Jesus said the days of His second coming would be like the days of Noah. How will the time before Jesus’ return be like the days of Noah? For one, Jesus tells us that the unsaved will be totally unaware of God’s coming wrath as they were in Noah’s day. The people will also be lawless, a total rejection of God and His values.
“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as 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.”Matthew 24:37-39
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:9-12
Does the comparison with Noah’s Day even include parallels between the number of days of the Flood when God poured out His wrath for the first time on this earth and the coming Wrath of God that will be poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements?
Does God’s Word tell us plainly how long the Wrath of God lasts, and will it be a surprise to almost everyone? Yes, God does with a number of Scriptures so that we can know for sure.
We observe in Acts 10 and 11, God, rather than the apostles, took the initiative in most situations. The apostle’s involvement invariably requires their availability in prayer. God had heard Cornelius’s prayer and He also, with some considerable difficulty, sought to guide Peter as he prayed. Both Cornelius and Peter experienced the presence of God in a vision (Acts 10:2-3 and 9). Peter was rather slow to understand what was going on, trying hard to keep up with the God who had already gone before him. He eventually realised that he should visit Cornelius, but was astonished to find that God had already been working well beyond the bounds of the Church. To Peter’s amazement, he got halfway through his talk when the Spirit took over. The account reads as if the Spirit is rather impatient, perhaps even bored by Peter’s sermon, and doesn’t wait for him to finish (Acts 10:44)!
Even on the day of Pentecost, Peter was simply keeping up with God’s action and he did not initiate anything himself. He just happened to be present and took the opportunity to explain the events unfolding before his eyes, starting with a disclaimer to drunkenness (Acts 2:15).
God often makes his presence known to people, despite our slowness to ‘cotton on’ to whatever He is doing. We play our part, but very much as junior partners who are trying to keep up.
Our partnering with God is good for our mental health. It saves us from feeling we have the overwhelming responsibility of carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders. It releases us to walk with the Lord, in the confidence that He has both gone before us and that we carry His presence with us. Our part is to be attentive and to look for signs of the Holy Spirit’s activity as we fulfil our call to have an impact on people and communities. Doing this by seeking to discern the presence and activity of the Spirit is a different approach to what most of us have been taught which seemed to put the onus on us.
On occasions, walking with God means we have to ‘walk on the water’. Like the disciples, as we set out from the security of the shore, we do not realise all that the journey will entail. The story of Peter walking on water revealed how rash he was, but it also shows us the level of his faith in Jesus compared to his companions who stayed in the boat ‘Peters’ are people who are more desperate to join Jesus than those of us who always weigh up the risk. We need to avoid recklessness, but when it’s in response to having heard the prompting of the Holy Spirit, faithfully stepping into a vulnerable situation will get us closer to Him.
Much of this post is extracted from Richard Brown’s book Cultivating God’s Presence
This is a great video by David Wood. He delves into the origins of Science involving Jordan Peterson but also by looking at the history of science. For example, did you know that major universities such as Oxford and Harvard grew out of monasteries.
The idea that the universe can be understood, and it is good we understand it, are religious ideas. How surprising is it that we can explore and understand the laws and design of the Cosmos we occupy? Is this likely in naturalism? Of course not. What about the intrinsic goodness of knowledge and science?
According to Jordan Peterson the Bible is the most influential book in the world, in all of history.
Did Jesus expect everyone to understand His parables about the Kingdom of God?
Most people assume Christ used this method of teaching (parables) to make the truth more easily understood. Jesus, Himself said the opposite is true.
“And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’ He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it has not been given… Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand'”Matthew 13:10-13
“But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Matthew 13:16-17
Jesus did not expect everyone to understand His parables about the Kingdom, either in His days on earth or now.
It is interesting that Jesus quoted the prophecy from Isaiah (approx 700 BC): “And in them, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand.” Matthew 13:14-15
Jesus then explained the Parable of the Sower. The sown seed was “the word of the kingdom”. Next, He gave the three most common reasons most people don’t understand what He called “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven“.
Jesus gave the example of a person who is so deceived by Satan that he lacks the spiritual depth even to grasp the meaning of the message.
Next, He gave the example of one who “stumbles” at the word when “tribulation or persecution arises“.
Then comes the example of the one “who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful“.
Finally, “this is the one who hears and understands it” They understand Christ’s teachings concerning the Kingdom of God. The person who hears and believes the message then acts on that information to produce abundant spiritual fruit.
When one repents in faith and receives the gift of God’s Spirit (Acts 2:38), he begins a Spirit-led life. Through His Spirit, as Paul explains: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 Also, we need to constantly ask our Lord: “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths” Psalms 25:4
Jesus promises these believers:
“What will they then do? “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations”Revelation 2:26
“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” Revelation 3:21
Do you want to reign with Jesus in His coming Millennial Kingdom on earth? If you do then make sure you are walking according to the Holy Spirit producing abundant spiritual fruit.
I have found a new book: Cultivating God’s Presence: Renewing Ancient Practices for Today’s Church by Richard J Roberts which has been helpful in the way I look at how I relate to God. But, and there is a big but, Roberts makes no mention of the fact that Jesus made it possible for our heavenly Father to send the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit to indwell our Spirit to enable believers to live the Christian life. There is no way we can live a holy life without the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is clear that anything good in our lives is a result of the Holy Spirit, The fruit of the Spirit is the Christlike character: a character that reveals what Jesus is like. It is the outward expression of the holy nature of God in the believer. It is actually the development of the life of Christ in the Christian.
In 1 Thessalonians 5;19, Christians are commanded, “Do not quench the Spirit.” We must stay connected to God and always ask Him to help us say not my will but your will be done this day. We must obey God and allow the Holy Spirit to make us more like Jesus. Becoming lax in demonstrating the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit is dangerous to our spiritual life. As Christians, we believe that the Holy Spirit is our guarantee or down payment on eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 5:15-21)
Imagine the Holy Spirit as a roaring campfire. What happens to the fire when we stop putting in the fuel and instead throw dirt on it? It goes out. It no longer produces the light or heat for which it was started. In the same way, if we neglect our relationship with God and become focused on the things of the world, we will extinguish the presence of God’s Spirit in our lives and no longer produce the fruit of the Spirit.
In addition to the importance of showing others how God’s Spirit can work in our lives, Christians must never underestimate the importance of fulfilling the covenant we made with the God of the universe when we were baptized and received the greatest gift of all: His Holy Spirit.
We all want to experience God’s presence. However, the presence of God is not amenable to a program, nor to a spiritual self-help manual. God is often elusive and even though we pray for his presence the Spirit is not at our beck and call. Jesus reminded us that the movement of the Spirit, like the wind, can be felt but He cannot be controlled: ‘The wind blows where it wishes’ (John 3:8). We cannot guarantee a certain outcome by adopting a particular spiritual practice.
WALKING WITH GOD
“Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.” Genesis 5:22
“Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” Genesis 5:24
Enoch was clearly someone quite remarkable even though he lived a somewhat normal life fathering sons and daughters. It is as if the author of Genesis breaks with facts and figures and has to tell us about this person that enjoyed the companionship of God as an ongoing continuous experience. The phrase ‘walking with God’ conjures up a life of constant fellowship with him on the earthly journey. Enoch’s fellowship with God was never broken; his lifespan, unlike that of his forebears, was not limited to a given number of years. Rather, from the moment he commenced his walk with God, Enoch experienced eternal life, beginning right here on earth.
It seems important that we are told, not that God joined in with Enoch’s walk, but that it was Enoch who joined God on his walk. He walked with God, rather than God walking with him. This may seem a subtle distinction, but it is an important one. While we often ask God to join in with and bless whatever we may be doing, ‘to join our walk’, Enoch in contrast, joined God’s walk. The psalmist hints at a similar dynamic when he wrote, ‘Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths’ (Psalm 25:4). Enoch’s life and walk with God raises the possibility for us of a more consistent experience of God’s presence.
Jesus spoke of our having constant fellowship, a constant walk, with God. He made it possible for our heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit to indwell our Spirit to enable this walk:
‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’ John 14:23
This is a promise of the presence of the Father and the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. But notice also that Jesus tells us that God’s presence is cultivated by obedience to his word, so this is a conditional promise. The promise of God’s presence is not an enticement nor even a reward to keep us on the straight and narrow path. It is simply the outcome of our obedience.
Matthew’s Gospel, in particular, links our eternal destiny with the way we live now, rather than emphasizing a set of beliefs (Matthew 25: 29-30 and 40-46). Grace is a deep appreciation that we are the recipients of God’s wholly undeserved kindness. Grace is often experienced in worship, as we realize how profound the Father’s love for us is, and that experience in turn leads to deeper worship. It is this experience of the mercy of God which changes our attitudes and leads to sacrificial discipleship (Romans12:1-2). As we respond to God’s grace it inevitably makes us more gracious as people full of gratitude which spills over into acts of kindness to others.
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM contains many marvels that modern science has yet to fully explain. One example concerns the migration flight of the golden plover.
The Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva) is a small shorebird, about the size of a dove. It lives from northern Siberia to western Alaska. Every year, these birds leave their young and fly south to spend the winter in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australasia, or on various Pacific islands.
Of the Alaska-dwelling members of this species, almost all (including those stopping en route to more distant destinations) make a migratory flight to Hawaii, where the bird is known as the kolea.Alaska to Hawaii means an 88-hour, non-stop flight across more than 4,500 km (2,800 miles) of open ocean. The birds are unable to swim, and there is no land between these locations for them to stop and rest. Amazingly, for an individual plover to fly this distance would require more energy than is stored in its body.
Before departure, they put on additional weight, mostly in the form of fat reserves to sustain their long flight. On average, they gain enough to give each bird about 70 grams (2.4 oz) of consumable energy. Here is the dilemma, though; these birds in flight burn approximately 1 gram of energy per hour, so they should consume all their stored energy in about 70 hours, which is 18 hours short of Hawaii. However, each year the golden plovers make it to Hawaii. How is this possible?
As do some other kinds of birds, the plovers fly in a V-formation. This is so they can ‘draft’ off each other, which reduces the energy required to fly. This saves each bird, on average, 23% of the energy that would be used if flying unaccompanied. This is, however, not the case for the bird at the lead position, but the plovers take turns in that position and thus ‘share the load’.3 These golden plovers arrive in Hawaii every year with 6.8 g (0.24 oz), on average, left over from what they had ready for the flight. This provides insurance in case of non-advantageous winds encountered on the flight route.4
It is not uncommon for the plovers to lose 50% of their total body weight during this epic flight spanning less than four days. This is amazing. Imagine a 60 kg human losing 30 kg (65 lb) while jogging non-stop for this entire period, neither eating nor drinking—without any ill effects!
Sophisticated programming
The plovers’ innate abilities enabling them to perform this amazing migratory feat have all the hallmarks of design, engineered into their systems for migration purposes. Consider the following instinctive abilities, all of which are pre-programmed within the bird’s DNA, thus already in the fertilized egg:
Timing their substantial fat gain. Each bird needs to have this extra fuel already on board when the time comes for them to depart, together, on their astonishing odyssey.
Ensuring in advance the correct amount of fat for the distance needed. Too little, and the bird would plunge into the ocean and perish, its fuel all spent, before reaching its destination. Extra weight adds to the effort of flying this incredible distance, so with no possibility to rest, too much fat risks the bird again falling short of Hawaii, in this case from exhaustion.
Drafting off each other in flight. Without such a clever aeronautic strategy, even the extra fat they carry would not last the distance. Consider, too, the built-in ingenuity that causes them to alternate the ‘lead pilot’ position so that all of them share this energy-saving benefit equally.
All of this reflects a Designer with intelligence and ability beyond all human understanding. In His omniscience, He can say, “I know all the birds of the hills” (Psalm 50:11). This Designer, the Lord Jesus Christ, created all the original populations (kinds) of living things ex nihilo. He deserves our awe and praise:
“O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” Psalm 104:24
The article is taken from Creation Magazine Volume 45, Issue 2, 2023. Make sure you subscribe http://www.creation.com
Jerusalem, that ancient city over which so much blood has been shed throughout the centuries, will become the government and religious center of the world in Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom. Just read these amazing prophetic Scriptures about the new Jerusalem God will create on the highest mountain on earth. What happened to the other mountains? During the last Bowl judgement we are told what happens to the mountains.
“And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail because the plague was so severe.” Revelation 16:20-21
The new Jerusalem will be the capital of the world and “all nations shall gather to it“.
“Thus says the Lord: I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain.” Zechariah 8:3
“At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage” Jeremiah 3:17-18
“For Zion’s sake, I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake, I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a burning torch. The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,and your land married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.” Isaiah 62:1-4
“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Isaiah 2:2-4
“They (Saints) came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4-6
Great message from Rev Calvin Robinson at the Oxford Union in the UK. He shocked this group with God’s truth. Make sure you share this message widely.
Calvin Robinson: I feel LIBERATED after being CANCELLED by the Church of England for having the wrong opinion on the Bible. Believing it is all God’s Word, the truth by which we should live.
I have just added another video of Calvin being interviewed and it is good to learn that Calvin will be preaching in another church. Both of these videos need to be viewed and shared.
If you have not already read Biblical History: Creation of Cosmos to Creation of Nations, can I suggest you do so, it was posted on 13/03/2023. I finished that post with God stepping into history to create the nations by confusing the language at the Tower of Babel. God created many new languages so that people would separate and populate all areas of the world God had created.
The next significant thing that God did was to create His own nation and He did so by selecting one obedient individual, Abraham from whom He would miraculously establish His nation Israel. It was miraculous because Abraham and Sarah could not have produced Isaac naturally. Sarah was 100 years old.
God’s nation, Israel, begins with a promise to one man, Abraham. For over four hundred years the people of Israel in bondage in Egypt rely on that promise to Abraham. God brought them out of Egypt with the greatest series of miracles ever. The EXODUS was the birth of the nation.
God tested Abraham’s obedience to the extreme by asking him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. If you want to be used by God this is the level of obedience needed. We need to trust God without qualification, absolutely.
“And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself,I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” Genesis 22:15
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers,” Deut. 7:6-8
It is obvious from these Scriptures alone that God has more plans for His nation Israel. From Biblical prophecies, we know that Jesus will rule all of the nations of the world from a newly constructed Jerusalem. It will be situated on the highest mountain in the world after God rearranges the earth and mountains during the time He pours out His wrath a second time prior to Jesus’ return to earth.
Back to the History of the world. Eight people came off the ark and it is interesting that they lived long lifetimes as did the pre-flood people. Shem died at the age of 1846 years. He outlived Sarah, Abraham’s wife. It is no wonder that the eight survivors of the Ark were considered gods by the Egyptian people. It was only after Noah’s generation that God reduced the life span to 120 years.
“Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”Genesis 6:3
Four times in the Psalms, EGYPT is called by the name of Noah’s youngest son HAM. Semitic designation for EGYPT is MIZRAIM (Ham’s second son). The name MIZRAIM appears 680 times in the Hebrew Bible. CUSH (Ham’s first son) begot NIMROD (mighty hunter). The beginning of his kingdom (BABYLON) was BABEL on the plain of SHINAR where the TOWER OF BABEL was built.
Mizraim, Noah’s grandson, founded Egypt around 2100 B.C., a date consistent with both biblical and secular records. Of interest, the Bible also tells us that Javan, Noah’s grandson to Japheth established Greece.
The archaeological evidence does indicate that the eight people that came from the Ark who carried the sum total of all human knowledge, founded civilization, and outlived their descendants were deified in the pagan religions that arose after them.
All Egyptologists are well aware of a group of eight gods, four males and four females known as OGDOAD meaning eight. Note in these pictures on the walls of pyramids, eight people are pictured on the ark which is held up by the Egyptian creator God, Atum.
The OGDOAD are also well known in later Ptolemaic and Roman texts where they play a role in Egyptian cosmological theology concerning the creation of the universe from a watery abyss. These eight gods known as the Ogdoad derived from the Greek meaning eight and are found in what is considered the most ancient evidence in the fifth dynasty pyramid texts.
BENBEN STONES ATOP PYRAMIDS:
Benben stones in Cairo Museum. In the mythology of ancient Egypt, there are several accounts of the creation of the world. One of these is centered on the Egyptian Creator god Atum, and had its origins in the city of Heliopolis. The other in the city of Hermopolis . According to the Heliopolis version of the creation story, the universe was brought into being by Atum. In the beginning, there was nothing but darkness and chaos. It was out of the dark waters that the primordial hill, known as the Benben stone arose, on top of which stood Atum. As the Benben stone rose from the primeval waters, it has been suggested that this word is associated with the verb ‘weben’, which is the Egyptian hieroglyph for ‘to rise’. Also, in the Biblical flood account “And the waters continued to abate until the tops of the mountains were seen.” In both cases, land appears from a state of watery chaos. Desiring companionship, god Atum began the work of creation. In some versions of the myth, he created Shu and Tefnut (Adam and Eve?) who left Atum on the Benben stone and went away to create the rest of the world.
The Benben sacred stone represents the primaeval mound, the first land that appeared from the primaeval ocean, called the Nun. It was upon this land that the eight ‘gods’ (OGDOAD) sprang into being; four males and their wives, headed by the chief god ‘Nu’ which is phonetically similar to Noah.
The pyramids were themselves extensions of the Benben. We know this to be a fact linguistically because the Egyptian word for pyramid is bnbn.t which is the female version of the bnbn sacred stone.
This explains the size and shape of the pyramids. They were a constant reminder to the Egyptians of the worldwide flood and the rebirth of the world from the deified eight occupants of Noah’s Ark.
Nu is Noah. The names for the three other males are Kek, Heh, and Amun and are the equivalent Egyptian religious names for Ham, Japheth, and Shem. The consorts (wives) are merely the feminine forms of the male names. The names also describe the forces of chaos KEK meaning darkness, HEH meaning unlimited.
Why isn’t this taught in our history classes?
In the next part of Biblical History, we will look at Israel’s, and the world’s history up to the time of the greatest event in all of history.
Biblical chronology and the oldest ‘Yahweh’ and ‘Israel’ inscriptions: their significance for the traditional 1446 BC Exodus date.
This article discusses how biblical chronology is constructed and how the traditional Exodus date of 1446 BC is calculated and corroborated. Four pieces of supporting evidence are discussed, which can be dated to Egypt’s 18th Dynasty onwards. Specifically, inscriptions bearing the divine name ‘Yahweh’, and the earliest inscription of ‘Israel’ appear at the right time for the early Exodus date.
1) The oldest Egyptian inscription referring to ‘nomads of Yahweh’ occurs at Soleb, Nubia.
2) A Book of the Dead papyrus (Princeton Pharaonic Roll 5) bears a theophoric personal name utilizing ‘Yahweh’, likely meaning the owner was a ‘Semitic’/Jewish elite, buried in Egypt.
3) The oldest proto-Hebrew inscription, mentioning Yahweh, comes from Mount Ebal, Israel.
4) The oldest Egyptian inscription of national ‘Israel’ is dated between 18th–19th Dynasties.
The combined evidence strongly militates against the late Exodus date of 1267 BCand supports the Biblical Exodus date.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 