Jesus said that in the end days the world would return to being like the days of Noah. We have certainly arrived because we are thwarting God’s design at every turn. What do I mean by that?
Today, I want to talk about God’s admission that in the end days the world would become like the days of Noah. That reference comes from Matthew 24:37. We recognize that Jesus is saying that in the end days men will be evil and evil will be multiplied all over the earth. We can also recognize that in the days of Noah that everyone except Noah and his family was in complete rebellion against God.
Let’s look back to the beginning of human history, even before the era of Noah, and look at how God laid out His plan for mankind, particularly His unveiling of the distinctions between Himself and His creation, meaning the created order. We could go all the way back to Genesis 1:1 where it says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”. The Lord Himself provided this distinction between God as the Creator and the created order.
Moving forward into Genesis 1:26-28, He declared a distinction between humanity and the animal kingdom. He said, “Let’s make man in our own image… and let him have dominion over all the rest of the animal kingdom.”
Then God created woman to be a helpmate for man (Gen. 2:18). And so, man and woman were created to be co-equal in the eyes of God, both made in the image of God, but distinct in terms of their biological sexes. In terms of relationships, God established marriage as a union between one man and one woman. It would serve to be a distinct relationship different from all of the other relationships that man would have. Men and women have relationships with their pets and animals. They have relationships with friends. They have relationships with groups. But, there is something special about a man and woman coming together in marriage as ordained by God.
And yet, in our day, we have come to find ourselves living in the days of Noah in terms of an immoral world and degraded society. People are rejecting God as Creator saying there’s no outside entity that created all of the known universe. They are rejecting man as being special and apart from all of the animal kingdom. Too many times today we hear people claim that man is just an animal. They deny that mankind has been made in the image of God.
Worst of all, we now have many people hell-bent on destroying the idea of man and woman being two distinct sexes — two biological kinds created by God. Men and women are complementary to one another but unique and separate.
Added to that lie, there’s a whole wave of people who have denigrated the institution of marriage. True, that has been happening for many years, but now our society has almost totally denied God’s establishment of the ordination of marriage as a union of a man and a woman.
Folks, our society has devolved back to Romans 1! The entire world is shaking its fist at God and rebelling, just as fallen humanity did back in the days of Noah.
Weigh these four distinctions I’ve just gone through:
- God as distinct and separate from His created order.
- Man as distinct and separate from all of the other creatures that God created.
- Man and woman as separate and distinct from one another; complimentary and created in the image of God, and yet separate and distinct.
- That special relationship ordained by God of a man and woman coming together in marriage to be unified for the obvious purpose of producing children.
Those are the established distinctions of God, and we would be wise to heed them even in our day and age. I know our culture is going to push back. The secular culture is shaking its fist at God and in complete rebellion. But, those who know God — those who have eyes to see and ears to hear and are discerning — have to determine to stand on the Word of God and recognize and appreciate those distinctions.
We should be praising our all-loving Heavenly Father for the distinctions He has made. May He be praised and glorified in your life today.
