Bible Study Seattle

“And he said to the disciples, “Days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Behold, there!’ ‘Behold, here!’ Do not go out or run after them! For just as the lightning shines forth, flashing from one place under heaven to another place under heaven, so the Son of Man will be in his day. But first it is necessary for him to suffer many things, and to be rejected by this generation. And just as it was in the days of Noah, so also it will be in the days of the Son of Man— they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building. But on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, whoever is on the housetop and his goods are in the house must not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will keep it. I tell you that in that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left.”

And they answered and said to him, “Where, Lord?” So he said to them, “Where the dead body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.” Luke 17:22-37

Verse 24 is very instructive, and mistranslated. The Greek astrape is translated lightning. This is the wrong concept. It should say, ‘as the sun rays shine forth, shining from east to west…’ The idea is that the second coming of Christ will be as the sun rising, gradually lighting the whole earth with truth as in a day that’s 1,000 years long. So the noon day sun is 750 years in! (Jewish days start at sundown, so noon is three-quarters through the day). This sets the tone for further details that the beginning of this 1,000 year long Day will be as in the 370 day (year) long Noah flood. That flood gave the world it’s current topography, and the second ‘flood’ of Jesus’ presence will change the topography again, so that,

“Let every valley be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low;
And let the rough ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
And all flesh will see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Isaiah 40:4-5

A good presentation by Michael Oard:

“And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.” Genesis 6:19-20

“You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.” Genesis 7:2-3

“On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life.” Genesis 7:13-15

It is not clear, but it appears Noah had seven days to get everything in the ark. How did he get all those animals in there? Were they trained? Did Noah keep a giant zoo while building the ark? Or did God somehow communicate with the animals to go into the ark?

The wicked are described at least a hundred times in the bible. God promises to destroy them. He also promises to destroy death itself.

“The last enemy that will be abolished is death.” 1 Corinthians 15:26

If death is gone, aren’t malice, envy, and all other evils also nonexistent? And wouldn’t evil persons also be gone? God has no reason to suspend Satan in torture. It is out of his character. Indeed, the Law of Moses only allows restitution or death, but no jail, and certainly no torture.