“We are standing on the threshold of the crisis of the ages. In quick succession the judgments of God will follow one another—fire, and flood, and earthquake, with war and bloodshed. We are not to be surprised at this time by events both great and decisive; for the angel of mercy cannot remain much longer to shelter the impenitent.” PK 278
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I think most miss the relative importance of the size of the boat.
After the Ark had become a zoo, filled with two’s and seven’s plus enough groceries to last over half a year-that gigantic ship must’ve appeared at capacity.
The significance is the calculated realization of limited space availability. The instinctual drive for self preservation would’ve either inspired obedience or unbelief. It’s really quite that simple.
While Noah’s sons weren’t accounted righteous, because of their obedience they were preserved. What man is righteous but he who has faith in God alone. You see in the obedience of his sons, honoring their father while without faith themselves, the promise of their days being long while the world perished fulfilled by the commandment.
Today we have an Ark. it isn’t the whole planet. It doesn’t hold even 20+million SDAs.
As in Noah’s time we have specific dimensions for the people in the very last day when the Lord is seen in all his glory. This particular number according to God is 144,000.
He isn’t keeping secrets. He didn’t lie in revelation 7 or 14 about the number translated. There won’t be half a million or billion or whatever kind of weird symbolic number one can derive from 144,000. Numbers of people are not represented as analogies of prophetic time.
Why do folks doubt the word of God in this manner?
Chapter 7 reveals 2 types of people in heaven, those dead in Christ as the innumerable multitude and those living at the end and translated-the 144,000.
While many yet try to bend or twist the plain reading to justify denial and thus preserve comfort in slothfulness or delight in cherished sin, the truth remains plainly revealed.
At the time of the flood the Ark contained an exact, unchanging, non-symbolic, non-metaphorical number.
God’s specific word that John said he heard was 144,000. I’d assume it isn’t a deception. In fact if God did lie about it then was Satan wrong? If it isn’t that number then is God really all knowing? If he chooses to change the definition of 144,000 was it fair Satan was cast out when nobody can actually rely on reality remaining constant?
We know that until probation closes for the world, (not the house of Israel for which probation will long be over for), as Christ foretold they will offer us up to kill us. We know the world will be spiraling out of control with billions dying everywhere. So a third of the world population is just under 3 billion currently.
Now currently we have a picture in front us of an Ark. Surrounding us from behind and in front, and side to side there is a sea of over 5 billion applicants while there’s only enough room for 144,000 to board.
It’s true that while many, possibly tens of millions of Israelites may have been offered up to death when the third of the planet fell silent, only 144,000 alive on the last day will translate to heaven. Revelation 14 emphasizes this.
The point. There is no time to waste in seeking the Lord’s purifying hand in our souls.
Those who put off for tomorrow what could’ve been accomplished today will, just as the antediluvians be swept away. Where no work of refinement is taking place death awaits with anticipation.
Consider the numbers. Barely one third of one percent will overcome to be allowed to follow Jesus wherever he may go forever.
With every passing year that fraction of a percent grows smaller as this world grows more and more corrupt.
We must pray for the Word to sanctify us while time yet remains so we can stand before the Father without sin until Jesus comes.
Living a life without sin is not the same as calling one’s self perfect. In fact the very idea reveals conceit and so imperfection. Yet living a life under the guidance of His Word free from a life of sin is evidence of His power, His grace, and His righteousness in our lives. It is His perfecting work, not our own, nor anything we could boast of that readys our characters for his return.