By LARRY STOVER | Praise Park Ministries Church of the Nazarene

It seems like everywhere you go, “Noah and the Ark” collectibles are jumping off the shelf. My wife, Janet and I both love Noah. Our home is adorned with mementos of every sort and description. Every now and then we discover another “one of a kind” addition to our collection.

There is a host of irony in this matter. With the political and spiritual state of the world, reminiscing about Noah gives much food for thought.

The Bible is replete with descriptions and warnings surrounding the Lord’s return. In Matthew 24:37 we read an interesting statement as to the second coming of Jesus Christ. It reads, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

To grasp the full measure of this statement, one must go back to Genesis 6:5-7. In those verses, we discover the problems that preceded the flood that covered the earth. They read as follows, “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created.” Verse eleven goes on to say that the “earth was full of wickedness and violence.”

In the days of Noah, people were totally disengaged from the awesome relationship that Adam and Eve had enjoyed with God. When people blatantly disobey God, they are preparing themselves for judgment whether they want to admit it or not.

Look at the parallels with today. The earth was full of wickedness and violence. A look at the headlines of the newspaper or a casual bent ear to the evening news, readers and listeners cannot ignore the state of affairs that surround us. The moral and ethical state of nations are in a downward spiral from the principles established by God for His creation.

“Every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time,” is in itself an expose of numerous leaders in our world today? Present dictators in North Korea and the Middle East are enough to take a second look at this passage.

God had enough. Sometimes we think that God is such a patient God that He would never get so upset with the human race that He would not allow it to be destroyed again. God’s Word has never failed us to this point. He says that day is coming.

So, what’s the big deal about Noah? I believe that God is trying to get our attention. He wants us to look beyond the animals and wants to remind us that judgment day is coming. The Lord wants us to look around and realize that this world is in trouble. Of greater importance, He wants us to stop and realize that we need to be in a right relationship with Him in order to be ready for anything the future might hold.

There was good news in the days of Noah. Genesis 6:8 tells us that “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” One man and his family were found to be serving the God of creation. The Lord saved them through the Ark.

We can enjoy that same good news today. The Lord’s grace is still sufficient to meet every need we possess. Do you remember the day you discovered the saving grace of Jesus Christ? That salvation changed your life forever. You not only discovered forgiveness and restoration, you felt the power of sin and guilt lifted from your life. Like Noah, we found grace in the eyes of the Lord and He saved us from the judgment of God.

For the past five years I have been on a journey examining the correlation of the daily headlines with Biblical passages on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

It has been a fascinating study. We don’t know the day or the hour of that event but we do know that it is coming. If you have not experienced that forgiving grace, there is no better time than now to experience a relationship with Jesus Christ that is “Simply Beautiful.”