GOD GAVE NOAH THE RAINBOW SIGN - NO MORE WATER, THE FIRE NEXT TIME

I, like many, I would imagine, first came upon this phrase as the dedication to an incredible and eye opening book by the author, James Baldwin, called, “The Fire Next Time”.

“God gave Noah the rainbow sign - no more water, the fire next time.” An old Negro Spiritual.

When I first came across it, many years ago, I was entirely naive and unknowing about both, the scriptural sources of this phrase and the circumstances of the ‘race relations’ described by Mr Baldwin, here in America.

Even though I grew up in New Jersey, right across from where he lived and the world he described so eloquently, I personally, had no experience of either ‘race’ or of ‘The Gospel’.

It would be many years before I had any sense of either of those things and, in particular, of the failure of the ‘Christianity’ that he was brought up with and personally involved in, to address or save himself or his neighbors from the environment, situations or from the condition they found themselves in.

The reasons for this failure can be found in the history of the Church, the nature of Apostasy and the Mystery of Iniquity, all of which have worked together to destroy, if at all possible, what God has accomplished for us, to destroy Men's lives and to steal their souls.

If we look carefully, we will see these same elements very much at work in our own lives and in our world today.

Let's examine the scriptural sources of this old Negro Spiritual and the many ways that they are relevant for us today.

Almost everyone is familiar with the story of Noah and the ark and the rainbow after the flood as recounted in Genesis 6-8, even I was, although I had no idea of it's significance or it's connection to ‘the fire next time’.

In the Gospel according to St Matthew, chapter 24, the Lord's disciples are pointing out to him the magnificent work of the buildings of the Temple, at which point, Jesus makes this startling statement:

“See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

The disciples are, of course, dismayed by this revelation and ask him, with all due concern, when will this happen?

Jesus proceeds to elucidate a number of signs that will occur beforehand, to alert them that the time is drawing near - the signs of the times as we now call them.

Then He continues with this pertinent statement:

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 

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 Noah 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.” (Matthew 24:35-39)

At the time that Jesus spoke these words, the Jewish people had been expecting the coming of their Messiah and the freedom from the oppression that they had been subjected to for quite some time.

Many believed that Jesus was that long awaited Messiah, but even his closest disciples didn't fully grasp the extent and radical nature of the salvation that he came to make available to them.

A misreading of the prophecies concerning his coming into the world along with a general misunderstanding of what he came to free them from, caused many of them, especially the Scribes and Pharisees of that time, to expect an earthly King who would free them from Roman occupation and restore the Kingdom to Israel.

They failed to realize that the prophecies spoke of two comings of the Messiah, one in poverty and humility in which he would suffer for the sins of the world and another in power and glory, at which time he would free them from sin and corruption and death and usher in the unending Kingdom of God.

This ‘Otherworldly’ Kingdom of God was not what they expected and so, by rejecting him, they inadvertently helped to fulfill the prophecy of his first coming.

After his resurrection from the dead and at the time of his ascension into Heaven, the disciples still didn't fully grasp what Jesus had come to do.

He admonishes them to ‘tarry in Jerusalem until they are endued with power from on High’, then they will understand more fully and be able to spread the ‘Good News' throughout the world in preparation for his second and Glorious coming:

“When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?  And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1-11)

In a certain sense, from the moment of His ascension and the proclamation of those two ‘Men in white apparel’, we have been in the ‘Last Times’ and have been expecting His second coming and the end of the world as we know it.

It's been two thousand years now. Some might be tempted to doubt that He will ever come again.

The Apostle Peter addresses this in his second Epistle and brings in once again, Noah and ‘the fire next time’:

“This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

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? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

The Lord is not slack in fulfilling his promise, but long-suffering so that we might have the opportunity to repent before the end comes.

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, that the very elements that make up the world themselves, shall melt with fervent heat, what manner of persons ought we be? How then shall we live? Not merely ‘looking for’ but ‘hastening unto’, or in other words, ‘running towards’ the coming of the day of God.

This world is a convenient framework within which we can ‘work out our salvation’, but it is certainly not our home or our final destination.

We ought to be, not only looking for the signs of the times, but running towards and beginning to enter in now, to a foretaste of the life of the world to come, which the Lord and our faith offers us.

The Apostle continues:

“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”

He brings in Paul and his Epistles, in which, he says, there are some things that are perhaps, ‘hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”

This was true of the Scribes and Pharisees of Peter's time and probably of many newly evangelized Christians at the time also who did not continue in the Apostles doctrine. (Acts 2:42)

It is still true today and will undoubtedly continue to be true for many in the future. It was certainly true for James Baldwin and many of his fellow ‘Christians’ at the time when he was growing up.

Misunderstandings about the scriptures and what the objectives of Christianity actually are, caused Baldwin and many of his contemporaries to reject Christianity as, ‘The White Man's Religion’ and to turn to Islam as a more appropriate religion for a Black Man, (even though, as it turned out, Islam was not a religion of salvation, but a political movement that enslaved them at least as much as the ‘White Man's World’ had.)

The Apostles may have very well expected the end of the world and the second coming of Christ in their lifetime. And certainly, many times throughout the history of the last two thousand years there have been times that things have been so bad locally, that the people of those times thought for sure, that the end must be near.

And today, it certainly seems as if we are on the precepie, poised to fall off the edge on a worldwide scale.

We don't know for sure if this is it! And the end is finally upon us! Therefore, the Apostle Peter finishes with a warning and an admonition for us:

^“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:1-18)

Both, the Apostle and the Lord Himself caution us that, ‘as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be’, in that, as it also says, it will come as a thief in the night, suddenly and unexpectedly for those who are not watching for it and have been preparing themselves for it all along.

But perhaps there is another meaning here, another clue to when these things shall be…

Why exactly did God determine that He had to cause a flood and destroy the creatures that He had made in the first place? Saving Noah and his family only?

“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.” (Genesis 6:5)

‘As a Man thinks in his heart, so he is.’ If every imagination of the thoughts of our heart is only evil continually, then that would be the sum and substance of our lives.

Examining ourselves carefully and looking around at the world at large, without the assistance of ‘ceaseless prayer' and the Grace of God provided for us in the entire Orthodox Christian Way of Life, we may be near to that state once again.

What I do know for sure is that misinterpretations and misrepresentations of the scriptures will continue to abound, people will continue to step away from the truth and the Mystery of Iniquity will continue to run it's course until, “the Man of sin is revealed.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-10)

Nevertheless, there will remain, at least a remnant of the Church, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail, even if it is to be found worshipping only in the Catacombs somewhere…

Whether we are near the end or not, it behooves us to ‘do all three things at once’:

May the Good Lord Bless and Protect each one of us!