TV Program CURRENT EPISODE The High Water Effect 2008-02-03 PRODUCTION #: 1101 SPEAKER: Shawn Boonstra Chances are, there s a picture of a boat hanging in your child s room one that s full of animals and has a rainbow in the sky above it. And of course, that boat is Noah s Ark. But did you realize when you hung that picture on the wall that you actually put up a prophetic warning for the last days? Today, if you are willing to pay a few hundred bucks, a geneticist can help you pinpoint your ethnic heritage with a relative degree of certainty. For example, if you ve always wondered if you have the blood of a Scotsman coursing through your veins, a little saliva and a cheap lab test will figure out if you are an actual genetic descendant of the Pictish people who once inhabited the Scottish countryside. If your ancestors happen to be from Africa, they can figure that out, too, because there are little genetic indicators we all pass on to our children s DNA. And those tiny family markers can be compared to ancient migration patterns all over the world. All you have to do is compare your DNA with the different tribes around the world and presto! you can pretty much figure out where you came from. What s interesting about this whole process is that some geneticists, statisticians and historians have come to the conclusion that we all come from one common ancestor. And what s really interesting is that even though most people who study this phenomenon believe that human beings in some form have been around for millions of years, some of them are coming to the conclusion that only a few thousand years separate all of us from one common human ancestor. Steve Olson, for example, who wrote the book Mapping Human History, used a supercomputer and the help of a statistician to come to the scientific conclusion that you would only have to go back in time about two to five thousand years to find one individual who could count every single human being alive today as a descendant. So how does that work? Every person alive today has two parents, four grandparents, eight greatgrandparents and so on. What you discover is that you don t have to climb very far up your family tree to build a list of thousands of ancestors. And because there weren t very many people actually living on the planet a few thousand years ago, that means we all have thousands of ancestors in common. An Associated Press article put it like this: Most of the people who lived 1,200 years ago appear not twice, but thousands of times on our family trees, because there were only 200 million people on earth back then. The logical conclusion they are coming to is that you don t have to go back very far to find somebody who appears on absolutely everybody s family tree. And, of course, even though many people find this information amazing especially when you consider the remarkable diversity of the 6.5 billion people living on the planet it s nothing we couldn t have figured out from the pages of the Bible. In the Book of Acts, Paul informs us that God made all nations from one blood, and if you check the genealogies listed in the Bible; you discover it s true. In fact, we can even pinpoint a handful of people that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt are ancestors to all of us. One of them obviously would be Adam. But if you think about, so are a lot of the people who came after Adam, and the last person we know for sure is an ancestor common to the whole human race is Noah, because he was the only one of his generation to survive the flood. So in a sense, Noah is really a beginning point for all of us. But in another special sense he also represents the finish line of human history. Now why do I say that? Well, because the Bible actually uses the story of Noah to illustrate what we should expect in earth s final moments. Let me give you an example. In the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus is giving His famous list of last-day signs, He mentions Noah in the 37th verse. Listen to this (Matthew 24:37-39):
But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Now, this isn t the only place where Noah gets honorable mention in last-day Bible prophecy. Because he shows up again in the letters of Peter, like this reference found in 2 Peter, chapter 2, where a direct comparison is made between a last-day judgment and the days of Noah. Listen to this (2 Peter 2:4-7): For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked. The intent of the Bible seems to be quite clear. The life of Noah isn t just a nice story to tell our children. It s in the Bible as a warning for us, particularly as we approach the final moments of human history. Out of all the human stories God could have put in the Bible, He picked this one because, among other things, it has the potential to prepare us for last-day events. So let s take a few moments to think about the story carefully, and I think you ll find that some of the little details are really important. And probably the best place to begin is in Genesis six, where the whole story begins to unfold. Here s what it says in Genesis six, beginning in verse five (Genesis 6:5-6): Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. You have to wonder how we managed to go from walking in paradise with God to the point where absolutely every thought we had was evil. How do you take a perfectly crafted mind and pollute it so badly that the creator God can t even stand to listen in on your thoughts? Somehow when Adam rebelled against God, he didn t realize how quickly the whole human race was going to be sucked into the miserable sewer of sin. And from Adam s day forward, things only got worse so bad in fact, that the Bible describes God as being sorry that He made us in the first place. But you ll notice that in spite of God s frustration, He doesn t duck out of the situation. If you think about it, I suppose God could have walked away from the whole mess like someone refusing to make eye contact with a derelict on the street. But the story of the Bible reveals a God who does something. He intervenes in human history. He has a plan to set things right, even though we sometimes have a hard time understanding what God is doing. And that s the amazing pattern you find all the way through the Bible. Even though God didn t start the problem, even though He made us faultless and put us in a perfect environment and gave us every advantage, He still steps up to the plate when it comes time to fix the mess. And you ll notice God didn t wipe out the whole human race, even though I m pretty sure Noah was also a sinner. How do I know that? The Bible is clear. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So why did God spare Noah? You find the answer beginning in Genesis verse 8 (Genesis 6:8-9): But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. This is really one of the most exciting last-day stories in the Bible. The next few verses tell us that the world was utterly corrupt and full of violence. But as God assessed the situation, He found one man whose heart still belonged to Him. A little remnant, if you will, and that s a perfect parallel to what happens in the last moments of earth s history. Just listen to this passage found in Revelation 18, where a great angel shouts his message to the whole world. Here it is (Revelation 18:2-3):
And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. It s the same story all over again. The world in the last days becomes desperately wicked, so bad that it s described as the dwelling place of demons. And yet as the eyes of God sweep across the desperately wicked planet, He finds a group of people whose hearts still belong to Him. Listen as it continues: And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. Now this shows us something really important. God s first plan is never to destroy the planet. His nature is to create and to love, not destroy. And as His eyes sweep across the planet, weighing the hearts of men, His motive is to save as many as He can, a point that Peter makes abundantly clear in 2 Peter 3 (2 Peter 3:9): The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Right now, as our world sinks deeper and deeper into the sewer of sin, the voice of God is speaking to human hearts, pleading with them to come out of wickedness before it s too late. The clock is ticking. The flood, so to speak, is coming, and God is calling. If you listen carefully, you ll discover there s this voice right now laying claim to your heart. You have this profound sense of discomfort when you look at the direction in which the world is headed, and your heart longs for something better. That s when God calls you, and He sets you aside for something special. You see, when God calls somebody, He doesn t just call them to sit on the sidelines and watch while He cleans up the mess. God calls people to action. He asks them to do something: Noah, I have something for you to do. What is it, Lord? You are going to build an ark, but at the same time I want you to give a public invitation for everyone to make things right with me. And you know that s exactly what Noah did. In 2 Peter 2:5, Noah is called a preacher of righteousness, and in Genesis chapter 6, we discover that God set aside 120 years before the flood destroyed the world. In other words, there was a probationary period, a time when anyone could make things right with God. Imagine the crowds that must have gathered around the ark in a world that for all intents and purposes, had never really seen any rain. As the sound of Noah s tools echoed across the valley, every single blow was a message to those people. What s the giant boat for, Noah? Noah: It s not going to last forever. I ve been told that God is going to bring all this to a close, and we only have a little while to make things right. There s something terribly wrong with you. Give it up, Noah. It s a waste of time. No one believes you, Noah. No one! Noah: Time is upon you to change your ways. Turn to God. The waters will fall from the heavens. The waters will rise from the deep. Time is running out! You know, I have to wonder: How many of those people in Noah s day came close to making the right decision? How many of them almost made it onto the ark? I ve been a preacher long enough to know that a lot of people are spiritual procrastinators. They stand on the sidelines, fascinated by the subject of religion, but they never actually make the decision to get on the ark. Is it possible that some people kind of sided with Noah in the beginning and listened to his message, but as the years went by and the rains still hadn t come, they just kind of drifted back into their former lives? And maybe there were some who knew in their hearts that Noah was telling the truth, but they
lives? And maybe there were some who knew in their hearts that Noah was telling the truth, but they buckled under the ridicule of their friends and family. I have to believe that some people actually came under conviction. Otherwise, God wouldn t have wasted Noah s time with the task of preaching. Why bother warning the people if there s no chance that anybody s going to listen? And why throw open the doors of the ark if there s no possibility that anybody s actually going to come? Those are all good questions. And it brings the discussion back to you. God wouldn t throw open the doors of His last-day ark if you couldn t actually come. He wouldn t wrench your heart with conviction if He didn t actually want you in the kingdom of God. And that means right now you have a decision to make. Are you going to just stand on the sidelines and watch, or are you going to be part of God s last-day people? Are you going to let other people browbeat you into losing your place on the boat, or are you finally going to make things right with God? You see, the story of Noah is really the story of you, and the whole reason that God put that story in the Bible is to get your attention, because the final movements of planet Earth are going to look exactly like the final moments before the flood; and I know that because Jesus said so. So the question is this: What are you going to do with that still small voice that s telling you to do something now? What are you going to do with the conviction that you need to make things right? Are you really going to wait until it s too late, or are you going to take advantage of the invitation you have right now to become a child of God? Just try to imagine what it was like when the animals actually started to arrive. All of a sudden, the people making fun of Noah are forced to admit, at least in their own minds, that something different is taking place. After all, it s not everyday that the wild beasts of this world walk out of the woods and calmly head for Noah s boat. But even then nobody made a move. The animals were making better decisions than the people. Is it possible they d convinced themselves that it was never going to happen? Have the popular thinkers and preachers of this day assured everyone that global devastation would never happen? Did the people of Noah s day persist in the rebellion, so long that they couldn t think clearly anymore, and they rendered themselves incapable of seeing the obvious? You know, I find it interesting that the Book of Revelation describes the last generation on earth as being drunk with the wine of Babylon. Their rebellion runs so deep that they can t see clearly anymore. Even though not one prediction made by the Bible has been proven false in thousands of years. And even though today s headlines read like a replay of Matthew 24, people still refuse to believe it. Just like the Apostle Paul predicted, everyone preaches peace and safety, but then he says, sudden destruction falls across the planet. Maybe the problem is that we don t understand how serious our sins really are. Maybe, like back in the days of Noah, we ve become so comfortable in our rebellion that we fail to understand just how critical the situation is. Is it possible, as we ve begun to worship the wrong things in this world, that our perception of God has actually been lowered? And at the same time, has our perception of sin been watered down because we are just so familiar with it? If that s the case, there s no better place to clear up your vision than at the cross of Christ. As you watch God s son writhe in agony on the cross, alone in the dark, separated from His Father, crushed under the weight of your sins, ask yourself this important question: Which one of your sins required this? As you stand in the shadow of the cross, the awful truth begins to sink in. Any one of your sins would have required the cross. No matter how trifling sin seems to you, no matter how minor you think it is, it still required the life of God s son. And if it required that kind of suffering, what makes us think it s going to go better for us if we try to solve the problem ourselves? I know it s not very popular to suggest that God s going to deal with sin. But we can t afford to ignore the examples of the past, and we have to admit that a God of love isn t going to let wickedness run rampant forever because of all the pain that it s going to cause. So here is the question for you right now: How do you get on the ark? This is where the good news kicks in. If you think about it, Noah would have no idea how to build an ark. Bible scholars have noticed that the Bible seems to suggest it never rained before the flood. In fact, we are told in one place that the moisture that rose up from the ground watered the earth. So it s quite likely that Noah would have no idea how to build a boat to withstand the kind of storm you read about
likely that Noah would have no idea how to build a boat to withstand the kind of storm you read about in Genesis 7. So God spells it all out in explicit detail. He said, Noah, I want you to build the ark exactly like this. And you ll notice that s the way God handles everything that relates to salvation in the Bible. Moses had to build the sanctuary exactly the way God told him. Naaman had to cleanse himself in the river exactly the way God asked, and that s because the details of salvation are in God s hands; and He s trying to tell us that He can take care of the impossible. Just as only God can assemble the animals and bring them to the ark, only God can take your life and turn it around. And just as only God could build a perfect boat to survive the perfect storm, only God can pay the price of your sins and declare you forgiven. But He still leaves something up to you. Just like Noah had to take the instructions and carry them out, you ve got to respond and trust that God is big enough to solve the problem for you. And then you ve got to trust, especially in these last days, that God is big enough to take you through the final crisis. You know, I m sure it wasn t easy to build a boat and preach for 120 years while everyone was making fun of you. And I m sure it wasn t easy to climb inside the boat and wait for seven days while absolutely nothing happened. You and your big boat! But on the eighth day when the rain began to fall and the waters began to cover the hills, I m willing to guess that Noah was pretty glad he had responded to God. And just like that, when this world approaches the final moments and we hit that stretch of history that Daniel calls the time of trouble, it s going to be tempting to think that we were wrong to stand on this ancient book. The mockery and ridicule we face and the seeming lack of evidence might make things tough for a little while. But when the sky lights up and Jesus really comes, you are going to be glad you followed your heart and chose to stand on the Word of God. You know, God gave the ancient world a lot of warning, and the same thing is true today. Just think about the effort that God has made for you. Not only did He build the ark by giving His life for you, but also for centuries, He s been warning us that He s going to come. The Second Coming of Christ is the most talked about subject in the Bible, and right now it also happens to be the most talked about subject in the religious world. From the far corners of Islam to the streets of America, people are talking now about the return of Christ, and that s because God is trying to get your attention before it s too late. And so there s really only one thing to consider: What are you going to do with your invitation from God? Let me ask you again. Are you ready for Jesus to come? I d like to invite you to pray with me. PRAYER: Gracious father in heaven, as we look at the way you ve handled this world in the past, we can see that you are a God of love. You give a lot of warning because you desire to have us in the kingdom of heaven, and yet at the same time, you can t let sin and suffering go forever. Today, we want to respond to your invitation. We want to climb onto the ark that is the cross of Christ. We want to be with Him so that we are ready for Him when He comes. Lord, forgive our sins and guide us into the kingdom of Christ. For we ask it in Jesus name, Amen. Scriptures Used in The High Water Effect But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Matthew 24:37-39 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was
an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked. 2 Peter 2:4-7 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. Genesis 6:5-6 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. Genesis 6:8-9 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. Revelation 18:2-3 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 Keywords: Shawn Boonstra It Is Written Box O Thousand Oaks, CA 91359 USA Tel: (805) 433-0210 Fax: (805) 433-0218 Copyright 2010, It Is Written International Television. All rights reserved. Webmaster