Earth, Just Before the Rapture
Earth, Just Before the Rapture
By Bill Perkins
One of the more remarkable Scriptures in the Bible is the statement in both Matthew and Luke that the coming of the Lord will be just like in the “days of Noah” before God flooded the earth.
“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matt. 24:37-39).
In a parallel verse in Luke, it says there will also be buying/selling and planting/harvesting (Luke 17:28).
Since there will be food, clothing, social engagements and an economy right up to Jesus’ coming, the Bible tells us it will be business as usual on the earth right up to the end of this age.
Therefore, that amazing event-the Rapture, will catch the world by stunning surprise, just as the flood surprised those alive in the days of Noah.
Before the Rapture or the Second Coming?
The events on the earth leading up to the Second Coming are genuinely horrific. War, famine, disease and an earthquake so large that ALL the mountains on the earth fall down, clearly confirm that these verses about the ‘days of Noah” can’t be referring to the Second Coming.
Therefore the “days of Noah” verses, unmistakably, have to be referring to Jesus’ coming at the Rapture. Which also tells us times will be basically normal just before the Rapture.
So the model Jesus gave us is this:
1) God reveals His plan to His Chosen.
2) God shuts the door.
3) The ark floats up and above the flood.
4) The ark returns to the earth.
5) A new dispensation begins.
Therefore we can conclude:
1) God reveals His plan to His Church.
2) God shuts the door with Rapture.
3) The Church is taken up above the Tribulation.
4) The Church returns to the earth.
5) A new dispensation begins.
(We would be remiss in our duties if we didn’t also point out that Noah was pre-flood, not mid-flood or post-flood!)
What can we learn?
Before the flood, people watched Noah build the ark for over 100 years. He had to be the laughing stock of the world. Noah’s detractors believed he was squandering his wealth and wasting his time building a huge boat to survive a flood. And don’t forget, up until the flood it had never rained a single drop of water on the earth!
“But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground” (Gen. 2:6).
No doubt this is a big reason Noah is in the Bible’s faith “Hall of Fame” in Hebrews 11.
“By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household…” (Heb. 11:7).
Noah trusted by faith that God’s promises were forever. He didn’t understand it all, but by faith did what God asked him to do.
“…Noah, a preacher of righteousness…” (2 Peter 2:5).
Noah continued faithfully preaching God’s plan for over 100 years. The world saw Noah finish construction of the ark and some probably saw the animals being loaded inside. They watched but did not listen to Noah’s warnings, blatantly mocking the idea that in the future things would drastically change.
We are warned in the latter days the world would also mock the flood and creation.
“Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.
For when they maintain this, it escapes notice that by the Word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water” (2 Peter 3:3-6).
Today, we see attacks on the Bible like no other time in history. The national media disdainfully mocks any presidential candidate who professes to believe biblical creation over the theory of evolution. They also mock the biblical account of Noah’s worldwide flood.
But just as “God shut the door” of the ark, He will also shut the door with the Rapture. The “door” of the ark is, of course, representative of Jesus.
“Then Jesus therefore said to them again, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep'” (John 10:7).
When God shut the door on the ark, it was too late for the non-believers on the earth to miss the flood. When God shuts the door at the Rapture, it’s going to be too late for non-believers to miss the Tribulation. Noah floated up over the flood, protected by God, returned back to earth and a new dispensation began.
The Church will go up (Rapture) and over the Tribulation, attend the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and then return to earth as a new dispensation begins. But there is one more characteristic of the Days of Noah that few people talk about-the Nephilim. The Nephilim were half angel and half human.
The world was so wicked in the days of Noah that fallen angels came to earth and mated with humans, creating a super-race. Only Noah and his family were spared as God dealt with these strange creatures.
“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown” (Gen. 6:4).
Angels are quite interesting creatures. The Bible tells us that even today, some of the people walking the earth are actually angels in disguise.
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Heb. 13:2).
When Satan fell, one-third of the angels broke away and followed him. Of that fallen group came those angels who came to the earth to mate with humans.
These were the worst of the worst angels. At the time of the flood, God imprisoned them in the center of the earth, or the “bottomless pit.”
When Jesus talked to the demonic man on the Sea of Galilee, the demons in him pleaded not to be sent to the bottomless pit (abyss) before their time.
“And Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name? ‘And he said, ‘Legion, for many demons had entered him.’ And they were entreating Him not to command them to depart into the abyss” (Luke 8:30-31).
Unimaginably, in the Tribulation, these monsters will be released to torment those here on the earth.
“And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. And he opened the bottomless pit; and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit” (Rev. 9:1-2).
The Bible warns us that we’re not up against people in this life, but rather our fight is against the spiritual world of darkness.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
Scientists are today working with artificial intelligence and nanotechnology to construct a third strand of DNA that will purportedly make our bodies disease free. Who will control the direction of these experiments? Our minds, memories, physiology and even offspring could be affected. More important, is this a step toward a race similar to the Nephilim?
I would hate to be on this earth when control of all this ends up in one man’s hands!