“As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” Luke 17:26.

Did you ever stop to think why the Lord has told us so much about the days of Noah and the flood? If you will read 2 Peter 3:5-7, 10, and 2 Thess. 1:7-9, and Matt. 24:27-39, you will see why.

“By the word of God. . . the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire.”

As surely as the earth was once destroyed by water, so surely will it again be destroyed by fire; this will be done when Jesus, the Son of man, comes.

But as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the coming of the Son of man. Many will disbelieve the word of the Lord and will know not until the storm comes and takes them all away.

Therefore God has sent this particular word about the days of Noah and about the days of the coming of the Son of man, that we may study them both carefully and know how to be saved from the flood of fire.

For God is the same God to-day that He was then; He has no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked. He is just as anxious now to save each one, as He was then. And He promises, even as He did then, that He will save every one that has faith in Christ and yields himself completely to Him.

All who come to Christ shall have eternal life, for He is still the only Way of life and salvation. But if any refuse to come to Christ that they may have life, they, like the people in the days of the flood, shall have their own choice—even though it be eternal death and destruction.

It has been a long time since God first sent us word about His coming and about this flood of fire, and many are beginning to think that He has either forgotten His promise or that He never intended to keep it. As in the days of Noah, men are scoffing and making sport. They say, “Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

But God says, “Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day;” the time does not seem long to the Lord, for a thousand years does not seem longer to Him than one day does to us. He says that “the Lord is not slack concerning His promise;” He has not forgotten; He is not careless about His word.

What, then, is the reason that He waits so long?

Listen, oh, listen to the wonderful reason: He says that it is because He is longsuffering to usward and not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance!

Just as His longsuffering waited and waited for long years in the days of Noah, so it is waiting now to give us all time and opportunity to choose Christ and get ready. God does not want one of us to be destroyed. He has sent us His written word and scattered its pages far and near, like the leaves of the forest. He has sent us His warning in papers and books, and by Sabbath-school teachers, and preachers of righteousness. He has drawn us toward Him and striven with us by His Holy Spirit. But the word comes now, as it did then, that His Spirit will not always strive with men. Only a little longer will He wait, and then “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

My dear child, are you ready? Have you yielded yourself completely to Christ? Have you confessed all your sins? And are you daily following in the footsteps of Jesus and by faith allowing Him to help you to walk with God? Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved and burned up, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness! How careful we should be to walk even as Jesus walked in every commandment of God?

Why?

Because the promise is, “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

Jesus is preparing a beautiful city—a place of safety—for His children in that trying time. And He has promised to receive us unto Himself and take us there, when He comes, if we are found keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. As He said to Noah “Come thou and all thy house into the ark,” so He will say to you, “inherit the kingdom prepared for you.”

But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,—on the outside the city.

As it was in the days of Noah, there will be but two classes of people,—those on the inside and those on the outside, those who are saved because they are with Jesus and those who are lost because they are without Jesus.

Oh, which side shall we be on? Who among us shall dwell safely among the devouring fire? The Lord says it is “he that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness.” In other words, it is he who has faith in Jesus and walks even as He walked.

1. What kind of people lived upon this earth when it was first created? Eccl. 7:29; Gen. 1:27.
2. What kind of people lived on it in the days of Noah? Gen. 6:5.
3. How did God feel when He saw their wickedness? Gen. 6:6.
4. Why did it grieve His heart?
5. What more could He do for them than He had done?
6. Therefore since there was no hope of saving them, what did He see would be the best thing for them and for those around them? Gen. 6:7.
7. Did He take pleasure in their destruction? Ezek. 33:11.
8. What did He do that showed that He loved them greatly and did not want one of them to be lost? 1 Peter 3:19, 20.
9. How long did His longsuffering wait for them to turn from the ways of death and choose the way of life? Gen. 6:3, last part.
10. What preacher of righteousness did He send to them? 2 Peter 2:5.
11. How many chose Jesus, the Way of life?
12. Therefore only how many could be on the inside of the ark of safety? Gen. 7:1.
13. Where were all who would not have Jesus but who would have Satan?—On the outside.
14. Which is always the safe side?—The Lord’s side.
15. Therefore who only were saved?
16. Why has the Lord told us about the days of Noah and the flood? Luke 17:26.
17. Who is the Son of man?
18. When is His coming?—It is near even at the doors. Matt. 24:29-34.
19. What kind of flood will He bring with Him? 2 Thess. 1:7, 8; 2 Peter 3:6, 7.
20. Who only will be able to dwell safely among the devouring fire? Isa. 33:14, 15.
21. Why?—Because they will be with Jesus.
22. Where?—On the inside of the city of safety that Jesus has prepared. Rev. 22:14; John 14:2, 3.
23. Where will those be who choose Satan?—On the outside. Rev. 22:15; 21:8.
24. Therefore what will become of them? Rev. 20:9.
25. What do some begin to do?—Scoff and say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” 2 Peter 3:3, 4.
26. Why do they say that?
27. Has He forgotten? Is He slack concerning His promise? 2 Peter 3:9.
28. Then why does He wait so long? 2 Peter 3:9.
29. But will His Spirit always strive with us?
30. What will surely come? 2 Peter 3:10.
31. Then what should we be doing? 2 Peter 3:14, 11.
32. If we would be on the Lord’s side then, on whose side must we be now?

The Present Truth – May 31, 1894
E. J. Waggoner

Story in pdf  In the Days of the Son of Man