For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. (Matthew 24:37).
“Jesus’ emphasis here is not so much on the extreme wickedness of Noah’s day (Genesis 6:5), but on the people’s preoccupation with mundane matters of everyday life (“eating and drinking…marrying and giving in marriage – v. 38,) when judgment fell suddenly.” ~John MacArthur
“They had received warnings in the form of Noah’s preaching (2 Peter 2:5), and the ark itself which was a testimony to the judgment that was to come. But they were unconcerned about such matters and therefore were swept away unexpectedly in the midst of their daily activities.” ~John MacArthur
Whenever I had read those passages either in Genesis 6 or Matthew 24, I did always focus on the extreme wickedness. I liked the nudge from my study Bible to look at the mundanity of the people instead. I can relate to that. It is so easy to go along every day, day by day, and be involved in the details of living. Gradually our heads lower and view becomes myopic- preparing that next meal, getting ready for tomorrow’s work, fixing the car…we get so wrapped up with today’s tasks sometimes we forget the eternal tasks.
It is important to always lift our heads to envision heaven. We look at the glory to come, rest in the hope He gives, see the future, too, not solely the now.
Did you ever hear the phrase, “She’s so heavenly minded she’s no earthly good?” That is wrong. It is false. You can’t be too heavenly minded. Our great God should occupy our thoughts constantly. He should be the motivation for our deeds always. His glory is paramount!
Back in 2014, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at airports used a machine you had to pass through which could see through your clothing, all the way to the skin. It was called Rapiscan and the x-ray machine was used to detect whether a passenger was smuggling bombing material, weapons, or chemicals for nefarious purposes. Unfortunately, the machine could see the naked body, which made many passengers uncomfortable. In addition, it soon came out that TSA personnel were unprofessionally gawking at good bodies and making fun of bad bodies.
Rapiscan machines were pulled in 2014. What started as maybe a good idea was turned into sin by twisted individuals seeing what they shouldn’t.
Back in 2001-2006, I was an investigative reporter. I uncovered financial malfeasance, voting irregularities, sexual immorality, and general mayhem that government leaders preferred to keep a lid on. Instead, the disinfectant of good journalism opened a can of worms, and it was my job to peek inside. Though the job was necessary and helpful, seeing the sins of others was depressing – because there was so much of it.
Seeing what we shouldn’t see is an unpleasant thing. Sin has come to life is all around us yet most of the time the layman are protected. We can avoid looking at it most of the time (and we are really good at avoiding looking at our own sin!)
But Lawyers, Police, Prison Officers, Parole Officers, Journalists, and others on a daily basis must directly confront the sins of others. It’s awful.
When satan was created, He was the most beautiful angel. Ezekiel 28:12 says
“Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.”
Inside or out, satan was not only beautiful, but he was the very seal of perfection. But it didn’t last. Though he was created perfect, one day, unrighteousness was found in him.
You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. (Ezekiel 28:15)
Sin is all around us because we live in a fallen world, and every human had a sin nature that makes it impossible for him or ner NOT to sin.
Sin is initially beautiful. It Looks good to us, as the fruit did to Eve. (Genesis 3:6). But the more a person becomes trapped in it, the less beautiful it is and the more they are eternally destroyed. Sin is, in fact, the ugliest item in the universe.
The woman may be beautiful, and the sin so enticing, Proverbs 5:3 says For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil.
But the end of it all is is hell.
in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol. (Proverbs 5:4-5)
But sin at first looks great, else no one would engage in it. Remember Superman’s X-Ray vision? Wikipedia defines X-ray vision as
“Although called X-ray vision, this power has little to do with the actual effect of X-rays. Instead, it is usually presented as the ability to selectively see through certain objects as though they are invisible, translucent or not present, in order to see objects or surfaces beyond or deep to the affected object or material.”
THIS is what sin looks like. Here is the Old Man. Once so beautiful and shining, it is a picture of what satan’s soul probably looks like. Eve thought the fruit looked good and a delight to the eyes, (Genesis 3:6) but shortly after tasting it, all it had brought was pain and bondage (Genesis 3:16). If we had X-ray vision and could see beyond the enticing surface, is this what we would see?
“Sin”, collage on handmade paste paper, by EPrata
O, would that sin looked like this to our eyes, then we would not be so attracted to it! And sadly, horrifically, it is what us inside us. This ugliness is what Jesus sees when He looks at a non-believer. We cannot fathom how ugly sin is to Jesus when He looks at those who have not repented! Yet!, He still died for us.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Being that sin is so gross and deadly, it makes the triumph of Jesus all the more glorious. Where satan is all-darkness that fools us into thinking it is light, where our own sin-nature convinces us that we are beautiful, Jesus never had one blot, one lie, one corrupt thought. Not once, not ever. He IS the Light!
God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)
If we had X-ray vision looking at Jesus, our eyes would see only glory upon glory, shining like the sun. He is a prism of Light, reflecting throughout all the universe and into the eternity we will share with Him! When He looks upon a believer He sees that same righteousness-
For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Don’t be fooled by the initially enticing beauty of sin. It is gross, destructive, horrible. Put on your X-ray vision to see beyond its surface lie. The Bible is that X-ray vision. Use it to hone your worldview. Run from it toward Jesus who set us free from its bondage, and gave us the Spirit’s vision to see through its enticing spoils. Satan’s offerings are nothing. Jesus is our all in all.
In 2019 at the Truth Matters conference, there was a panel Q&A. Moderator Todd Friel of Wretched Radio ended the session with a sort of lightning round, by asking John MacArthur to respond to the some names with one or two words only. Friel said, “Beth Moore” and famously, MacArthur’s reply was “Go home”.
You can see the entire discussion with video host commentary, here. Or without commentary, here.
That was not all he said. He expounded on his thought regarding why he said what he said, why Moore should go home. He used scripture and said there is no place in the Bible that allows a woman to preach. Owen Strachan was asked to reply as well, and Phil Johnson replied too. So the entire conversation was not simply two words, but a scripture-based mini-lesson on the error of a woman preaching.
Moore waited two and a half years, and this week tweeted out a Twitter thread whining about how long she has been waiting to hear an apology from MacArthur who said ‘go home’ and also from the other men who replied.
As a side note, it should be said that this week, the same week she tweeted her plaintive plea for an apology for being told to go home, Moore herself took issue with a man who was noting that Beth’s support of a certain feminist was untoward. Moore’s reply? “Cody, go to your room.” Hypocrisy at its best.
Apparently there was not enough attention at the moment focused on Beth Moore, so she needed to swivel that spotlight back to her. Using the ‘go home’ comment as her basis, it worked.
Her tweet thread caused a firestorm of news and chatter. Of course it did, that is what it was intended to do. Moore claimed that telling her to go home was mocking her, deriding her, and all around ridicule. Her sycophants piled on, supporting Moore in the notion that saying that this preacher-woman, false prophetess to go home was mockery, ridicule and she was due an apology. Those are just some of the words Moore used to describe the instruction to a woman to go home.
Think about this. Why is it ‘mocking‘ a woman to instruct her to go home? Moore has been living a feminist, career-oriented life for 40 years. Her focus has NOT been the home, though of course biblically, it should be. (As stated in this article that their “professionally ambitious” mother was absent often, so the now-adult children admitted they ate a lot of takeout growing up).
Why is it ridicule to tell a woman to go home? Why is it derision to say so? The Bible says, in fact a woman SHOULD be at home. Titus 2:4-5 to be precise:
the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5to be sensible, pure, workers at home, [underline added]
The Proverbs 31 woman is lauded for working hard- at home. Her entire orientation is supporting the home.
In fact, the Bible says that a woman who does NOT stay at home, tends to wind up going from house to house as idle gossips and busybodies, (1 Timothy 5:13).
An adulteress is described as a woman whose feet do not stay at home (Proverbs 7:11).
The Bible is FOR a woman at home, and against a wandering woman NOT at home.
So what is their problem with “go home’? Why does a two-year-old comment inspire such heat from Moore-supporters? What does it reveal?
They hate home.
Obviously. They are rebel feminists who enjoy the unbiblical example of Beth Moore gallivanting as an itinerant preacher, professionally ambitious and career oriented, to the detriment of the family. A functional feminist doing what she wants, making her own rules, and being completely rebellious against the holy God she claims to know and love. They love it and they love her because they want to do the same. Their concealed feminism rears up to the light of day and the emerge from the woodwork to support their idol.
Romans 1:32 has a word for people like these:
and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.
If they loved the Lord rightly, they would applaud ‘go home’. If they understood biblical roles for men and women, they would say Amen and Hallelujah. They would agree that women are to be at home raising children, supporting the husband, doing good and being humble and quiet. These are all things the Bible tells us that women should seek, but these anti-go-homers are rebels. They hate home. They want to usurp and slide into places the Bible says they are not to go. But they go anyway.
I was not saved by the Lord’s grace until I was about 43 years old. I lived through the virulent second wave of feminism of the 1960s and 1970s. I remember it.
Before salvation, I wanted to be a wife and stay at home. I loved being a teacher, and I thought the profession could be fulfilling while affording me time at home to serve my husband during the many school breaks and in the summer. It just felt right. The feminists I talked to were fine with the teaching part, but whenever I said I wanted to be at home serving my husband, they discounted housewifery as a viable career. Forcefully.
I had thought feminism was about choices and availabilities and opportunities for women. But apparently it was only about making the right choices, certain choices that feminism approved of.
To put an opposite spin on it, as John MacArthur said, there aren’t many female plumbers. The feminists don’t want choices for careers or equal standing in the workplace, they want power. In the secular society they want to be Senators, CEOs, President. Housewifery is definitely not powerful enough for them.
from Twitter
Housewifery is also is also distasteful to the so-called Christians. They want power, too. They want to captivate audiences with their dazzling rhetoric, be applauded on book tours, preach in front of their congregation on Sundays. They want the power, and they applaud those who have it.
Housewives don’t have it.
Housewifery is to be mocked, derided, ridiculed. THAT is why they grow so angry at John MacArthur saying ‘Go Home’. Because it’s biblical, and their rebel hearts won’t submit.
Do you take the Lord’s power and grace for granted? Have you diminished His Holiness in your mind? Many people in this day and age have. How do I know? They think the Lord will somehow relent, and allow everyone into heaven after all. Or that His mercy is so great and so wide that they will be forgiven, even if they do not know Jesus. Jesus will not relent. His decision is final, and His decrees are sure. If you do not know Jesus on the day you die, you will be cast into hell.
I say again, if you do not know Jesus on His day of wrath, if you die you will be cast into hell.
Even saying such a thing in this day and age seems like a revolutionary act. People chide us Christians who flatly declare the truth from the Word, that He will not relent. “Our God is a loving God,” they exclaim. “He would never do that!” Well, remember rebellious Korah who was swallowed by the earth? Remember Uzzah who touched the ark? Remember Ananias and Sapphira, who blasphemed the Spirit by lying to the Apostle? Jesus will not relent, because He is the door.
“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” (John 10:9).
He is the only One who opens the door.
“I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” (Revelation 3:8).
He is the One who shuts the door.
“And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. (Genesis 7:16).
When the ark was filled He shut the door and the rest of the world was judged. And so it will be again, for the unaware.
“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ (Matthew 25:10-12)
He is the King of the Kingdom and it is He who says who enters and who doesn’t. He is the Door.
“and with all the deceit of unrighteousness in those who perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11)
Enter now while the door is open. Repent and believe the truth: that Jesus is resurrected Lord and He is the only way to enter the Kingdom. He speaks the truth, and when He says that judgment is coming, believe it. The time will come when the door will be shut.
While the door was open, they did not listen and believe in Noah’s day:
William Bell Scott: The Eve of the Deluge, 1865
After the Flood , Circa 1588 Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem
This is what grace looks like:
Noah’s flood KAULBACH, Wilhelm von (1805-1874)
How so? you ask. How is this grace? The the people are dying! Well, don’t focus on the serpents and the people. It is one way we diminish His holiness and His mercy. Focus on Him and His protected righteous and the fact that His promises of salvation are sure. The angels ministering, the ark itself is grace.
Please answer His call, and repent!
“Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.‘” (Luke 13:25)
For Jesus to ‘know’ you means He has a righteous relationship with you. If you have repented of your sins and fallen on Jesus as Lord and Savior, He will know you.
Everything that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I certainly will not cast out. (John 6:37).
The Door is open to repenting sinners. Won’t you come?
I listened to a Q & A between Phil Johnson and John MacArthur recently. They discussed COVID and the mitigation efforts that were placed on their church, the Legacy Standard Bible, its beginnings and why we need this particular translation, the upcoming John MacArthur Old Testament Study Bible (YAY!), and interestingly, this question:
PHIL asked: “Do you ever think we will get back to normal? Post-Covid?”
When Isaiah was brought up to the Throne Room of heaven and saw God in His glory, he fell down and said,
“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5).
Being in the presence of God induces that kind of reaction, and not just in Isaiah. In everyone who encounters Him.
On January 20 she announced her pregnancy, their second child was expected.
On January 20th also, she posted on their anniversary how much she loved her husband.
Just two days later, on January 22, he was shot dead on the street in front of her and her toddler.
The sin-washed world sinks under the weight of its own groaning. The burdens of sin and grief stagger us, our hearts weighed with the sadness that sin brings. Oh, foul fiend, our ball and chain of sin attached, we moan in the night. But in the morning, THAT blessed morning, joy will come. How long, O Lord?
“How Long, O Lord” Sovereign Grace Music
Our tomorrows are not guaranteed. Cherish your spouse, adore your children, worship your God.
Isaiah was lifted up in a vision to see the throne room of God. He saw the I AM seated and being praised by Seraphim who shouted,
“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory.“ (Isaiah 6:3)
Isaiah’s response was:
“Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies.” (Isaiah 6:5).
The word ‘Woe’ here means in the Hebrew, to cease, to destroy, to be cut off. THAT is how powerful glimpsing God’s glory is. We know from the reactions of those who have seen the LORD’s glory that they marvel that they are still living. But why did Isaiah not say, “I am a man of unclean heart?” especially since from the heart flows all sin. Or why didn’t he say “I am a man of unclean soul (or spirit)?’ Why lips?
Matthew Henry wrote of the scene,
“[I]t may be taken more generally; I am a sinner; particularly, I have offended in word; and who is there that hath not? Jam. 3:2. We all have reason to bewail it before the Lord,
(1a.) That we are of unclean lips ourselves; our lips are not consecrated to God; he had not had the first-fruits of our lips (Heb. 13:15), and therefore they are counted common and unclean, uncircumcised lips, Ex. 6:30. Nay, they have been polluted with sin. We have spoken the language of an unclean heart, that evil communication which corrupts good manners, and whereby many have been defiled.”
(1b). “We are unworthy and unmeet to take God’s name into our lips. With what a pure lip did the angels praise God! “But,” says the prophet, “I cannot praise him so, for I am a man of unclean lips.” … The impurity of our lips ought to be the grief of our souls, for by our words we shall be justified or condemned.
“(2.) That we dwell among those who are so too. We have reason to lament not only that we ourselves are polluted, but that the nature and race of mankind are so; the disease is hereditary and epidemic, which is so far from lessening our guilt that it should rather increase our grief, …” Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1089). Hendrickson.
Let’s look at that Hebrews verse Matthew Henry mentioned-
Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Him then, let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips praising His name.“
Our lips are what form the words of praise or the words of sin. See also Isaiah 57:19; Hosea 14:2. We might be redeemed and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, but we still sin. We are justified, but not yet glorified. Our lips still sin, as we see from James 3:8-10 says,
But no one among mankind can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, who have been made in the likeness of God; 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.
There is a little known prophecy in Zephaniah. One glorious day it will come to pass:
Zephaniah 3:9, For then I will restore to the peoples pure lips, So that all of them may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him shoulder to shoulder.
Our mouths will be glorified, pure and without sin. Our praises, which the Lord is due, will come from clean lips, praises gloriously melding together from all those redeemed who are also singing exaltations to the Lord. We will be standing shoulder to shoulder in our white robes of sinlessness, praising Him eternally…purely and cleanly.
Imagine having everything. You have earned a law degree and aMaster’s in Business, and are a success at it. You’ve earned many National Championships from various events. You’re beautiful, and won the Miss USA Pageant. You have been nominated twice for a Daytime Emmy Award for your broadcasting work on the television news/entertainment show Extra. You’re known as an activist for all the right causes, generously donating your time and money to them. You are beloved by family and fans alike. You have become a success in every arena in which you’ve attempted. You’ve done all this before the age of 30.
Yet, all this leaves you empty.
All this leaves you looking at the milestone birthday with skepticism, depression, and a haunting sense of pointlessness.
Writing for Allure in March 2021, Magazine, Miss USA Cheslie Kryst said,
“Why earn more achievements just to collect another win? Why pursue another plaque or medal or line item on my resume if it’s for vanity’s sake, rather than out of passion? Why work so hard to capture the dreams I’ve been taught by society to want when I continue to only find emptiness? …
Sadly it seems that Miss Kryst could not satisfactorily answer her questions in a way that filled her with hope, but instead only led to more emptiness and despair.
“Meanwhile, I was rewarded with a lonely craving for the next award…“
The plaintive cry in her article revealed similar sentiments that a famous king also wrote about: Solomon. Ecclesiastes is THE Bible book of man’s default state of hopelessness and vanity.
Solomon wrote how fame is fickle and recognition is fleeting. (Ecclesiastes 4:13-16). One’s fame rarely lasts after you’re gone, people quickly forget who you are or what you did. Miss Kryst felt this. She wanted to use her reign as Miss USA to make a difference. She spoke out on injustice and other meaningful issues, but her fans didn’t want that. They wanted beauty that held middle-of-the-road opinions. They rejected her opinions. Kryst wanted a life of substance. Her fans wanted an illusory life of external adornment.
Miss Kryst sensed the folly of youth and the awfulness of aging unto emptiness. She turned 30 years old recently and that apparently had done her mind in with fear and worry.
“Each time I say, “I’m turning 30,” I cringe a little. … but turning 30 feels like a cold reminder that I’m running out of time to matter in society’s eyes — and it’s infuriating.”
Aging is a dread prospect for us all, but particularly for a woman whose biggest laurels rest on beauty, fashion, and style. Outward appearance brought her to heights, its fleetingness scared her to death. All humans sense the futility of life apart from Christ.
“All flesh is like grass, And all its glory is like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, But the word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:24-25)
Solomon also addressed aging in his monumental book on the vanity of life:
“the time of old age, which is evil, i.e. burdensome and calamitous in itself, and far more grievous and terrible when it is loaded with the sad remembrance of a man’s youthful follies and lusts, and with the dreadful prospect of approaching death and judgment, which makes him see that he cannot live, and yet dare not die“, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Ecclesiastes 12, aging.
Upon what do we rest our achievements? What foundation? Why do we pursue excellence? And why does it leave us empty when we get there? This is the biggest question in life. Why do we do what we do, and for what purpose? Kryst felt this.
“I discovered that the world’s most important question, especially when asked repeatedly and answered frankly, is: why?”
Reading about this young woman brought tears to my eyes. She was so bright, so accomplished, so beautiful. Yet she sensed the futility of a life that honors God not, lived a life that pursued fleeting vanities, only to see them wisp away as she felt compelled to pursue the next one.
What broke my heart further was this despairing plea from an unknown person who read this sad news and replied with her own sense of the hopelessness of the Great Chasm:
What hope do any of us have? Apart from Christ, there is none. There is no hope at all. Sadly, some people discover this early. The weight of futility can only be suppressed for so long, and then? Darkness envelops the aching heart and the worst happens, suicide.
This news sparked articles talking about the need for more mental health conversations. That’s good, but I hope and pray that this news sparks in Christians a renewed understanding of the hopelessness Gentiles feel, and their ultimate need, the Gospel.
So many are lost!
The reality of death apart from Christ further fueled my own quiet aching for all the lost people who dwell apart from Christ, both in this evil world, and in the nether regions undergoing the beginning of their torments. For them, death is not the peace and solace they sought, but only the beginning of a hopeless and punishing eternity.
“Now, I enter year 30 searching for joy and purpose on my own terms — and that feels like my own sweet victory.” ~Cheslie Kryst
O! The woes of the lost who want life on their own terms and not the Great I Am’s. Even those seeking death on their own terms they discover too late, far too late, the tragic mistake of living for themselves and dying on their own terms.
Christian, let this sad situation be a lesson for us, a renewal of the compassion we must feel for those who dwell upon the earth in hopeless despair. In darkness. In futility. Their smile may hide it. Their life may seem perfect. But all humans apart from Christ feel an aching nothingness that lurks, that nibbles and scratches at their conscience, whispering, “what if this is all there is?”
Seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36).
Let us show them that there is more, much more! There is Christ, there, in the Light where peace and joy dwells. Where His Gospel infiltrates the wondering heart and brings soothing light to the stinging conscience. Where fulfillment bounds the aching heart to calm and wrest away all doubts of the futility of life. For in Christ, all hope dwells.
“And in His name the Gentiles will hope.” (Matthew 12:21).
the-end-time.org 