In Genesis, chapter 7, there is an important verse in the account of the flood that God used to destroy the Earth that is particularly relevant to us today as we find ourselves in the final chapters of the last days:

And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.  Of clean beasts, and of the beasts that are not clean, and of fouls, and of everything that creepeth upon the earth.  There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.  And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth (Genesis 7:7-10 KJV).

According to the last verse above, God commanded Noah to load his family and all of the animals onto the ark and then He waited a full seven days before the rains began to fall.  Why did God wait these seven days?

I can only imagine the mocking and the ridicule Noah and his family endured while they constructed the ark.  People from miles around must have traveled to the site to hurl insults and abuse during the decades it took Noah to complete his task. Noah’s ark must have been quite a tourist attraction.  I also believe, and I think this is very important, that during the decades it took Noah to build the ark word of his apparent foolishness spread across the known world at that time.  Everybody in the known world of that day had the opportunity to laugh at Noah.  When Noah finally entered the ark with his family and all of the animals the ridicule from the entire world must certainly have reached a fever pitch.

Conditions in the ark must have been pretty bad while they waited for the rain.  I imagine it was hot inside that confined space and it probably began to stink almost immediately.  I wonder what thoughts went through the minds of Noah and his family.  I am sure they heard the jeering crowd outside and I wonder if, perhaps, their faith might have been tested while they waited upon God’s perfect timing.

Every word in the Bible is important and not a single word should be overlooked.  Why did God wait for seven days and why was this delay important enough that God made note of it when the Holy Spirit inspired Moses to write the book of Genesis?

Was this delay one last chance for the people to repent, turn to God, and be saved?  Perhaps, but I doubt this was the reason.  My heart tells me that God knew nobody would repent.  God gave the inhabitants of the earth a spectacle for a period of seven days in which everybody who might not have criticized Noah up until that point, or those who had only minimally done so, could truly incriminate themselves with their own words.  In Matthew, Chapter 12, Jesus told us:

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned  (Matthew 12:36-37 KJV).

During the 40 days and 40 nights that the torrential rains fell every human life on the planet that was not on the ark ended in death.  I can imagine the huge crowds showing up at the gates of Sheol as a result and the resultant grumbling about how unfair the entire matter was.  Practically everyone must have claimed innocence and also claimed that they were never given any warning that their behavior while alive could be worthy of such consequences.  However, the one thing that no human can ever do is successfully lie to the Lord.  By their own words while they were alive they were now condemned.

Let’s turn now to today.  The entire world is on edge because people can sense that something of massive importance is about to happen.  Christians can feel the electricity that is in the air, as can Muslims, Jews, and members of every other religion; as well as the godless heathens who do not believe there could possibly be any other power in the universe that is higher than themselves.

I believe that very few things happen in our world that do not happen for a reason.  We recently observed an interesting phenomenon where a false prophet of God’s word predicted the Rapture would occur on May 21, 2011.  The mainstream media immediately latched onto this man and he, along with his prophecy, was loudly mocked around the world.  The reason this man became an instant laughing stock was because the people of this generation have struggled so hard and for so long to ignore the vast multitude of signs that are flashing at us from every possible direction.  When May 21^st came and went the ridicule once again reached a fever pitch, just like it did in the time of Noah when the door to the ark was closed and a huge ship sat baking in the hot sun.

Once again we find ourselves waiting for the forecast rainstorm to begin.  This time it won’t start as a few intermittent drops of rain gently falling from an ever-darkening sky.  It will be more like an unexpected flash of lightning and a deafening blast of thunder from directly overhead when there isn’t a cloud in sight.