10/06/2017
Noah’s day
In His Olivet prophecy Jesus Christ said that the days prior to His return will be similar to Noah's day before the flood. What was the pre-flood world like? "The earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:13).
It was a violent phase of human history, brought about because "the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5).
We live in a violent time. Ethics advocates complain about an increasing brutalization of society which affects even school children. We all remember the list of tragic school shootings in the last 20 years: Dunblane, Columbine, Erfurt, Virginia Tech, Winnenden, Newtown. (Andy Murray, 2013 Wimbledon champion, hid in his classroom during the 1996 massacre in Dunblane and survived the tragedy that saw 16 pupils and a teacher murdered.)
The United Nations reports that there are currently 60 million refugees worldwide, and half of them are children. In some cases they are economic refugees, but many have been displaced by war, like those who have fled the fighting in the Ukraine, where Slavic brothers kill each other despite a ceasefire.
The increasing violence in our world is taking place because people today are like their forefathers who lived during Noah's time. The apostle Paul warns us about such people: "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good" (2 Timothy 2:1-3).
And things will get worse, because ahead of us lie "the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled" (Luke 21:22).
We all need to pray King David's prayer: "Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; preserve me from violent men, who plan evil things in their hearts . . . Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men" (Psalm 140:1-2, 4).
And most of all: "Thy kingdom
