Hi gang!  We’ve taken a “spiritual cruise” through Bible prophecy and have arrived back in home port.  This particular spiritual journey is nearing its end…but not before a big surprise, so don’t rush off yet!  While the crew secures our vessel, we’ll examine a tale of three cruises!

Let’s learn the lessons of the very first cruise in world history.  Perhaps you remember a guy named Noah!

Noah’s Ark was the very first cruise in history, and it certainly adds significance to our cruise.  In Genesis 6, we are told that the Lord saw wickedness and was grieved.  Thus, He confided to Noah that He was about to blot out man, animals, creeping things and birds, though Noah found favor in His eyes.

 

Just as in Noah’s day, wickedness abounds today.  Yesterday we studied 2 Timothy 3:1-5, to find that Paul warned Timothy of moral failures.  But the most poignant lesson from Noah’s cruise has to do with judgment.  God judged the earth with water in Noah’s day (Genesis 6-8), and will judge the world by fire and by blood.  In 2 Peter 3:1-7, the apostle Peter predicts that mockers will come, saying “Where is the promise of His coming?”  Peter then reaches back in history to tie judgment in Noah’s day to the future judgment of fire, stating that though the world was previously destroyed by water, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

 

Today, we see mockers scorning God’s Word, and mocking prophetic warning. 

 

So, the first judgment was by water and the last judgment will be by fire.  But the Bible talks about a third judgment.  It happened in between the judgment by water and the judgment by fire.  It is a judgment by blood, and it has dual reference.

 

Recall our study in Ezekiel 38…the Northern Invasion, commanded by Gog?  Ezekiel 38:22 tells us that the Lord will enter into judgment with that wicked commander with pestilence and with blood.  Gog will be judged for coming against God’s people.

  

However, as believers, our sin is just as wicked as that of Gog or anyone else, and our salvation was bought via a judgment by blood!  Just as God provided an ark of salvation for Noah, and made a covenant with him; so He has done the same for us! 

 

 

Jesus is not only our ark of salvation, but also the door through which we enter (John 10:9).  He made a covenant with us and spilled His blood to forgive our sins!  This judgment is unique, in that, Jesus took the judgment meant for us.  Because of the blood of Jesus, we have salvation from ultimate death and destruction!

 

These are lessons learned from Noah’s Cruise!  But remember, we’re talking about a tale of THREE cruises, so come back tomorrow for “the rest of the story!”

 

(Diagrams in this post credited to Answers in Genesis.  www.AnswersinGenesis.org)