The Character of Jesus Christ

Mat 24:37  For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Mat 24:38  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, Mat 24:39  and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Sometimes there are things to learn in a passage that have nothing to do with the original intention of the author.  I don’t mean that it is ok to take a passage out of context but that, as in the case above, we are given incidental information that is very useful.  This section in Matthew 24 is about being prepared for the second return of Christ even though nobody knows when it will be.  I know a lot of people think they do but that is a subject for another time.

But while Jesus makes his case he refers to Genesis 6-9 and the account of the flood and the ark that Noah built.  What this does is immediately let us know that Jesus believes that Genesis is a reliable account and that in fact Noah, the ark and the flood as recorded in Genesis are historical events.  We can add to this what he refers to in chapter 19 where he says that God originally created Adam and Eve, again, just as the book of Genesis relates it.  This lets us know that he believed in the creation account as Genesis records it. 

The implications are important for those who claim to believe in Jesus and follow his teachings.  Jesus was no naturalist.  He believed that in the beginning God created all that is in six days and on the sixth day he created Adam and Eve.  Man didn’t evolve from lower species; he believes what is recorded in Genesis and uses it as inspired Scripture.  The same must be said of the flood as described in Genesis.  It was universal and only 8 souls survived along with the animals that were in the ark. 

In other words, for those who claim to be Christians these things aren’t debatable.  It is not possible to see such Old Testament books as folklore or symbolic or whatever.  To think so is to say that Jesus is either misleading us or a fool for believing what modern man has passed off as “unscientific”.  Jesus sees history as it is recorded in the Old Testament and so we believe this as well.  If Jesus is wrong about this then what else is he wrong about?  If he can’t be trusted on the subject of history then can we trust him when it comes to our salvation and eternity?  If he is wrong about creation when he was the one who actually did the creating and so was present then how can he be trusted on anything?  He is either a liar or deluded and so all his teachings become suspect as well. 

There are a lot of people who call themselves Christians who need to be careful here.  I have relatives and so know firsthand that they claim to follow Christ then turn around and deny the teachings of the very books that Jesus taught as truth.  I think the Judgment will not go well for those who stand before the Lord someday and say that they acknowledge him as their savior but believe him to be mistaken about a lot of things.

At the end of the day I will trust my Creator and not the university professor who hates and denies God and so comes up with elaborate schemes that can’t be proven as to why the Bible can’t be trusted.  This is not a matter of a difference of opinion.  It is a matter of whether our Lord and Savior is mistaken or not.