The record given in Gen. 6:, 7: and 8: is full of instruction. We will draw

attention to one point more, namely, the mark of time:--

1.

Noah's age ­ 600 years (Gen. 7: 6).

2.

Forty days and nights the rain was upon the earth (Gen. 6: 12).

3.

The Ark rested on the seventh month (Gen. 8: 4).

And on the 17th day of the month (Gen. 8: 4).

4.

5.

The removal of the cover of the Ark was in the six hundred and FIRST year,

in the FIRST month, the FIRST day of the month (Gen. 8: 13).

The 600 years of Noah's life seem to indicate the end of man, six being the number of

man. It is considered by many that the age of the world up to the coming again of Christ

will be 6,000 years. The forty days and nights refer to a period of judgment and testing.

The resting of the ark on the seventh month typifies the Millennium, the thousand years,

the "rest" (sabbatismos) that remaineth unto the people of God. The 17th of the seventh

month is the 17th of Nisan, three days after Passover, bringing us to the typical day of

resurrection. The threefold emphasis on the word first in connection with the drying of

the ground is very suggestive.

Not only shall the character of the times be similar, but the character of the people

shall be the same, "For as in the days that were before the flood . . . . ." There we find

men going about their affairs with absolute disregard of the warnings of Noah or the

building of the ark. So we find that Scripture tells us that in the days that are coming men

will be in the field, women at the mill; one shall be taken and the other left. Many

expositors read this passage as though it teaches that the one taken is taken away for

judgment, and the one left is left for blessing. A superficial connection is also seen

between the "taking away" by the flood, and being "taken" by the invisible hand of God.

This is not the meaning, however. Those taken are taken into the ark of the parousia,

those left are left to the storms of tribulation.

The word used of the taking away by the flood is the same used of the depriving of his

talent of the unprofitable servant (Matt. 25: 29). The other word, "one shall be taken,"

means to take to one's self as a companion, and indicates the conferring of a favour.

When the Lord selected Peter, James and John to view the transfiguration (Matt. 17: 1),

and to see the raising of Jairus'daughter (Mark 5: 37), or to witness the agony in

Gethsemane (Matt. 26: 37), He used this word "to take" in each case. Further, the point

seems definitely settled by John 14: 3, where the Lord says, "I will receive you unto

myself" (same word). Hence, in Matt. 24: one shall be received by the Lord, the other

left. To be left is a term of judgment. "Let them alone" was said of the blind guides

(Matt. 15: 14); "left" as a desolate house (23: 38); "forsook" as did the disciples

(26: 56); and, in conjunction with "to take," compare John 14: 3 with 14: 18, "I

will receive," "I will not leave you comfortless." The obvious conclusion is that those

not taken will be left comfortless.

Rev. 12: brings before us in vision and symbol the same teaching as Matt. 24: 40,

and when we deal with this passage in our papers on the Revelation we shall be able to