"And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart."[Genesis 6:6]
One day the Lord's disciples came to Him with this question: "What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3).
Jesus answered, "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (verses 37–39).
In this significant statement, Jesus not only was verifying the historicity of the Flood spoken of in Genesis, but He also was encouraging us to look carefully at the way things were before the Flood came, because these are characteristics that will be prevalent in the time before He comes again.
There are some striking parallels between Noah's time and our time. Noah was living in his last days. He was living in a time right before judgment came in the form of the Flood. And we are living in the last days, the time before the judgment that will come during the Great Tribulation.
As Genesis 6 opens, things had gone from bad to worse on Planet Earth. The Bible tells us, "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart" (verses 5–6).
God was grieved that His creation was living that way. This shows the heartache of God over the rebellion and wickedness of men and women.
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There are some striking parallels between Noah's time and our time. Noah was living in his last days. And we are living in the last days, the time before the judgment that will come during the Great Tribulation.
Today's Bible Reading
Isaiah 25:1 Adonai, you are my God.
I exalt you, I praise your name.
For you have accomplished marvels,
[fulfilled] ancient plans faithfully and truly.
2 For you have made a city a heap of stones,
turned a fortified city into rubble,
made the foreigners’ fortress
a city that will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore mighty peoples glorify you,
the city of ruthless nations fears you.
4 For you have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in distress,
shelter from the storm,
shade from the heat —
for the blast from the ruthless
was like a storm that could destroy a wall.
5 Like desert heat, you subdue
the foreigners’ uproar;
like heat subdued by a cloud’s shadow,
the song of the ruthless dies away.
6 On this mountain Adonai-Tzva’ot
will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food and superb wines,
delicious, rich food and superb, elegant wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the veil which covers the face of all peoples,
the veil enshrouding all the nations.
8 He will swallow up death forever.
Adonai Elohim will wipe away
the tears from every face,
and he will remove from all the earth
the disgrace his people suffer.
For Adonai has spoken.
9 On that day they will say,
“See! This is our God!
We waited for him to save us.
This is Adonai ; we put our hope in him.
We are full of joy, so glad he saved us!”
10 For on this mountain
the hand of Adonai will rest.
But Mo’av will be trampled down where they are,
like straw trampled into a pile of manure.
11 They will spread out their hands in Mo’av,
like a swimmer using his hands to tread water;
but their pride will be humbled and sunk,
no matter how clever the strokes of their hands.
12 Your high, fortified walls he will level,
strike to the ground, lay in the dust.
26:1 On that day this song will be sung
in the land of Y’hudah:
“We have a strong city!
He has built walls and ramparts for our safety.
2 Open the gates! Let the righteous nation enter,
a nation that keeps faith!
3 “A person whose desire rests on you
you preserve in perfect peace,
because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in Adonai forever,
because in Yah Adonai,
is a Rock of Ages.”
5 For he has humbled those in high places,
levelling the lofty city,
levelling it to the ground,
laying it in the dust.
6 It is trampled underfoot by the feet of the poor,
by the footsteps of the needy.
7 The way of the righteous is level;
Righteous One, you smooth the path for the righteous.
8 Following the way of your judgments,
we put our hope in you.
The desire of all our soul
is to remember you and your name.
9 My soul desires you at night,
my spirit in me seeks you at dawn;
for when your judgments are here on earth,
the people in the world learn what righteousness is.
10 Even if pity is shown to the wicked,
he still doesn’t learn what righteousness is.
In a land of uprightness he will still act wrongly
and fail to see the majesty of Adonai.
11 Adonai, you raised your hand,
but they still didn’t see.
Yet with shame they will see your zeal for the people.
Yes, fire will destroy your enemies.
12 Adonai, you will grant us peace;
because all we have done, you have done for us.
13 Adonai our God, other lords
besides you have ruled us,
but only you do we invoke
by name.
14 The dead will not live again,
the ghosts will not rise again;
for you punished and destroyed them,
wiped out all memory of them.
15 You enlarged the nation, Adonai,
you enlarged the nation;
and thus you glorified yourself;
you extended all the frontiers of the country.
16 Adonai, when they were troubled,
they sought you.
When you chastened them,
they poured out a silent prayer.
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth
cries out and writhes in her labor pains,
so we have been at your presence, Adonai —
18 we have been pregnant and been in pain.
But we, as it were, have given birth to wind;
we have not brought salvation to the land,
and those inhabiting the world have not come to life.
19 Your dead will live, my corpses will rise;
awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust;
for your dew is like the morning dew,
and the earth will bring the ghosts to life.
20 Come, my people, enter your rooms,
and shut your doors behind you.
Hide yourselves for a little while
until the wrath is past.
21 For see! Adonai emerges from his place
to punish those on earth for their sin.
Then the earth will reveal the blood shed on it
and no longer conceal its slain.
27:1 On that day Adonai,
with his great, strong, relentless sword,
will punish Livyatan the fleeing serpent,
the twisting serpent Livyatan;
he will slay the sea monster.
2 On that day, a pleasant vineyard —
sing about it!
3 “I, Adonai, guard it.
Moment to moment I water it.
So that no harm will come to it,
I guard it night and day.
4 I have no anger in me.
If it gives me briars and thorns,
then, as in war, I will trample it down
and burn it up at once;
5 unless it takes hold of my strength,
in order to make peace with me,
yes, to make peace with me.”
6 The time is coming when Ya‘akov will take root;
Isra’el will bud and flower,
and fill the whole world with a harvest.
7 [Adonai] will not strike Isra’el,
as he did others who struck Isra’el;
he will not kill them,
as he did the others.
8 Your controversy with her is fully resolved
by sending her [into exile].
He removes her with a rough gust of wind
on a day when it’s blowing from the east.
9 So the iniquity of Ya‘akov is atoned for by this,
and removing his sin produces this result:
he chops up all the altar stones like chalk —
sacred poles and sun-pillars stand no more.
10 For the fortified city is alone,
abandoned and deserted, like the desert.
Calves graze and lie down there,
stripping its branches bare.
11 When its harvest dries up, it is broken off;
women come and set it on fire.
For this is a people without understanding.
Therefore he who made them will not pity them,
he who formed them will show them no mercy.
12 On that day Adonai will beat out the grain
between the Euphrates River and the Vadi of Egypt;
and you will be gathered, one by one,
people of Isra’el!
13 On that day a great shofar will sound.
Those lost in the land of Ashur will come,
also those scattered through the land of Egypt;
and they will worship Adonai
on the holy mountain in Yerushalayim.
28:1 Woe to the haughty crown of Efrayim’s drunks,
to the fading flower of its proud splendor,
located at the head of the rich valley
belonging to people overcome by wine!
2 Adonai has someone strong and powerful.
He comes like a hailstorm, a destructive tempest,
like a flood of water, rushing, overwhelming;
with his hand he hurls them to the ground.
3 The haughty crown of Efrayim’s drunks
is trampled underfoot;
4 and the fading flower of its proud splendor,
located at the head of the rich valley,
is like the first ripe fig of summer —
whoever sees it picks and eats it.
5 On that day, Adonai-Tzva’ot
will be a glorious crown,
a brilliant diadem
for the remnant of his people.
6 He will also be a spirit of justice
for whoever sits as a judge,
and a source of strength for those
repelling enemy attacks at the gate.
7 But there are others reeling from wine,
staggering about because of strong liquor;
cohen and prophet reel from strong liquor,
they are confused by wine.
Led astray by strong liquor,
they err in their visions and stumble when judging.
8 All tables are covered with vomit and feces,
not a single place is clean.
9 Can no one be taught anything?
Can no one understand the message?
Must one teach barely weaned toddlers,
babies just taken from the breast,
10 so that [one has to use nursery rhymes]? —
Tzav la-tzav, tzav la-tzav,
kav la-kav, kav la-kav
z‘eir sham, z‘eir sham
[Precept by precept, precept by precept,
line by line, line by line,
a little here, a little there].
11 So with stammering lips, in a foreign accent,
[Adonai] will speak to this people.
12 He once told this people, “It’s time to rest,
the exhausted can rest, now you can relax” —
but they wouldn’t listen.
13 So now the word of Adonai for them comes
“precept by precept, precept by precept,
line by line, line by line,
a little here, a little there,”
so that when they walk, they stumble backward,
and are broken, trapped and captured!
14 So listen to the word of Adonai, you scoffers,
composing taunts for this people in Yerushalayim:
15 Because you said, “We made a covenant with death,
we made a contract with Sh’ol.
When the raging flood passes through,
it will not touch us.
For we have made lies our refuge
and hid ourselves in falsehoods” —
16 therefore here is what Adonai Elohim says:
“Look, I am laying in Tziyon
a tested stone, a costly cornerstone,
a firm foundation-stone;
he who trusts will not rush here and there.
17 I will make justice the plumbline
and righteousness the plumb-bob;
hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
water will overflow the hiding place,
18 your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your contract with Sh’ol will not stand.
When the raging flood passes through,
you will be trampled down by it.
19 As often as it passes through, it will take you,
for it will pass through every morning,
day after day, night after night;
understanding the message will be sheer terror.”
20 For, [as the saying goes,]
“The bed is too short for a person to stretch,
and the blanket too narrow [to protect him from cold]
even if he crams himself in.”
21 For Adonai will arise, as at Mount P’ratzim,
and storm with rage, as in the Giv‘on Valley;
so he can do his deed, his strange deed,
and perform his task, his alien task.
22 Therefore, now, stop your scoffing,
or your bonds will be further tightened;
for I have heard from Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot
that destruction is decreed for the whole land.
23 Listen and hear my voice;
pay attention, and hear what I say:
24 Does a farmer sowing keep plowing forever?
Does he never stop breaking up and harrowing his land?
25 No — when he finishes levelling it,
he scatters his dill-seed, sows his cumin,
puts wheat in rows, barley where it belongs,
and plants buckwheat around the edges;
26 because his God has taught him this,
has given him instruction.
27 Dill must not be threshed with a sledge
or cartwheels driven over cumin;
rather, dill one beats with a stick
and cumin with a flail.
28 When crushing grain for bread,
one doesn’t thresh it forever;
one drives the horse and cart wheels over it
but doesn’t crush it to powder.
29 This too comes from Adonai-Tzva’ot —
his counsel is wonderful, his wisdom great.
Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly friendship continue; 2 but don’t forget to be friendly to outsiders; for in so doing, some people, without knowing it, have entertained angels. 3 Remember those in prison and being mistreated, as if you were in prison with them and undergoing their torture yourselves.
4 Marriage is honorable in every respect; and, in particular, sex within marriage is pure. But God will indeed punish fornicators and adulterers.
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money; and be satisfied with what you have; for God himself has said, “I will never fail you or abandon you.”[Hebrews 13:5 Deuteronomy 31:6] 6 Therefore, we say with confidence,
“Adonai is my helper; I will not be afraid —
what can a human being do to me?”[Hebrews 13:6 Psalm 118:6]
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke God’s message to you. Reflect on the results of their way of life, and imitate their trust — 8 Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today and forever.
9 Do not be carried away by various strange teachings; for what is good is for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods. People who have made these the focus of their lives have not benefited thereby.
10 We have an altar from which those who serve in the Tent are not permitted to eat. 11 For the cohen hagadol brings the blood of animals into the Holiest Place as a sin offering, but their bodies are burned outside the camp.[Hebrews 13:11 Leviticus 16:27] 12 So too Yeshua suffered death outside the gate, in order to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Therefore, let us go out to him who is outside the camp and share his disgrace. 14 For we have no permanent city here; on the contrary, we seek the one to come. 15 Through him, therefore, let us offer God a sacrifice of praise continually.[Hebrews 13:15 Leviticus 7:12; 22:29; Psalms 50:14, 23; 107:22; 116:17; 2 Chronicles 29:31] For this is the natural product of lips that acknowledge his name.
16 But don’t forget doing good and sharing with others, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your lives, as people who will have to render an account. So make it a task of joy for them, not one of groaning; for that is of no advantage to you.
18 Keep praying for us, for we are certain that we have a clear conscience and want to conduct ourselves properly in everything we do. 19 And all the more I beg you to do this, so that I may be restored to you that much sooner.
20 The God of shalom brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Yeshua, by the blood of an eternal covenant. 21 May that God equip you with every good thing you need to do his will; and may he do in us whatever pleases him, through Yeshua the Messiah. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
22 Now I urge you, brothers, to bear with my message of exhortation; for I have written you only briefly.
23 Know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon enough, I will bring him with me when I come to see you.
24 Greet all your leaders and all God’s people. The people from Italy send greetings to you.
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Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie
P.O. Box 4000
Riverside, California 92514-4000 United States
Phone: 1-800-821-3300
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