“Eating And
Drinking, Marrying And Giving In Marriage”
Matthew 24:37-39
When the Lord Jesus comes again the world will be in the same condition it is in now (vv. 37-39). It will be exactly as it has always been! The world will not be converted before Christ comes. It will be in the same condition it was in when God sent the flood. When our Lord says, “As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be,” He means for us to understand that three things will characterize the world until the end of time. These three things were characteristic of the world in Noah’s day, in the days of our Lord’s earthly ministry, and in our day. And these three things will characterize the world in the day when our Savior comes again.
1. The world is
now, forever has been, and forever shall be absorbed in carnal sensual
pursuits. There is nothing wrong with eating and drinking. If we did not
eat and drink, we could not live. There is nothing wrong with marrying and
giving in marriage. “Marriage is
honourable in all, and the bed undefiled” (Heb. 13:5). Did men and women
not marry and give themselves to one another in marriage,
the human race would cease to be. However, when men and women, possessing
immortal souls, live only to gratify themselves with the carnal pleasures of
this earth, they live as fools and brute beasts. Do not be so foolish (Matt.
2. The second characteristic of the world is that it is totally oblivious to eternal, spiritual things. Both religious people and irreligious people, the moralist as well as the libertine, all are alike ignorant of and oblivious to the things of God. Just as the people of Noah’s day were oblivious to God’s judgment and his salvation, the people of our day are naturally unconcerned about heaven, hell, immortality, judgment, and the glory of God.
3. Though the gospel shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, the vast majority of those who hear it are guilty of despising it. As in Noah’s day, so it is now, and so it shall be to the end. Most who hear the gospel despise it. As stated above, the world will not be converted before Christ comes. The purpose of God shall stand. God’s elect shall be saved. But in the last day, as in Noah’s day and our day, God’s elect shall be few.
Don Fortner