Did God warn the people in Noah’s day of the flood by sending a comet?

Question:

When God was getting ready to destroy the earth with a flood, did He send a comet to warn the people? I found this information in a tract from ____________ Ministries, the Hale-Bopp Comet.

Answer:

The Bible does not tell us of any warning like that before the flood. It was a time of great prosperity before the flood. Matthew 24:37-39 says, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

It was a time of EATING, DRINKING, MARRYING, and GIVING IN MARRIAGE. It was a TIME OF PLENTY, and a TIME OF MAKING PLANS. That does not sound like people were too afraid of judgment falling at all. The Bible says they, “knew not until the flood came, and took them all away.” That sounds a lot like America. It is a day of prosperity, and people are making all of their big plans for their lives. But judgment may fall at any moment.

The only warning that we know of the people of Noah’s day received, was the PREACHING OF GOD’S WORD. II Peter 2:4,5 says, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved NOAH THE EIGHTH PERSON, A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.”

Just like in Noah’s day, most people scoff at preachers of righteousness. They go right on their sinful ways, and think nothing of repenting from their sin. Despite that, we must be faithful to warn them anyway, because one day, judgment is going to fall. Matthew 24:42-44 warns us, “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”