listen to those crazy people in there you can hear the animals Noah's crazy look one day has gone by two days three days four days five days and there is no rain we're enjoying this out here there inside with all of those animals and each day they became more and more belligerent these seven days of trial were the triumph for the wicked and they were the trial of faith for the righteous but on the early on the last day on day number seven suddenly in the skies began appearing something that people had never seen before clouds and suddenly they hear noises that they've never heard before Thunder and suddenly they see flashes of light running across the sky that they have never seen before lightning and suddenly they begin feeling drops of water falling upon their heads how do you suppose they felt their heart must have sunk to the bottom of their feet Noah was right and he's in the ark and we are outside and they began banging on the door of the Ark but God had shut the door and they could not get it they were lost let me ask you when where the wicked lost when the door closed or when it started to rain when the door closed did they know that they were lost when the door closed no they did not know until when until it started to rain I want you to remember that because all of this were going to talk about has been fulfilled in the end time as well now we don't have time to discuss whether the flood was some local flood in Mesopotamia or whether it was a worldwide Cataclysm a worldwide flood it's become very common these days for scholars so-called scholars to say that the flood that Genesis describes was some local flood over in Iraq somewhere now in low-resource material that you're gonna get at the end of the presentation today you're gonna have a whole list of reasons why this flood was not some local flood it was a worldwide Cataclysm it was a catastrophe in fact do you know that in the New Testament there are two Greek two Greek words for flood one word is the normal flood it's the word Potamus for example when Jesus gives the parable about the man who built his house upon the rock and the floods came and he built his house upon the sand and the floods came the word flood there is what ammos but there's a special word that is used for the flood in Noah's day it's not used for any other kind of flood in the New Testament it is the Greek word got that Christmas what word do we get in English from cataclysmic the word sceptic Kusum and by the way in 2nd Peter chapter 3 in verses 5 and 6 the flood in Noah's day is called catastrophe this is a worldwide Cataclysm it was a catastrophe now we need to ask the question what happened with Satan during the flood well the textbook that were using for this seminar other than the Bible is the book patriarchs and prophets which is a history of at least a large portion of the Old Testament and I want you to know us on page 99 what the author says Satan himself who was compelled to remain in the midst of the warring elements feared for his own existence in other words he was obligated to stay on planet earth during this Cataclysm and by the way were all of the wicked wiped out by the flood absolutely and when Noah and his family came out of the ark the whole world was cleansed of the wicked by the way the devil was bound during this period because he had no wicked people to use he was bound during the flood because he was in a world that was Ana chaotic state and all of his followers were what all of his followers were dead and he was obligated to remain on planet Earth by the way when the flood came how many groups were there how many groups to go with me to Jenna seven 22 and 23 Genesis chapter 7 and verses 22 and 23 and we're going to come back to this when we deal with the New Testament it says in verse 22 all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life all that was on the dry land died so he destroyed now lessness he destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground both men men and cattle creeping thing and bird of the air they were destroyed from the earth only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive now most modern versions say only Noah and his family were left I want you to remember that word only Noah and his family were left all of the rest were what destroyed it says so the wicked were destroyed Noah and his family were what were left you say why is that so important well we'll see in a moment now have you understood what happened at the time of the flood let me ask you are we to expect the same type of sequence of events at the end of time did Jesus say that as it was in the days of Noah so also will be the coming of the Son of Man usually when people study the flood they say oh yes the world's going to be wicked at the end like it was in the days of Noah and God is going to destroy the world because of its wickedness like he did in the days of Noah but let me tell you the parallel is much greater than just the wickedness being similar and the destruction being similar there's a whole sequence of parallel events that took place then which are going to take place again go with me to Matthew chapter 24 and verse 37 again we read this passage before Matthew chapter 24 and verse 37 here Jesus is speaking about the flood in the day of NOAA he says this 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 by the way this means life as usual business as usual and now notice very important word until the day that Noah entered the Ark the 1st until March the moment when Noah and his family entered the ark but now notice verse 39 and they did not know until there's a second until until the flood came and took them all the way the word until is used twice until Noah and his family what entered the ark and those outside did not know until what the flood came and took them all away how long was there between the first until and the second until seven days what didn't those outside know until the flood came they did not know that they were what that they were lost do you think it's just possible that at the end of human history the door of mercy is going to close before the world is actually destroyed and most human beings are not going to realize it until the destruction actually comes no doubt now if you continue reading here notice Matthew chapter 24 and let's read verse 39 again and then we'll go to verse 40 verse 39 and did not know until the flood came and what and took them all away verse 40 then two men will be it in the field one will be taken and the other left who are the taken ones who are the left ones let me ask it that way you know most shouldn't say the ones that are taken are taken to heaven in the rapture and the ones that are left are left behind but in the light of Genesis we find that the ones that are left are the saved are you with me and the ones that are taken are the ones who are destroyed says the flood came and took them all away the wicked are taken away the righteous are left they're left alive in other words they survive is this clear now let's notice several other interesting parallels is the world at the end of time going to be supremely wicked you know there's passages I could read we don't have time to read them but they're all in the resource material one passage which describes the wickedness of the world is 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 5 a long catalogue of sins which will exist in the last days the list begins by the Apostle Paul saying that men will be lovers of themselves self-love the root of all sins and the list ends by saying that people will have a form of godliness without the power of godliness and in between you have all sorts of sins that are being committed and listen up those sins are not being committed by worldlings they are committed by people who profess to serve God because they have the form of godliness what led Christians into this condition well what happened before the flood the sons of God intermingled with what with the daughters of men the righteous with the wicked let me tell you what when the righteous and the wicked blend together the righteous rarely convert the wicked the wicked generally drag the righteous along with him and so the world is going to be filled with recognized because Christians have joined and blended themselves with the world that's why the Apostle Paul says be not unevenly yoked with unbelievers doesn't mean that we're not supposed to preach the gospel so unbelievers it means that we're not supposed to share in their sins we're not supposed to share their habits we're not supposed to practice their entertainment we're not supposed to listen to the same same things they listen to we're not supposed to go to the same places that they go to we cannot be comfortable and happy watching violence and illicit sexual relations on television which by the way it can't be only world things that are filling movie theaters in making Hollywood rich the theaters are filled with Christians as well because at the end of time the world will be in a similar condition of wickedness because the righteous will have joined to a great degree the wicked is God going to present a worldwide message of warning before destruction comes that warning is found in Revelation 14 Revelation chapter 14 and verse 6 Revelation chapter 14 and verse 6 we don't have time to study all of the three angels messages right now but we will study them in a later lecture in this series Revelation chapter 14 and verse 6 it says then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell in the earth to every nation tribe tongue and people is this a global message it most certainly is what does it call the world - it says here in verse 7 saying with a loud voice fear God that expression is coupled in the Bible with obeying the commandments of God fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made the heavens the earth the Seas and the fountains of waters in other words the first angel calls the world every nation kindred tongue and people to fear God to obey God to glorify God to realize that he is their creator and that they are in the hour of the judgment the same mess that Noah gave at the end of Noah's message how many groups were there - how many groups will there be when the three angels finished proclaiming their message Revelation chapter 14 Revelation chapter 14 and verse 14 explains how many groups are there at the conclusion of the three angels messages it says there in Revelation 14 and verse 14 then I looked and behold a white cloud and on the cloud sat.1 like the Son of man having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle and he is going to harvest the earth he's going to harvest the harvest of the earth which is the righteous and he's going to harvest the grapes of the earth which are the wicked what does this endtime message do it separates the world into two groups just like in the days of Noah let me ask you will the endtime message be accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit no doubt you say how do we know that because what ripened the grain in biblical times was the latter rain and the latter rain represents the Holy Spirit the rain represents the Holy Spirit you notice in Revelation 14 verse 14 that were told that the harvest of the earth is ripe the grapes of the earth are ripe the question is what ripened them the three angels messages accompanied by what accompanied by the rain the latter rain of the Holy Spirit is the door of probation going to close for the world before Jesus comes notice Matthew chapter 25 this is the firm famous parable of the ten virgins Matthew chapter 25 and verse 10 one of the better-known parables of Jesus it says there and while they went to buy the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding and the door was shut was there shut door in the days of Noah who shut it God is there going to be a shut door at the end of time yes and by the way the shut door is not when destruction comes because after the door is shut the virgins come back and they knock on the door they say let us come in they had time to go and try and buy oil and come back again the closing of the door of probation for the world is going to come before destruction actually comes in fact God is going to make an awesome pronouncement it's found in Revelation chapter 22 and verse 11 Revelation chapter 22 and verse 11 notice what God is going to say when probations door closes he who is unjust let him be unjust still he who is filthy let him be filthy still he who is righteous let him be righteous still he who is holy let him be holy still and the very next verse Jesus says behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every one according to his work do you see that the door of probation closes before Jesus actually comes the filthy will remain filthy the unrighteous will remain right unrighteous the holy will remain holy the righteous will remain righteous in other words there will be only two groups when the door of probation closes and when destructions comes God's people will be spared and the wicked will be destroyed is there gonna be a period of tribulation for God's people after the door closes notice Matthew chapter 24 and verses 31 and 32 Matthew 24 31 and 32 by the way here Jesus is giving the signs of his second coming and so we can connect it with the story of Noah because as it was in the days of Noah so also shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man Jonah's Matthew chapter 24 and verse 15 therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the Holy Place whosoever reads let him understand then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house and let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes but woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days and pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath and now notice this for then there will be Great Tribulation such as has not been seen since the beginning of the world until this time no nor ever shall be and unless those days were shortened no flesh would be saved but for the elects sake those days will be shortened a terrible time of trouble of tribulation is going to ensue in this world our God's people going to be safe and sound yes they are is their faith going to be severely tested yes it will what is going to happen with the wicked during this period are they going to become more and more belligerent I don't become more and more violent against God's people the book of Revelation says that they will even proclaim a death decree against God's people which we'll talk about a little bit later on in this seminar so there's a time of trouble ensuing after the close of human probation and then of course the catastrophe will come and do you know that this world is going to return to the condition that it was in before creation and at the time of the flood do you remember that in Genesis chapter 1 it says in verse 2 that the earth was without form and void notice Jeremiah Jeremiah chapter 4 Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse 23 it's describing the second coming of Christ and what happens with the earth when Jesus comes Jeremiah after four and verse 23 actually I wish we had time to read verse 19 it speaks about God speaking and the trumpet sounding like when Jesus comes but let's just go to verse 23 it says I beheld the earth and indeed it was without form and what and void and the heavens and they had no what and they had no light is this world going to return to the condition it was in at the time of the flood is it going to return to the condition it was in before creation when the whole world was filled with water yes the same expression without form and void is used were Satan going to be during this period where was he at the flood he was obligated to stay here how many living followers did he have none what's going to happen with the devil when Jesus comes when the earth is left without form and void and in darkness Revelation chapter 20 says that the devil will be what the devil will be chained or bound to this earth in a chaotic state in a disorderly and void state how many of his followers will be alive none because the rest of the dead according to Revelation 20 verse 5 the rest of the Dead which are the wicked do not live again until the thousand years are ended are you seeing the parallels that we find in these two stories it's not only the wickedness which is parallel it's not only the destruction which is parallel it is a whole sequence and series of events which are parallel and then of course after the thousand years just like after the flood knowing his family came out of the ark on to a world cleansed from sinners and God's people will come out of the thousand years upon a new earth totally cleansed from sin and sinners now it's interesting as Jesus spoke about the days of Noah and about what's going to happen at the end of time he dedicated more space to tell us how to be ready then he did to give the signs in fact in Matthew 24 the last part of the chapter and all of Matthew 25 Jesus gives a series of parables about how we are to prepare for the soon close of probation and the tribulation and the coming of Jesus I'm only going to read the references and tell you what they contain as we bring our lecture to a close once again in the written copy of the lecture you can find all of these references in Matthew 25 and verse 13 jesus says watch do you know what that means it means to be awake it means to pay attention to what's happening out there to look at the signs that show that we're near the end don't slumber don't sleep stay awake in mark 13 verse 33 Jesus said pray watch pray if are used to praying three times a day we should now pray 30 times a day because that crisis that were entering is phenomenal in Matthew 25:31 246 Jesus says that we're supposed to bless others were supposed to give them our clothing we're supposed to give them food were supposed to visit them in prison and so on we're supposed to be living a practical Christian life in Matthew 24 and verse 44 Jesus says be ready so he says be awake pray bless others be ready and of course he gives a parable of the talents use your talents for the honor and the glory of God and finally in math in Luke 19 verse 13 Jesus gives a very important counsel he says occupy until I come keep busy about the Lord's business folks we are on the brink of the close of probation let us prepare so that we can live forever in the kingdom with Jesus [Music]

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Length: 55min 56sec (3356 seconds)

Published: Mon May 07 2018