To Encourage You

Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”

One of the vast differences between God and Satan is that God constantly works to sustain our life and Satan constantly works to destroy it.  We see this in the approaches of each to coming danger.  The Word of God is filled with warnings about the dangers that fill our world.  God warns us because He loves us and desires for us to be saved.  As an example, God gave the following words to the disobedient nation of Israel through the prophet Ezekiel: “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11).  Likewise, Jesus’ ministry was filled with warnings of the destruction that was coming for the ungodly.  We have an example of this in Mark 12:38-40: “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Satan, on the other hand, is a master of deception. He gives no warnings. He entices and then traps.  He disguises evil as good.  In 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 we are told this about his nature and the nature of the false teachers that serve him: “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” From the very beginning in the garden of Eden, Satan has been beguiling people and tempting them to scoff at the warnings of God.  But it is the response of people to the warnings of God that is one of the marks of true faith. 

In the verse above from Hebrews 11, Noah is held up as one of the greatest examples of this principle.  God warned Noah of a coming flood that was going to destroy the world.  In Genesis 6, the Bible tells us that at the time Noah lived “the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”  It is unlikely that Noah had ever seen the ocean, or a flood, for that matter.  Some believe that it had never even rained before that time based on the following passage from Genesis 2:5-6: “the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground.” In any event, God warned Noah to build a great ship (something that Noah, likewise, had never seen) on dry ground because of the coming devastation. It was because Noah believed God that he went to work, completing the task over a period of about 100 years.  During this time, we are told that Noah preached to others about what was to come (2 Peter 2:5).  How he must have been mocked as he conveyed God’s warnings to those around him.  But then the flood came, Noah and his family were saved, but everyone else on the face of the earth perished. 

In one of Jesus’ warnings, He recounted the story of Noah. In Matthew 24:37-39 we have this record of Jesus’ words: “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Well, it’s been over 2,000 years since Jesus spoke these words.  It is only those who have true faith that have believed this warning and have fled to Him for protection just as Noah and his family fled to the ark.  The unbelievers throughout history up to and including the present day have given no heed to Jesus’ words, just at those in Noah’s day gave no heed to him.  The apostle Peter spoke about this in the following prophecy, which is recorded in 2 Peter 3: “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

The question is, do you believe all this?  Do you have the faith to act in light of it?  God waited 120 years for the people in Noah’s day to repent (Genesis 6:3), but they would not. He’s given over 2,000 years to us!  The question is, will you heed the warnings of the One who loved us so much that He gave His life for us, or will you listen to the mockers and tragically suffer their same fate?