太二四37~39 挪亚的日子怎样，人子来临也要怎样。因为就如在洪水以前的那些日子，人又吃又喝，又娶又嫁，直到挪亚进方舟的那日，并不知道审判要来，直到洪水来了，把他们全都冲去；人子来临也要这样。

　　该隐因不走神救赎的路，而失去了神和从神来的一切福分，走他自己所选择的死亡之路，必是满了不安全的感觉。他成了一个没有目标，没有满足，没有安息，没有保障，流离飘荡在地上的人。因此他在人类中，就首先开始建造城池以自守（创四17）。他按着他儿子的名，将那城叫作以诺，并未以神的名称呼它，这是人向神独立的一个宣告，也是人无安全感，在神之外寻求保障的明证。他的后裔也就发明了畜牧以养生，音乐以自娱，并利器以自卫（20~22）。这就是失去神和神一切福分的人，在神之外所发明的自守、自养、自娱和自卫的无神文化（真理课程二级卷二，三四页）。

　　Matt. 24:37-39 For just as the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day in which Noah entered into the ark, and they did not know that judgment was coming until the flood came and took all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

　　Because Cain refused to take God’s way of redemption and chose to go the way of death, he lost God and all the blessings that come from God. Consequently, he must have been filled with a sense of insecurity. He became a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, a person who had no goal, no satisfaction, no rest, and no protection. Hence, among the human race, he was the first one to build a city for self-preservation (Gen. 4:17). He named the city Enoch, after the name of his son. The fact that he did not name the city after the name of God was a declaration that man had become independent of God. His descendants invented cattle-raising for making a living, music for amusing themselves, and weapons for self-defense (vv. 20-22). This was a godless culture that was for self-preservation, self-support, self-amusement, and self-defense. It was invented apart from God by the man who lost God and all God’s blessings. (Truth Lessons—Level Two, vol. 2, p. 34)

　　人失去了神和神之于人的一切，就不得不发明一些代替品，好使自己得着保障，可以生存在地上。这是人类文化形成的原因。这种无神文化，就使人放纵情欲，多娶多妻；无法无神，凶杀残暴（创四23~24）。该隐的后代中，有一名叫拉麦者，娶了两个妻子（19），实行一夫多妻制。他为着满足肉体的情欲，首先破坏了神为着人类繁衍所命定的婚姻原则— 一夫一妻（二24）。他且夸口说，他杀了一个壮年人，又害了一个少年人，真是无法无天，狂妄自大。……结果，这文化就使全人类败坏了。人终日

　　所思想的尽都是恶，地上满了他们的强暴，使神后悔造人，心中忧伤，不得不把人类全都毁灭（六5~7、11~13），只留下挪亚一家八口。

　　表面看来，这种无神的文化是不走神的路而失去神的人所发明的；其实，文化的内在因素，乃是神的仇敌撒但在远离神之人里面的煽动和挑唆。撒但那恶者，在人堕落的时候，就将他自己注入到人里面，化身为罪，住在人的肉体里。这就像一粒邪恶的种子，种到人的里面，首先发展为嫉妒，又发展为忿怒、仇恨、凶杀和谎言（四5~9），然后发展为情欲、残暴（19、23），至终把整个人类都败坏了。

　　这种无神而与撒但联结的文化，成了一种典型，代表历代人类所有的文化，表明这些文化都是远离神、无神，跟从撒但，与撒但联结的。无神文化在创世记四章作为种子开始，要在整个人类的历史中发展，直到终极完成于启示录十八章的大巴比伦，其结果也必遭到神清除的审判。神这清除的审判，就是基督再临审判世界。所以主耶稣在马太二十四章三十七至三十九节，把洪水的审判当作祂再临的一个表征。……因此当主再来的时候，也必再次清除整理世界和整个人类（真理课程二级卷二，三五至三七页）。

　　参读：真理课程二级卷二，第十六课。

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　　When man lost God and all that God was to him, he had to invent something for his own protection so that he might exist on the earth. This is the reason that human culture was formed. In such a godless culture man indulged in lusts and took many wives. Moreover, man became lawless, godless, murderous, and violent (Gen. 4:23-24). Among Cain’s descendants, there was one named Lamech, who married two wives (v. 19), thus practicing polygamy. In order to fulfill the lusts of his flesh, Lamech was the first to break the principle of marriage ordained by God for human propagation, that is, the principle of one wife for one husband (2:24). He also boasted that he had slain a man and had killed a young man. Thus, he was truly lawless and arrogant…. Consequently, such a culture caused the whole human race to be corrupted. Because every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually, and because the earth was filled with man’s violence, God repented that He had made man and was grieved in His heart. Thus, He had to destroy the human race completely (6:5-7, 11-13), preserving only Noah’s family of eight.

　　Apparently, such a culture without God was invented by the man who refused to go God’s way and thereby lost God. Actually, its intrinsic factor was the instigation and incitement of Satan, God’s enemy, within the man who departed from God. At the time of man’s fall, Satan, the evil one, injected himself into man and embodied himself in sin to dwell in man’s flesh. This was like an evil seed that was sown into man. This seed developed first into jealousy, then into anger, hatred, murder, and lies (4:5-9), and then into lusts and violence (vv. 19, 23). Eventually, it destroyed the entire human race.

　　Such a culture, which was without God and was united with Satan, became a model representing all human cultures throughout the ages and signifying that these cultures have departed from God and are without God, and that they have followed Satan and are united with Satan. The godless culture began as a seed in Genesis 4, and it will develop throughout the history of the entire human race until it consummates in Babylon the Great in Revelation 18, which also will be cleared away by God’s judgment. This clearing away by God’s judgment is Christ’s judgment of the world at His coming back. Therefore, in Matthew 24:37-39 the Lord Jesus considered the judgment of the flood as a prefigure of His coming…. When the Lord comes back, He will again clear up and put in order the world and the entire human race. (Truth Lessons—Level Two, vol. 2, pp. 34-36)

　　Further Reading: Truth Lessons—Level Two, vol. 2, lsn. 16