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Patriarchs and Prophets
having once escaped control, will fill the earth with woe and deso-
lation. The picture which Inspiration has given of the antediluvian
world represents too truly the condition to which modern society is
fast hastening. Even now, in the present century, and in professedly
Christian lands, there are crimes daily perpetrated as black and terrible
as those for which the old-world sinners were destroyed.
Before the Flood God sent Noah to warn the world, that the people
might be led to repentance, and thus escape the threatened destruction.
As the time of Christ’s second appearing draws near, the Lord sends
His servants with a warning to the world to prepare for that great event.
Multitudes have been living in transgression of God’s law, and now He
in mercy calls them to obey its sacred precepts. All who will put away
their sins by repentance toward God and faith in Christ are offered
pardon. But many feel that it requires too great a sacrifice to put away
sin. Because their life does not harmonize with the pure principles
of God’s moral government, they reject His warnings and deny the
authority of His law.
Of the vast population of the earth before the Flood, only eight
souls believed and obeyed God’s word through Noah. For a hundred
and twenty years the preacher of righteousness warned the world of the
coming destruction, but his message was rejected and despised. So it
will be now. Before the Lawgiver shall come to punish the disobedient,
transgressors are warned to repent, and return to their allegiance; but
with the majority these warnings will be in vain. Says the apostle
Peter, “There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their
own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for
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since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning.”
2 Peter 3:3, 4
. Do we not hear these very words repeated,
not merely by the openly ungodly, but by many who occupy the pulpits
of our land? “There is no cause for alarm,” they cry. “Before Christ
shall come, all the world is to be converted, and righteousness is
to reign for a thousand years. Peace, peace! all things continue as
they were from the beginning. Let none be disturbed by the exciting
message of these alarmists.” But this doctrine of the millennium does
not harmonize with the teachings of Christ and His apostles. Jesus
asked the significant question, “When the Son of man cometh, shall
He find faith on the earth?”
Luke 18:8
. And, as we have seen, He
declares that the state of the world will be as in the days of Noah. Paul