The Chines are now saying that they believe they are detecting “pings” from the black box of Malaysia Flight 370 somewhere in the South Indian ocean.  The battery life is due to expire in the next couple of days.  There are also “pings” that are going off in the world today signaling the return of Jesus Christ and the eruption of Great Tribulation on the earth.  In Matthew 24:37-39, Jesus told His disciples that the indications of His return would be a revival of the kind of times that were present in the days of Noah, just prior to the flood.

But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Well, there is certainly an incredible amount of “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,” today.  The times that Noah was living in were filled with all kinds of iniquity and wickedness.  So bad were the moral conditions among mankind then that the Lord expressed sorrow about even having made mankind on the earth.  God then determined to do something about the situation by calling Noah to build an ark so that God could destroy the earth and save Noah and his family.  By the way, the current movie about Noah is far different from the Bible’s account!  The Scriptures tell us about the situation as it existed then:

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.  And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. (Genesis 6:5-7)

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. (Genesis 6:11-12)

Clarence Larkin writes about these closing days of our present Church Age as being like it was in the days of Noah.

“Let us glance back for a moment at the characteristics of those “Noah Days” and we shall have an idea of the character of the closing days of this dispensation (Church Age).  We mention but seven features.

1.  There was a tendency to worship God simply as Creator, and not as Jehovah requiring atonement for sin. (Today it is almost always forbidden to pray in public in the name of Jesus Christ.  This is because demons, who know Jesus is coming soon, hate that powerful name of the Son of God.)

2.  There was a rapid advance in civilization and in the arts and sciences. ( The arts have become vulgar and anti-Christ, and science celebrates excluding God and mocking Christianity)

3.  There was a union of the holy line of Seth and the wicked line of Cain. (Like Christian joining other religions but still professing faith in Christ)

4.  There was a vast increase of population and congestion of population in the great cities.  (Notice, that Larkin, who wrote in the early twentieth century did not foresee the horrible practice of abortion in the latter days which has taken the lives of millions of unborn children.)

5.  There was an undue prominence of the female sex and disregard of the primal law of marriage. (Today marriage is much in  focus as many are trying to re-define it to fit the latter days morality which is also prophesied to be like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah[Jude 1:7] , but they will never succeed, for Jesus said “what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder!”  [Matthew 19:6] 

6.  There was an unlawful intercourse of “Denizens of the Air” with the daughters of men. (That is, relations through occult means with demons)

7.  There was a rejection of the preaching of Enoch and Noah.  (Both Enoch and Noah preached the coming of the Lord and of judgment.  But the world hated their testimony and rejected them and the Word of God. [Jude 1:14, 2 Peter 2:5]) ”

Larkin goes on to say that these indicators are present in our days:

“A careful observer of the sign of the Times will note that all these features are characteristic of these days, and warn us that we are rapidly approaching the close of this Dispensation.  We are living in the days of the revival of ‘Spiritism.’  The air is full of ‘Seducing Spirits,’ and there is a revival of the ‘Doctrine of Devils.’ (1 Timothy 4:1)…

The preaching of today as to the ‘coming of the Lord’ is also largely rejected, thus fulfilling the words of Peter:  ‘knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days Scoffers, walking after their own lusts and saying-Where is the promise of His coming’ (2 Peter 3:3-4)

Soon the Holy Spirit will no longer strive with men, as He ceased to do before the flood, through God gave them 120 years’ warning (Genesis 6:3), and (the Holy Spirit) will go back with the Church when it is called out of the world, and the world will be left for judgment.  From this we see that this dispensation, like all that preceded it, will end in Apostasy. (Clarence Larkin, Dispensational Truth, p. 40)”

If only Christians in our days were searching as diligently for the “pings” of the Lord’s return as the nations are searching for the “pings” of the black box of Flight 370.  But to truly search for the indications of the return of Jesus Christ means we will have to be committed to God’s truth.  We will have to stand for truth and even endure persecution for doing so.

Those who are dedicated to evil in our days are being stirred by Satan to do all they can to intimidate the righteous, but the Lord will prevail.  The messages in both the days of Noah and the days of Sodom are the same as the message of these latter days:  Jesus Christ is going to return and judgment is coming as well!  The Lord will certainly overthrow all evil.  Now is a good time to repent of the wickedness of the world the flesh and the devil and to turn by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ.  In this way alone you can receive forgiveness for your sins and become a new creation to serve the Lord forever!(Galatians 2:20)