As The Days of Noah

Post 259

In Matthew 24:3, while discussing the timing and sign of his return marking the end of the world (165; an age), Jesus himself declared;

“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” Matthew 24:34-37.

First, let’s move beyond the concept that Jesus might have been talking about the Jewish age of Temples and Priests and Sacrifices. He was (Genesis 49:10+Daniel 9:26). But simply scanning back over the incredible events prophesied in this chapter describing The End, we know that by everything after v.14 he could only be describing as a Type the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the Jewish age of 70 AD that actually occurred 37 years after his talk; before the passing of the generation he was speaking to.
So while the fulfillment of that significant historic event actually fits this chapter pretty well but not completely accurate in the primary sense, we know the chapter is speaking of something else, the end of another age, the end of the world (as we know it) and his return that would change it. This obviously didn’t happen to the generation he was speaking to so what gives? Obviously “this generation” was meaning the generation that saw the events in the previous verses.
Without going into the details, this tells us that the last events of verses 29-31 may give indication that they could last a long time. And right after such a horrific tribulation as described, this would most certainly give reason for overwhelming discouragement, so Jesus tells us; they won’t.

“…when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors” Matthew 24:33b.

The following is a brief list of Matthew 24 “events” that fit both the end times as well as the end of the Jewish age he was talking to:
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Regarding Matthew 24:4-5 - Most probably many did arise to claim they were Jesus returned in the 37 years between 33 AD and 70 AD as is evidenced by Paul’s specific denial that his return had already happened (II Thessalonians 2:1-3). Likewise we can expect the same thing on a whole new level at the time of the end.

Regarding Matthew 24:6 - When have there not been wars and rumors of wars? Jesus said this means little regarding the signs of when the end would come. We can only expect them to get progressively worse… but it may suggest that there will first come a period of peace, so that the coming of wars and rumors of wars would indeed be startling times.

Regarding Matthew 24:7-8 - Nations and kingdoms will broil in conflict, famines and diseases will indeed take place, and there will be earthquakes all over. These are just the beginning as gestation and not indication the day has come. Again I ask, throughout history; when have these things ever not been? So why does he even speak of them here? “The beginning of sorrows” is the key concept; he is speaking of the contractions of a pregnant woman; they will simply get more frequent and more intense long before the birth but only after the child is conceived. Before conception the woman may get a tummy ach now and again but these “signs” are something different; by charting them they indicate the trend of something more than a random cramp. But don’t get all worked up, its not yet the end, though by them we know the end has now been conceived and is on its way.

Regarding Matthew 24:9 - Shortly after the resurrection of Christ, the apostles and disciples began to be treated poorly and even murdered as recorded already in the Acts, which was written soon after Jesus. But who would have thought these atrocities, that could be the checkmark next to this verse as fulfilled, would continue to accelerate to the millions as by the Roman Catholic Church and many other national leaders around the world such as Hitler and Islam? This too then speaks of frequency and intensity rather than a point-in-time checkmark of yes or no.

Regarding Matthew 24:10 - Offense, betrayal, and hatred? Picture a day when these were not normal humanity. I know I cannot. But isn’t that the point of the verse? Apparently there was a day (when Christ spoke this) that this was not the norm of the world. Yes Rome was well into the violent conquest of the known world, as every GDE had done in their turn, so including the many lesser nations unusually in conflict all at once, Jesus was perhaps speaking on a “person-by-person” universal condition of spirit that apparently was not normal at the time. All these years later, even in America; (the world’s Christian Nation), the evidence of our clamoring media concerned about such violence being regularly news worthy, is reason enough to recognize this must be “a new thing” or it wouldn’t be reported. So once again this is apparently speaking of a charting progression and not a point in time.

Regarding Matthew 24:11 - False prophets deceiving many. Today this is so commonly ignored as “whatever” that many have even stopped trying to listen for the truth because of all the lies and deceptions. Again I turn you to the New Testament written soon after Christ’s Ascension, instructing believers of that day regarding these false prophets (Galatians 1:6-9) as indication these could be checked off as fulfilled before that generation passed, but now we see it as nothing more than a much longer trend of accelerated activity.

Regarding Matthew 24:12 - The love of large numbers of people shutting off because of iniquity. My first thoughts are of the huge starving people-groups across the world who have organizations eager to help them but generous people of comparative wealth holding back funds because the huge volume of wicked greedy people masquerading as such organizations steeling the donations meant to aid the starving. So the loving don’t give, and the people starve.
Likewise I think of the many sound ministries devoting their very lives to earnestly spread the gospel of truth through labor and books and very expensive media to reach unprecedented numbers, but the people who actually believe in the cause refuse to give even a little of the much needed resource in order to keep them going. This results in these ministries forced to swallow their dignity and shamefully beg for ministry funding that should be coming in from obedient believers without prompting (Matthew 10:9-10, I Corinthians 9:11,14), it’s not God’s job to feed them it’s yours (I Corinthians 9:9).
Then, by your lack of their provision, you actually despise them for their begging because you choose by common iniquity to believe that they, like the thieves, want it for themselves and so you feel justified for not giving while the ministry folds for lack of funding and you buy a new TV instead and watch junk because “it’s the only thing on”. Is this not love gone horribly cold?
But Paul himself addressed this very topic as he wrote to the churches of his day (Philippians 2:30, II Timothy 4:9-11, I Corinthians 16:1-2, Galatians 6:6); “Provide for the ministry and even more so if it ministers directly to you” (Jeremiah 22:13 in type). You wouldn’t think of not paying for a meal at a restaurant, even if you didn’t like it, so why does it never cross your mind to drop the price of meal in the offering for an hour’s worth of spiritual food on Sunday, even if you think he did a lousy job? Is your love just cold or are you now a freeloading thief? (Malachi 3:8).

Regarding Matthew 24:14 - Christ’s good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the world of every nation and THEN shall the end come. After Pentecost the Church was forcefully dispersed through the known world by persecution and this began the preaching to every nation perhaps fulfilling this prophecy allowing that the kingdom of Christ had indeed come within the spirit of men before that generation passed. But of all the specifics up to this last point, this one has a more obvious future meaning that the others; we are only now able to say this specific of WHEN is now at its fulfillment. “And then shall the end come”; and so fell Judah with Jerusalem and the age of the Jew’s was over before that very generation passed, just as Jesus promised in a simple surface meaning.
But it doesn’t end there. His detailed description of “the coming of the end” begins with Matthew 24:15, and by it we understand that the first 13 verses were not so much leading up to the fall of the Jewish age “end of the world” but more accurately regarding another age; the last age before he returns; the Gentile age (Luke 21:24+25-28) that we are now in.
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Our Age?
Was Jesus speaking specifically of our age? Are we finally the generation that shall not pass till all these things are fulfilled? (Matthew 24:34).
Jesus was NOT referring to any of the above listed events up to v. 14 (when the end would finally begin) anymore than contractions mean the day of the birth has arrived. You have pregnancy and then you have delivery. Both come with contractions and obviously tied together by cause, but not the same things by any means.
So let’s take a look at Jesus’ description of events, regarding the actual “This generation“ generation that sees “all these things” happen, to see if that means us as our excited preachers loudly and confidently declare is fact.

Regarding Matthew 24:15 - “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet (Daniel 9:27, 12:11), stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)”…

This very clear and obvious sign (that anybody who reads it can figure out) IS the sign of the coming of the end (Matthew 24:14). Has this happened yet?
Yes, by Antiochus Epiphanies (*1) on Kislew (Nov.-Dec.) 25, 168 BC as described accurately in historical chronology by Daniel 11:31.
Daniel eleven, so accurately describes the historical events of “the silent years” between the Old and New Testaments that it simply cannot be mistaken for any other period than what it is; the end of the Greek Empire and the rise of Rome… but did Christ come before that generation passed? NO, that happened 200 years before he was speaking of his return still to come after his upcoming departure. That early event of desolation really did ussure in Jesus’ coming… his first one! Just as the second one will do for his return.
Wow, I have already rabbit trailed this way off topic so I will wrap this up here with the simple concept that scripture OFTEN has proven to provide a very close prototype event that turns out to be only a forerunner of the actual event that fully fulfills the prophecy. The abomination that made desolate of Antiochus Epiphanies was just such a prototype shown in Daniel 12:11 of another event still to come, which Jesus was speaking of.

“So why did Jesus claim that anybody who could read would be able to figure this out? It sounds complex.”

No, that was the reason for the historical prototype long before his speech; to make the future event extremely easy to identify when it comes. You simply cannot get it wrong because we already have a historical example of what Jesus said would come. “OH! You mean like THAT, I get it!” kind of thing.
So, back to the question; Has this Abomination of Desolation already happened? NO. Therefore the end has not yet come; we have not yet arrived at the end of Matthew 24:14 before the end begins. The girl, though uncomfortable with growing labor pain, is still just pregnant. Put the car back in the garage and take off your coat, it’s not yet time to panic (*2), 2012 is not the end of world because the temple has not yet even been rebuilt for the required abomination to take place… but don’t ignore the poignant point that the Jewish world (age) did in fact end a few years after Jesus’ Matthew 24 speech, without the specific prophesied desolating abomination spoken of by Daniel. This should be a warning to the Church age (world) marking their own end without the “eagerly anticipated” abomination that makes desolate. By then you can bet there will be a lot of confused Christians asking; “Where is the promise of his coming?" (II Peter 3:4).

Now, Since Jesus did say that all the events of “birth” between Matthew 24:15 and 31 would happen in a single generation (Matthew 24:34), we should be curious to discover about when in time these things might begin, in otherwords; can we pre-identify about the time that the Abomination of Desolation will happen, marking the beginning of the very short end/birth? (Daniel 12:11-12). Jesus seemed to imply this idea in Matthew 24:32-33, telling us that although we can’t pin down the day and hour (v.36) we should at least figure out which particular summer by the occurrence of “all these things,” obviously meaning those between verses 15-31. But until the actual event of the Matthew 24:15 “Let’s get to the hospital this baby is coming now!” panic, Jesus kind of gave us the ability to monitor and trend the contractions of verses 5-14 to get a good idea of the timing. So let’s see if the scriptures provide any other details to help us trend these early contractions.
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The Days of Noah:

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” Matthew 24:37.

Well that’s convenient, we didn’t have to go very far on this quest. Did you follow that? From the abomination that makes desolate (signaling the beginning of the end) until Jesus actually appears in heaven on his return (Matthew 24:30) will be within a single generation. THEREFORE, we can know that whatever the days of Noah were like before the flood, should also be taking place at the time just before that last generation. Remember verses 5-14 were trending an increase over time building up to that one generation collection of “end events”, so all we need to do is find out what it was like in the days of Noah and compare it to our present day to discover if the summer of the Abomination of Desolation is imminent or still a few summers/years away.

“And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died” Genesis 9:29.

Well that’s kind of a long time. Can we narrow it down any?

“And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years” Genesis 9:28.

OK, This means that the days of Noah before the flood were 600 years. This is the period we need to examine for comparison.
Now 600 years sounds like a long time considering America has only officially been a nation for 236 years, but in the scope of world history and the significance of the actual last generation before Jesus returns, it’s not really that long. Don’t miss the suggestive concept that whatever transpired in those 600 years of Noah’s lifespan before the flood will necessarily transpire in the much-shortened single lifespan today. Consider too that we know by the progressive trend of things listed in Matthew 24:5-14 that a similar increasing trending must have followed Noah until the actual day of the flood, so if we can find any details at or before the flood we should be able to trend backwards until we find a similarity to our present day and therefore come close to where we are on the timeline toward the last generation. This is why I am directly connecting the Last Days events of Matthew 24 with the flood of Noah, and it wasn’t my idea; Jesus came up with it.
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Trending:
Of course right off the bat Jesus jumpstarted our research by providing the concept that life was going on as usual:

“For in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and (they) knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” Matthew 24:38-39.

This is important to know because as we investigate the events of The End as described in Matthew 24:15-31 we see there is nothing “business as usual” there. The only way we can successfully integrate the above concept into Matthew 24 is to identify v.15 as the day the door was shut on the ark; The end had come. Everything after v.15 is represented in the scripturally undescribed details of the flood as we imagine they didn’t just suddenly fall down and drowned on their wet lawn. Things got really, really bad before they finally succumbed to deep water. Therefore I offer the concept that whatever actually occurs in Matthew 24:5-14 is not so dramatic as to disrupt humanity’s successful efforts to continue living normally even in more troubled time than they are used to. And although we faithful will be able to observe the charted increase in these events, the world will not be convinced the end is soon upon us. So don’t spend any time using these evidences to prove to the public that the end is near, you will just look like a religious whacko fool with a cardboard sign on the street corner.
But what does it mean for us?
Just because she periodically screams with contractions does not mean the baby is coming yet. Slow down, gather your wits and quietly chart the event as more informative data. And for heaven’s sake don’t run around the neighborhood handing out cigars in your premature enthusiasm of what you know is coming.

Ok, Is there anything else we can learn from the Days of Noah?
Oh yes there is, and boy is it interesting!
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(*1) Antiochus Epiphanies (http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1589-antiochus-iv-epiphanes)

(*2) It’s not yet time to panic… concerning the summer, but I have been showing you that our house is on fire and we personally will all be consumed long before the birth if we don’t turn our focus to the immediate needs of the here and now (Luke 19:13); the baby is about to die in the womb (Isaiah 32:10-11+Isaiah 26:17-18). And what good will the arrival of summer do us then?

“I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
and he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:” Luke 18:8-9.
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