Boarding the Ark: Repentance, Holiness, and Preparing Our Hearts for the Apocolypse.
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The Past Judgement of Noah’s Flood
The Past Judgement of Noah’s Flood
1 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
Human beings spread out as God had commanded, and they were fruitful and multiplied as God had commanded; things were going well.
But the angelic sons of God were taken aback by the beauty of the daughters of men, so left their station and pursued women instead of God.
> We know that the sons of God are angelic because of 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6 <
It is taught by Jesus Christ in Matthew 6:22–23 that the eye is the lamp of the body wherewith, if the eye is healthy, the body is full of light.
If our eyes are set on God, and we pursue Him first and foremost, then our bodies will be full of light and our ways will be right.
Because the angelic sons of God took their eyes off of God, they succumbed to their lusts and laid with women against God’s will.
> But what about this causes God to number the days of men? <
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
When the angelic sons of God laid with women, the poor women bore the Nephilim: the heroes of old, men of renown and celebrity.
It is after this, in v.5, that “the Lord saw…that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil”; this is due to the Nephilim.
The cultures around the biblical authors idolized heroes like Gilgamesh who were tyrannical, violent, and slept around; these are the heroes of old, men of renown.
While the world worshiped these demigod tyrants, murderers, and womanizers as heroes, the Bible tells the truth: they were the bastard children of demons.
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Like the sons of God set their eyes on women instead of God, fell from grace, and produced the Nephilim; because the people set their eyes on the Nephilim instead of God, they fell with the sons of God and the Nephilim.
Like with the blood of Abel which Cain spilt in Genesis 4, the violence of the earth cried out to God and he “regretted that he had made human beings on the earth.”
The violence and bloodshed of the innocent cried out to God and demanded justice: the flood. This is what it means that the days of men are numbered in v.3. See also v.11-13.
“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord”: he was not given to the same violence as the people in the world, instead “he walked faithfully with God”:
9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.
The Future Judgement of the Apocalypse
The Future Judgement of the Apocalypse
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Jesus Christ teaches that the day and hour of the apocalypse is a mystery to everyone but God the Father Almighty, but also that it will be like “in the days of Noah.”
Like the past judgment of the Flood, the future judgement of the Apocalypse is divine punishment for the violence and corruption of our secular world.
There are no more Nephilim, but we still have our own violent and corrupt celebrities: singers, artists, actors, and politicians that are vulgar and evil.
Like the judgement of the Flood, the future Apocalypse will come when people least expect it; our wicked, reprobate culture will continue in its debauchery to the very end.
Whores and whoremongers will continue clubbing, drunkards and gluttons will continue eating and drinking, and homosexuals will continue fighting for their “marriages.”
But when they least expect it, while they are engulfed in their debauchery, God will render judgement on their perversions and destroy them:
40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
The wicked and reprobate will be swept away by the figurative waters of the proverbial flood, but their fate will be real and horrible; only the elect will be preserved.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Some Christians are deceived by the world and imagine that Christ is never coming. These sorts of people that live foolhardily without considering the Second Coming will suffer for it.
Because the Day of the Lord will be as horrible and dreadful as beautiful and just, we should keep watch and prepare everyday for the coming of Jesus Christ. It is imminent and serious.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
This house is not ours, rather it is the house of God; the elders and ministers of the church have no authority in themselves, only in the Word of God.
Because Jesus Christ is coming again every soon, it is important that we forsake the world and embrace pews, stained glass windows, altars, hymnals, steeples, and biblical Christianity.
Our true and proper worship is first reverential, orderly, educational, and sacramental; it is true doctrine and wholesome praise, not rock bands, strobe lights, and smoke machines.
If the church of God does not stand to praise, kneel to pray, and raise a hand when the Holy Spirit compels them to do so, then the church of God will not evangelize or stand for truth when the Spirit compels them.
> How many of us know the creeds by memory, or the church covenant? <
It is not enough to be a servant, we must be faithful and wise servants that are prepared for the coming of our Master.
While the Christian is saved by grace, he is nonetheless expected to be a faithful and wise servant; faith alone saves, but that faith which saves is never alone.
The servant that is not faithful and wise, but rather abuses the grace and mercy of his Master will be swept away and torn to pieces in the end.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. 10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings;
If God did not spare His angelic sons when they forsook their station, then He will not spare the elect when they that corrupt and despise.
God’s Word is clear that whoever loves this world does not love God; it is necessary that we abandon the things of this world: its game, its music, and its opinions.
> Virtue signaling on Instagram is not faithful Christianity <
It is not enough to virtue signal about the Ark, or to philosophize about the Ark, or to speak lovingly about the Ark: you must climb aboard the Ark.
All this world’s virtue signaling fools, vain philosophers, and stupid poets will be swept away by the coming judgment without Jesus Christ.
We must repent, believe, and receive from the Word and Sacraments; we need to turn from sin, trust in Jesus, and cling to His Word and His commands.