In this culture of America it is easy to get caught up in the activities and traffic of the day and forget about what is going on everywhere out beyond our immediate circle. The fact that Jesus said, “Watch, for you do not know what hour your Lord may come,” probably has not been what most pastors have included in their sermon last Sunday, or maybe you have never heard it emphasized at all.

It could be that you have been told you are not to think about “that stuff” because the Bible says, “No man can know the day or the hour,” so don’t even think about it! And that book of Revelation, why, who can possibly understand all those symbols and judgments and what all!  (So, I’ll just try to be ready, and when He comes, that will be it. I’ll hope for the best.)

In keeping with this article’s title, it is a strange way Jesus would have us remember the days of Noah and of Lot, as He relates it in Luke 17:26-36 and a bit in Matthew 24:36-44. In the Matthew passage, He is emphasizing the fact that the Lord will be coming at an unexpected time and follows that picture with three parables illustrating how that could take place.

In the Luke narrative, He lists more details and includes the time of Lot, perhaps to illustrate that the issue is not only in Noah’s time. In the related passages in Genesis 6, for Noah’s story, and in Genesis 19 for Lot’s episode, we can find no evidence or acknowledgement that the people were “buying and selling, eating and drinking, building and planting,” etc.

All we see in those passages are the apparent evilness that permeated the people and their societies. Why didn’t Jesus tell about that being the situation when He comes on the Day of the Lord? Here is that Luke 17:26-36 passage:

“And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;  but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left.  Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.” (We can deal with verse 37 on another occasion.)

In these days, if anyone is paying attention at all, it is apparent that the evilness of mankind from immoralities to the most atrocious of murders, and everything in between—is swelling to the breaking point and is not stopping. Paul wrote that this is to be expected:

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

No doubt that people were eating and drinking, buying and selling or trading, perhaps as normal activities of an active society, even as sinful as they were both in Noah’s day and in Lot’s day. But take careful note of this:  “And as it was in the days of Noah (and Lot), so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man” (my italics for emphasis).

His comparison tells us that when Jesus comes on the Day of the Lord, people will be unaware of anything about to take place that would be different from yesterday or as tomorrow is expected to be. This attitude supports the characteristic of His coming “as a thief in the night.” Have you not wondered about those people the television hosts interview on the street? Where are their minds? “Let’s drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die!” Or, “Oh, I never thought of that!” It is a sad thought, but most people have no inclination that we are indeed in the very last of days of life as we have known it.

When the disciples asked Jesus if He would restore the kingdom to Israel at that time, just before He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:6), He replied that it was not for them to know the “times and seasons” in which God would do that. Then Jesus turned their attention to the issue at hand, the beginning of the age of grace and the expansion of the gospel message around the world (Acts 1:8). It was to be a time when God would “take out of the Gentiles a people for His name” (Acts 15:14). Paul clearly explains what has happened since they asked that question on the day of Christ’s ascension:

“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25).

Was the period of “times and seasons” Jesus spoke of in Acts 1 the same period of time Paul mentioned in Romans 11:25, where Israel was set aside, in part, until the times of the Gentiles would be fulfilled? Would a change in God’s dealing with the Jewish people, such as the “restoration of the kingdom to Israel” be a signal that the time when the “fullness of the Gentiles has come in” had arrived?

Jesus related a parable of a fig tree, like other trees, beginning to show signs of recovery from a long winter with new growth budding on its limbs and ties that to something of historical significance:

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matthew 24:32-34).

The context of this parable indicates that Jesus was not merely giving a lesson in horticulture but was illustrating a future event that would have an impact on the generation that would see it happen. With the fig tree having been a biblical symbol of the Jewish nation, it is understandable that He was projecting the restoration of Israel as a sovereign nation once again. And, the generation of people who would see this happen would also see all those things following fulfilled.

In Romans 9, 10 and 11, Paul tells of the plight of the Jew, in part, after their rejection of Jesus, the Messiah and God’s turning to the Gentiles with the gospel for a period of time until its fulfillment. Then, the promised restoration of the historical physical land that was given to Abraham and his physical descendants made its debut on May 14, 1948. That restoration has not been completed but will be as the full period of the “times and seasons” draws to a close when the seven years of Daniel’s missing 70th week begins and concludes.

In Luke’s context of this parable of the fig tree, he records Jesus making this declaration:

“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).

With all of the biblical declarations and on-the-ground evidence of the soon coming of the Son of Man, one might wonder just who was Peter’s intended audience when he wrote this:

“…Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they werefrom the beginning of creation’” (2 Peter 3:3-4).

So we come full circle, back to Luke 17:26 and following—as it was in the days of Noah and of Lot, people were busy about their own things, so it will be when the Son of Man comes. “As a thief in the night,” suddenly, secretly, unannounced, He will come, but not without prior signs and warnings to be ready for His appearance. But believers have this advantage:

“But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5:4).

The three temptations that Satan levied upon Jesus, recorded in Matthew 4:4-11, were not so different than those we believers regularly face. In that case, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan. As it is in believer’s lives, and as it was in the situation of Job’s struggles, the Lord allows temptations to come upon us from Satan to test our faith and make us stronger in endurance. Jeremiah speaks to this when he recorded this bit of truth:

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?” (Jeremiah 12:5).

We are told by Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10:13, that “God does not allow us to be tempted above what we are able to endure,” which tells us that He is in control by His sovereign power.

We must remember that Jesus was being tempted as a man, brought there by the Holy Spirit for that purpose. In Philippians 2:6-8, Paul writes this, which explains why it was so for Jesus to be tempted—tested on His commitment to live the life of a human being who would live perfectly and qualify as their Redeemer:

“…Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

The temptations do follow the same pattern as those used on Eve by the serpent, recorded in Genesis 3, and their basic identification by John in 1 John 2:16:

“…For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

And we know who the prince of this world is, do we not? But in that temptation testing that Jesus endured was something else. It was the supernatural God-man whom Satan was tempting. This one was not of the lineage of Adam; He was not the same as others. This One was from eternity, not created from the dust of the earth.

He had never fallen for the deceptions of that evil one, and consequently, what happened that day in the wilderness has eternal significance that is not restricted by the limits of time. That is, those tests and the answers given are not something of the past, to be looked at then turned from for something future.

In Matthew 4, when Jesus was challenged, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread,” He had been fasting for forty days and was hungry. Yet, His answer sets a standard for us that we can’t ignore. He did three things in that response:

He showed us a tool that we can use, even today, to defeat the onslaughts of the devil and even our own cry of the flesh. He quoted Scripture to the enemy—“It is written….” He could have said, being the living Word, “Get behind me, Satan,” as He did to Peter later on (Matthew 16:22-23), but this way we have what is available to every believer—the written Word of God—to combat the enemy. In that context, the Psalmist wrote this:

“How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word…. Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:9, 11).

He shows us that quoting the Word of God is effective in that warfare—if it worked for Him, it will work for us.

But deeper than that is the quality of the answer and the solution it shows us for that same temptation that makes our flesh one of the enemies of our soul. That incessant cry of our old Adam nature for self-indulgence no matter what the cost!

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’” (a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3).

That says so much more than just physical survival. It tells the tempter that our ultimate source of life is God Himself and not the indulgence of the flesh. That is why, no doubt, that fasting is often a vital part of deeper and more personal and intimate prayer with God. It is echoed in the contrasting purposes of evil versus godliness by Jesus in John 10:10:

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

The second temptation listed in Matthew’s account has to do with “pride of life,” of power and popularity, of control and dominance. It is the temptation to want to be worshipped, as Lucifer desired and dreamed of with such mighty intent in Isaiah 14:12-15:

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.”

It is interesting to note how this temptation trips up those who have solved the issue of wealth and its nagging drive to accumulate “things.” They often, then, seek political office where power and influence seem to dominate with many there. That temptation, too, like the dream of Lucifer, may contribute to the fact that “few who are rich enter the kingdom of God,” as Jesus told us. But Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:16, “Youshall not tempt the Lord your God.”

The third temptation tries to get Jesus to delight in His own kingdom, His “things” that His eyes fall upon, that “lust of the eyes.” The cost is heavy, however. For this, He must bow down to Satan and worship him!

Again, Jesus quotes Scripture for the answer that turns away the tempter. Once more, Jesus shows us that submission to the one and only true God is the supreme answer for our lives, not just and only for the rejection of temptation: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shallserve.’”

In all three of these temptations, the devil is testing the resolve of Jesus not to draw upon the resources of His deity to thwart the efforts of the enemy. Why? It would destroy the purpose of His coming as a man—to show mankind that one who is not from the fallen race of Adam can live a life of victory over evil. But we all are born with the heritage of Adam!

Yes, but remember the new birth that Jesus told Nicodemus about, that “You must be born again?” That is how we can escape the Adam race and become adopted sons of God and joint heirs with Christ!

To recap the lessons from the temptations of Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11:

Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. It was a God-controlled situation to establish His commitment, as a man, to God’s service;

All three of the temptations follow the same pattern the devil used in the Garden and throughout the lives of believers since then—lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Thus, believers can know what to be wary of every day of their lives.

In every instance, Jesus refuted the tempter by saying, “It is written…,” thereby showing believers a way to refute the tempter as well—quoting the written Word.

In all three episodes, we are drawn back to honor God in our hearts, to worship Him only, and to put Him first in our total lives, just as Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Temptations, when allowed by God, are like His chastisements—they test our resolve to be pleasing to God, sometimes to bring us back to reality, as well. It seems that as we often think we have this thing (the victorious Christian life) whipped, like having it tied up with a tug rope and a downhill pull! Then, a well-placed temptation comes along, and there goes our resolve, and our victory!

Remember this: God knows our weaknesses, and He wants us to know it, too, for “when we are weak (and we know it), He can then be strong for us.” Look at 2 Corinthians 12:9:

“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’”