Peter mentions the days of Noah in 2Peter 2:3-6 and then again in 2Peter 3:5-7. In the latter, however, he doesn’t speak of Noah per se, but, instead, refers to the world that then was, meaning the world of the ungodly, that was judged and overflowed with water, but Peter first points to Noah in his first epistle, saying he and his family were saved out of that judgment (1Peter 3:20; cf. 2Peter 2:5). The days immediately preceding the Genesis Flood are likened by Jesus to the days immediately preceding his Second Coming (Matthew 24:37), but most folks, today, believe this time is yet future, because, as it pertains to the Flood and the coming of Jesus, no one knew the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36). How accurate is this understanding?
Both Peter and Matthew agree—the coming / day of the Lord would be as a thief in the night (2Peter 3:10; Matthew 24:42-43. Matthew adds that the Lord’s coming would be as the day of Noah, so what were the days of Noah like? First of all, Noah knew judgment would come in his generation or about 120 years (Genesis 6:3), and Peter knew the Day of the Lord would arrive sometime in his generation (Matthew 24:34). This means that both Noah and Peter knew their labor was not for a generation 2000 years away. They labored for those they ministered to, people they knew, saw and could reach out and touch.
Secondly, the righteous knew of the coming judgment; that is, they were forewarned, which means that the judgment / Lord’s coming would not overtake them by surprise. The day may come as a thief for those who didn’t believe, but not for believers who knew the signs (cf. 1Thessalonians 5:1-4; 2Peter 3:10). After some time, Noah and his family were told to get into the ark, because after 7 days the rain would come and the flood would carry the wicked away (Genesis 7:1-4). Similarly, Peter knew the signs the Lord had given him in the Olivet Discourse, and he was able to say, not only that the Lord would return in the generation of his readers (1Peter 1:9-13), but it would be only a little while longer, before the Lord would appear and save them out of their trouble (1Peter 1:5-7). Not only so, but the end of all things had drawn near and the Lord stood ready to judge the living and the dead (1Peter 4:5).
In other words, the days of Noah were filled with signs of the approaching judgment. When the judgment got close enough they knew the day and the hour. Much has been said about Mathew 24:36 (cf. Mark 13:32), believing that no one would ever know the day or the hour of Jesus’ coming, but this is not what Jesus intended his disciples to believe, and his reference to the days of Noah is proof of this. Noah didn’t know the day and the hour when he first began building the ark, but when his labor was finished, the day and the hour was revealed (Genesis 7:1-4). The Apostles knew this, but many modern Bible students simply overlook (or ignore) the evidence.
The signs Jesus gave were wars, false messiahs, famines and pestilences, persecution, and the Gospel being preached throughout the world. All these things were done and continued to exist at the time of the writing of Peter’s epistles. The Lord told him, while they spoke on the Mount of Olives, that when all, not one or two, but all these things were present, then the end would come, not only would Jesus come at any time, but that event would be so close to happening that one could say Jesus was knocking at the door (Mark 13:29), and this is why Peter could say in his first epistle: “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Peter 4:17). This was already occurring in the persecution experienced by Peter’s readers (1Peter 1:6-7; Hebrews 12:26-28). The shaking commenced the establishing of both covenants. The mount quaked as the Lord descended to establish the Old Covenant (Exodus 19:18), and the earth shook, as the Lord returned to the earth in the first century AD to establish the New Covenant. Peter knew Jesus was at the doors (Mark 13:29).
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