Obviously not. I said that the reference to them eating, drinking and marrying had to do with how people were doing normal things while being oblivious to what was going to happen to them. The days before Jesus returns will be like that and that was His point. He did not talk about the reason they were all destroyed in the flood. We can see that from other scripture such as, obviously, Genesis 6 and 7.
Yes, we can discern from other scripture like 2 Peter 3:3-7 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 that the reason that He will destroy all unbelievers when He returns will be for the same reason He destroyed all unbelievers in Noah's day with the flood. Because of their wickedness. But, that was not something Jesus was pointing out in Matthew 24:37-39. There is no scripture to suggest that the days before Christ's return will be the same as the days of Noah in every way. Obviously no one will be building an ark to escape the wrath to come. We should only go by what scripture says about the days before Christ's return. Anything else is just useless speculation.
Indeed. But there is more to it.
The characteristic of the end times is not "anything" but the
decay or corruption of the world and judgment of the Church (remember, judgment always begins there first) as Satan is loosed from his restraint to deceive. And what God-fearing Christians will deny that rampant homosexuality is a direct sign of that decay, deterioration and corruption of society as it forsakes all the inherit laws of God. As it turns the order of things upside down. This decay and corruption is just as much a sign of God's judgment as it was in the days of Noah.
Genesis 6:11-13
- "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
- And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
- And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth."
God is immutable. He doesn't change His Modus Operandi. Indeed, these things are written
as examples for
our admonishment,
our understanding and
our consideration. As the earth deteriorates, the world becomes full of violence or wrongdoing, where there is corruption of God's nature and offenses and violence against God. And shall God forebear? Well, He has been forebearing, but ultimately
He will give them up. As it is written, How long, O Lord, holy and true, will thou not judge and avenge the blood of the prophets on them that dwell on the earth? The answer is, only until the last elect is sealed and all Israel is saved. Then the restraint is lifted and God gives man up to his vile immorality. Thus homosexuality may seem triumphant for a season, but the end thereof is just as it was in Sodom. It's no coincidence that Sodom is equated with Sodomy or homosexuality. Are we to think that
God highlights the contemptible sin of Homosexuality in Sodom before destroying it as,
just coincidental? As hard as that might be to believe, there are those who believe just homosexuality in Sodom is just miscellaneous. Of no import. But for those who can discern more than the face of the sky,
it was written for a reason,
signifying the corruption and
perversion of man. It is
a sign. Moreover, God uses these same examples of both Noah and
Sodom when prophesying the coming of the Lord and the end of days.
Specifically, because they both denote the corruption and vile affections of the world, the rampant abominations in the earth as Sodomy.
Luke 17:25-29
- "But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
- 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 Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
- Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
- But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all."
The days of Noah, when the world was continually evil and in unchecked degradation, is equated to the day that the Lord would return to destroy the wicked. Are we listening? Were they listening then? No, they were eating and drinking pretending everything was normal. It is because they did not see the signs either. Noah was saved by the Ark of the Covenant, upon which He was found safe and secure in Christ.
1st Peter 3:19-20
- "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
- Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."
Likewise, the days of Sodom and the deterioration of that society from the natural order in rank wickedness and homosexuality, are also equated
(by Christ) to the day that the Lord would return. And Lot was saved by the Messenger of God who
forced him to leave his house and kin and depart that city, lest he receives of the Lord's judgment there. The world today is likewise morally bankrupt with the same filthiness of Sodom. And nothing in the word of God is there by coincidence, not God's illustrating the earth's corruption and needing to be destroyed, or the Lord illustrating Sodom's rampant homosexuality and that city's needed destruction. Nor is it coincidence His use of both as examples (signs) of His coming again and the end of the world. Our society today is continually evil as in the days of Noah, and is deteriorating with rampant homosexuality as in the days of Sodom.
It can only mean the judgment thereof is nigh. Man rejected serving God and instead serves only themselves, the creation rather than the creator. The carnal image of the beast. It is the pleasure principle, where whatever feels right is done, regardless of the natural law or the order of God's creation. And when this happens, God gives us up, or in other words, takes away His hand of restraint in judgment. His principles do not change, man does.
Romans 1:25-27
- "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
- For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
- And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet."
God calls these vile affections, but the
unfaithful Church just rolls its eyes as conducts business as usual. Bible-believing Christians must be prepared to face that deterioration of the world and Church and the trials and
tribulations of same. With their eyes on Christ, and not the Church, they must discern the signs of the times. Their head toward heaven, and not looking toward the earth in fear after those things which are coming on the earth, Luke 21:25-26. It is a
prelude to the Lord's soon return. For the powers of heaven shall be shaken, the Church devastated. Signs are
spiritual, in the heavens and in the earth. And only those with their spiritual eyes toward heaven will see them.