April 23, 2023: 2 Peter 3:5-6 - They Willingly are Ignorant

“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…” - 2 Peter 3:5-6

Jesus Himself spoke of the times of Noah, when God sent the flood to destroy everything on earth except for eight people because of its wickedness. The world at that time was going about its normal, wicked ways, ignoring God and doing as their lustful desires led them, not fearing any judgment of God upon them. There is coming a time when our wicked world will also see God’s judgment:

“And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” (Jesus Christ; Luke 17:26-27)

What was the world like in the days of Noah? The Bible tells us that the “sons of God” had sexual intercourse with human women, and produced a race of giants called the “Nephilim,” also referred to as “fallen or mighty ones.” The Bible does not specifically state who were the “sons of God” but giants did exist both before and after the flood that God sent. (See Genesis 6:1-4 and Numbers 13:30-33) It is interesting to note that prior to this happening, humans lived a very long time. Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather, was the longest living human and lived 969 years. Noah lived 950 years. But when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, God said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh: yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:3) Something happened after the flood that caused humans to live much shorter lives.

“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’” (Genesis 6:5-7)

We know it must have taken Noah a very long time to build the ark for him and his family. People must have asked him what was he building and why. Perhaps he would have told them that God was going to send a flood to destroy the earth and that they could escape His judgment by going with Noah and his family in the ark when the time came to board it. In our world today, people are growing increasingly wicked as they turn against God and embrace evil. In America, Satanism is on the rise. It’s in the entertainment industry, in after-school clubs, Satanic prayers are opening city council meetings, it’s on full display in opening ceremonies for sports and other events, and its upcoming 2023 national conference in Boston Massachusetts was sold six weeks in advance (see: https://endoftheamericandream.com/satan-has-become-one-of-the-hottest-spiritual-figures-in-america/). Is it any wonder then that we see the USA collapsing before our very eyes?

Most in our world today are willingly ignorant of God’s word. What does it mean to be “willingly” ignorant of God’s word? Dictionary.com defines “willingly” as “In a consenting and often cheerful way.” To be “ignorant” is defined as Lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned.” Thus, in a consenting and often cheerful way, most in the world lack in knowledge or training of God’s word, the Bible. They know of it. They know it exists, but they choose not to read it, not to believe in what it says. Like the people in Noah’s days must have thought, they don’t believe that God’s judgment will come, and they continue in their depravity, growing further and further away from God, with some believing that they can be like God and that they don’t need him. Like Nimrod, who is described in the Bible as a
”mighty hunter before the LORD,” whose desire was to build a tower that reached the heavens so that they “could make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth,” (Genesis 11:4) so do men today build high towers in order to bring glory to themselves instead of God. Like in the days of Nimrod when all the people in the world spoke one language, today we have technology that quickly translates languages so that they can be understood by those who do not speak it. This universalism, or globalism, is being pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and other global agencies in opposition to nationalism or independent sovereign rule by countries. This type of thinking was the same type that Nimrod had in mind as he was building the tower of Babel. The Bible tells us what God did to disrupt Nimrod’s plans:

“But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel [confusion], because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” (Genesis 11:5-9)

God will let us only go so far in our wicked ways in which we seek to be like Him but reject Him, just as He did in the days of Noah and just as He did with the tower of Babel. I believe we are living in very dark days, when people are playing God and wholeheartedly rejecting Him and His Son’s free gift of salvation and mocking and scoffing at those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation. At some point, and I believe that time is rapidly approaching, that He will have had enough, and His judgment upon the earth will begin. We will be in the days that the Bible spoke of long ago, the days of the tribulation period upon the earth, a time like no other, nor ever will be.

If you are not saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, I pray that you accept His free gift of salvation today, before it’s too late. I pray that unlike the people in the days of Noah, that you will get on the ark of salvation, and will be spared from God’s wrath that is soon to come. 🙏🏻✝️