Why Jesus Says the Last Days Will Be Like the "Days of Noah"

Why does Jesus say that the last days will be like the days of Noah? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Hi, it's Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We'd love to hear from you, and here's our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, including our YouTube channel. In fact, you can watch Adriel right now on YouTube and send him your question that way, and you can always email us at questions-at-core-christianity.com. First up today, let's go to Douglas calling in from Minnesota. Douglas, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi, Pastor Adriel. How are you doing? I'm doing well. How are you, Douglas? Excellent, excellent.

This morning was a beautiful, glorious sunrise, so I just had a wonderful day. Oh, praise the Lord. Indeed. My question is, I think you've touched on this before, but I wasn't certain. My three smaller children, I've got twin 8-year-olds and a 10-year-old, and they were all baptized, but I'm not certain that, just because they were baptized, they were saved. I'm kind of, you know, concerned, obviously, that since they weren't able to accept or ask Jesus into their heart of their own accord, that's something they're going to have to do. So, Douglas, is your question, then, specifically—I mean, is your question, do they have to personally receive Jesus?

Correct, correct. Because, I mean, you know, we have them baptized and whatnot, and they attend church, but that's not just going to necessarily be the end-all be-all. As we teach them and raise them, I'm just, you know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, as we teach them and raise them, I'm just wanting to make sure that if they've got to ask Jesus Christ into their lives, you know what I mean? Yeah, I know.

Well, a couple things, Douglas. God bless you as a father. God bless your family. I love your desire to raise your children and the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and you're right, you have to be proactive in terms of encouraging your children and teaching them the faith. Now, when it comes to baptism, the doctrine of baptism, I think that this is a sign and a seal, a sacrament for us and for our children. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 that the children of even one believing parent are considered clean or holy before the Lord. Now, he's not saying that they're saved just because they're our children, but, you know, they have this status before God, we might say, by virtue of God's covenant promises that he treats them as a part of the visible church, and so they're the proper recipients of baptism, but that doesn't mean that we don't have this holy obligation upon us as parents to teach our children the faith, sort of like, you know, under the old covenant, you know, Abraham was commanded to circumcise his infant children, but that wasn't the end-all of everything. You know, he was still also commanded to train them up, to raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to teach them about the Lord, to incorporate them in the worshiping life of the community of faith, and so that's what we're called to do as well. And I would say central to that, so important, is teaching your kids the Word of God, exposing them to Scripture. It's like Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy, you know, from your childhood you've known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation, and so in bringing your kids to church and in teaching them about the Lord and teaching them the Gospel, you know, the prayer is that they would grow in their own understanding of these truths, and that it would be a very personal thing for them as well. Baptism as this sign and seal of God's covenant promises does exhibit very clearly for us, and in a real way, those gifts of God's grace, but each of us are called by faith to lay hold of those gifts, including our children, and so that doesn't mean that, you know, they need to make a profession of faith and then get baptized again. No, God's covenant promises, his faithful promises stand as is, but we're all called to lay hold of them day by day by faith, and so I just want to encourage you in that as a father to continue to see that as your responsibility, as something that God has called you to, to continue to take your children to church every single Sunday, but not just to take them to church on Sunday, but to have conversations about the Lord day to day, to incorporate God talk, we might say, you know, prayer in your everyday life as a family, and I think that makes all the difference.

This is what God ordinarily uses in our homes in order to communicate his grace and his promises, and so God bless you. Let me just take a moment, Douglas, to pray for you as a dad and also for all of our listeners right now who are raising children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Our Father in heaven, we come before you, recognizing, God, that salvation is of the Lord, that you are the one, O God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who saves, and yet you often, Lord, work through means, and you've chosen to work through means, like faithful parents, like the means of grace, preaching the Word of God, the sacraments of grace, baptism, and the Lord's Supper, and I pray, Lord, as my brother Douglas seeks you and as he seeks to raise his children in your word, Lord, that your spirit would be at work in his life, in the lives of his children, making those promises very clear to them, that they would lay hold of all of those promises they've received in baptism and through the preaching of your word, that they would lay hold of them by faith, and that you would strengthen all parents, Lord, listening right now, to love their children and to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, O God, we ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Douglas, thanks so much for your call and for listening to Core Christianity, and Adriel, that just reminds me, when my kids were younger, one of the things we did with them is we went through, you know, Lee Strobel, the apologist, has several different books that many adults have read on the case for Christ and the case for Creator, but he also wrote a series of books for kids, like the case for Christ for kids, and we went through that with each of our children, and we felt it really gave them a great foundation to get started on. I think that that's excellent, and I mean, that's one of the things that we're going to have to do more and more as our children grow, is help them learn how to defend their faith and why we believe the things that we believe, and so I love that you guys did that, Bill, and that's hopefully an encouragement to Douglas as well. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian line, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, whatever. We'd love to hear from you. Here's the phone number, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Larry in St. Louis. Larry, what's your question for Adriel? Okay, and my question is this. Where are you or what happens in your life when you have to really make a decision? I'm serving in the church, and I'm a Sunday school teacher, and on top of that, a deacon, and I've been serving in one part of the ministry for at least a good 10, 11 years, something like that, so what's happening now is the department that I was serving in is not a bad department. It's not bad at all, but to me, it's just kind of become stagnant, but now that I'm teaching Sunday school and doing the deacon work of the church is holding more of my attention, so I'm kind of at this crossroad of helping where I was helping at before, but at the same time, I'm seeing something new, and that old thing is just not holding my attention, so I don't want to do the wrong thing by just completely dropping out of it when you look at deacon work as far as helping the church, but then on the other side of that is it's not holding my attention, and the new thing that I'm doing is keeping me a little bit more focused. It's making me study the Bible even more of a teacher, so I'm kind of like caught in the middle. It's like that thing is not holding your attention, so why do you want to hold on to it, but then the other thing is as far as working the church, working the ministry, you want to also still be that help.

Larry, first let me just say God bless you, brother. I love that you're engaged in the local church, each and every one of us, right? We need to be in churches, but not just there as spectators, but participants in the life of the body, and so I commend you, brother, as one who I can tell you're just eager to serve, and it sounds like, you know, throughout the course of your service there, God has laid something new upon your heart. I love that you're interested in teaching what a special and important thing that is, teaching Sunday school and how the Lord uses that in the lives of his people.

This is an issue of wisdom, here in particular. Now, of course, when we serve, you know, we want to serve as unto the Lord with joy, but that doesn't mean we're always going to be super excited about the way in which we're serving the church. I know there are a lot of people who volunteer in the nursery, and they would prefer to be doing something else on that Sunday morning, you know, being in the service, and yet they really are being used by the Lord to encourage others and to serve the church in an important way, and so I say that just because, you know, just because you don't necessarily want to do something anymore doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it, per se. I mean, this is where I think you have to talk with the other leaders of the church and determine, okay, how much of a hole would it put us in if I stopped serving in this capacity?

My heart's not in it as much, in it as much, but maybe the Lord is raising somebody else up right now who is really passionate about this particular thing that, you know, it seems like God is pulling me away from. You never know, and when that's the case, it's a wonderful thing, Larry, because it gives other people opportunities to use the gifts that God has given to them as well, but I think this is a decision that needs to be made, one, through much prayer, and two, through conversations with the other leaders in the church and trying to determine, okay, where are the biggest needs right now, and where can I be used as a servant of the Lord and servant of the church for the building up of the body here? And maybe that does mean, you know, there's an open door for you to transition to doing more teaching, more Sunday school teaching. Wonderful. Maybe it means you're going to be doing some of these other roles as well for a little bit longer until someone else is raised up. That's also good, and I would just say, in your service, continue to serve as unto the Lord, and may God give you strength and energy to do so, and once again, I commend you, brother. Great. Thanks so much, Larry, for your service to the Lord and for your heart.

We really do appreciate you. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Valentine's Day is coming up just here, what, another week or so away, and if you're married, we have a really special resource for you. Yeah, the resource is called Seven Truths About Marital Sex. You know, oftentimes in the church, you know, we talk about, you know, sex outside of marriage is a sin. We think about the culture and how the culture has corrupted conversations about this very thing, but we don't often talk about it in the context of marriage in ways, in fact, where even in our marriages, we can be dishonoring to the Lord or not focused on that which pleases the Lord, and so this resource, I think, is unique in that way. It's talking about intimacy within the context of marriage and thinking about it from the perspective of the Bible, and I hope that you'll get a hold of this resource. It's, I think, you know, a good resource, especially considering the fact that we're coming up on Valentine's Day, and you can find it over at corechristianity.com forward slash offers.

Once again, it's called Seven Truths About Marital Sex, no charge to you. You can find it at corechristianity.com forward slash offers, and check out our other great resources while you're there. By the way, we are a listener-supported ministry.

That means we don't play commercials here. We don't get money from a church or denomination. We count on people just like you, our regular listeners, to make gifts to keep us on the air, so if you feel God prompting you to support core Christianity, please feel free to go to our website and check that out.

There's a donation link there, or you could join our inner CORE, that group of people that support us on a monthly basis. That would just be a huge, huge blessing to us. Well, we do receive voicemails here at CORE Christianity, and here's one that came in from one of our listeners named George. I have yet to hear a pastor, any pastor, put it together. Why did Jesus say, as in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man. And he said very simply, they'll be eating and drinking, giving a marriage, and being married. Well, that could apply to every generation before him. What was the difference with Noah? In the chapter above it, we're talking about the Nephilim breeding with angels, the sons of God breeding with women, and talk about corruption and what had happened, without any doubt in my mind, it had polluted the gene pool.

Well, what's happening right now as we speak? They are messing with the gene pool, they're splicing genes, and it's going to gene pool again, just as Jesus said it would. That's what he meant by in the days of Noah being different than all these other generations.

The difference was the pollution of the genetic makeup of man. God will not permit that, which encourages me saying he's coming soon. Hey George, thank you for that question and interesting observations there with regard to Jesus's comments in Matthew chapter 24, where he's talking about his coming.

Let me just read the text and then get into my answer. This is verse 36 of Matthew chapter 24, but concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

For in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left.

Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would have not let his house be broken into. The context of a particular passage of scripture, George, is what helps us more than anything else to understand the precise meaning, the specific meaning of a given word or phrase. And so when we're thinking about that phrase, as in the days of Noah, what does it seem like Jesus is homing in on here? In particular, it seems like the focus is on the fact that just like in Noah's day, where people were oblivious to what was happening, they didn't understand what time it was, as people, you know, sometimes say today. That's how it's going to be, Jesus says. They were eating and drinking, they were throwing parties, you know, they were getting married. They weren't aware that judgment was on the doorstep.

They weren't preparing themselves. And so Jesus says, be ready, be watchful. I'm coming like a thief in the night. Don't be caught by surprise. And this is where we all are called to vigilance, to be watchful.

In this language of, you know, the coming of the Lord being like a thief in the night. If you've ever had your home broken into, you know exactly what this is like. When I was in high school, I remember there was a night where someone broke into our house and it was terrifying, right?

We called the police, my mom screamed, ran the guy out of the house. It was this wild, wild thing. And I remember thinking even as a young man then, if only I would have known, you know, I would have had the baseball bat ready and I would have been there waiting by the door. You just never know when something like that is going to happen. And so Jesus is saying here, be ready. In Noah's day, they weren't. They were warned about the judgment, but they weren't ready.

They weren't watching. And so it's a call again to be vigilant, to be watchful. And that goes for all of us in all generations living in light of the coming of the Lord. God bless you. Interesting question, and thank you for that clarification on that particular section of scripture, Adriel. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, or maybe something in your church life that is confusing or concerning to you. Give us a call at 833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Greg in Kansas. Greg, what is your question for Adriel? Yes.

Hello Pastor Adrian, and good day to you all. I had a question about Exodus chapter 4 verse 25, 24 and 25, where Moses, it says where the Lord was going to kill, I believe, let me get my question right, the Lord was going to kill Moses because of the failure to have his son circumcised. Can you kind of explain that to me? I just, like I said, I'm somewhat confused about that. Was it the fact that Moses, was it just because he forgot to circumcise the child or what?

Great, thank you for that question. You know, we've been talking on the broadcast today a little bit about the importance of raising our children and the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and so I love your question in light of what's already been a theme on today's broadcast, brother. Let me just read the text, Exodus chapter 4 beginning in verse 24, at a lodging place on the way, the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses's feet with it and said, surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.

So he let him alone. It was then that she said a bridegroom of blood because of circumcision. Now the hymn there in verse 24 could be a reference to Moses or Moses's son.

There's a little bit of a debate there or at least a question there with regard to how best to understand, you know, who's the referent there with regard to him. I think it's referring to Moses in particular, and the issue is he didn't obey that command that was given way back in the book of Genesis chapter 17 verses 9 through 14 where it talks about the necessity of circumcision for the covenant people, God commanding Abraham to circumcise those children in his household. And again, what this highlights is how seriously God takes us raising our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It was as if Moses, this great leader of the faith, was withholding the covenant sign from his own child, and God took that very seriously.

Why? Because God calls even the children to worship him. You know, it's amazing, it's a little bit later in the book of Exodus in chapter 10 when God is calling his people out of Egypt. You have all of these plagues that are taking place, and you know, Moses is in this, you know, conflict, this confrontation with Pharaoh. Pharaoh's servants said to him, this is Exodus chapter 10 verse 7, how long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go that they may serve the Lord their God. And that word serve there has those connotations of worship in it. Let them go that they may serve the Lord their God.

Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined? And so Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, go serve the Lord your God, but which ones are to go? And listen to what Moses responded to Pharaoh. He said, we will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord. In other words, the whole family is being called to worship the Lord, and in part that's one of the things that was indicated by this sign of circumcision that was given to the covenant people, setting the people apart together with their children, their infant children, as the worshiping community, and that's what Moses didn't do there in that text in Exodus chapter 4, and that's why it was such a serious thing.

That's why he was under the judgment of the Lord, it seemed like, and then Zipporah, his wife, intervenes, has the child circumcised, and stays, if you will, the judgment of God. And so again, this highlights for us, I think, that the important thing that we've already been talking about, the importance of raising our children and the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Thanks, Greg. So well said, thanks, Adriel.

Appreciate that. This is Core Christianity. Let's go to Larry calling in from Oregon. Larry, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi, Adriel. First, I want to respond to a call I made before it was regards to my Armenian church that I go to, and I'm reformed. You suggested I might go to find a different church that I can get more plug into. Well, I decided to stay at this church because I have so many good relationships there, so maybe you could comment on that. But my question was regarding Armenianism, Calvinism, do you think that God may provide a more deeper, more enlightened understanding of Scripture to some believers but not others? Well, a couple of things.

One, I know exactly what it's like. Two, I mean, you have these close bonds of fellowship with other believers in a church. What a precious thing that is, and sometimes there can be differences, theological differences, and I think you have to weigh, you know, is this causing me to be a thorn in the side of the church? Am I able to continue to grow even though there are significant theological differences?

Are we able to fellowship and exist in harmony? And again, that's an issue of wisdom, and then you also have to gauge what doctrinal differences there are. And then with regard to this question of deeper knowledge, you know, does God just bless some people with deeper knowledge?

I think it is the case, right? You look around and you can say, well, just some people have different natural gifts that the Lord has given to them. There are some people, right, they got that photographic memory and they can just look at, you know, a page and they remember everything on that page.

I am not one of those people. It takes me a lot of work to remember something. And so I do think, you know, just naturally we're gifted in different ways by the Lord. When it comes to the Word of God, all of us are dependent upon the Holy Spirit, and God in Scripture portrays himself as, because this is just the truth, as being so willing to give to us insight and illumination when it comes to his Word. We need but ask and knock and seek. You think of the Proverbs, how often they exhort us to seek wisdom and the Word of God, as though we were searching for treasure.

And so I would say, don't ever, you know, blame a lack of knowledge on, well, you know, God just didn't give it to me. No, he calls us to come humbly before his Word and to pray, Lord, illuminate my mind, grant me the grace of your Spirit that I might understand. And God is eager to answer that prayer. God bless. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, go to corechristianity.com forward slash radio, or you can call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, let us know how we can be praying for you. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.