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An examination of the Old Testament passages concerning Noah reveals the following essential characteristics: God sends a Messenger who warns the people that they must obey God's covenant to gain eternal life. The people ignore the warnings and are destroyed by the consequences (symbolized by the flood) which are brought on by their own disobedience (Gen. 6:6-7). Those who respond to the Prophet's message (i.e. enter into the ark) are saved. Entering the ark symbolizes entering into agreement with God, which essentially means accepting, and abiding by, God's covenant. Thus, Noah's ark has the same spiritual significance as the ark of the covenant (Deut. 10:8). (148:1) Most commentators connect Jesus' words 'as the days of Noah' to 'the days that were before the flood'. With this emphasis they argue that Jesus' message about the days of Noah is intended to draw a parallel between the time of the end and the sinfulness that brought on the flood. This interpretation is entirely plausible, but it should be noted that the emphasis provided by Jesus is not on any specific sins but on ordinary living: 'they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark' (Matt. 24:38). Jesus says 'marrying', not fornicating and sinning. (148:2) Jesus' warning may include a moral parallel, but the emphasis appears to be in the context of verse 36, which states, 'of that day and hour no one knows'. Thus, the people went on with their lives, failing to heed the warnings of Noah, 'and did not know until the flood came and took them away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be' (Matt. 24:39). (148:3) Jesus' narration suggests that the people will not see the warnings, that while they are going about their personal business, as in the days of Noah, the returned Christ (the Son of Man) will have already led the faithful into the ark of deliverance. Their heedlessness of God's new Revelation will then bring about their inundation with suffering. This description aptly fits the unfolding of the world's response to Baha'u'llah's message, and the consequences which subsequently swept over the world.
(148:4)
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