Basis for our Studies this Year:
The Bible tells us that the “End (of the world) is declared from the “beginning” (Isaiah 46:10). Certainly, this means that the early Biblical record of human history bears End-time prophetic significance. But, it’s actually even more specific than that. The original Hebrew word translated as “beginning” in Isaiah 46:10 is תישאר (rê’shı̂yth). This is the root of Bereshith, which is the Hebrew name of the first Book of the Bible, “Genesis”. In other words, prophecies of the End of the World are found in the Book of Genesis.
The Torah is one of the five keys for unlocking End-time Prophecy… Prophecy is unlocked through the Statutes!
The Flood - Shadows of the Final Day of Atonement
Matthew 24:37-39 - “But as the days of Noah were, so
shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in 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.”
Yahshua said that end-time events would be like those
during the days of Noah.
What things like in Noah’s day, and what wisdom can we
take from this?
Yahshua warned, that in the Last Days people of society
would think and act much like they did in Noah’s Day. This means that they will
be oblivious to the warning of impending Judgment. They will become
increasingly wicked and yet more and more presumptuous in thinking they can
live as they please, yet expecting life to continue on as usual, without fear
of punishment for their wickedness.
· Hebrews 11:7 - “By faith Noah, being
warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to
the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir
of the righteousness which is by faith.”
We have two groups in Noah’s Day: the Saved and the Lost
·
The Lost are living like they have been without
any thought of coming Judgment – they aren’t preparing and they are not living
by the Word of Yahweh.
·
The Saved have dramatically altered how they
live, and now live in total preparedness for coming Judgment. The Saved are
obeying Yahweh’s Word.
Genesis 6:5-7 “Then Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. And Yahweh was sorry that He had made man on the earth,
and He was grieved in His Heart. So Yahweh said, ‘I will destroy man whom I
have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and
birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them’.”
What were the majority of people like in Noah’s Day, to provoke Yahweh to such a degree?
Romans 1:18-32 – describes society in the Days before
Judgment:
·
“For God’s Wrath is being revealed from the
heavens against all the ungodliness and wickedness of those who in their
wickedness suppress the Truth. For what can be known about God is
plain to them, because God Himself has made it plain to them... “...For since
the Creation of the world God's invisible Attributes—His eternal Power and
divine Nature—have been understood and observed by what He made, so that
people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither
glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him. Instead, their thoughts turned
to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened...”
·
“...For since the Creation of the world God's
invisible Attributes—His eternal Power and divine Nature—have been understood
and observed by what He made, so that people are without excuse. For
although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to
Him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless
hearts were darkened...”
·
“...Though claiming to be wise, they became
fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that
looked like mortal human beings, birds, four-footed animals, and
reptiles. For this reason, God delivered them to sexual impurity as
they followed the lusts of their hearts and dishonored their bodies with one
another...”
·
“...In the same way, their males also abandoned
their natural sexual function toward females and burned with lust toward one
another. Males committed indecent acts with males, and received within
themselves the appropriate penalty for their perversion. Furthermore,
because they did not think it worthwhile to keep knowing God fully, God
delivered them to degraded minds to perform acts that should not be done...”
·
“... Although they know God's just
requirement—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only
do these things but even applaud others who practice them...”
In Noah’s time and in ours, society was characterized by the
same hatred of Yahweh and His Law in the days just prior to Judgment. And in
both eras, the wickedness in the world was the same, just as Yahshua said it
would be. So what does Paul say the people are like in both Noah’s Time and the
Last Days?
- · They reject the Truth
- · They suppress the Truth
- · Ignore evidence of Creation
- · They have foolish and darkened understanding.
- · They are idolatrous and worship what they have created.
- · Exchange the Truth for lies.
- · They embrace immorality, increasingly becoming degraded and depraved (animalistic)
- · They become homosexual
- · They are wicked, vicious, evil, greedy, God-hating
- · They approve of (applaud) those who are like them.
The wickedness that is so commonplace in our world today is
one of the biggest prophetic signs showing that the end of the world is coming
soon. Evil is not allowed to go on unendingly, as Peter explained in 2 Peter
2:4-10:
·
“For if Yahweh did not spare angels when they
sinned, but threw them into the lowest hell and imprisoned them in chains of
deepest darkness, holding them for Judgment; and if He did not spare
the ancient world but protected Noah, a righteous preacher, along with
seven others when He brought the Flood on the world of ungodly people... and if
He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them by burning
them to ashes, making them an example to ungodly people of what is going to
happen to them… then Yahweh knows how to rescue godly people from their
trials and to hold unrighteous people for punishment on the Day of Judgment,
especially those who satisfy their flesh by indulging in its passions and who
despise authority...” (2 Peter 2:4-10)
Luke 17:26-30 - "Just as it was in Noah's time, so it
will be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking,
marrying, and being given in marriage right up to the day when Noah went into
the ark. Then the Flood came and destroyed all of them. So it was in the
days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and
building. But on the day when Lot left Sodom, Fire and Sulfur rained down
from Heaven and destroyed all of them. The day when the Son of Man is
revealed will be like that.”
The days of Noah give us a prophetic lens through which to
view the End of the World and a context in which to interpret End-time Bible
prophecy.
Judgment Day manifests in two ways: Water and Fire… Both are global and both involve planetary
and off-world events.
·
Nahum 1:5-6 “The mountains quake
at Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at His Presence, yea, the
world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before His Indignation?
And who can abide in the fierceness of His Anger? His Fury is poured out like
fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him.”
·
Nahum 1:9-10 “What do ye
imagine against Yahweh? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not
rise up the second time. For while they be folden together as
thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be
devoured as stubble fully dry.”
·
Revelation 18:8 “Therefore shall
her (Babylon’s) plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and
she shall be utterly burned with Fire: for strong is Yahweh Who judgeth her.”
·
Isaiah 33:14-15 “The sinners
in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among
us shall dwell with the devouring Fire? Who among us shall dwell with
everlasting Burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh
uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands
from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and
shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.”
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Hebrews 12:28-29 - Yahweh’s Glory is a consuming
Fire