Days of Noah, Days of Lot

I have heard it taught by good people both ways.  Some teach that when Jesus spoke of the days of Noah and the days of Lot, they are referring to the conditions on earth before the 2nd coming of Christ.  Others teach that these are the conditions found on earth before the rapture.  I’m in this 2nd camp and so is this author I have posted below.  After the earth is hit by massive meteors, 100 lb hailstones, 1/3 of vegetation burned up and men are fainting with fear, it hardly seems like a time when people will be saying, “Hey Julie, we need to go shopping for your wedding dress cuz the big day is coming up soon!  Where do you think you will honeymoon?”

I posted some of the article below but you should go to the link at the bottom and read it all.  It’s certainly encouraging that our blessed hope is on the horizon and conditions can’t get much worse before the Tribulation begins.  And that means the rapture should be very close indeed.

***********************

By the end of the Tribulation, all the oceans and rivers will have been turned to blood (Revelation 16:3-4). Babylon will have been destroyed in an hour, apparently collapsing the world’s economy and thus causing all political leaders, merchants, and ship captains to mourn (Revelation 18:9-20). Finally, just before the battle of Armageddon, all the world’s cities will be flattened by hundred-pound hailstones, as well as an earthquake that is so severe that even islands and mountains will collapse (Revelation 16:18-21).

Due to all of this, I cannot imagine that anyone will be buying or selling, marrying, building, or planting at Jesus’ Second Coming. Thus, Matthew 24:37-42 and Luke 17:26-30 must be talking about the time when the Rapture happens, when life is going on normally for most of the world.

But how bad could things get before we are no longer in times that could be called ‘normal’?

I think we can say at least a few things because of how the church of Philadelphia is promised that they will not enter the time of the Tribulation (Revelation 3:10). This is because the “departure” (the literal meaning of the Greek term apostasia) of all true Christians to heaven in the Rapture will happen before the Antichrist is revealed in the First Seal judgment (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8, Revelation 6:1-2). The Antichrist will be identifiable when he confirms some sort of seven-year covenant between Israel and “many” (Daniel 9:27), which will probably be a peace treaty (Daniel 8:25 KJV, 1 Thessalonians 5:3).

Therefore, Christians today can trust that we will not see things become so bad before the Rapture that they fulfill events that are only prophesied to occur during the Tribulation. Thus, we can be confident that:

1. The world will not see a major nuclear war, such as might occur in the Second Seal judgment (Revelation 6:3-4).
2. Inflation, famine, or economic collapse will not become so bad that for most people in the world, it takes an entire day’s wages to buy a loaf or two of bread like it will in the Third Seal judgment (Revelation 6:5-6).
3. The spread of disease will not become so bad that 25% of the world dies, as in the Fourth Seal judgment (Revelation 6:7-8).
4. The Mark of the Beast will not be implemented (Revelation 13:16-18), even if we might see the system that enables it start coming into view through digital currencies and/or digital identification.

These reassurances, though, might not feel so comforting. What if inflation gets so bad that it takes 75% of a day’s wages to feed a family? What if a new plague were to wipe out 20% of the world’s people? What if Christians and other dissenters begin to be persecuted so badly by corrupt and lawless governments that we are no longer allowed to hold jobs, or buy or sell, even before the Mark of the Beast is created? Couldthese things still happen before the Rapture?

It is true that Jesus said the signs of the end times will resemble the labor pains of a pregnant woman, by how they will increase in frequency and intensity as the Tribulation approaches (Matthew 24:7-8, Mark 13:8).

However, the Bible also says that Jesus will come like a thief who breaks into a house when people are not expecting it (Matthew 24:42-44, Luke 12:35-40, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 3:3). Or it will be like when an unsuspecting person walks into a trap (Luke 21:34-35).

Jesus warns that Christians who are not watching for his return risk being caught off guard when he returns at the Rapture (Matthew 24:48-51, Mark 13:32-36, Luke 12:45-48). This group likely includes the lukewarm Laodicean Christians who will think they are rich and prosperous (Revelation 3:17). So things must remain ‘normal’ enough before the Rapture that at least some Christians will still be unaware of the approaching Tribulation, and at least some churches will appear to be very wealthy and successful.

Yet Christians who are paying attention to the signs and watching for Jesus’ return will not be surprised by the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6), even if we do not know the exact day or hour that it will occur (Matthew 24:36, 25:13, Mark 13:32).

When all of these verses are taken together, along with the earlier discussion of the days of Noah and Lot, the picture of what we should expect the world to be like before the Rapture is clear.

The signs will increase in frequency and intensity, and people will become worse and worse (2 Timothy 3:12-13). Yet things will remain normal enough that scoffers will continue to scoff about Jesus’ soon return (2 Peter 3:3-4), and at least some Christians will not see the Tribulation coming.

Thus, the world will not gradually enter the Tribulation in a series of continually escalating crises and disasters. Instead, the world will be in a state of “business as usual” until sudden disaster strikes them without warning, like when a person steps into a trap or when a woman in labor has her water suddenly break as the unstoppable delivery process begins.

This instantaneous transition point will be the Rapture. In the chaos that follows the disappearance of millions or maybe even billions of people, everything will quickly fall into place to allow for the rise of the Antichrist to power and the signing of a peace deal between Israel and “many.” Then, the sudden destruction of the twenty-one divine judgments will begin (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

So there is no reason why the world must become any worse than it is now before the Rapture can happen.

Indeed, given the increasing intensity of the rumors of major wars, earthquakes, persecution of anyone with traditional conservative and/or Christian values, rising violence and immorality in Western societies, and so forth, it does not seem that things can get much worse before “business as usual” would be interrupted.

 https://www.raptureready.com/2023/05/06/do-things-have-to-get-worse-before-the-rapture-by-arden-kierce/