Hebrews 10:36-39

Colossians 3:1-4

James 5:7-8

1 John 2:26-28

Ephesians 5:14-20

Matthew 25:1-13

What do these verses tell us about the return of Christ?

In what way do the passages describe the need to be ready?

What actions accompany those who believe in and are prepared for His coming?

What is the Spirit showing us about the Church or ourselves regarding our need to live awake?

As we received Christ Jesus as Lord, so too we live in Him. We received Christ’s sacrifice of Himself to atone for us by faith. And it is by faith that we continue to live to honor Him. Those who are awake, live by faith.  

Jesus told His disciples that when he comes again, it will be like the days of Noah. 

“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away.” (Mt. 24:36)

Noah is given as an example of one who lived awake in his day. So what characterized Noah’s life? The account of his life in Genesis 6 gives us some clues.

Genesis 6:8 Noah found favor (grace) in the eyes of God.

Genesis 6:9 Noah was a righteous man and blameless in his generation.

Genesis 6: 9 Noah walked with God.

One could summarize that Noah was a man who lived a God-centered life. He lived to please and honor God and lived in relationship with God. All of these verses describe Noah before he was ever given the command to build the ark. Noah was unique and he lived an awakened, obedient life in relationship with God in the midst of an ungodly culture.

What characterized the lives of all the people around him? Again Genesis 6 provides a portrayal of Noah’s contemporaries.

Genesis 6:5 The wickedness of man was great upon the earth.

Genesis 6:5 Every intention of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:11 All flesh had corrupted its way

One could summarize all those around Noah as living selfish, self-centered, self-driven lives. They had exiled God from His rightful place on the throne of their lives and placed their own desires and ambitions there instead.

In response to the hardness of the hearts of men, God tells Noah, this man who lives awake because of his faith in the unseen God, what He plans to do.

Genesis 6:13, 14 “I have determined to make an end to all flesh… make yourself an ark.”

Genesis 6:22 “Noah did this, he did all that God commanded him.”

Genesis 7:11 “So on the 600th year of Noah’s life (after 100-120 years of work on the ark), on the 17th day of the month (preceded by a seven day countdown), they went into the ark and the Lord shut him in.”

What happened to everyone other than Noah’s family? They were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage. None of these are wrong things. So what did they lack? They lacked a faith- initiated, faith- sustained relationship with the living God. Matthew 24 tells us that when Noah entered the ark and when the flood came, the people who lived around him were unaware, oblivious, they knew nothing. How was this possible with Noah working on the ark in their midst for over 100 years? It is possible because they were asleep spiritually; they lacked faith.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. “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.”

It was Noah choosing to walk with God daily, choosing to live to please God in the midst of a Godless generation, that positioned him to respond in worship and obedience to take on a 100 plus year construction project by building the ark. Noah’s decision to live by faith allowed him to be alert and awake to the will of God.

Jesus seeks the same today. As we choose daily to believe in Him and walk with Him, we are awakened to His work around us and in us. Jesus stated this simply to his disciples,

“When the Son of Man comes will he find faith on the earth?”