See: “READY AND WAITING NO. 1: READY FOR THE REIGN”
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Pop quiz: Which preacher preached the greatest sermon of all time on end-times prophecy and The Last Days?

Charles Spurgeon? Hal Lindsey? Tim LaHaye? John MacArthur?

Many wonderful sermons have been preached about The Last Days. But the greatest end-times sermon ever preached was the one Jesus preached. Because of the Mount of Olives location where He preached it, that sermon is known as the “Olivet Discourse.” It is recorded in Matthew 24-25. Take the time to read the whole sermon. It is outstanding.

In Jesus’ famous prophecy sermon, He said, “The coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.” There are many remarkable parallels between the circumstances in Noah’s day and world conditions on that fateful future day when the curtain closes on “this present age” and Christ ushers in “the age to come.”

(1) GREAT WICKEDNESS
In Noah’s day, “The wickedness of man was great on the earth, and…every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). I sure wouldn’t want to go back in time to live in that horrible era. People were consumed with evil. No righteousness. No kindness. No love. It was hell on earth.

Likewise, in the end times, Jesus said, “At that time, many…will betray one another and hate one another…Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold” (Matt. 24:10, 12). Similarly, Paul wrote that, “In the last days difficult times will come. For men will be…unholy, unloving…without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 3:1-4). The end times will be a time of lawlessness, hatred, and evil.

(2) VIOLENCE
Noah’s day was especially marked by violence. “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Gen. 6:11). So it also will be at the end of time. “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars…For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matt. 24:6-7). As Paul described it in the 2 Timothy passage above, a time when people are “without self-control, brutal, …treacherous.” A time of war, bloodshed, and violence.

(3) PROPHETIC PREACHING
In Noah’s ancient time, God did not send the flood waters until after He had given the population plenty of warning. Noah was a preacher. If anyone had responded to Noah’s message and turned his heart toward God, that person could have been saved, as Noah and his family were. There was plenty of room on the ark for more believers. “The patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water” (1 Pet. 3:18).

Likewise, Jesus will not return as the Conquering Christ until all the world has heard the news. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14). Indeed, the message is being preached today, all over the world, like never before. Jesus’ words are direct: “Behold, I have told you in advance” (Matt. 24:25). In other words, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

(4) DISBELIEF
Despite God’s patient efforts through Noah for many years, only eight people heeded God’s message. It will be no different in the end times. “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. And they did not understand, until the flood came and took them all away. So will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matt. 24:37-39).

Jesus said times haven’t changed much, and they never will. People have always kept themselves busy with the same old things: eating, drinking, getting married. Is there anything wrong with those things? Of course not. But Jesus’ point is, people are always so busy going about their business, just getting through today, that they never think about tomorrow.

Never a thought about God, or the plans God has for the human race. We keep ourselves so busy working, taking trips, shopping, paying the bills, looking after the kids, taking care of the house, going to weddings and to funerals – keeping ourselves so busy with the affairs of this world – that we give no attention to God or the things of God.

Quite to the contrary, “the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). “Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, …lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Tim 3:1,4).

(5) SIGNS IN THE SKY
After God sent his prophetic warning through Noah for many years, finally the end came. One fateful day dark clouds filled the sky, lightning pierced the air, thunder rolled across the heavens, and the rains poured down, covering the earth. When Jesus comes again, it will seem like a repeat of those ancient times.

“As the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be…The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky…and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:27, 29-30).

Like the flood waters of those ancient days, Jesus will fill the sky and descend from the clouds to cover the earth – with His power, and His glory, and His majesty.

Tragically, even though Noah had been preaching God’s prophetic message about the coming storm for 120 years, the flood caught the human race completely off guard! Amazing! And sadly, even though the Bible’s hundreds of detailed prophecies about the end times have been preached for thousands of years, and though the prophecies have been translated into hundreds of languages and distributed by the millions all over the world, when Jesus comes again, the human race will be completely and utterly surprised.

When Jesus returns, He will catch the people of The Last Days completely off guard. Amazing! Because nobody is watching. Nobody is ever watching.

During the next few months we will be hearing much more about the bird flu (influenza A H5N1, or H5N1 avian influenza virus). If the worst predictions are even partially correct, bird flu will not only affect us individually, but will affect our families, churches, and communities.

Churches will need to look after their members, especially those in the low-income bracket and senior citizens without family members nearby. Beyond their own congregations, churches must be prepared to take a lead role in coming to the aid of others in the community. Has your church had any discussion so far about its preparedness for a possible bird flu pandemic?

There is also a prophetic connection. In Jesus’ famous end-times sermon, the Olivet Discourse, he lists plagues and famines as among the “signs of the times” (Luke 21:11). There is no question that widespread disease and famine already mark these modern days. A bird flu pandemic would add to the severity of that truth. Jesus said to “keep on the alert at all times” for such signs, which will precede his coming.

Remarkably, Jesus said that The Last Days will be like the days of Noah. Noah, of course, lived thousands of years ago. Almost everything about human culture today is radically different than in those ancient times. Noah’s neighbors knew nothing about botox, Fear Factor, Howard Dean or the Internal Revenue Service. But according to Christ, in the most important ways, The Last Days will be very much like Noah’s days.

And the days of Noah were horrible! Some people complain today that we live in troubled times, but we can’t begin to imagine what it was like for Noah and his family in the awful times in which they lived. “The wickedness of man was great on the earth, and…every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…The earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence…For all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth” (Gen. 6:5,11-12).

Things were so bad that God just couldn’t stomach it. “The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land…for I am sorry that I have made them’” (Gen. 6:6-7).

So God told Noah to build an ark. You probably have heard the incredible details of that big boat Noah built. One hundred and fifty yards long — that’s a football field and a half. Three stories tall. In the shape of an enormous rectangular box. A floating, wooden box. God said the flood was coming in 120 years. It must have taken most if not all of that time for Noah and sons to construct, equip and supply that colossal ark.

But construction wasn’t all that Noah did during those days. The Apostle Peter described Noah as “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). As a matter of fact, Noah was the world’s first preacher, so far as we know. And we know that Noah didn’t preach in any church. Of course, there were no churches in Noah’s day, but more pertinently, there were no “church-goers.” Remember? The people were “only evil continually.”

Noah must have preached out in the open. Perhaps that huge ark became something of a tourist attraction. Maybe people traveled from great distances to come see “that giant wooden box that crazy old man is building.” Whenever Noah drew a crowd, he preached.

What do you suppose Noah preached about? Do you think Noah delivered sermons with titles like: “How to Score Everything You Want From God,” “How To Have Your Best Life Now,” or “How To Be Healthy and Wealthy While There’s Still Time to Enjoy It?”

No, I imagine Noah’s preaching was more along the lines of: “Repent! Repent! Oh yeah, and did I mention, Repent! The end of the world is coming. You better get right with God while you’ve still got the chance to do it.”

Of course, nobody listened to Noah. Can you imagine how people must have responded to his message? “What kind of nut are you?” “A flood? What are you, a weatherman?” “Oh, God told you? Yeah, right!” “Don’t talk to me about the future. I’m having a hard enough time just surviving the present.” “Is that all you can do, is try to scare us? Why don’t you preach something positive for a change?” Noah preached God’s message for 120 years and never made a single convert.

Finally, God told Noah the time had come. He and his family entered the ark, sealed the doors, and “In the 600th year of Noah’s life…all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights” (Gen. 7:11-12).

In the greatest natural disaster in human history, the world as it existed at that time came to a sudden end. All of the sin, all of the violence and corruption, the godlessness and idolatry and hedonism and existentialism were washed from the face of the earth, and God started all over again, with eight righteous people, Noah and his family.

Many thousands of years later, Jesus preached about those days. Surprisingly, Jesus said that The Last Days will be like the days of Noah. “The coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah…They did not understand, until the flood came and took them all away. So will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matt. 24:37,39).

Some people today don’t even believe that Noah’s flood ever happened. Of course, the people of Noah’s own day didn’t believe in the flood, either. Disbelief, then or now, did not and does not reduce by one iota the reality of that flood. Likewise, many people today don’t believe or don’t pay any attention to the clear message of Scripture that Christ is coming again. That this world as we know it will be done away with. That a new and better world is coming.

However, the disbelief of modern man and the complacency even of most believers does not diminish in the slightest degree the certainty, the power, and the finality of Christ’s Second Coming. We do not know if Christ will return today, or tomorrow, or 120 years from now, or one thousand years or more. But we do know that as in the days of Noah, the most important question is: Are you ready? The King is coming. Are you ready for His reign?

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See: “READY AND WAITING NO. 2: Nobody Is Ever Watching”

“In the last days difficult times will come.
For men will be
lovers of self, lovers of money,
boastful, arrogant, revilers,
disobedient to parents, ungrateful,
unholy, unloving, irreconcilable,
malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal,
haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.”

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NAS)