Opening Question
Can God affect human events without violating our freedom of choice?

Introduction
In this study, the author examines stories from the Old Testament that in one way or another foreshadow, typify, or parallel some final events of the New Testament. The concept here is called typology. Essentially, typology is when an Old Testament historical person(s), place, event, or institution somehow prefigures Christ or last-day events. Many Old Testament stories find a parallel in Jesus Christ, such as the near-sacrifice of Isaac, and God’s substitution of a ram for the firstborn. 

An important question that may not find an easy answer is if God’s intrusion into human events to guide them removes their freedom of choice. All relationships with others affect or guide our own decisions because nothing we do or say is ever done in a vacuum. But this does not of necessity remove the ability to choose. God’s relationship with people need not affect choice, either, though it might/can influence events. 

According to several inspired New Testament authors, significant world events will alter our world in the last days, and many of these events are foreshadowed by Old Testament experiences especially judgment-type incidents. 

The 6^th Seal Experience
Read Revelation 6. In verses 12-17 (the sixth seal), the wicked believe that cataclysmic events indicate that the day of God’s wrath and the wrath of the lamb have come. While it’s possible that they are mistakenly blaming God for the destruction and tumult under this seal, the simpler reading takes their evaluation as an honest assessment of the situation. They believe that divine anger has come to them. We read in Hosea 10:8 that Israel was predicted to suffer for their idolatry when God judged them and tore down their altars, and the same language is used here, suggesting that those crying out are those involved in false worship. 

Will these people fear the judgement of God because they were ignorant of Him? Would a good god destroy people due to their true ignorance? 

Noah’s Flood Example for Jesus
Read Matthew 24:36-42. In Matthew 24, Jesus refers to Noah’s flood as a foreshadowing of world conditions just before His return. Verse 37 says “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.” The most common interpretation of the days of Noah draws from Genesis 6:5, 11-12 where people were described as completely wicked and corrupt, as does the author of the quarterly. And while this may be the case at the end of time just preceding the 2^nd Coming, Jesus in Matthew 24 uses Genesis differently; He refers to the flood story to show the unknowable timing of the event, and how people were caught off guard and unaware, yet were really without excuse. Their lives continued as they always had. Consider that verse 37 is found in the broader context, including the “inclusio” verses 36 and 42. The last verses of Matthew 24 are entirely focused on preparation for His return. 

In what way did Jesus argue Noah’s flood provides a last-day analogy? What lesson does it leave us? How can we “be ready” for His return unlike those of Noah’s day?

The Flood as Foreshadow
1 Peter 3:11-17 describes the flood as an event that parallels Christian baptism, a cleansing of earth from its pollution by sin. Thus, the flood is not just a historical event, but also a foreshadow of personal salvation—both justification, a clearing of past wrongs, but also of daily transformation by the power of Christ’s resurrection. 

Peter references the flood again 2 Peter 3, but this time the absolute historicity of the flood is analogous to the last-day scoffers wondering about the 2^nd Coming. Read through 2 Peter 3:1-14. 

In what ways does Peter describe the flood that is similar to Jesus in Matthew 24? How is the flood a parallel of last-day events while also being different? 

According to Peter, what are the moral implications of the flood for us today? What kind of lives should we live as we look for Christ to return, and the transformation of everything we know?

Sodom and Gomorrah
Just as the flood and God’s cleansing of Israel’s idolatry find New Testament fulfilling, so also does the judgement and destruction of the cities of the plain. When reading through Genesis 18-19, we find the cities to be well-situated, prosperous, and living with every luxury. This gave rise to indecency and lewd behavior. And while some in modern culture only find problematic the “abuse of power” inherent in the behavior of the city residents in regard to the divine messengers, Ezekiel 16 adds that they were also committing abominations before God, a reference in this case to the sexual sins listed in Leviticus that included same-sex intercourse. 

Peter and Jude both refer to Sodom and Gomorrah as examples of God’s judgment in the last days. 

What conditions today mirror those of Sodom and Gomorrah? Were the people of Sodom ignorant of their course and destiny? To what degree were Lot and Abraham missionaries, or should they have been? 

Closing Comments
Sadly, much of the last-day judgement ideas in the New Testament come from the Old. The repetition of history must break God’s heart, yet He is so patient! At some point He will bring an end to the cycle of patience—disobedience—judgment—restoration. A final judgment and restoration is yet ahead of us.