But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matt. 24:37-41-KJV).

It is strange to realize that before the flood similar conditions existed as in today's 21st century society. Many Christian scientists believe that more happened during the great flood of Noah's day than many realize. Great upheavals in landmasses, mountain transformation, and other catastrophic events were involved in this judgment of God. It was not a local event by any means, and there were also spiritual as well as prophetical implications. Enoch had walked with God until finally, one day, God translated him (Gen. 5:24). Many see in this event a type of the church, which will be translated or raptured out before God's judgment of the Tribulation. Noah and his family foreshadow the Jewish remnant that will be sealed during the Tribulation hour and will become the nucleus of a new society in the millennial kingdom.

How are the days of Noah similar to our day? Well, for one thing, there was a great population explosion (Gen. 6:1). Many scholars believe there were literally millions (if not more) living before the flood. On October 12, 1999, our planet reached the six billion mark and experts tell us that earth's population will continue to grow exponentially in the coming years. Secondly, there was tremendous moral corruption. "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth" (Gen. 6:5a). It doesn't take a genius to see that we have become desensitized to immorality in our generation. There was also violence (Gen. 6:11, 13). This, of course, is played out before our eyes every day in the media and on television, and is more acute now with the growing threat of terrorism.

There was the expansion of arts and industry (Gen. 4:16-22) along with a lack of conscience, even for murder (Gen. 4:23-24). We have beheld this alarming trend in our society when our school-age children began shooting one another without any conscience or remorse. Last of all, true believers will become more and more the minority. Just think, only eight persons survived the flood! Just because someone has their name on the church roll doesn't necessarily mean they have been born-again. This, in fact, is one of the signs of the last days leading to a one-world religion. The mustard seed, which begins small, will grow to become a monstrosity. Ecumenicism is the order of our day. If you want to see what Jesus thinks of this movement read about the church of Laodicea in Revelation. It characterizes the last day's church before our Lord returns for His own.

It is hard to believe that Enoch, before the coming judgment of the flood, prophesied about this event. "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 14-15). Notice that Enoch said "with ten thousands of his saints." That's us! Yes, we will be coming back with our Lord Jesus Christ when He returns to old terra firma at the end of the seven-year Tribulation. That's when it really gets exciting, because you see, that's when we get to reign and rule with Christ during the thousand years upon this earth.