26 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 "It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
Here Jesus teaches life will not always go on and on status quo. There will come a time when God says: “Enough!” Just as in the two examples our Lord cites, life appeared to be going on as normal. People were eating and drinking, marrying and carrying on all types of business oblivious to the fact that they were about to come face to face with their Maker who would require of them an accounting of their life. Scripture tells us:
For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. 11 It is written: "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'" 12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:10-12 (NIV)
Many people choose to live as if there is no God. They prefer for Him to be absent from their thoughts and words, absent from their actions – their comings and their goings, absent from their plans and their purposes, absent from their dreams and their goals, absent from them because they choose for Him to be. Over and over He sends warning after warning, wooing and lovingly calling us to Him yet stubbornly and sadly, many stomp their feet and refuse. We find in our verses for today, there is really nothing new under the sun. From Genesis to Revelation, from the fall of man in the Garden of Eden until now, man has rebelled and sought to go his own way. Yet God lovingly continues to pursue and call us:
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" Gen 3:8-9 (NIV)
“There is hardly ever a complete silence in our soul. God is whispering to us well nigh incessantly.” Frederick William Faber
“God speaks to us in a way that even wayward sheep can understand.” Anonymous
“The voice of God is a friendly voice. No one need fear to listen to it unless he has already made up his mind to resist it.” A.W. Tozer
In a wonderful chapter on obedience, the prophet Jeremiah states:
21 "'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! 22 For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, 23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. 24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. Jer 7:21-24 (NIV)
Oh that we would never fall into this same pattern of following our own stubborn inclinations! Jesus gives us the following solemn words to dwell on shedding more light on our responsibility for the choices we make in the matter of how we live our lives:
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:19-21 (NIV)
“Christians don’t fail to live as they should because they are in the world; they fail because the world has gotten into them. We don’t fail to produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit because we live in a sea of corruption; we fail because the sea of corruption has gotten into us...Most ocean-going ships have pumps running constantly, sucking out any water that might have leaked into the hull. Similarly, we need to keep the ‘pumps’ of repentance running. We need to plug the holes with the truth of God’s Word. Don’t let the world sink your ship!” Billy Graham
“Serious and sincere repentance routes us back into God’s will.” Robert J. Morgan
Similar to our verses for today, Peter also emphasizes the importance of our being ready for the Lord’s inevitable return. He warns us that Jesus will return unexpectedly as a thief in the night – in an hour we are least expecting it:
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 2 Peter 3:8-10 (NIV)
Lastly, Jesus Himself gives us this following stern warning:
35 "Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back--whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!'" Mark 13:35-37 (NIV)
Let us not let Him find us sleeping!