They should have listened to Noah

 

Judgement day warnings have had a bad press lately. But it has not always been that way. There have been many accurate forecasts of judgement in the Bible and some averted ones. Jesus himself accurately warned about the physical temple in Jerusalem being destroyed so that ‘one stone will not be left upon another.’ The Romans saw to that in 70 AD. Judgement was averted in the ancient world when Pharaoh had a dream of the seven fat and seven lean cattle and the seven full ears of wheat and the parched grain. Joseph was the man God used then to spare Egypt and the surrounding nations. And yet Egypt - the world superpower of its day – was humbled when a later Pharaoh persisted in abusing God’s people

 

Jonah was very upset when God spared Nineveh. The King took him seriously and the whole nation repented in sackcloth and ashes and all fasted and called on the name of the Lord. A generation later they had reverted to their old ways and judgement came. The mighty king Nebuchadnezzar had his comeuppance when he attributed the glory of Babylon to his own powers. He was humbled and learnt his lesson as Daniel prophesied and yet the writing was on the wall for his arrogant son Belteshazzar who defied the God of Israel by his sacrilegious use of the golden vessels of the temple – he was ‘weighed in the balance and found wanting’ and that night his kingdom was destroyed

 

Many times in Israel’s history God has sought to spare His people from judgement sending them prophets to warn them but they were generally unheeded. Jeremiah actually went into exile with the people he had tried to save, and yet he could acknowledge ‘thy mercies are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness’. One of the judgement day prophets known the world over-  ironically in ‘children’s story books - is Noah. The name brings to mind colourful pop-up books and nursery rhymes yet he witnessed great wickedness and ungodliness such that it repented God for having made man and he determined to start afresh. The evidence of the flood is in the geological record the world over for those with eyes to see. The fact that many scientists do not acknowledge it is also prophesied in Peter’s letters

 

Regarding the times we now live in, further trends and world events have been very accurately foretold.  In Paul’s letter to Timothy the sociological trend sadly is spot on… in the last days perilous times shall come

 

 

Great Britain and Europe had a great deliverance in the world wars of the last hundred years Israel was reborn as a nation. Much of this victory was due to a nation at prayer and special intercessors in particular the group led by Rees Howells in Wales. Let it not be another case of ‘yet… they (we) failed to learn the lesson’

 

In one way the Harold Camping fiasco actually adds grist to the mill. One sign that we are in the last days is that false prophets will arise. But be assured we don’t know the day but do know the season… as it was in days of Noah the imagination of men’s hearts was corrupt continually… wars, famine, earthquakes… Jerusalem surrounded by armies… and we are told to look up