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Global Warming
We live in an age when hardly a day goes by without some mention in the media of ‘global warming’. From the impact civilisation is having on planet earth through excessive use of fossil fuels to the threat of severe flooding from rising sea levels, we are indeed receiving global warnings. The warnings go on to suggest that life as we know it could at best be severely curtailed, or worse, eliminated. As to the warnings, some people react and change their way of living, others ignore the warnings completely.
God’s Global Warning...
I hope you read the heading correctly – it says warNing, not warMing. God has indeed giving a Global Warning – as far as we are concerned the warning is strongly linked to a warning of global devastation giving thousands of years ago. Please read on and let me explain.
Noah
Noah is the man who was given the warning:
And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. "Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.
Genesis 6:13-14
The record in this first book of the Bible goes on to tell how only Noah, his wife and family, together with all kinds of birds and animals, was saved from this destruction by flood. Only Noah listened to the warning – millions of others ignored it and died.
Some have tried to claim that this is just myth and legend, but not so for others in the Bible. Both the Jesus (as we will see later) and the author of the letter to the Hebrews make specific links with the events of Noah’s day.
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Hebrews 11:7
The Bible presents Noah as a real person, not a mythological one and an example, relevant for us today.
We are told that by faith, Noah heeded God’s warning, saved his family and left us with a very important lesson for the future.
Rainbow
Lest we have concern that the world will be destroyed by a future global flood, consider this:
"I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
Genesis 9:13-15
God made a promise to Noah and the whole world - the rainbow is a sign of God’s commitment to His promise. We should be reminded of that fact whenever we see one.
Lessons
Jesus also referred to Noah’s time with no hint of the Genesis record being a myth. He used it as a warning for us, a warning that Jesus is soon to return to pass God’s judgements on the people of the earth. Jesus made this analogy:
"But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,... Matthew 24:37-38
Do you recognise this as our society? Is our world similar to the days of Noah? Is it pre-occupied with the physical things of life to the exclusion of all else? Does it have time for God and His message?
Promise
The clear message of the Bible is that men and women, of themselves, cannot make themselves ‘right with God’. We are not left with a picture of hopelessness for the Bible also tells how God promised that a permanent solution would be found through the promise of a Saviour. The Bible presents Jesus as that Saviour. The passage above, spoken by Jesus, shows us that,
• Jesus believed Noah was a real person,
• Noah’s example is relevant to us now,
• Jesus would come again when the condition of the world resembled that of Noah’s day.
When will Jesus return?
The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly when, but gives us signs to look for. We are also given the assurance that God does not break His promise.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
The example of Noah should remind us that God keeps His promises.
Noah didn’t know when, but he believed the flood would come and took action. We should be prepared for what God has promised. God told Noah that He would never flood the earth again, yet this is one of our world’s greatest fears for the future. If we want to escape from our fears we have to trust God and take action, doing what He asks of us.
The Bible has a positive view for the future
There is no space to develop the detail here, but in summary, the Bible says the Earth has a bright future. Man will not destroy the world. God will intervene and establish His Kingdom on the earth. Jesus will be King.
What about you?
The only question left for you is “Are you going to ignore God’s Global Warning?”. In Noah’s day, all who ignored it died.
Noah listened to God’s warning - will you?
To hear more on this subject, see details below of our talk on September 9, a talk which will also be presented at Christadelphian meeting throughout Scotland. See www.searchforhope.org for details.
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