“As it was in the days of Noah...so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matt. 24:37)

“...they were eating and drinking and marrying....they bought and sold and planted and built...until the day that Noah entered the ark.” (Matt. 24:39; Luke 17:28)

“....and they did not know until the flood came and took them all away; ... so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”(Matt. 24:39). Luke’s version actually states: “and the flood came and destroyed them all.” (17:27)

And those who were ‘destroyed’ were oblivious to it until after it was too late. But Noah knew, as did those who were in the ark with him, which was his family. They knew the flood was coming and made preparations and then entered the ark as the Lord ‘shut them in’. (Gen. 7:16). We are told in Isaiah 59:19 that the ‘when the enemy comes in like a...flood, God raises up a ‘standard’’. Those who were ‘shut in’ their homes on the first Passover were spared the destruction that came to Egypt where they had the blood applied to their door posts. (Yesterday’s message- Ex. 12).

God promises to protect His people (Ps. 91; 34:7; 1 John 5:18). To be ‘in the ark’ ... and ‘covered by the blood’ is to be- IN Christ; and those who are “IN Christ...are a ‘new creation’ where ‘old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” (2 Cor. 5:17) You should make note there in that verse how it begins with the word ‘IF’... anyone is in Christ.  No wonder Paul admonishes us to examine ourselves to see if we are 'in the faith and that Christ Jesus is in us'. (2 Cor. 13:5)

What are the ‘old things’ that have ‘passed away’? Take a look at Gal. 5:24. And if you take a moment and revisit 1 John 2:3-6, you will read there how one might truly know IF...they are ‘in Christ’. Oh, and that deal about the ‘destroyer’ unable to enter in to those homes where the Lord saw the blood’...(first Passover) is an obvious type or foreshadowing of the protection we have from the blood of Jesus today. But do you know exactly how...that blood is applied? “By faith”, you say? You might take a look at 1 John 1:6-7 because it seems to suggest clearly there that the ‘blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin...IF....IF....IF...we walk in the light as He is in the light.” So if you are not walking in the light as He is in the light (or abiding in Him)...then you are not being cleansed or redeemed by His blood.

Could it be said that where there is no repentance, then there is no redemption? (Luke 13:3,5)

Do you see how serious this is...yet? “Not everyone who says, ‘Lord, Lord’...will enter...the kingdom..., but he who does the will of the Father...” (Matt. 7:21). Those next two verses, 22-23 warn us how many will be shocked to learn...that they were not ‘in Christ’, or ‘in the ark’ ... until after the ‘flood comes and takes them away. It was too late for those five foolish virgins who came back and found the ‘door to the wedding shut’. And it remained shut despite all their desperate knocking and pleading. (Matt. 25:10-13; Prov. 1:22-33) Oh, did you catch that word ‘watch’ in vs 13? It's the same word we were looking at the other day about watching for the ‘thief’.

There is an interesting aspect to the judgements of God that He has chosen to implement, and I don’t have the full understanding as to why this is so, but it needs to be pointed out again: Those who judgement is falling on, are usually oblivious to it. Those foolish virgins seemed unaware. Those taken by the flood in Noah’s day, were unaware. You might read Isaiah 42:23-25 real quick as you will see a similar idea expressed there.

And yesterday, when we touched on Revelation 9, we did not finish that chapter but you might read vs.18-21 and see if anything there at the close resonates with you. Then, one final passage for today: Daniel 12:1-10, and be sure to underline vs. 10.

I know many have been taught to believe that this ‘rapture bus’ is on the way to take all those good church members out of here before this ‘flood of destruction’ comes. You have to agree that nobody knows when this ‘catching away’ will occur, but let me ask you this: Why wait on some ‘bus’ when there is an ‘ark’ already here for us to enter in and find rest and peace, and protection? We sure don’t know when that ark is going to ‘set sail’, but if you are in it, it really doesn’t matter, does it? That is why the most important question we need to focus on these days...is not ‘who is saved’ but who...is abiding in Christ? (John 15:1-8; 1 John 2:6 and 3:6)