Like the days of Noah

Like the days of Noah

This phrase "like the days of Noah" is taken from what Jesus said in Matthew 24:37

Mat 24:37  For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Qn: What happened during the days of Noah?

An: It was the judgement of God on the people of the world and only Noah and his family were saved. The reason was that the whole world's system and its human morality has been corrupted to the extend that God had to begin a new human race with Noah and his family.

Note: The judgement and destruction was on the world's system and the immorality in the people. The planet earth was NOT destroyed, and God did NOT re-create a new planet for Noah and his family. We shall come to this later.


Matthew 24:37 is a continuation from Verse 35, where the phrase "heaven and earth will pass away" was a reference to Israel, the Mosaic system, the Jewish system and its religion, and not a reference to the physical planet Earth.

In fact, God was consistently speaking that the planet earth will NOT be destroyed. It will not physically pass away. See:

Psa 104:5  Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should NOT be removed for ever. 

Forever and ever and ever, it shall NOT be removed.

Ecc 1:4  A generation passes away, and a generation comes; but the earth REMAINS forever. 

The planet earth remains forever and ever. God is not fickle and go back on His word.

There are many, many events that have happened and have changed the human system of the earth, but the planet has never never been destroyed and will never be. During the big flood that happened at the days of Noah, the planet was never destroyed, but the human system has been changed forever. 

During the Roman horrendous attack on Jerusalem as a sign of God's judgement, a confirmation of all the warnings given by the prophets and Jesus, the entire Israel's system of traditional worship and culture have literally been changed significantly, BUT the planet earth was not destroyed.

It is absurd to think like the futurists and dispensationalists that proclaim the entire physical earth will be destroyed with fire, and God will re-create a new earth, which is then a contradiction to the scriptures that confirmed that the planet earth will remain forever. 

This is their escapism mentality that have put fears into ignorant believers, who do not want to be left out (or left behind) in their escape track from God's judgement on planet earth.

In 2 Peter 3:1, we read of the passage that speaks about the day of the Lord and how it will be compared to the days of Noah. Sounds familiar?

Yes, Peter was teaching exactly the same thing that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24. How did Peter know all this? It is because Peter was there among the audience listening to the warnings of Jesus. 

It could even be said that Peter might be one of them that asked Jesus the 3 important questions in Matthew 24:3 i.e. "when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

In Matthew 24, Jesus answered Peter with a full interpretation of their last days leading to AD70, where the Old system (Old Covenant) was destroyed and a New Covenant was ushered in through the finished work of Jesus.

In 2 Peter 3:1-2, Peter starts off by reminding them to remember the words of the last days as foretold by the prophets and Jesus.

2Pe 3:1  This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,

2Pe 3:2  that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.

Peter was telling them what will happen in the last days. He said in 1 Peter 4:7 that "the end of all things is coming very soon." These are their last days. The events are coming very soon.

2Pe 3:3  knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

You can read that there were people during those days that were scoffing at Peter and the Christians for proclaiming that the day of the Lord is coming in THEIR last days.

Note: Peter was NOT speaking to scoffers that are going to come more than 2000 years later from the time of the audience. It is absurd because it does not mean anything to them, the hearers. In 2000 years from then, all of them would have died and long gone. There is no need for Peter to warn them at all. 

Peter was speaking of scoffers in their last days. Whose last days? Peter's and the audiences' last days. Peter said, the end of all things is already at hand. It is happening very very soon. Peter was just reiterating what the earlier prophets, Jesus and the apostles have been preaching all along.


Audience relevance

If you want to understand audience relevance, 2 Peter 3:4 has the key.

2Pe 3:4  They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 

What did the scoffers say? They said, where is his coming? Who are these scoffers anyway?

a. Historically, the Gentiles do not speak of the beginning of the planet earth in terms of God's creation. It is the Jews who referred the beginning of the earth to the creation work of God. The Torah (or Old Testament) have always described how God created the earth in Genesis 1.

b. Secondly, the Gentiles do not refer to their ancestors or historical figures as "fathers". This is a term that is only used by the Jews throughout the Torah to describe the genealogical history of Israel.


2 Peter 3:4 does not refer to 21st century people who are scoffing or mocking them. It does not refer to the Gentiles living in their days who were scoffing or ridiculing them. It refers to the Jews who were living in their days that were scoffing them.


2 Peter 3:5-6 says that the Jews purposely and willfully chose to forget that God had at one time destroyed the world with a huge flood as in the days of Noah.

2Pe 3:5  For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 

2Pe 3:6  and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 

Even though Peter did not use the phrase "days of Noah", but the audience can understand that he was talking about the flood during the days of Noah, because Peter said that "the world was flooded with water and perished". Peter is telling them that they deliberately forget that judgement had happened before during the Noah's flood. They are not remembering their history lesson.


The Noah Story

The Noah's story is important. The Noah's story does not tell you about the end of the physical world, but only the end of their world system. The granite, the stones and the material earth were not destroyed. The planet earth continued to exist. God did not start all over again with a new planet but God destroyed the system of that day.

So what did Peter do? He grabbed hold of their Noah's story, a story of a system being destroyed, and reminded them of the similarity between that story and the end of their world and their system.
 
In Matthew 24:37, Jesus himself did the same thing when He compared the days of Noah to their last days - the end of all things, the end of their way of doing things, the end of their Age. Jesus used the same story, similar to 2 Peter 3:5.

In 2 Peter 3:7, we usually find that futurists like to take this verse out of its context and said that God will destroy the world with fire, just like the days of Noah, when it was destroyed with water. They claim that God will give them a new heaven and new earth after completely destroying this one,

2Pe 3:7  But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 

We need to understand that 2 Peter 3:7 is figurative language and not literal. God did NOT destroy planet Earth in the days of Noah so God is not going to destroy planet Earth with fire just to start all over again. God only destroyed the system of that day during the days of Noah.


An example of figurative language. Look at Luke 3:5

Luk 3:5  Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways.

This verse was talking about John the Baptist who will do all these things in verse 5, as a preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ. John was preaching from the book of Isaiah 40:4. John was referring to Jesus who came to fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy of bringing salvation to many.
Now, was John talking figuratively or literally? Of course, it was figuratively.

Question: Did Jesus physically changed the mountains and valleys of Palestine?

Answer: No.! It was a metaphorical expression that was commonly used by Hebrews during those days.

But if we do go through "spiritual" valleys and mountains, Jesus' salvation will fill our valleys and bring low the mountains. Jesus will straighten our "spiritual" crooked roads.

So in 2 Peter 3:7, it was the world system of the ungodly that will be destroyed and not the planet Earth.


In Don Preston's book "The late great kingdom", on page 38, it refers to 2 Peter 3 as follows:

[... We understand from Peter, that in Noah's days, the moral world or society perished. We understand that Peter foresaw the coming dissolution of another society, the Jewish world. This is exactly what happened in AD70.  ]


Another good author David Pete Cruz, wrote "Prophecy Fulfilled" in 1994, subtitled "God's perfect church" in page 96:

[... The heavens and earth were simply the Jewish religious political authorities in the land of Palestine, and in the people who lived there. They were the ungodly men. Ungodly because they had rejected and killed the Christ and still rejected Him who was being kept by the gracious mercy of God, who wanted all to repent and come to Him, and not unto the day of judgement and destruction. This phrase tells us that this is another day of the Lord, just like the ones we see exampled in the Old Testament.. ]


Let's go on:

2Pe 3:8  But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 

2Pe 3:11  Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 

2Pe 3:12  waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 

2Pe 3:13  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 


In verse 8-9, Peter is highlighting to his listeners who think that they still have lots of time before anything will happen. God is giving them a span of time to change their minds, He is going to act. They do not have a thousand years. The Lord is not slow to act and do what He had promised. Time is running out.

In verse 10-13, Peter is using the same imagery as Jesus and Paul, where the "heavens and earth will pass away". This is covered in my earlier chapter.

https://advancingtruth.blogspot.com/2021/01/heaven-and-earth-will-pass-away.html
 
Peter is speaking the same as Jesus in Matthew 24. The old heaven and earth has to pass away, before the coming of the new heaven and earth. The old heaven and earth refers to the Israel's old system, the old covenant, the Mosaic system, the old practices of temple sacrifices and observation of the laws of the Old Covenant.

The new heaven and earth refers to the New Covenant, the new life that came through the finished work of Jesus at the Cross, the union of God living in us, the temple of His Spirit.


This "passing of the heaven and earth" is also described as the "day of the Lord" (2 Peter 3:4). And this day will come upon them like a "thief in the night", that means at the moment that they least expect it to happen. They need to get ready.

Jesus used this first in Matthew 24:43-44. Peter used this in 2 Peter 3:10, and Paul used this in 1 Thessalonians 5:2.

1Th 5:2  For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 

I talked a bit about this "day of the Lord" in previous chapter.

https://advancingtruth.blogspot.com/2020/05/signs-in-heavens-day-of-lord.html


The day of the Lord is the coming and pending judgement in their generation.

Old Testament prophets and authors always refer to the "day of the Lord" when they spoke of God judging a people.

For example, Ezekiel prophesied about the judgement that is coming upon King Nebuchadnezzar in Ezekiel 30:3,

Eze 30:3  For the day is near, the day of the LORD is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations. 


This is bible figurative language and symbolic terminology. Old Testament and New Testament both speaks the same Hebrew metaphorical language.

When Peter speaks about the coming day of the Lord in 2 Peter, he was referring to the coming judgement and destruction on Israel as a nation and its religious system. This destruction on the Mosaic system took place in AD70 when the Roman armies destroyed them.

Jesus foreknew this would happen, when He said in John 4:21,23.

Joh 4:21  Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father."

Joh 4:23  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 

This is good news.