The Bible tells us that the Day of the Lord will be “as in the days of Noah and Lot.”  What can this description teach us about the upcoming period of God’s wrath and destruction?  The most important take-home point is that God spared Noah from the entirety of His judgment – Noah didn’t even feel a single drop, much less have to tread water.  He was safely sealed in the chambers of the ark, by God Himself.

We have already examined what “as in the days of Lot” means here – As In the Days of Lot.  Now let’s examine the “days of Noah” more carefully!

The Days of Noah

The “Days of Noah” refers to the destruction of the entire world via a Global Flood.  Let’s examine the entire account, bolding is mine for further discussion:

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.  Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”  The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

Genesis chapter 6 introduces us to the “sons of God”, who took human wives and produced children by them.  I understand that the idea of supernatural beings “taking” women is disturbing.  However, I see no indication not to take this literally.  This unholy union produced the Nephilim – the giants and the “mighty men”, likely the fodder for the Roman and Greek “gods”.  These “sons of God” who “did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—  just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.” (Jude 1:6-7 ESV).  These are kept in judgment until the “great day” – the Day of the Lord.  We will revisit this later.

Note that God states that His Spirit will not abide with men forever, and that his days shall be 120 years.  The interlinear reads “My spirit will contend not with man always yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years”.  The Hebrew word din, for contend, can also mean judge, execute judgment, and strive.  There are several possibilities here:

• God decided to execute judgment upon the earth 120 years before He carried it out.  This records His decision and how long He would patiently wait until its’ fulfillment, perhaps giving people an opportunity to repent.
• The human lifespan greatly decreased after the global flood, from 900+ years to around 120 years and finally to stabilizing around 70-80 years.  This statement perhaps relates to our decreased lifespan post-flood.
• God has allowed 120 “Jubilees” of years for humanity to rule before they shall be judged.  A Jubilee is 50 years; thus, 120 “Jubilees” would refer to 6000 years of human rule before Jesus’ Kingdom Rule.  This is discussed more here: God’s Prophetic Timeline – 7000 Years of Humanity.

It’s plausible that all these possibilities can be correct.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.  So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

The Days of Noah were marked by wickedness and evil thoughts.  The word for wickedness used is raat, which can be defined as adversity; evil; malignant; disagreeable; unpleasant; giving pain, unhappiness, misery; vicious; ethically bad.  And here we see how grieved God is by it.  Human sin causes pain in the heart of God.  Human righteousness finds favor in the eyes of the Lord.  In the days of Noah, as in the days of Lot, there was only ONE man found righteous in all the earth.

These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.  And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

While righteousness and blamelessness refers to walking with God, in context it also likely means that Noah’s DNA was uncorrupted.  The word used for blameless here is tamim, which means complete, sound, without defect, unblemished.

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Unlike Noah, the rest of the earth was corrupt and filled with violence.  Note that “ALL FLESH”, not just humanity, had corrupted their ways.  This term can apply only to humans as well, but I personally wonder if this includes some of what we consider “dinosaurs”.  The word for corrupted used here is shachath, meaning destroyed, gone to ruin, blemished, polluted, spoiled.  Others have pointed out that the word for violence here is hamas, which simply means violence (but the name is interesting…).

Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.  This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits.  Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.

God had Noah prepare his own place, whereas Jesus Himself prepares ours.  “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”  (John 14:2-3 ESV)

For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.  But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.  And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.  Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.  Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.”  Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.  Genesis 6:1-22 ESV

God provides a safe harbor for Noah and his family to take refuge in during the time of judgment.  In the times of Noah, this had to be on earth for the bloodline of the Messiah to be preserved.  Do you understand that God’s global judgment through the flood was done out of mercy and compassion for humanity?  Without it, no flesh would have been untainted and thus Jesus could not have come into the world to save sinners.  For God to provide salvation, He had to bring judgment.

In order to provide salvation for the house of Israel, God will again need to bring judgment.  This is the purpose of the 70th Week of Daniel and the Day of the Lord.  Again, God will seal His people in their chambers before the judgment springs forth.  “Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by.  For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.”  (Isaiah 26:20-21 ESV)

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.  Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.  For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.”  And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.  And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood.  Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground,  two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah.  And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

Who is spared?  Those who are righteous before God.  These are the ones who escape the waters of the flood.  Note how Noah did all that the Lord commanded him – the righteous shall live by faith, which is demonstrated by their actions.  Building an ark would have taken decades of dedicated work, requiring all Noah’s spare time and resources.  True discipleship will cost.  Sometimes a lot!

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.  And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.  On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark,  they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life.  And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him.  And the Lord shut him in.  Genesis 7:1-16 ESV

God Himself seals Noah and his family in the ark.  I’m not sure if Noah first started loading the ark seven days before the floodwaters came upon the earth and then was sealed inside the day the flood started, or if he was sealed inside 7 days before the flood began.  If you reread the passages above you will see it can go either way.  The floodwaters come on the 17th day of Iyar, which doesn’t correspond to any of the Biblical feast days (in case you were wondering).  The floodwaters continue as promised and drown every living thing that was on the face of the earth.  The flood was literal, the flood was global.

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.   Genesis 8:1 ESV

God remembers His covenant with Noah.  God is always faithful to remember His covenants!  The ark comes to rest on Ararat in the 7th month (Tishrei) on the 17th day.  This falls in the middle of the feast of Tabernacles, but I don’t see that as significant.  Noah remains sealed in the ark for a number of months yet.

In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry.  In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out.  Then God said to Noah,  “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.  Genesis 8:13-16 ESV

The ground is dry on Nisan 1, but still Noah and his family remain sealed in the boat for another 57 days.  God Himself unseals them on Iyar 27 (also not a feast date).  I want you to pay attention to the sealing, and the fact that it is God who does the sealing and the unsealing in the ark.  This sealing theme is an important one and I discuss it more here: Seals, Sealing, and the Ministry of the Holy Spirit.  The only significance I see with the number 57 days is that it was 57 days between Jesus presenting Himself as King of the Jews on Palm Sunday and Pentecost that year.  I don’t see any hidden meaning to this, it’s just an association I found.

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,  “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,  and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth.  I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”  And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:  I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,  I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”  God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”  Genesis 9:8-17 ESV

God establishes his covenant with every living creature on earth, that He will never again destroy the whole world by water.  In our previous discussion of the Days of Lot, we mentioned how satan has taken this beautiful symbol of God’s faithfulness – the rainbow – and turned it into a symbol of corruption and pride.

The next time God destroys the world, it will be by fire.

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,  knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.  They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”  For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.  But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.  2 Peter 3:1-7 ESV

The Days of Noah, End Times Style

As we discussed above, the days of Noah were marked by:

• Angelic creatures crossing appointed boundaries and interacting with humanity in inappropriate ways.
• The Nephilim – giant, human/angel hybrids
• corruption of all the earth
• corruption of all flesh
• wickedness
• evil thoughts in the hearts of man
• warnings of the coming wrath
• sealing in chambers by God Himself for the righteous as an escape
• God remembering His covenant with humanity
• judgment and destruction for the unrighteous
• God’s mercy and compassion upon humanity even through judgment

Here is where we re-examine that passage in the book of Jude.  These “sons of God” who “did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—  just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.” (Jude 1:6-7 ESV).  These are kept in judgment until the “great day” – the Day of the Lord.  Will the tribulation period be marked by a return of the Nephilim?  Will angelic creatures again cross appointed boundaries and interact with humanity?  I personally believe that the veil between the supernatural and natural will be lifted at the time of the rapture and that fallen angels will feature heavily in satan’s great deception.  

And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.  And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.  The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.  2 Thessalonians 2:6-12 ESV

We also learn of evil thoughts in the hearts of men, wickedness, and corruption throughout the world.  I believe we are seeing this already today.  If your discernment eyes are open, it’s not difficult to spot the enemy’s grubby fingerprints all over everything.  It’s too much to cover in one post, but I have examined the godlessness and corruption in the world in these posts:

• DNA and the Tree of Life – human tampering with life and death, “becoming as gods”
• The Technological Tower of Babel – human tampering with language barriers and “reaching to the heavens, making a name for themselves”
• A Picture of Society in the Last Days – a self-centered, self-serving society rife with sexual immorality
• A Picture of the Church in the Last Days – a lukewarm church preaching to “itching ears” instead of sound doctrine; sexual immorality in the church

We will spend some time talking about God remembering His covenants and sealing the righteous in their chambers, and then the judgment and sudden destruction.

The Righteous Will Be Spared

Remember that “Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ”  This reminds me of the passage in Luke:

But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.  Luke 21:36 ESV

Also remember that God Himself sealed Noah in his chambers.  We, too, will be sealed in our chambers during the upcoming time of judgment:

“Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by.  For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.”  (Isaiah 26:20-21 ESV)

God will remember His covenant with Noah, and the flood will come by fire not by water.  He will also remember His New Covenant and bring salvation to His people before He pours out His wrath.

Interestingly, Noah knew the flood was coming, perhaps up to 120 years in advance, but he didn’t know the day/hour until 7 days prior.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 ESV

At this time I believe He will also re-confirm His Abrahamic Covenant with Israel and bring about the restoration of His chosen people and nation.  More discussion on God’s covenants is here: The Covenant With Israel – Who Confirms It?

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;  if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;  if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked  (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);  then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. (2 Peter 2:4-10 ESV)

Peter informs us that God’s banishment to hell of the angels who sinned, and the flooding of the ancient world, were done as an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly.  Peter also refers to the preservation of Noah, “a herald of righteousness”, right before this destruction.   In using this comparison (and the one of Lot), Peter states that the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, while keeping the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.  This sounds exactly what God is going to do:

I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left. (Luke 17:34-35 ESV)

Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial [peirasmou] that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. (Revelation 3:10 ESV).

God will rescue the godly from trials (peirasmou – temptation, testing), while leaving behind the unrighteousness to face judgment.  Just as He promised.

Regular Life Goes On… Until It Suddenly Doesn’t

In the New Testament, we learn from Jesus that the “days of the Son of Man” will also resemble the “days of Noah”.  What this means exactly isn’t defined; however, Jesus emphasizes the surprise element that comes upon those who are judged:

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.  They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  Luke 17:26-27 ESV

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;  and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  Matthew 24:37-39 ESV

We learn that people would be going about normal, everyday activities (eating, drinking, marrying).  Noah entered his chambers (the ark), and then God’s wrath rains down on those not in the ark and sweeps them away.

This comparison emphasizes the sudden nature of the escape route and the subsequent wrath.  Elsewhere the Day of the Lord is described as coming (arriving) like a thief in the night, like a trap, or like birth pains. It is interesting that the Bible describes those left behind as knowing nothing about what would happen until the flood came.  How could they not notice the gigantic ark in the middle of flat land?  How could they miss Noah’s preaching?  The Bible calls Noah a “preacher of righteousness”:

By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.  Hebrews 11:7 ESV

Those upon whom God’s judgment falls will be surprised not because they couldn’t have known, but because they refused to listen and have faith in the warnings God issued.  This will play out again in the end times.  God has been issuing forth many warnings that the end is near; is anybody listening?  Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign – The Convergence is Now.

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.  2 Thessalonians 2:6-12 ESV

 

Wait A Minute… Rapture or Second Coming?

It is sometimes taught that Enoch, who was clearly raptured hundreds of years prior to the flood, represents the church.  Noah is then suggested to represent the nation of Israel – the remnant that God will seal and protect during the tumultuous judgment period commonly called the “tribulation”.   Lot isn’t talked about as much, but he clearly is taken “away from the time and place” of God’s judgment before it can begin.  I believe the fact that Jesus groups the days of Noah and Lot together is telling.  I personally believe that all 3 of these examples point to the rapture of the church, and not to Israel at all.

Jesus referring to the appearing of the “Son of Man” being as in the days of Noah must clearly refer to the rapture.  I believe this, because the rapture springs upon the earth as a surprise.  The second coming does not.  Humanity will be greatly anticipating the coming of Christ – unbelievers preparing for battle against Him, believers desperately hanging on (and counting down) for Him.

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east.  And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.  For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.  And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.    Revelation 16:12-14,16 ESV

The Son of Man will be revealed at the BEGINNING of the Day of the Lord, like a slain Lamb coming to rescue His people.  The people on earth know nothing about what is going to happen – they will be continuing on with life as normal – until WHAM the Day of the Lord will start when the Son of Man appears at the rapture.

Noah and Lot were pulled out of the path of destruction, and the end to the rest comes on “like a flood” – severe and sudden (Daniel 9:26).  The passages above emphasize the unexpected nature of the beginning of the Day of the Lord.  Elsewhere it is referred to as a “trap” and “birth pains” – both of which have no escape.

This stands in stark contrast to the End of the Day of the Lord when the Son of Man returns appearing as a warrior-King.  At the battle of Armageddon (the END of the Day of the Lord), life will not have been continuing on as usual.  The “flood” will be almost over – well over half the human population will have died by that point.  Everyone will know about what has been happening on the earth.  It won’t be a surprise that Jesus is coming, because people have gathered deliberately in expectation to fight Him.

There are some solid Bible believing Christians who do not see the church nor the rapture mentioned in the gospels.  It is true that no one understood the mystery of the church, much less the rapture, prior to Paul’s proclaiming this teaching plainly.  However, I personally do see teaching of the rapture by Jesus and in the Old Testament.   I don’t wish to make a point of contention about this, I will just present how I came to my conclusions.  I do so in these posts:

• The End of the Age According to Jesus – Matthew, Mark, Luke
• Is It Better to be Taken, or Left?
• The Parousia (Appearances) of Jesus Christ (1 Second Coming in 2 Phases)
• Braxton Hicks, Labor Pains, and the Time of the End
• Part 1 – Where is the Church in Revelation?
• Part 2 – The Large Multitude Coming “Out Of” Great Tribulation
• Who Will Stand Before the Son of Man?  Examining Luke 21:36

Where is Israel?

The body of Christ includes all believers, there is no longer a distinction between Jew and Gentile (Ephesians 2:11-22).  Enoch represents the rapture of the body of Christ.  Unbelieving Israel is not included.

Lot and Noah are the single righteous men that are removed from the path of judgment before it can begin.  All righteous believers will be removed from the path of judgment before it begins in the Day of the Lord.  Again, this is the body of Christ and does not include unbelieving Israel.

Unbelieving Israel will go through the Time of Jacob’s Trouble.  They will not be spared.

If Israel isn’t represented by Enoch, Noah, or Lot, who is she represented by?  I believe that Israel is the woman in labor.  She must go through the tribulation and birth pains in order to be delivered.

Now, God does have some special plans in place for the remnant of Israel that comes to faith in Jesus Christ as Messiah after the rapture.

• The Firstfruits – those of Israel who come to faith shortly after the rapture of the church.  These are the 144,000, who are specifically sealed by God and protected from the effects of Trumpet 5’s judgment.  Whether they are protected from more we are not told.  More on these here: Who are the 144,000?
• The Main Harvest – those of Israel who come to faith in Jesus Christ in the first half of the “tribulation”, through the preaching of the 144,000 and God’s Two Witnesses.  These will be offered an escape route for the last half of the “tribulation” if they obediently flee to the wilderness at the midpoint – the abomination of desolation.  More on this here: The Woman Flees To A Place Prepared
• The Gleanings – those of Israel who come to faith in Jesus Christ in the last half of the “tribulation”, despite the intense persecution of the antichrist, will be given one final opportunity to flee before the final wrath is poured out in the 7th bowl judgment.  More on this here: The Mount of Olives – Final Escape Route

The Day of the Lord is about wrath, yes, but it is also about restoration.

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
   and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    and he relents over disaster.

Joel 2:12-13 ESV

Conclusion

In Noah’s day, wickedness and violence prevailed.  In fact, it was so evil that God deemed it necessary to start again.  My own impression as to how evil it had to be, is keyed to the Sons of God reproducing with the Daughters of Men to produce the Nephilim, described in Genesis 6.  In Noah’s day, along with wickedness and violence, sexual sins (a perversion of God’s plan) were prevalent.  God needed to intervene to preserve the bloodline to the Messiah.  God’s focus was on the salvation and redemption of humanity.  I believe this was true in the days of the Flood and I believe it will be true again:

And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.  Matthew 24:22 ESV

Examining the “Days of Noah” reveal the following observations regarding the coming of the Son of Man:

• The righteous will be rescued before God’s wrath can be poured out
• All the righteous (those who are “born again”, saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ) will be rescued.  There is no “partial rapture”.  Even if we don’t believe the wrath is coming, we will be rescued and sealed in our “chambers” during the time of wrath.
• On the other hand, those who go by the name “Christian”, but whose hearts are firmly rooted in the world, should not expect to be rescued.
• We can expect to see a rise in sexual immorality, violence, corruption, and wickedness as the coming of the Son of Man draws near.
• God will issue warnings and signs that the time of His return is near.
• Life will be “as usual” when the rescue takes place and the wrath begins, catching unbelievers unaware.
• God’s destruction is going to come via destructive fire (fire and brimstone) this time.
• God always keeps His promises.

Jesus’ comparison of His appearing “as to the days of Noah” confirms that He will rescue His righteous saints prior to pouring out His wrath.  This is what is commonly taught as the pre-tribulation rapture of the church.  Noah didn’t have to swim for any portion of the flood.

Fascinatingly, three full-scale replicas of Noah’s Ark have opened in the last few years – in the Netherlands (2012), Hong Kong (2012), and USA (2016).

 

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Further Resources:

Are you CERTAIN of your Salvation, beyond a shadow of a doubt?  Do you KNOW that no matter when the rapture occurs, you will be counted worthy to escape?  If not, please read What Must I do to Be Saved.

The Rapture of the Church – Our Blessed Hope

Who/What Were the Nephilim?  (Gotquestions)

Noah and the Last Days (FaithLife TV)

As it Was In the Days of Noah (Unsealed)

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign – The Convergence is Now

DNA and the Tree of Life

The Technological Tower of Babel

As In the Days of Lot

God’s Mosaic – A Whole Scripture Overview of Things To Come

Main Menu – God’s Mosaic Prophecy Model

The Bible is infallible.  I am not.  I am merely challenging traditional models and testing them against Scripture.  I believe that traditional pretribulation teachings provide a solid backbone upon which to lay the musculature of details, some of which I think might need to be adjusted slightly.  I encourage you to consider my thoughts as you also examine the scriptures to see if these things are so!