As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man (Matt 24:37). The time leading up to the Great Flood was a lot like our time in that it was characterized by a deliberate and increasing disregard for the ways of God. Finally "the Lord saw how great man's wickedness on earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time" (Gen. 6:5).
What Day Is This?
It was 1656 years from Adam's creation to the flood and in that time, man had degenerated from a being created in the very image of God who walked and talked with Him to one whose thoughts and actions were totally depraved and bent only on evil. (For a time line from Adam to the Flood see From Adam to Abraham). It's been about 1973 years since man was re-created by events at the Cross (2 Cor 5:17). Scientists are beginning to speculate that time hasn't always been constant, and we know that around 750BC something happened to change the earth's orbit increasing the length of a year by 5.25 days and causing the calendars in the ancient world to be changed accordingly. Over time those changes proved to be insufficient, so in 1582 AD the Gregorian (for Pope Gregory) calendar was designed for the western world to replace the outmoded Julian (for Julius Caesar) one that had been in place since 4AD. It advanced the date by 10 days to realign the calendar with the vernal equinox, changed the beginning of the year from March 25 to January 1, and modified the Julian leap year calculations to further compensate for the extra 5.25 days. The Roman Catholic countries of Europe adopted the new calendar immediately but it was 170 years later as the United States was being born that England finally accepted the Gregorian changes (with an additional one day advance) so the calendar we use today is only about 250 years old. What this means is that while a year on earth has always marked the completion of one trip around the sun the actual time elapsed may have changed substantially. Of course in Heaven there is no such confusion, and it appears that in prophecy years always consist of 12 thirty-day months or 360 days. This is how the Great tribulation can be measured as 3.5 years or 42 months or 1260 days. I wonder if when we get to Heaven, we'll learn that according to God's calendar the lengths of time from Adam to the Flood and from the Cross to the Great Tribulation turn out to be the same. As it was in the days of Noah.
What Planet Are You From?
We've also made mention of the mysterious people in Genesis 6:4 called the Nephillim, offspring of crossbreeding between angelic beings and earthlings (See Noah and the Flood, Part 1, The X-Men). Would these beings with super natural strength (origin of the titans or demi-gods in mythology) be called aliens today? In many documented alien encounters there seems to be a great interest on their part in our reproductive system. Are aliens using humans to breed a super race again? In the King James rendering of Daniel 2:43 there's a curious reference to someone "mixing themselves with the seed of men" in the last days. Is the antichrist part alien or in command of beings that are part alien and part human? As it was in the days of Noah.
Out Of The Way
But in all my years of study comparing the days of Noah with the end of the age one insight has recently become much clearer to me. In Genesis 6:3 God warned of the removal of His Spirit from Earth before the coming judgement. Some see this passage as defining man's life span, but it can't be. In Psalms 90:10 we're told that man's life span is 70 years with an extra 10 if we have the strength. 120 years was the time God gave man to prepare for the coming judgement and prior to that judgement He was going to remove His Spirit from the earth. In 2 Thes 2:7 a similar warning is given concerning the end of the age, and there is confusion over it's interpretation just as with Gen. 6:3. The only truly literal interpretation of this passage is that before the anitchrist can be revealed in all his power beginning the Great Tribulation, the restraining force of the Holy Spirit must be taken out of the way (literally out of the midst, or from among).
Then as I was reading Genesis 6 again, the most remarkable thing happened. In my Bible Genesis 6:3 is in the right hand column about 1 inch down the page and has been highlighted for years. In the left hand column directly opposite is another verse I've also had highlighted for years. It's Genesis 5:24 and reads; Enoch walked with God and then he was no more because God took him away. Seeing those two verses side by side the sequence of events suddenly became so obvious to me. Enoch was taken alive from earth and the Holy Spirit was withdrawn. Then in Gen. 6:5 man's behavior is described as having become unbearably wicked and in Gen. 7 the judgement came, in that order.
Enoch's name means teaching and according to Jude 14-15 he gave the first prophecy of the 2nd coming. Hebrew tradition holds that he was born on the 6th day of Sivan on the Hebrew calendar and was taken by God on his birthday. The 6th of Sivan is the day we know as Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. For these reasons Enoch is often seen as a model or type of the church, whose calling is also to teach the world the ways of the Lord and to talk about His coming.
You Promised You Wouldn't Do That
The Bible declares that the Holy Spirit is sealed within believers as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (Ephe 1:13-14). Paul wrote that the Holy Spirit will be withdrawn from earth before the antichrist is allowed to begin the judgement known as the Great Tribulation. Withdrawing the Holy Spirit with out removing the Church as well would break God's promise to us since it would require "unsealing" the Holy spirit from with in us. If Enoch is indeed a model of the church and if the Lord's prophecy of Matt 24:37 includes the sequence of events, as seems likely, then one day soon we will be taken alive (raptured) from earth, the Holy Spirit withdrawn. Man's behavior will become unbearably wicked and the judgement will come, all in that order. As it was in the days of Noah. Selah.
