His own wife and children did not understand him. The world despised him. For a century or more, his had been a message of coming Judgment; though the world as yet then appeared to be a libertine paradise replete with vestiges of the primal Creation. But Noah was to the careless a prophet of doom. And the messenger of God was thus hated.
On the day that God told Noah to come with his family into the Ark, the LORD then "shut him in" (Genesis 6:7): signifying, I believe, that God's Presence manifestly surrounded Noah and his family within the Ark. A week passed whilst Noah and his family waited. Then ~ for the first time in the history of the world, loud peals of thunder reverberated throughout the heavens, as scorching bolts of lightning pierced the blackening sky. That awful day, of which Noah did warn, had finally come.
Outside, the Storm of God's fury relentlessly poured down upon the world of the ungodly. Day after day, and long night after night, the great wooden ship groaned and pitched in the dark waters. Eventually, the sounds of bumping and grinding ceased when, more than a month later, the Ark rode in solitary silence above the very mountain peaks below.
Meanwhile, there was much work to be done within the Ark. A routine soon was established amongst the small crew, as their days passed expectedly into weeks. But weeks much more slowly became months ~ until, their waiting for deliverance must have become burdensome, to say the least. Three months. Four months. Six.
Seven....
Doubtless Noah's sons went often to look out the window of the Ark. Yet there was nothing but water as far as they could see.
"How long, O LORD, holy and true, dost thou not....?"
At length, Noah sent forth a scout from the Ark, a raven, to search beyond where his own or his sons' eyes could see. But...Noah was a prophet! Did he also not know? The raven ~ by reason of his failing ever to return to the Ark, did indeed serve as a kind of Oracle to Noah, though not the kind that Noah had sought. Perhaps, the prophet realized he had entrusted such an important task (as brining hope to Noah's family) to the wrong messenger. Not the black raven should have been Noah's news-bringer. But the white dove was the one that if there was any good news to tell....
There is a great temptation, to many well-meaning Christians who, whilst looking diligently for the coming of Christ, tend to watch for the "raven" to bring some sign, some indication, of the Rapture's near approach (or of some other kind of hoped-for deliverance). The "raven", in this context, represents a "messenger": any source of information ~ besides the Word of God.
Noah then sent forth a dove. Which soon returned empty to the Ark. Noah waited a few days, and then sent her forth, again. (Pray, and wait. And pray, again, until the answer comes.) This time, the dove returned with a sprig of olive leaves ~ a sure sign of life and peace, which Noah and his family had longed for.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
These days in which we are now living, are very difficult. True Christians well understand the truth of the Bible's warning: "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). For the faithful Christian, living amidst this present world entails much "tribulation" (John 16:33; Acts 14:22; 1 Thessalonians 3:4; 2 Thessalonians 1:4; Revelation 1:9; et al). We also know that "the whole world lieth in wickedness" (1 John 5:19). We know, too, "that [A]ntichrist shall come" (1 John 2:18). And if we are not careful, we will find ourselves weighed down and overwhelmed by the cares of this world ~ which Jesus Christ solemnly warned us to beware of, lest we should thereby become unfruitful.
What we need, instead, is hope.
And for that we must not look to ravens, but to the dove. God is called, in his Word, "the God of hope" (Romans 13:15).
Four-thousand years after Adam and Eve opened the door for sin and death to enter the world and plague mankind, the God of hope sent a great Savior into the world. Listen to the words that the angel of the Lord spoke to a handful of men, on the night when Christ was born:
"Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)Suddenly there appeared a host of angels, which bore witness to the words of the former, saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14).
Jesus Christ was ~ and yet is ~ the manifest expression of God's good will and of his great desire to bless and to help his own (though fallen) Creation. God sent Christ, two-thousand years ago, to be a blessing to the whole world.
And God is moving RIGHT NOW, preparing to bless the whole world ~ in a measure hitherto unknown and in ways as yet unimaginable. As I have been saying and writing, lately: God is now preparing the world to receive the soon-coming Kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth. What is God going to do for the Church, in the course of the coming days? He is going to glorify the Bride of Christ! Moreover, there will be those who will survive the coming Tribulation ~ to whom Christ himself is coming to deliver them and lead those, mortals, into a new Era of peace on earth.
Yes, it is true that God is going to pour out his wrath upon great multitudes, during the Tribulation (which shall not be mercy to them). But for what purpose? to what end will God punish the wicked? It is in order to prepare the world to receive the Kingdom of Christ! God's great desire to bless the world he made and which he owns, requires that God must put down all rebellion and purge the world of evil, in order that Christ may reign as Sovereign Lord on earth. In which light, we ought to understand the MEANING of the coming of Antichrist and of the Tribulation. It is God's blessing and mercy to the righteous:
"...when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water" (1 Peter 3:20).Eight souls were "saved" ~ by water! By the Flood, they were "saved". From what? From a world of evil men.
I tell you the truth ~ which I received not from any "raven," but from a heavenly Messenger: God is moving to prepare the world to receive the Kingdom of Jesus Christ! God is getting ready to bless the righteous, beyond our greatest hopes and dreams. If Christ's first coming was meant to offer Salvation to the whole world; What can his Second Coming mean, except, to divinely fulfill the promise of that long-awaited Salvation?
We who are sure that the Rapture truly is now imminent, need, in this time of gross darkness, to be prophets ~ not of doom ~ but of hope. Ours is a message of HOPE. It is HOPE that saves and encourages. FEAR has only ever driven man away from God (consider how that Adam hid himself from God, because of fear). Hope is what leads men to look unto God for mercy and grace. Hope sustains individuals, though they be surrounded by darkness. Hope is life-giving.
I will leave you to read and consider the following, though somewhat lengthy, passage. It will do your soul good to hear and understand "what the Spirit saith unto the churches":
Is. 40:1 thru 41:20
"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins....
"O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?.... Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: that bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
"Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
"Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment. Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet. Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.... But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
"When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it."
Amen.
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