The Days of Noah?

While watching an Answers In Genesis video the other day it was mentioned that they often get the question “Are we living in the days of Noah?”. To which they reply “In the days of Noah God found only one righteous man.”

We can be pretty sure that things are not as bad today as they were in Noah’s time. However, what about other periods in history? Can we say whether we are better or worse off compared to other points in time?

This is not always an easy question to answer because History is usually recorded in snippets. And the recordings can be subjective and open to interpretation. It can be difficult to make honest comparisons to what was written about a time and what we observe before us today.

Which is why it is sometimes better to make analogies between known specifics rather than a general comparison of overall state of affairs. But when doing so we need to be careful of context. This is especially true when it comes to Scripture. On August 5th I posted Do I Drive A Ford Mustang? expressing my concerns about this very problem. This was not by accident as I was considering how to approach this post at the time. And I wanted readers to understand that concern and view today’s BLOG post in the appropriate light.

I am going to do something here I don’t believe I have ever done before, or if I have, it is very rare. I am going to use a piece of Scripture in an analogy. Please understand that this is not an expository of the Scripture nor an exegetical study of the Scripture. It is simply a very (very) loose analogy of an historical event then and what we see happening in our society today.

And to do this I am going to ask the question – Are we living in the days of Christ? We may not be living in the days of Noah, but are things as bad today as they were some two thousand years ago when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, walked the face of the earth in Jerusalem?

Well consider this one act by Jesus as recorded by Matthew:

¹¹ And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. ¹² And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, ¹³ And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Matthew 21:11-13

And as recorded by John:

¹³ And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: ¹⁵ And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; ¹⁶ And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

John 2:13-16

Jesus, upon entering the Temple at the Passover, sees some rather unsavory individuals, engaged in activities they ought not to have been engaging in while inside the Temple, and he makes a whip and drives them out of the Temple. And he tells them why he is taking these actions. He explains to them that they have made his Father’s house (the Temple) a den of thieves and a house of merchandise.

Jesus probably took these actions as a way to trigger the religious leaders of the time in order to set into motion his arrest, trial, and crucifixion. But I also believe that his actions were just and with purpose. You see, I believe Jesus knew that the Temple was a house of refuge. It was a place for the lost and tired of the world to find peace. It was a place for sinners to find grace and mercy. And it was a place for the lost to find redemption. Moreover, it was the place were God met with His people and inhabited their praises. And Jesus knew that no one wants to come to the Temple to be robbed. Nor did He want people to be distracted by merchandise. And this is exactly what was happening. People were coming to the Temple to shop and were being ripped off by unscrupulous merchants.

And if we take this event from history, can we find any similarities in society today? Well, I believe we can, in a loose sort of way. Consider our country, where we live. Is it not a place of sanctuary? Do we not want to find peace and happiness and to be able to conduct our lives free of harassment and having our goods stolen from us? Of course we do. We desire to live with the freedom to pursue our dreams and to achieve our greatest potential on an equal footing with all our fellow citizens. Is this not what the United States Constitution guarantees us? Is this not the promise of this great nation? It is our sanctuary.

And have we allowed moneychangers to come into the courts of our great country and to set up shop? Well, once again, in a loose sort of way I believe we can draw an analogy here. Consider our halls of power and those who sit in them. Is our own Congress not filled with moneychangers who conduct business more to their gain than our benefit? Are they not fiscally irresponsible with our tax dollars? Do they not run a national debt, not at their expense, but at the expense of the country?

Do they not upset our Constitutional guarantees when they proclaim that some groups are more equal than others? Do they really see all as being created equal when they begin to codify into law privileges for specific groups amongst us? And are they protective of our freedoms and liberties to pursue our dreams when they do not protect our borders and keep us secure?

And when Nancy Pelosi mocks the Church and stands for abortion, and disregards God and the life He has granted, is that not seen by the very Creator whom we worship and anger Him? Is this not evil in our house?

I believe we risk much with these “moneychangers” in our halls of power. Most notably the very wrath of God whom they mock and trample upon when they proclaim to know more than the Church and set themselves up as both the rulers of the physical as well as the interpreters of the spiritual.

We have the power to vote these moneychangers out of power. And if we do not, then the Temple will be the Temple no more (meaning we will lose the country and evil will reign). Think about it.