We see in Matthew 24 a short description of the condition of society prior to the return of Christ:

Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:38 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,
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

This passage from Matthew 24 only provides part of the picture...for more information we must look back at Genesis 6...just prior to the flood to clarify what is in view:

Gen 6:1 Now it came about,when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,
Gen 6:2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.
Gen 6:3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
Gen 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Gen 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Gen 6:6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Gen 6:7 The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."
Gen 6:8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Gen 6:9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.
Gen 6:10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Gen 6:11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.
Gen 6:12 God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
Gen 6:13 Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.

Between these two passages we can contruct a pretty good image of the life and times of Noah and then compare them to today.

First, we see in Matthew 24:38 that the people of the earth were "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage" and doing so to a degree that they missed everything around them and didn't realize it until the "flood came". This is not to say that to eat, drink and marry is a bad thing...but like everything else, overindulgence is. When you view the severity of just the passage in Matthew and how it's constructed, the context is set pretty clearly...the focus was on earthly pleasures...overeating, getting drunk, getting married (again and again). Self gratification would be the word...and since we know you can't serve two masters, it becomes clear that they were serving their own desires and not those of God.

Now, am I justified in saying that? I believe so when you place Gen 6 along side to see the life and times of Noah. Genesis 6:5 says that the "wickedness of man was great on the earth" and that "every intent of the thoughts of his heart was on evil continually". If the people in Noah's day were following God and placing Him first, should we understand the terms "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage" in the sanest terms? Yes, but were they? And how should we understand the context of those terms? It's quite simple, if the people were placing God first, and not overindulging in those areas, would God say their "heart was on evil continually"? I daresay not. Obviously, this must be to an extreme degree on all accounts. Because their hearts were on evil, they were corrupting all that was good for the sake of self-gratification. More on this in a bit.

What else do we learn from Genesis 6? We learn that the earth was "corrupt in the sight of God" and "filled with violence".

So just prior to Noah entering the ark, we have a people totally corrupted with self-indulgence, self-gratification, focused on earthly pleasures and violence filling the world. But wait....there's one more part...

Genesis 6:12 says that the earth "was corrupt" and that "all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth". When you tie all those together we have a pretty complete picture of what Christ was referring to. "Their way" was corrupt...what does that mean?

H1870
derek
BDB Definition:
1) way, road, distance, journey, manner
1a) road, way, path
1b) journey
1c) direction
1d) manner, habit, way
1e) of course of life (figuratively)
1f) of moral character (figuratively)
Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H1869
Same Word by TWOT Number: 453a

Basically, their lives were consumed in sin...lack of moral character, on the wide path to destruction, all sorts of bad habits...no matter how you view the Hebrew term, the meaning is clear.

The meaning is that before the Son of Man comes the world will be corrupt again, consumed with self-indulgence and concerns of the flesh, their focus will be on earthly pleasures instead of God, the world will be filled with violence...all to the point that they will miss the signs of His return all the way up until He does. Revelation confirms this as well.

Francis Schaeffer terms modern society as a "post-Christian" society and the main traits are "personal peace" and "affluence". Reflect on those terms..."personal peace"...what makes one feel good...."affluence"....riches, material gain. I could provide many examples but let's take one or two...in the 1950's divorce was scandalous, very "hush-hush" and the divorce rates were almost non-existance. God was still a big part of society then...but it would all change. What are divorce rates like today? 50-60% of all marriages fail...why..."personal peace" and/or "affluence". Marriage takes work, more work than some are willing to commit to. Commitment and discipline in all matters, personal, physical, financial are called for...but many will divorce because it adversely affects how they think they should live.

One could compare many of the varying statistics from today to 10-20-30 years ago (never mind going further back as today would be even more abysmal) and see a definite decline in public morality as a whole, whether it be marriage, divorce, teen pregnancy, murders (degree of violence) and so on. The more technologically advanced we get, the more secularized we become the more animalistic our society becomes.

As for violence filling the earth...need I really discuss it? There have been more wars and limited scope conflicts in the last 100-150 years than in the last 1000. There has not been one day of complete peace with no war or conflict in a REALLLLY LONG TIME.

All that being said, where does that leave us? I believe it leaves us standing on the brink of eternity. As society declines we see today becoming more like the description of the "days of Noah"...are we there yet? Only the Father knows...are we getting closer? I truly believe so, and I also believe it will get worse. But I also know that Christ is coming, and when He does...it's going to be a glorious day!! MARANATHA!!