They Knew Not

Pastor Charles Cooley
4/23/08

But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:37-39)

 I recently wrote an article named As in the Days of Noah in which I documented present day events which could qualify as the events Jesus was teaching about when He referred to Noah's days. According to Jesus, life was going as as usual, even though wickedness was abounding. They should have known God's judgment would be inevitable, but the continual wickedness had blinded them to the truth. As Romans declares,

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient." (Romans 1:28)

'They did not like to retain God in their knowledge'. This sounds like America today. First prayer, directed toward God, is outlawed, then any mention of Jesus in an attitude of faith is repressed. Across the nation reports frequently surface of school children being punished for including references to Jesus in their work. The Ten Commandments are expunged from public view, crosses are resisted because they contain a hint about Jesus, Christmas and Easter school concerts no longer contain songs about Jesus only about Santa and the Easter Bunny! Teaching what the Bible declares on social issues is labeled 'hate speech' and threatened with lawsuits. At the same time arts and entertainment freely display blasphemy, immoral behavior, and religious ridicule and the people love to have it so! A searching examination of our government, foreign policy, societal norms, education and criminal activity clearly proves that we have indeed been given over to 'reprobate minds', doing those things which are not convenient to health, social welfare, or national security.

What is often overlooked in Jesus' statement about the times of Noah is the phrase "and knew not" until the judgment of God fell on them. It does not mean they were not told. As Paul wrote, they had an inward knowledge that God places in every human (Romans 1:19, 20), but they held the truth in unrighteousness! That means, they knew inherently what was the righteous way to live, but they resisted and suppressed that truth. For example, any thinking person knows it is wrong to take a precious life forming in the womb and snuff it out by abortion, but, selfishness, greed, and political gain has overridden this self-declaring truth today. Besides this, Noah preached to them for 120 years about their sinful living and the judgment that was coming, but they chose not to listen. This is the attitude that will liken the 'end days' to Noah's time and it is an attitude that is clearly evident today.

Many churches do not teach truths like this because they are more interested in numbers and the offering than in warning the people they are supposed to be shepherding. But, the message is going out for all those who can still listen. The time may not be far off when what Saint Paul warned of comes upon us:

"And for this cause God will send them a strong delusion, that they should believe  a lie: that they all might be dammed who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:11, 12)

The Psalmist asks, "What can the righteous do when the foundations are destroyed?" The answer is given in the last chapter of Revelation:

"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: he that is righteous let him be righteous still; and he that is holy let him be holy still." (Revelation 22:11)

In modern terms what this is saying is, 'If you are going to be unjust and unholy, live it up you haven't got long! But if you chose righteousness and holiness, strive to be more so, you will soon be rewarded!'

Jesus is soon coming, and His reward is with Him!