Prince Harry made a splash in Las Vegas where his late
night partying involved racing Ryan Lochte at a late night pool party and a
game of “strip billiards.” Photos of the 27-year-old surfaced soon after. The
royal family tried to ban the pics from the British press, but it didn’t work.
Luke
17:26-30 introduces us about the condition of society in general when Jesus
Christ returns;
“Just as it
was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in
marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed
them all.
It was the same in the
days of Lot.
People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting
and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down
from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”
I am
quoting from Pastor Gary J. Hall in England below (with minor alteration in
spelling);
As it was in the days of Noah
“And as
it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage,
until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed
them all” (Luke:26-27).
Some
have suggested that there is certain normality in this description and that
there is nothing sinful in the illustration. They claim that the text simply
refers to the everyday carelessness of mankind as he ignores the coming judgment.
Though there is some truth in this idea, we cannot fail to recognize the fact
that the people of Noah’s day were not destroyed simply because they ate, drank
and married. These people were destroyed in the Flood because of their
sinfulness - “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”
(Genesis 6:5).
The
apostle Peter writes that Noah was a preacher of righteousness in a godless
society, “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah with seven others, a
preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly”
(2 Peter 2:5). Therefore, as well as rejecting God’s Word, there must have been
increased immorality in the areas mentioned by Jesus.
Life
will go on as normal until the Lord comes again, but such normality will become
increasingly depraved to the point that people only think about pleasure - hedonism
(eating, drinking, and parties). They will plan ahead (marrying and giving in
marriage). Those who live for themselves with no thought for God will reject
any idea that judgment is on its way. This was true in Noah’s day.
Peter
tells us that it will be true in the Last Days also, “Knowing this first, that
there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and
saying, 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. For this
they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of
old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby 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 against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:3-7).
To the
unsaved, lost in their unbelief, carelessness and depravity, life will look as
though it will go on forever that nothing has really changed. Sad as it is to
say, the same attitude exists within the Church today also. The Church has been
invaded by preachers of unrighteousness who spread the idea that worldliness
and compromise are acceptable to God. But those, like Noah, who preach God’s
Word of salvation, they will see society and standards becoming worse each day.
As it was in the days of Lot
“Likewise
also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they
sold, they planted, they built; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it
rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall
it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke: 28-30).
This
illustration should not be seen as separate but intertwined with that of Noah’s
day. Jesus is here revealing that the conditions that existed in Lot’s day will
go hand in hand with that of Noah’s day in the Last Times.
Again,
there appears to be a certain normality and legitimacy about the conditions in
Sodom (and Gomorrah). For what can be sinful about eating, drinking, buying,
selling, building and planting? The fact is, God did not destroy them for these
things but because they had rejected His righteous ways and become totally
immoral. They refused to listen to anything that even suggested that their
lifestyle was wrong.
Peter
describes the reasons why God poured out fire and brimstone upon them, “And
turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an
overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
and delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For
that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his
righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)” (2 Peter 2:6-8).
Here we
see that their ‘alternative lifestyle’ was considered filthy and ungodly. We
only need to read through Genesis 29 to find that what both Jesus and Peter had
in mind was Sodom’s homosexuality. It appears that this perversion was in all
areas of society (from the Government down so that God could not find even ten
righteous people amongst them), “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities
about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after
strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal
fire” (Jude: 7).
There
has to be a reason why whole nations give themselves over to depraved living.
In our day we see militant homosexuality in religion, government, army, civil
service etc. The explanation offered in God’s word is the real reason why there
is so much immorality and corruption today. In Ezekiel 16:49-50 we read,
“Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread,
and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she
strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed
abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good”. The same
conditions existing in Sodom are plain to see in our time and suggest that this
world is ripe for judgment.
Today
we have not only the fact that man is too proud to admit he is a sinner, but is
proud of his sin. The same “Gay Pride” was obvious in Lot’s day also. They
rejected the words of Lot therefore refusing to hear God’s word. Today we have
in Canada the banning of the first chapter of Romans for public reading by law
because it offends homosexuals. When a nation bypasses legitimate recreation
for immoral pleasure, leisure, and treasure; when luxury takes the place of
godliness, then idleness gives the devil a foothold. When a nation cannot
provide for its poor and sick because so much money is tied up for homosexual,
feminist, and abortion issues then that nation itself is diseased and ready for
judgment.
The
apostle Paul tells us that when nations reject God’s word they give themselves
over unto perversion, idolatry and other ungodly practices (Romans 1). As in
Lot’s day people today are “haughty” and commit all kinds of abominations, even
to the point of saying that God made them that way. They believe that
wickedness is their God-given right. Yet, just as in Lot’s day our society (and
the world) will be judged.
The
Lord Jesus indicates that the world which exists before His return will be given
over to pleasure-seeking, immorality, perversion, idleness, and a rejection of
the things of God. All godly standards that made many nations great will be
forgotten in favor of licentiousness, “The wicked shall be turned into hell and
all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17).