Genesis 7:13 - On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 

Matthew 24:37-39 - As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

 Jesus said that the days before the Rapture would be similar to the days of Noah.  It comes on the world unexpectedly, when everyone is still making plans for the future (getting married) and celebrating.  Only Noah and his family knew what was coming; they had the revelation.

Noah had a task to complete.  God revealed to him what was coming (the Flood) and exactly what he should do (build a giant ship or Ark).  Nobody else suspected what was about to happen or received the instructions.   They were not seeking such knowledge, because they were too busy with their own pursuits and pleasures.  In the last days before the Rapture, God speaks and reveals what is happening and what is about to happen – that is, He reveals the prophetic moment in which we live.  Only the faithful church receives this revelation.  The world receives signs, but not revelation - signs in the environment (destruction of the earth’s water supplies and natural resources – se Revelation 8), signs in the heavens (disturbances in space), and the shaking of the earth (like the giant earthquakes/tsunamis that have even moved the earth’s axis in recent years.  The world ignores these signs, of course.  The faithful church, however, has revelation – God speaks and calls his people to prepare now for the Rapture.  The world continues on with its pursuits and pleasures, while the faithful church prepares for eternity. 

Just like Noah, the faithful church has a task to complete: creating a Body or structure exactly the way God wants it, and bringing in as many as possible before it is too late.  Many religious groups are busy doing the opposite.  They work to create a church structure that pleases themselves, or allows them to enjoy themselves and express themselves.  Others try to create a structure that will appeal to the culture surrounding it.  Few are concerned about how God wants things done in the church; few are willing to question or surrender their own opinions, preferences, and ideas to the Lord’s revelation.  They do this because they do not even believe that God has revealed, or would reveal, how he wants things done in the church.  They believe God left us to our own reasoning, because that is what they want – their own reasoning. 

Let us think about this.  If God was so particular about the dimensions of this giant wooden box or ship, would He not be even more opinionated about how things should be in his church?  God was so concerned about the way people worship that He gave an entire book about how to offer animal sacrifices (Leviticus), and dozens of chapters about how to build the place of worship in the Old Testament (in Exodus and 1 Chronicles).  It seems strange, then, that God would have no preferences whatsoever about what music we use in services today, or how we comport ourselves in the services, or how we should preach.  Surely he would not want us merely to look at what others are doing and then imitate the ones we like the best, that suit our tastes.  On the contrary, God reveals his project in more and more detail, just as in the days of Noah.  “The faithful church” is so named because she faithfully carries out God’s revealed instructions.  We have an Ark to build – the Body that will go up in the Rapture. Just as Jesus told his disciples to get new wineskins to hold new wine, so we need the new structures revealed by the Holy Spirit in order to hold, contain, and preserve the new outpouring of the Spirit in the last days. 

The world will continue unaware.  Marriage (and being “given in marriage” or getting engaged) is something that looks toward the future.  Nobody gets married the day before they die.  People get married because they want to spend years with the other person, to raise a family, etc.  People in the world will continue to plan for the future – with political plans, military strategies, financial or economic programs, relationships, business deals – right up to the end, with no awareness that their plans will go unfulfilled.  

In the faithful church, we do not know the day or the hour the Lord is coming – just as Noah did not know exactly when the floods would come while he was building the Ark.  We too make plans for our careers, our children’s education, and so on.  We are responsible, serious people.  Even so, we make every decision with the awareness that Jesus is coming soon to take us to eternity.  Every day we know that this could be the day.  The Ark is done.  We are in the last minutes of history before the Rapture, prophetically speaking.  NO other signs must be fulfilled before that event.  It could be tomorrow or next week.  This awareness changes all of our priorities.  We devote ourselves to the Lord’s work first of all, and attend to the material concerns only as a way to sustain ourselves to keep serving the Lord until that final day comes.  The world does not decide things with this awareness – unbelievers assume the world will continue on its present course for decades, even centuries.  They plan accordingly, and they pursue their pleasures accordingly.  We know that the end is near, and the most important thing is to prepare ourselves for eternity, and to bring as many as possible to eternity with us. 

In the period immediately before the rains began, God brought Noah’s family into the Ark, and he brought all the necessary animals to them.  Noah did not have to go out and trap animals – this was a miracle where God brought them in.  Noah’s task was to construct the Ark exactly as God wanted it so that it was ready to hold the animals when God brought them.  This is like the Faithful Church today.  God is bringing in the last ones who will be saved before the Great Tribulation, the time of judgment coming on all the earth.  God brings them in by his Holy Spirit – the growth is a miracle.  It does not depend on human techniques.  The faithful church follows the revelations and directions the Lord gives, and prepares the Ark (the church, the Body) so that as we evangelize, and God brings in the people miraculously, there is a proper place for them to be carried to eternity.  People come because of prayer, because God must operate to bring them in, just as he brought the right number and type of animals from all over the earth to Noah in those days. 

It is interesting that it says, “The Lord shut them in.”  In other words, after everyone had entered, God closed the door behind them.  They did not do it themselves – it was the hand of the Lord.  There was no more opportunity for those outside to be saved.  This is a prophetic illustration of the Rapture as well.  It is an act of God – a miracle, not something we can do ourselves.  God is the one who transports us to meet Christ in the air.  As this happens, though, the Age of Grace ends – the period during which salvation is available to the “nations” or the Gentiles.  It is just like God closing the door of the Ark behind Noah and his family.  There is no more opportunity for salvation after the Rapture for Gentiles.  

Salvation & judgment –  The Ark was salvation for those inside, but judgment for those outside.  This is the pattern in Scripture – every act of God’s salvation for his servants coincides with an act of judgment on the flesh.  This is not a popular idea today – people want to talk about the “Year of the Lord’s Favor” without mentioning that this is the same as the “Day of the Vengeance of Our God.” (see Isaiah 61:2 – “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God”).   The greatest blessing in all of history is the Rapture of the church (Paul calls it the “Blessed Hope” in Titus 2:13), but the final judgment on the world and all flesh commences at the same time – the Great Tribulation.  Today, the Lord is speaking to us as well – proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of the vengeance of our God.