The Son of Man will come at an hour
when you do not expect him.
—Matthew 24:44
Noah was righteous, blameless, and faithful (Gn 6:9).
His contemporaries were wicked, evil, and corrupt (Gn 5:5; 6:11).
So, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Gn 6:8), and God determined to destroy depraved humanity (Gn 6:13).
God told Noah to build an ark to escape the coming destruction. Guys bending the elbow at the local Pub must have gotten a kick out of that crazy old codger hammering away day after day, under a cloudless sky. God was about to sober them.
And Jesus gave this omen to sober us: “In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. . . . That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Mt 24:38–39).
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