Posted on 01/15/2013 5:17:44 PM PST by pastorbillrandles
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 them 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.(Genesis 6:1-3)
And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.(Luke 17:26-27)
Jesus said that the time of his coming would be “as in the days of Noah”. The way it was at the end of the family lines of Cain and of Seth, ie the last days of the generations immediately following Adam, will be duplicated in the last days of our present dispensation. Genesis 4-6 are eschatological, because the conditions will be repeated.
What happened in the Days of Noah? What were the conditions that led up to the flood? There were several signal factors that led up to the cataclysmic execution of the wrath of God upon the earth upon all but 8 souls. I will list them as best as possible, using only the biblical text;
1) A population explosion … men began to multiply on the face of the earth. Physical conditions on the earth were optimal for growth and long life. People in the post flood world wonder about anyone living for 700, 800 or even 900 years, but remember that a canopy covered the earth, shielding men from direct sunlight, ensuring maximum growing conditions. People would have been quite healthy and fertile for a long time.
But with the growth of population, would come intensification of sin. Cities tend to compound the human resistance to God, people influence each other, bolstering one another in evil habits, acts of daring, cutting edged defiance.
Age also would be a factor, imagine a life of hundreds of years of accumulated wickedness, and long practiced God resistance. How hard the heart would become after a point! How toxic an influence an evildoer would be, should he be allowed to continue unto the hundreds of years!
2) Breakthroughs in the Sciences, Technology, and the arts.- We have already discussed the sons of Cain, and their innovations in mitigating the effects of the curse, rendering life easier, affording leisure, and most important of all, tending to give the impression that life can be lived without the acknowledgement of God.
3) The Willful disregard for Marriage- Marriage was designed and ordained of God, to be between one man and one woman for life. It is one of the primal laws, the “everlasting covenant” Isaiah laments about,
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.(Isaiah 24:5)
In a debate with his theological enemies, about marriage and divorce, Jesus takes us back, not to the provisional laws of marriage and divorce in the law of Moses, but to the very beginning, defining marriage ;
And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.(Matthew 19:3-6)
But today, as in the days of Noah, as seen in the example of Lamech, we see that the very concept of marriage has been perverted and even forsaken.
So too had the roles of men and women as assigned by God. Lamech’s two wives and daughter are known by name. Lamech’s wives, Ada, “Ornament, or beauty”", Zillah,”the Shady”, ( on account of her tresses?) and also his daughter Naama,”loveliness” were renown, as their names indicate, for their outward beauty and sensual attractiveness.
But in the godly line, before the flood, women took no prominent place. No woman was known by name of Seth’s line, nor do we know the names of the wives of Noah, Methuselah, Enoch. Perhaps this was a reflexion of the “meek and quite spirit” the Apostle Peter told us, that is so precious to God.
Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:( I Peter 3:1-5)
4) Another sign of the days of Noah, is the overall rejection of the call to repentance and faith in God- Centuries had passed, in which men Enos led the congregation to call upon the name of the LORD redeemer, and those fiery preachers such as Enoch, Lamech, Methselah, called men to repentance in view of the coming judgment. But by the time of the days of Noah, what do we find? Only a congregation of eight people were aware of what was coming.
There could have been millions or perhaps even a billion on the earth, but by the time of the flood, there were only eight who believed. This is because the fifth sign of the days of Noah is,
5) The obliteration of separation between the line of Cain and the line of Seth- We see no distinction, the centuries saw the diminishment of the line of Seth, which succumbed to the licentious, unbelieving spirit of its own age. Gradually the “congregation” became just another worldly institution, making no apparent difference in the people, calling upon the LORD descended into ritual, and perhaps imperceptibly the light flickered, sputtered and all but died out.
Cainite and Sethite alike had more and more in common, as they commenced with ‘business as usual, they married, gave in marriage, built houses, invested in the future business, had children, ate at restaraunts, went to theaters, and lived as though there was no God to fear.
The “church” had become the world; There were perhaps services or functions, but there would be no messages of judgment, no fear of God, no confrontation with the increasingly evil practices which abounded around them, perhaps a few moral lessons here and there, but nothing too radical… (wouldn’t want to be identified with that crazy Noah), …until the end came…
To be continued…
Forgive me for being so rude and forgetting to do this.
Thank you for posting this as a thread (and the continuing series). I find them very interesting, and very well written. I look forward to continuing to read them.
BTTT
The world was "full of violence," like Sodom and Gommorah.
Delving into the Apocrypha or the Deuterocanon does leave a sometimes wildly different impression as to just what were the sins requiring the world to be wiped clean, doesn’t it? The corruption described was not just spiritual but physical.
I understand the pre flood canopy however how would they see the stars if there was a covering until after the flood?
I really enjoyed reading your post and hope you do continue the series....
Huh?
Incorrect -- Cities were the first place where the message of Christianity spread in the Roman and Persian Empires. Those in the countryside resisted Christianity, hence the term for rural folk, PAGAN, became to mean non-Christian...
Lamech a fiery preacher? You're extrapolating wildly from Gen 4:19-24 where he says that if someone attacks him, the attacker will get his comeuppance
And Methuselah a fiery preacher?? He's just mentioned once at Gen 5:21-27. ditto for Enoch...
Sorry, the only book of Jasher that exists is an 18th century fake/forgery
The Book of Jasher as referenced in 2 Samuel is the book of the upright -- which can be interpreted as the Pentateuch
I second that thank you
I found a possible explanation for the waters above
http://creation.com/the-waters-above
It is a great Genesis resource
http://creation.com/genesis-verse-by-verse
Wrong Lamech Cronos, I refer to the Lamech of Genesis 5 who prophesied over his son, naming him Noah, and Methiselah whose very name was a prophesy.
The fact does remain that modern society is guilty of injustice, violence and disobedience described in Noah's time. We don't really need Jashar to prove that God prohibited the mixing of diverse species of animals, which is going on today with GMO and hybrid interspecies mixtures. We also do not need Jashar to observe the mischief of fornication and adultery encouraged by the widespread availability of birth control. Even though Justice Goldburg's US Supreme Court Decision in the 60s claimed Planned Parenthood would only provide birth control to married couples and it was a matter of marital privacy protected by the 9th Amendment, someone ought to compare the bored housewives of today and 50% divorce rate with our grandmothers and see if the rate of adultery or STD-increase is dubious, as the judge referred to Connecticut's claims.
There is more sin out there, more guilt which means more evil in the world as in the prediluvian times. It's just begun and can be stamped out by the human race's repentance and refusal to sin. People need to quit believing the serpent and follow their Creator.
28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. 29 Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will [c]give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.”
You can't make that as a "fiery preacher" -- he named his son, that's it that we are told of in the Bible
The one that we have is an 18th century work of fiction.
Also, to be fair -- about hybrid interspecies mixtures -- there have been mules for millenia.
Maybe there’s a reason Jasher (and Enoch, another favorite in fringe circles) is non-canonical.
Sorry, the only book of Jasher that exists is an 18th century fake/forgery
I've noticed lately (last few years) in pop dispensational circles a lot of fascination with, and wild speculation rooted in, non-canonical books. Especially Enoch.
If you find someone yammering on about "nephilim hybrids" coming back, that's where they're getting it.
I wonder why this fascination. I blame it on us in the established Church for not informing people better about the early Church. it’s like ‘whooa, this is new information; — like Dan Brown.
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