“And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26,27).

This is an important passage, a prophecy from Christ Himself. It makes it certain that Jesus, the Son of God, believed that Noah was a real man, that he really did build an ark, and that the great Flood (Greek, kataklusmos) was a devastating, worldwide cataclysm that “destroyed them all.” The description of the Genesis Flood (Genesis 6–9) is so clear and graphic that the Lord must be impatient with those modern, compromising evangelicals who try to accommodate evolutionism with their “local flood,” or “tranquil flood” theories. The global nature of the Flood, in fact, is analogous to the global impact of Christ’s return.

Furthermore, said Christ, world conditions at the time of His coming would be similar to those in Noah’s day. This means that the earth will be “filled with violence” in that day (Genesis 6:11). One thinks of World Wars I and II, regional wars and revolutions in every part of the world, millions of unborn babies murdered, crime-filled streets, bursting prisons, genocides in many nations, as well as unspeakable violence portrayed daily on movie and television screens everywhere.

It also means that human wickedness will be “great in the earth” (Genesis 6:5). Think of the overt and almost universal promiscuity, aggressive homosexuality, serial marriages, the drug plague, child abuse, atheism and pantheism abounding and, especially, utter indifference to God and His word. No age since Noah has been more like his age than our age. “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:30). HMM