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| | From:  EJM_Missouri (Original Message) | Sent: 8/2/2008 12:33 AM |
| EJM’s Personal Commentary on the Bible
GENESIS
by EJM_Missouri In any attempt to understand the Bible there are two absolutes that must be held firm. First - The Bible is Truth.
John 17:17 "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. Second - The Bible (all of it) is a revealing or revelation of Jesus.
John 5:39 "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. These two principles are fundamental to all right Bible study. | | DARKNESS AND LIGHT Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created . . . God is eternal, self-existent, the “cause�?of all else. All that exists, apart from God Himself, exists only because of God. And this is a fundamental truth that we all need to know and understand. We exist by the will of God. All we are, all we have, all we ever hope to be, is or will be only because “God created.�? And here is the solution to a mystery that has troubled many. We know that God is light and truth, the source of all that is right and good. Scripture declares: 1 John 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. And yet we also find statements like the following in Scripture: Isaiah 45:7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things. And here, if we look closely enough, we see a picture of Jesus. It is true that “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.�?All that God created was good, even very good. Genesis 1:31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. . . . And we are told: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." (James 1:17) All that is dark and evil in our world is the result of sin, the result of a perverted twisting by men and devils of the “good�?things that God created. Yet there could have been no twisting and perverting of a “good�?creation if God had never made that “good�?creation. There would never have been sin if God had not created intelligent beings with the “good�?gift of a free-will. And in view of the fact that if God had never “created�?there could have never been any perversion of that “creation�?then God takes upon Himself the responsibility for the existence of darkness and evil. God could have existed in a splendid eternal isolation. God could have created a physical universe with no intelligent beings. God could have created beings that were little more than puppets. But God did not do any of those things. God is Love, and this love is not so much “something�?He does as it is what He is. God IS Love, and all that God creates will reflect that love. Love requires the existence of choice. Love requires the existence of a free-will. So God created a universe populated with intelligent beings capable of freely of their own will loving Him, or not, as they so chose. Time and again all through the Bible you come across instances where God takes upon Himself the responsibility for the evil that has come into this world. That God would do such a thing is a mystery that many people cannot comprehend, nevertheless it is so. Here is prefigured the ministry of Jesus as our sin bearer, for Jesus Himself is the God of the Old Testament. 1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh. Jesus is our sin bearer. He freely took our sins on himself. - He freely took the blame, if you will, for our actions. Jesus is the "lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Revelation 13:8). The sacrificial system that was instituted after the fall of man pointed to Jesus as the One who would take the blame and bear the penalty for our sins. The word of God to Adam and Eve was that on the day they ate of the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" they would die. That they did not die that day is because as soon as sin entered this world, Jesus (Almighty God) stepped forward to take the blame, to bear that sin. However this does not translate into universal salvation as some would have it. Because all that exists, apart from God Himself, exists only because “God created,�?God accepts the blame for darkness and evil on a broad generic level. However, because we are creatures of free-will, this does not automatically translated to personal salvation. Because we are creatures of free-will, we must of our own free-will accept Jesus into our lives as our personal sin-bearing savior. We must of our own free-will give ourselves to Him. Only then will Jesus also take the “blame�?for our own personal sins. In the Bible we don’t see God in His royal splendor on the throne of the universe, but God in his work clothes wading through the muck and mire of this world, working to save the lost. It is dirty work, but He is willing to do that dirty work even at the risk of being misrepresented and misunderstood by the very people He is trying to save. “Why Lord, Why?�?is the question, and the accusation, that has been voiced by millions through the ages, and God allows His reputation to be stained as He accepts the blame and takes to Himself the sins of the world. Isaiah 53:4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed. John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! | To be continued. |
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| “I MYSELF�?/FONT> Genesis 6:17 "And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. "And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth.�?/FONT> Here God is declaring in no uncertain terms that what is about to happen is no act of nature, no natural phenomenon. He is saying to future generations that while they may study to understand ‘what�?happened, when it come to the ‘cause�? He Himself is the cause. But more than that, God is taking upon Himself personal responsibility for the flood that He is bringing on the earth. The Bible tells us of God that “He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.�?(Lamentations 3:33). Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, . . . What goes through the mind of God when He brings judgment? The Bible gives us some remarkable insights. Lets consider the case of a much lesser judgment, when God was about to give up the northern kingdom of Israel to the Assyrians. Israel insisted on going her own way. God worked long and hard to save them, but at last He had no choice but to let Israel suffer the consequences of their choices - just as other nations had had to - just as in these last days the entire world will have to. The thought of doing so pained Him. You can hear His anguish in these words. Hosea 11:7 My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, None at all exalt Him. 8 "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. What then His anguish over the destruction of an entire world? But finally God “gave up�?Israel to the Assyrians. Hosea 4:17 "Ephraim is joined to idols, Let him alone. How sad these words. What can be more awful than having God just give up on you? And things are not really so very different today. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the time of the end. Isaiah 58: 1 "Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. Ezekiel 33:11 "Say to them: 'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?' Prophet after prophet appealed to Israel - but they preached to the wind. Likewise, ever since the days of Enoch God had been sounding warning after warning to a rebellious world. Enoch, Methuselah, Noah - They cried aloud, they spared not, they lifted up their voices like trumpets - but the world would not hear. 2 Chronicles 36:15 And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy. When God “gives up�?a person or nation (or a world) it is not so much that God has separated Himself from them -- It is they who have separated themselves from Him. Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. For nearly a thousand years, beginning with Enoch God preached to the antediluvian world, and I believe we can safely assume that the message for that day, (just as the gospel message will for our day), reached the entire world. Why does God seem to wait so long at times to bring judgment? Why doesn’t God just doesn’t get it over with - destroy the wicked, redeem the righteous and end the suffering, heartache, misery and sorrow of this sin sick world? The Bible gives us the answer: 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But beware lest you take God’s longsuffering as license for sin. | |
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| COVENANT Genesis 6:18 "But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark-you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. When God said to Noah, “I will establish MY covenant with you,�?He was not speaking of “a�?covenant but of “THE�?covenant. THE covenant first spoken to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15) and secured so to speak with a promissory note at the garden’s gate when the blood of sacrifice was shed (representative of Christ, the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world) so that Adam and Eve could be clothed in robes of skin (symbolic of Christ’s robe of righteousness). THE covenant that God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ fully ratified in His own blood on the cross. The word is “berith�?which is derived from “bar�?which means to purify or cleanse. And in all covenants, a sacrifice was offered for the removal of offences, and the reconciliation of God to the sinner. Hence “berith�?carries not only the meaning of a contractual agreement or covenant, but that of a cleansing sacrifice as well. This covenant promise was passed down from generation to generation -- Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob . . . . Leviticus 26:42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land. The apostle Paul speaking of this covenant writes: Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ. And the reference to the “seed�?goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, to Genesis 3:15 where God said: Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." And Jesus Himself is that promised “Seed.�?He is that covenant, that cleansing and reconciling sacrifice, that “Seed�?that would bruise Satan‘s head. And indeed, that very word, “berith,�?is used in prophetic reference to Jesus. Isaiah 42:6 "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant [berith] to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, 7 To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. Isaiah 49:7 Thus says the LORD, The Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, To Him whom man despises, To Him whom the nation abhors, To the Servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise, Princes also shall worship, Because of the LORD who is faithful, The Holy One of Israel; And He has chosen You." 8 Thus says the LORD: "In an acceptable time I have heard You, And in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You As a covenant [berith] to the people, To restore the earth, To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages; 9 That You may say to the prisoners, 'Go forth,' To those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.' "They shall feed along the roads, And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights. Jesus is given to us as both a covenant and a cleansing sacrifice. It is as we come to Jesus and receive His sacrifice as our own that we, entering into a covenant relationship with him, find renewal and eternal life. Peter refers to this cleansing, relating the flood with baptism, the one being the antitype of the other. 1 Peter 3:20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us--baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, By baptism we in effect enter into a covenant relationship with God, publicly dedicating our lives to His service. By baptism we profess that the old man has died and we are symbolically buried with Jesus and raised up to a new life in Christ. Romans 6:3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Hence in baptism we partake in this same covenant. We become heirs of salvation through Christ. As it was in Noah’s day so it will also be in our own day. Only those who have entered into a covenant relationship with God will be saved. Only they will be delivered from the destruction that is coming on the world. And also, as it was in Noah’s day, the saved will be relatively few compared to the billions who inhabit the earth. | |
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| TWO BY TWO Genesis 6:19 "And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 "Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 "And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them." 22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did. Two by two the animals were to come into the ark. While chapter 7 notes a few exceptions to that rule, most animals would be represented on the ark by a single male and female pair. A question that is often asked is how could all the different types of animals fit on the ark? The general assumption behind that question is that Noah was to take every variety of every animal that existed. But that is not what the text says. Noah was to take on the ark, birds, animals, and creeping things according to their ‘kind�? Take for example sea gulls. There are many varieties, many species of sea gulls all over the earth, and yet they are each and every one of them sea gulls. Noah would not have had to take a pair of every species of sea gull on the ark, but a single pair of sea gulls representative of the sea gull kind. And that pair, after the flood, would then diversify into all the different varieties of sea gulls we have today. And however many species they may diversify into, a sea gull is a sea gull is a sea gull. There is no evidence that one kind of animal can evolve into another kind of animal. They can only change ‘within�?their own kinds. Hence, however varied they may be, dogs will always be dogs, and cats will always be cats. You may have big dogs and little dogs, tall dogs and long skinny dogs, etc., but the bottom line is that they will always be dogs. And so it is with all the original genesis types. Darwin saw many varieties of finches on the Galapagos islands and thought he saw evidence of evolution, and yet they were still every one of them still finches. They had diversified within their ‘finch�?kind, but not one of them ‘evolved�?into a non-finch type of bird. They all still remain firmly within their finch kind. And so there would have been room enough on the ark, and room to spare for a pair of all the basic genesis kinds to be on the ark. There was no need to bring a pair of every type of horse on the ark, only a single pair of the genesis original. No need for every type of cat in the world, only a single pair of the genesis original. No need for every type of squirrel in the world, only a single pair of the genesis original. And so with all the creatures. Another question that is often asked is, “How could Noah have collected all the different types of animals from all over the world?�?The short answer is that the task of collecting all the different animals and getting them to the ark wasn’t any of Noah’s business. If you look at the last part of verse 20 it says: “two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.�?In other words, God was going to get the animals to Noah. Noah’s job was to have the ark ready for them when they arrived. This has a direct tie in with the last verse of chapter 6. Genesis 6:22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did. What’s the point you ask? Noah did what God commanded “him�?to do. God command Noah to build an ark, and gave him 120 years to do it, and Noah did it. God did not command Noah to search the far corners of the earth for all the various animals that would be on the ark. That was God’s job and by faith Noah left that job to God. Noah did not try to do what God had not commanded him to do. This is where many people get in trouble in their spiritual life. Instead of doing what God had commanded them to do, they try to do someone else’s job. Or worse yet, try to do what God had said that He Himself would do. And that is a recipe for failure. It’s like a hand trying to do the job of the eye, or a foot trying to do the job of the ear. 1 Corinthians 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. As Christians we all have our place in the body. We each have our appointed tasks to do. But when we try to do the tasks that have been appointed to others, or the works that God Himself has promised to do for us, the results is failure. We, like Noah, must learn to do as the Lord has commanded “us.�?Not as the Lord has commanded someone else. Not as the Lord has said “HE�?would do. And these verses also bring up yet another question that is often asked. “How could Noah store enough food in the ark for all the animals?�?Again, if you read the text closely you will discover that that also was not Noah’s job. What exactly did God ask Noah to do? Genesis 6:22 "And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them." Note that God did not tell Noah to gather a years supply of all the food that all the animals would need on their voyage. God told Noah to gather to himself “of all food that is eaten�?/FONT> but God did not specify how much Noah was to gather. In fact, there is no indication at this point that Noah even had a clue as to how long the flood was going to last. Not knowing how long the flood would last or how much food would be needed, most likely what Noah did was to gather up what would be considered a daily ration of all the various food stuff that would be needed on the voyage. Then Noah trusted God to make that to be enough. Like the little bit of oil and one hand full of flour of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:12-16). Like the one jar of oil in the home of the prophet’s widow (2 Kings 4:1-7). Like the offering of first fruits brought to Elisha (2 Kings 4:42-44). Like the five loaves and two fishes by which Jesus fed thousands (Matthew 14:16-21), the food Noah gathered would prove to be sufficient, even much more than sufficient. And with every serving coming fresh from the Creator’s hands, that food would be as fresh at the end of the voyage as it was at it’s beginning. And so, once again: Genesis 6:22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did. | |
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| ALL ABOARD Genesis 7:1 Then the LORD said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. 2 "You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 3 "also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep their seed alive on the face of all the earth. 4 "For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made." The day had finally come. After 120 years of building, after 120 years of preparation, after 120 years of preaching, the command had come to board the ark. The day of probation for the antediluvian world had ended. As the wicked went heedlessly on their way little did they know that their last chance at salvation had slipped away, never again to return. The last sermon had been preached, the last call to repentance given. Now the voice of God to the wicked was silenced. “Seven more days�?/FONT> the Lord had said. This, by Jewish tradition, would have been the day that Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather died, for Jewish traditions says that Methuselah died seven days before the flood. For the entirety of his long life, Methuselah was a testimony to the world of their coming destruction. Methuselah was the son of Enoch, the antediluvian Elijah. Roughly translated his name meant, “When he dies it will come.�?Now Methuselah was dead. And by the Lord’s own words, the flood was already on its way. “Seven more days�?/FONT> the Lord had said. It is possible that Lamech, Noah’s father, also died at this same time at a mere 777 years of age. Just as it was not for Moses to cross over the Jordan into the promised land, it was not for Methuselah or Lamech to pass over to the other side of the flood. God laid them both to rest in the grave before the flood came, to await to glorious resurrection morning. And so it will also be in these last days. Before Jesus comes again, before the awful terrors of the great and terrible day of the Lord comes, many will be laid to rest, to await the resurrection. Others however, will be called upon to endure the “storm,�?to, like Noah, ride it out to the end and bear living witness to the coming of the Lord. "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man�?(Luke 17:26). Joel 2:11 The LORD gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it? Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near; It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out. 15 That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, . . . 17 "I will bring distress upon men, And they shall walk like blind men, Because they have sinned against the LORD; Their blood shall be poured out like dust, And their flesh like refuse." 18 Neither their silver nor their gold Shall be able to deliver them In the day of the LORD'S wrath; But the whole land shall be devoured By the fire of His jealousy, For He will make speedy riddance Of all those who dwell in the land. And when that day come, the wicked will cry out: "The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved!" (Jeremiah 8:20). That is why the Bible says time and again, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.�?(2 Corinthians 6:2). If you wait, you may wake up one day and discover to your horror that you have waited too long. God is patient, long suffering, not willing that any should be lost, but the day will come when even God’s patience is exhausted and His longsuffering at an end. For the antediluvians their day of grace had ended. To them the decree had gone out, as it will soon do so for this world: "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.�?(Revelation 22:11-12). It is not possible to emphasize strongly enough the importance of being ready NOW!!! TODAY!!! Tomorrow may be forever too late. Genesis 7:5 And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. 7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. And so, all that day the animals God had gathered from all parts of the world began to make their way into the ark. What a spectacle it must have been to those who witnessed it. By two’s and by seven’s they entered the ark under the guidance of God, every animal going to its appointed place. Sometime during the course of this busy day, Noah and family probably attended to the sad business of saying farewell to Methuselah. Then last of all, they themselves boarded the ark. | |
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| THE END IS COME Genesis 7:10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark- 14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in. Seven days. These seven days allowed Noah and family time to settle in and adjust to life on the ark before the storm hit. These seven days allowed them time to settle into the daily routine of caring for the many animals in their charge before the storm hit. Using the Hebrew calendar, their first full day on the ark would have been on the 10th day of the month of Tisri, which corresponds with the latter half of September and the first half of October by our calendar. It was not until the time of the Exodus that the beginning of the year was shifted by six months to begin in the spring of the year. (Exodus 12:2) Thus by our reckoning it would have been near the end of September when Noah and family boarded the ark. And very early October when the rains began. However it would be a mistake to assume that the seasons of the antediluvian world corresponded to the seasons we have today. All indication is that they experienced a mild climate year around. Jesus tells us that the wicked of Noah’s day did not have a clue about what was happening until the flood actually came and swept them away. Such is the blindness of the wicked. Matthew 24:37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. They had heard Noah’s preaching. They saw the animals coming from all over the earth entering the ark. They saw the angel close the door of the ark. The signs of the times were all around them, yet though they saw it all, they were blind to it all. God will blind the eyes, darken the understanding, of those who reject Him, all the while allowing them to believe that they are the very essence of wisdom. To those who by their lives have long been crying out to God to cease from before them - God gives them what they want - He steps out of their lives and lets them live in their carnal blindness, all the while believing themselves to be wise. To those who love spiritual blindness - God says, "Very well, let it be as you wish. Be blind." Isaiah 6:9 And He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' 10 "Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed." But know this, all who are so blinded will be held fully responsible for all that they could have known and understood had they sought God with all their heart. God will not allow them to use this blindness as a excuse in the judgment because this is a blindness that they willfully chose for themselves. And this strange blindness of the wicked is something that is seen in all ages. It was especially manifested in the days of Christ. As Jesus hung on the cross, the religious leaders mocked him - but in their blindness they did not realize that every move they made, even the very words coming out of their mouth had been scripted in prophecy centuries beforehand. Now these religious leaders could quote the Scriptures to you forward and backwards. But for all their professed knowledge of the Scriptures they were blind to what it said. They were following the script to the letter, and yet for all their vast knowledge of the Scriptures, they were utterly blind to it all. And so it is in these last days. The wicked are literally following to the letter the script written out for them in Prophecy. The signs of the times are manifesting themselves in plain sight all around them, and yet just as the antediluvians were, just as the religious leaders in Christ’s day were - they are utterly blind to it all. But that blindness is a blindness of their own making. It is a blindness of their own choice. God had merely given them what they have always wanted. And just as it was in Noah’s day, so it is today. The wicked will not know anything is amiss, won’t have a clue, until they are swept away by the coming storm of God’s wrath. Matthew 24:37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Romans 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, . . . 24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, . . . 26 [and] God gave them up to vile passions. . . . 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, ("and [they] did not know until the [storm] came and took them all away�?Matthew 24:39) Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Yes a storm is coming the likes of which this world has yet to see. A day of deliverance to the righteous, but a day of absolute terror and destruction to the wicked. Read and be warned!!! Ezekiel 7:2 ". . . thus says the Lord GOD . . . 'An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. 3 Now the end has come upon you, And I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways, And I will repay you for all your abominations. 4 My eye will not spare you, Nor will I have pity; But I will repay your ways, And your abominations will be in your midst; Then you shall know that I am the LORD!' 5 "Thus says the Lord GOD: 'A disaster, a singular disaster; Behold, it has come! 6 An end has come, The end has come; It has dawned for you; Behold, it has come! 7 Doom has come to you, you who dwell in the land; The time has come, A day of trouble is near, And not of rejoicing in the mountains. 8 Now upon you I will soon pour out My fury, And spend My anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, And I will repay you for all your abominations. 9 'My eye will not spare, Nor will I have pity; I will repay you according to your ways, And your abominations will be in your midst. Then you shall know that I am the LORD who strikes. 10 'Behold, the day! Behold, it has come! Doom has gone out; The rod has blossomed, Pride has budded. 11 Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness; None of them shall remain, None of their multitude, None of them; Nor shall there be wailing for them. . . . . . 17 Every hand will be feeble, And every knee will be as weak as water. 18 They will also be girded with sackcloth; Horror will cover them; Shame will be on every face, Baldness on all their heads. 19 'They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the LORD; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity. . . . . . .25 Destruction comes; They will seek peace, but there shall be none. 26 Disaster will come upon disaster, And rumor will be upon rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; But the law will perish from the priest, And counsel from the elders. | |
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| SEVEN DAYS
The Countdown Begins Genesis 7:10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. Once Noah and family entered the ark, seven days remained to the antediluvian world. (Genesis 7:4). What were those 7 days to the rest of the world? We can imagine. Seven
The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming - you could not have asked for a more picture perfect day. All around the ark people are beginning to gather to see the spectacle. Yes they plan on having a grand time at Noah’s expense. Six
The new day dawns bright and clear. Yet another picture perfect day. A gentle breeze made waves in the grassy meadows. The bees busily gather the nectar from the flowers. And the party outside the ark is just getting started. Five
Yet another picture perfect day, altogether glorious. The crowds are really beginning to grow now as more people come to join the party. Vendors are doing a brisk business selling “I survived Noah’s flood�?t-shirts. Bookies are busy taking bet on how long the deluded old fool will remain in the ark. Yes, it was a good time for all. Four
Another day dawns, another perfect day. Clear sky, bright sun, the birds singing their songs, the frogs chirping in the streams and ponds. And the wicked oblivious to any danger continue their party. Who ever thought a deluded old prophet could provide so much entertainment. Being on a lunar calendar, either this or the next night would have been a full moon. And boy oh boy, did they ever have a howling good time. “Hey Noah! Come on out. You are missing the party.�? Three
The next day as the sun once again rose on yet another picture perfect day, the partiers were all strung out and hung-over from the last night’s bash. Two
The sixth day dawns, and the party begins to wind up again as the partyer’s recover from the previous night’s wild full-moon bash. One
The seventh day. Another picture perfect day. Yet little do the antediluvians realize that this is the last day. The birds are still singing, the flowers are still blooming, the butterflies are still flitting, the bees are still buzzing . . . . . - - - - "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:37. 2 Peter 3:3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 1 Thessalonians 5:2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. The seventh day comes to a close. All hell breaks lose, and the party’s over. 1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Romans 15:4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. | |
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| THE FLOOD BEGINS Genesis 7:10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. The unbelief of the world will not delay by a single moment the judgment of God. Long disbelieved by the antediluvian world, its very possibility denied, the flood came nonetheless. And so it will also be in these last days. The very idea of Christ’s return and of the judgment to come is most vehemently denied by many. Yet like the antediluvians before them, they too will discover that that which they have so long denied, that which they have so long disbelieved, will come. The storm came with unimaginable fury. Nobody doubted anymore. Nobody mocked anymore. But it was forever too late. Their eternal destiny was already decided. Imagine if you will dozens of super-hurricanes sweeping the globe. Not piddley little category 5’s mind you, but categories 7’s, 8’s, and 9’s. Super-storms big enough to engulf entire continents, screaming across the landscape with unabated fury for a full forty days. And then consider that that may well have been the very least of your problems. “On that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up.�?There is some debate among creationist as to just exactly what these fountains of the great deep were, but one idea that has been put forth, (which the Hebrew allows) and which I agree with, is that this refers to the ocean basins themselves. It is thought that on one hand the continents were depressed downward, and this depression of the continents was accompanied by a simultaneous raising of the antediluvian ocean floors on the other hand. There are mountains all across the Pacific now hundreds of feet below the surface whose tops have been sheared off flat by the action of surface waves. When you raise the sea bed enough to bring those mountain tops to the surface, the water above them is going to have to go somewhere. Surge after surge of super-tsunamis, tsunamis so big that the Christmas tsunami that hit southeast Asia would scarcely register as a ripple on its surface, would have scoured the land clean of everything, down to bedrock and beyond. At the Cambrian/Pre-Cambrian boundary there is a global erosional unconformity so huge that it is estimated that the amount of material eroded at that level exceeds that calculated to have been eroded in all the rest of the geologic column combined. It is so exceptional that it has even been given the name “the Great Unconformity.�?By conventional geologic time scales, nearly a billion years worth of sedimentation is missing, just gone, eroded away by an erosional event that dwarfs anything else that has ever happened in the history of the planet. The Pre-Cambrian rock was scoured down to and deeply into the granitic basement rock that make up the foundations of the continents, and few places on earth escaped this scouring. All around the world, lying directly on top of this Great Unconformity are the basal conglomerates and breccias, and sandstones, consisting of large rocks, and coarse sandstones that consist of little more than crushed rock. In other words, rubble that represents the last phase of erosion before deposition began. These are very high energy deposits, and they are global in extent, transcontinental in extent, and no known geologic process currently operating on earth can even begin to create their like. Genesis 7:17 Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. The water increased . . . prevailed . . . greatly increased . . . prevailed exceedingly . . . and the mountain were covered Many people think of the flood as a somewhat simple, placid process, something like filling up a bathtub and then draining it again. But the flood was a very much more violent process. The picture Genesis paints is one of surge after surge of flood waters covering the earth. The waters would surge across the landscape in a super-tsunami, appear to retreat for a time, only to be followed by an even stronger surge, until in the course of time (it took about five months altogether) all the earth was flooded, the highest mountain tops on the planet covered by at least 22 to 23 feet of water. Genesis 7:21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. Once all the earth was covered, once the last of the earth mountain peaks were submerged, the last refuge for man and beast was gone, and in the course of time, even the strongest swimmers were overcome, and all that lived on dry land died. This should stand as a warning to all those who deny that God would ever destroy the wicked. YES!!! God is love. But love without judgment and justice is little more than a weak sentimentality that quickly degenerates into the anything goes permissiveness that is so prevalent in our modern society - such is a false counterfeit love that is wholly alien to God. Agape love (God’s love) however is a perfect blend, not only of grace and mercy, but also of justice and judgment. Genesis 7:24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days. If the flood began as the Bible says on the 17th day of the first month, (early October by our calendar) this would place the final submergence of the highest mountain peaks on earth in early March by our calendar. | |
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| WHEN GOD REMEMBERS Genesis 8:1 Then God remembered . . . . Did God forget? No! Not at all. But this is a common phrase the bible uses whenever, because of divine intervention, a turning point (either for blessing, deliverance or judgment) has been reached. This turning point may involve a single individual or entire nations. In Genesis 19:29 God’s remembering resulted in the deliverance of Lot. For Abraham’s sake God sent His angels into Sodom to for all practical purposes literally drag Lot, his wife and two of his daughters out of that city before He destroyed it. Genesis 19:29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt. In Genesis 30:22 God’s remembering resulted in Rachel finally at last having a child. Genesis 30:22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb In Exodus 2:24 God’s remembering resulted in the deliverance of God’s people from their Egyptian bondage. Exodus 2:24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And moving on to the New Testament, in Acts 10:31 God’s remembering resulted in the conversion of Cornelius and his entire family - the first gentile believers to be baptized into the Christian church. Acts 10:31 "and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. These are but a few of the many examples found in the Bible. When God remembers, things happen. Again, it is not that God ever forgot, but simply that now God’s intervention, His divine providence, has reached a level that we mere mortals can perceive. And so it is written: Genesis 8:1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. For the past five months the flood waters had risen continuously, and although the torrential rain that marked the beginning of the flood had abated somewhat after the first 40 days, the rain had, till now, never really stopped. And so far as we know from Scripture, Noah still had no idea how long this ordeal was going to last. It was truly a test of patience. What a relief it must have been to Noah and family when after five long months the rain stopped. Finally at long last there was a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, some sign that the flood was not going to last forever. Psalm 27:14 Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD! There is a lesson of patience for us in this story. God works on His own schedule, not ours. We look for instant gratification. We want what we want and we want it yesterday. But God is working for bigger purposes. He is working for eternity. We don’t like to wait. We especially don’t like to wait through five full months of non-stop rain with never a break in the clouds, never a hint that the rain is ever going to end, never a hint that the sun will ever shine bright once again. But it is necessary to wait for God‘s purpose to manifest itself. And the waiting time is not wasted time. It is during these times of waiting that some of the most profound spiritual growth takes place in our lives. When the sun is shining bright in your life and all is going well little faith is needed. It is easy to shout hallelujah on the mountain top. It is when the clouds blot out the sun, and the rain falls in your life with no end in sight that faith is stretched to the limit. And it is only as faith is stretched that it grows. If you have ever been tempted to think that God has forgotten you, think again. God has not forgotten you. Never for a moment has He ceased watching over you. Isaiah 49:13 Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, And will have mercy on His afflicted. 14 But [you] said, "The LORD has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me." 15 "Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. 16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; . . . . He has “inscribed you on the palms of [His] hands.�?Literally. The nail scars on Jesus�?hands bear your name. Those scars testify of the depth of His love for you. You are not forgotten! And so, because we are inscribed on the hands of God, when the rains come in our lives we can know that in due time the sun also shine in our lives once again. When we are overwhelmed by the floods of life, we can patiently wait, knowing that in due time the flood will recede. | |
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| THE OLIVE LEAF Genesis 8:4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. After five months of clouds and rain the flood began to recede. But the waters went down ever so slowly at first. Another month and a half passed before the ark grounded somewhere among the Ararat mountains, and yet another two and a half months after that before the waters receded enough for the tops of those mountains to be seen. Here is yet another lesson in patience. Even when our circumstances begin to turn it may still take quite some time for God’s design to fully manifest itself. It may take some time before we can discern that a real change for the better is taking place. In the mean time we must continue to live by faith. This lesson in patience is especially applicable to these end times. Twice in Revelation when the prophecy depicts God’s faithful people being under intense attack by the enemy, they are called on to be patient, to endure - knowing that in due time their deliverance will come. It had been a long voyage and you can bet that there was rejoicing in the ark when at long last they felt it come to ground on that mountain top. This was truly a mountain-top experience for Noah and family. And isn’t it true that often our greatest spiritual highs come just after our deepest spiritual lows. It is when, after faith has been stretched to the limit, and after waiting so very long we see the first glimmers of the divine hand in action that we have our greatest rejoicing. People often think of Ararat as being a single mountain, and they picture Noah’s ark coming to rest on a mountain called Ararat. But that is not the case. The Scripture here speaks of the “mountains�?of Ararat - and they speak rightly for Ararat is not so much a single mountain as it is a mountain range. But the Bible does not tell us exactly which one of mountain peaks in that range that the ark finally came to rest on. Genesis8:6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. Have you ever had a case of cabin-fever? Well if anything could give it to you it would be being cooped up in an ark for the better part of a year. The ark had come to rest somewhere among the Ararat mountains. The higher ground was beginning to come clear of the flood waters. And Noah was anxious to check on how things were progressing. And so, using the resources he had at hand, Noah sent out a raven and a dove. The raven kept flitting back and forth using the ark as a home base. The dove took one look and headed back home to the ark. There just wasn’t anyplace to go yet. Genesis 8:10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore. Seven days pass and Noah once again sends the dove out. Like before, the dove returns to the ark, but this time it brings “a freshly plucked olive leaf�?/FONT> back with it. That freshly plucked olive leaf speaks volumes about what God had been doing as the waters receded. To me the text seems to imply that the “freshly plucked�?/FONT> leaf was plucked from a mature living tree. If true, that would in turn imply that as the waters receded, God had been systematically covering the newly exposed land with vegetation. Here we see once again the goodness of God. This also follows the pattern set in the original creation week. At creation, on the third day of the Creation week, before God created the various animals that would populate the world, He first created the vegetation that would provide for their various needs: food, shelter etc. In Psalms it says of God: Psalm 145:15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season. 16 You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. God so ordered creation that not one of His creatures had to wait a day for the comforts of life. All the they could need, all that they could desire was prepared ready and waiting for them beforehand - even for the very least of His creatures. And so it would be when Noah and family and their animal passengers finally were allowed to leave the ark. They would, when they finally exited the ark, find a world already prepared to receive them. But they still had a little time to wait yet before it would be time for them to exit the ark. | |
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| A NEW BEGINNING Genesis 8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives 17 "Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. Noah and family had entered the ark on the 10th day of the month of Tisri, which corresponds with the latter half of September and the first half of October by our calendar. They finally exited the ark fully a year and seventeen days later. And with what anticipation did they exit that ark. The world they had known was gone. The earth was in effect a whole new creation. It was a new world. Nothing they had known remained. Everything was changed beyond all recognition. When God at long last gave Noah and family and all the animals with them the green light to exit the ark, He said, regarding all the occupants of the ark, human and animal, that they should “abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.�?/FONT> This is further indication that when Noah and company exited the ark they stepped into a world ready to receive them -- for all that they could need to abound and multiply was ready and waiting for them. From there, the various animal types would have dispersed to the far corners of the earth. How did they get to all the different places? Just as it was God’s business to get the animals to the ark in the first place, God would have seen to their dispersal around the world. Genesis 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Noah’s first act once they had exited the ark was to build an altar and give offering to God of every clean animal and bird they had. Remember, by God’s direction seven of every clean animal and bird was taken on the ark. Offering one of each kind would leave only six of each - a very small number. Noah could have reasoned that with so few surely he could put off offering sacrifices for a while. But Noah put God first, and in doing so suffered no loss. Remember Jesus feeding the multitudes with only a few loaves and fishes? From a worldly point of view, Jesus�?act was foolishness. He had hardly enough to for Himself and his disciples to have a small snack, and here He was planning to feed thousands with it! But notice what Jesus did. He took the bread and the fish and gave thanks to God and then distributed the bread and fish to his disciples who in turn distributed it to the waiting thousands, and when all was said and done, and all had eaten their fill, there was an abundance left over. When we put our all in God’s hands, it is never a loss. Noah understood this. Noah understood where to put his priorities - and that was not with the few animals brought with him on the ark, but with God. When we get our priorities straight we will not fret about how little we have but revel in how much God has. Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Noah knew to seek God first, and by this set a right example for all future generations - and example they would have been wise to follow. If people had only followed Noah’s example there would have been far less transgression of the 10th commandment in this world. Covetousness is at the root of all evil. Thus the Scriptures can say that the love of money is the root of all evil - for the love of money is at its root nothing more than raw covetousness. 1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. In a sense, covetousness was at the root of Adam and Eve’s sin. They desired something that was not theirs to have. And because they coveted that which God said they should not have, they, as 1 Timothy 6:10 said, “erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.�?/FONT> By giving from his meager stock Noah demonstrated a giving spirit - which is the opposite of covetousness. The covetous grasp at all they can get. For them too much is never enough. But God’s people are to demonstrate to the world an opposite character. They are to be cheerful givers, believing that what the Scriptures say is true, that: Acts 20:35 . . . It is more blessed to give than to receive. Knowing that they can never out give God. Yes, it was a good start to life in this new world, but, as the next passage reveals, things would soon start going down hill on this side of the flood as it did on the other side of the flood. Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. 22 "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease." This is a very important passage. Remember back in Genesis 6:5 when God first informed Noah that He was going to send a flood on the earth - at that time God made this observation on the character of man: Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually This was then, and still is, the true description of the basic nature of fallen man - and it destroys any idea that man can possibly by his own effort make himself better. The flood changed nothing in this regard. Just as man’s heart was before the flood, so it still was after the flood. “The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.�?B> And neither Noah or any of his family were exceptions to the rule. If there was any goodness in any of them, it was all of God - not of themselves. Of this the apostle Paul wrote, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwell.�?(Romans 7:18). If there is to be anything good in us it must come from outside of us. We need a power from above working from within. And so that is why Paul also wrote, Galatians 2:20 . . . . I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Christ in us - that is the only way, our only hope. But when Christ is rejected, His Spirit is withdrawn and he gives them up to their own unholy passions. Man is left to go his own way - and that way is always down to ever greater depths of depravity. If you want real change in your life the only place you will find it is in Jesus. You can change and shake up the externals of your life all you want; move to a new address, get a different job, get a new wife or husband, buy a new car, new clothes, etc., but without the inside-out working of the Holy Spirit nothing has really changed. Unless you get a new you, the old you just keeps hanging around. That’s why Jesus offers us a new birth. He wants to give us a new beginning, to make us new creations in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [creation]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. For Noah and family, when they walked out of that ark - it was a new beginning. For them, as far as this physical world was concerned, “all things [had] become new.�?But for all the “newness�?of the world, they still had within them the same old carnal hearts that they had on the other side of the flood. Only as they individually gave themselves to God would their own hearts be made new. And the same was true for all of their descendants -- only as each of them individually gave themselves to God would their hearts be made new in Christ. We can be lost with the multitudes, but salvation is an individual matter. Our salvation is a matter of a one to One relationship with God. You can change everything around you, but unless your heart is changed, nothing is changed. Will you give yourself to God today? Allow Him to perform a divine heart transplant. Ezekiel 36:26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. That is God’s promise -- But the choice is yours. | |
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| BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY Genesis 9:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. For the second time since the flood ended God says to Noah and family “Be fruitful and multiply.�?The first time God spoke it, the blessing included not only Noah and family but also all the animals that were with them on the ark. Now God speaks directly concerning Noah and family. This blessing echoes the blessing first given to Adam and Eve after their creation. (Genesis 1:28). But there are some notable differences - mainly in the way of omissions. In the Genesis 1:28 blessing, Adam and Eve were also told to subdue the earth and have dominion over all the animals of the earth. Genesis 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." As I noted in my commentary on Genesis 1:28, when God created mankind in His image He gave them a position of authority over the earth itself and over all that He had made on the earth (A reflection of God’s own authority over all creation). When God created mankind, He gave them a purpose, a reason for being. Themselves being subject to God, they were to rule the earth as His stewards. Although the earth and all of its resources were theirs to freely use, this dominion was not to take the form of a ruthless exploitation of the earth or its creatures. They were to tend to and to look after the well being of all the lesser creatures of God’s creation. Their dominion, their subduing of the earth was to be positive and creative, (in the image of a loving Creator God), not destructive in nature. All the earth was in perfect harmony. The relationship between man and animal was one of mutual cooperation. But sin now had broken that cooperative relationship. And as God’s next words would show, the relationship between man and animal would now be exploitative, adversarial and predatory. Genesis 9:2 "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. The original Eden diet was a well rounded vegetarian diet. This was the ideal diet for man. And studies have shown that such a diet tends to promote good health and long life. But God now give His permission for man to eat animals in addition to the “green herbs�?/FONT> of the Edenic diet. This concession on God’s part is an expression of God’s permissive will. God’s perfect will was that all His creatures would live in peace and harmony. - a harmony that will be fully restored when the earth is made new. Isaiah 65:17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: . . . 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD. Isaiah 11:6 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. But that perfect harmony which once was, and which will once again be, is currently broken by sin. And sin will in the course of time destroy all relationships. The flood did not change the fundamental nature of fallen man. Speaking of the basic character of fallen man, God said in Genesis 8:21, “the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth�? Right now you may be asking; Does God make concessions to the wickedness of man? The Bible is clear that He does. Perhaps the clearest and most definitive case of God’s permissive will in the Bible is that of divorce. Matthew 19:3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?" 4 And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' 5 "and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 6 "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." 7 They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" 8 He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. Note especially verses 7 & 8. Why did God give permission for divorce? Was it because God approved of divorce? No, but as a concession to the hardness of their (our) hearts. Scripture makes it quite clear that God hates divorce. Malachi 2:16 "For the LORD God of Israel says That He hates divorce . . . Just because God permits something, and even gives rules and regulations on how to do that thing, does not automatically mean that He approves of it. And so it also is with the use of animals for food. Such is not God’s perfect will, but something He permits simply because we fallen humans have bigger and more pressing issues that need to be dealt with first. As in the case of divorce, so also with the eating of animals for food, God could rightly say “but from the beginning it was not so.�?(Matthew 19:8). | |
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| LIFE BLOOD Genesis 9:4 "But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. This is a universal prohibition for all mankind - as all mankind was represented in Noah and family. God gave man the permission to eat the flesh of animals, but the blood of these animals was to be forever off limits. Even down to and through the Christian era, the eating of blood was to be strictly prohibited. Acts 15:19 "Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, 20 "but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. . . . 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. Why? What was it about the blood that puts it off limits to all. In Leviticus we find an answer to that question. Leviticus 17:10 'And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. 11 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.' “For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.�?/FONT> All death in this world, including the death of Jesus, is the result of sin. Blood is shed, even Christ’s blood was shed, because man sinned. The blood stands in type and symbol for the blood of Christ - the blood by which we are cleansed from all unrighteousness. Not only does the blood of these animals declare the guilt of man, but also the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. “No blood was eaten under the law, because it pointed out the blood that was to be shed for the sin of the world; and under the Gospel it should not be eaten, because it should ever be considered as representing the blood which has been shed for the remission of sins.�?Adam Clark And so the blood of animals is set forth as a perpetual reminder, not only of man’s guilt but also of the blood shed by Christ for man’s redemption. Whenever the blood of an animal is spilled onto the ground it is a reminder that death exists in this world because of man’s sin. Whenever the blood of an animal is spilled onto the ground it is a reminder that our sins cost Jesus His life, that because of our sins His blood was also spilled onto the ground that we may be redeemed. “For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul | |
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| BLOODSHED Genesis 9:5 "Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. 6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. When Cain murdered Abel his brother, God did not at that time impose the death penalty, but instead God put a mark on Cain and sentenced him to a life in exile. Because murder was a new thing in the world, Cain would become a living object lesson. Through Cain and his descendants God would let humanity see just how evil a thing a disregard for human life really is. The result was a world where life was cheap, a world filled with violence. God now imposes the death penalty for murder. This is the first time God has committed the execution of such a harsh penalty to man - the most extreme punishment man is capable of delivering. By this God shows just how serious in His sight the murder of another is. But there is something else here too. God is not saying “if�?but “when�?it happens. Blood will be shed. As has already been shown, the flood did nothing to change the fundamental character of fallen man. And in the course of time, the world would once again be filled with violence, life would once again be cheap. The implementation of the death penalty would often be grossly abused, nevertheless, God in His wisdom knew what He was doing. The imposition of this penalty, however imperfectly, would serve to some degree as a restraint on the wicked, and serve to help keep civil order in society, at least for a time. | |
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| BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY
TAKE 3 Genesis 9:7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it." For the third time since Noah and family disembarked from the ark God says to them, “be fruitful and multiply.�?/FONT> First in Genesis 8:16-17, then in Genesis 9:1 and now once again here in Genesis 9:7 this word is given. Having already dealt with this twice, we will now take a somewhat more personal and spiritual look at this word, which is both a command and a promise. As has already been noted, Noah’s experience with the flood has been likened to baptism. Peter, relating the flood to baptism, clearly says that the one is the antitype of the other. 1 Peter 3:20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us--baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, And consequently, to every one of us, when we come up out of the waters of baptism, receive from God the commission to “go forth and multiply, and fill the earth.�?/FONT> As Christians were are to multiply and fill the earth. In the words of Jesus we are to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.�?(Matthew 28:19). The gospel is to go “to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people�?(Revelation 4:6). We are to bear much fruit. That is the purpose of the Church’s existence. But not just any fruit will do. Yes, we are to multiply and fill the earth, yet at the same time it is not about “numbers.�?Now, that is not to say that there is anything wrong with numbers. God intended for the church to grow. The apostolic church grew at a phenomenal rate. And how did they get that phenomenal growth? They stayed on message. They refused to compromise the gospel in order to make it more presentable to the world. The apostolic church grew at a phenomenal rate not by their own power but by the power of God. Acts 2:47 . . . And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. In Isaiah God says to us: Isaiah 54:2 "Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes. 3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left, . . . Yet sadly, these days many churches have become so enchanted with the prospect of getting the “numbers,�?of “enlarging their tent,�?that they have become willing to compromise the gospel to do it. Some once vibrant churches have bought into the idea that in order to reach the world they must become like the world. That if somehow if they lower their standards and make the gospel more worldly then that will make it easier for the worldly to make the transition into their churches. The result of this experiment are dead and dying churches littering the Christian landscape. Many of the big mainstream churches fall into this category. They did not become the big mainstream churches by being spiritually dead. But now many of them are stagnating and even shriveling up. They have lost the power. Others in seeking “numbers�?have replaced the gospel with a lot of noise, and excitement which they call the moving of the Holy Spirit. And yes, many times they get the “numbers.�?But one must question if it is the Lord who is adding them to those churches. And yet, God still has people who refuse to compromise the gospel, people who still stay on message. He still works in His church. And He is still adding “to the church daily those who were being saved.�?(Acts 2:47). And God’s word to “multiply and fill the earth�?/FONT> is still finding its fulfillment in the Christian world. | |
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| RAINBOW COVENANT Genesis 9:8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 "And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10 "and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 "Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12 And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 "I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 "It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 "and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 "The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 17 And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth." It is generally believed that in the Antediluvian world it did not rain, or that at least it was a very rare event. This comes from the creation account where it is noted that the earth was watered by a mist coming up out of the ground. Genesis 2:5 . . . For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. In other words the world was created with some kind of automatic sprinkler system. And since rainbows are produced by the refraction of light passing through raindrops, in a world with no rain there would have been no rainbows. Now after the flood Noah and family were about to discover that things were going to work a little differently than what they were used to. Now the earth would be watered, not by a mist, but by rain, and Noah and family would soon discover that this rain would fall quite frequently. Having just passed through a global flood this repeating pattern of rain might have become a cause of concern for them. When will it end? How bad will it be? Is this going to be another flood? To allay any fears Noah and family might have, God now makes the Rainbow Covenant with them. Yes, God says, rain clouds will appear in the sky again, and yes, it will rain again . . . and again -- but never again will there be a flood such as the one you just went through, and never again will all living things on land be destroyed by a flood. And as a visible sign to Noah and family and their descendants after them, God now points to the rainbow as His personal signature to this promise. Now this Rainbow Covenant was not a promise that there would never again be a flood. There has been many floods since. It only promised that there would never again be a global flood destroying all life on earth. Nor was the Rainbow covenant a promise that God would never again destroy all life on earth - only that He would not destroy the earth by a flood of water. The next time, scripture tells us, the earth will be destroyed by fire. 2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. And this brings us another point. The Rainbow is not just a promise that there would never again be a global flood. It is also God’s reminder to the world that there really was a global flood. A reminder to the world that God really does bring judgment on the earth. A reminder to the world that the God who destroyed the earth with a flood of water will again destroy the earth by fire. A reminder to the world that just as the unbelief of the Antediluvians did not delay by a single day the coming of the flood, even so, the unbelief of the world today will not delay by a single day the coming of the Lord. 2 Peter 3:3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. And so, in a manner of speaking, every rainbow is to us, and to the world at large, a promise of judgment to come and of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. | |
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