GENESIS 7 – 9
THE
FLOOD
Go to Facebook
or
Tweet
@strangework to interact.
Home
_________________________________________________________________
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. 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; also seven each of
birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of
all the earth. 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. Genesis
7:1-4
7:1-4
The Lord told Noah,
Come into the ark. As we have already noted, in the midst of
judgment God always makes a place of refuge for those who are his own. As you
have it in the following scriptures:
...you turned to
God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from
heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus
who delivers us from the wrath to come.
I Thessalonians 1:9b-10
But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by his
blood,we shall be saved from wrath
through him. Romans 5:8-9
The nature and timing of God’s approaching judgments, in relation to our day,
can be a bit complex. So, just let me briefly summarize them for you.
First, the
Rapture of the Church
will occur (when Christ will
literally extract all true believers from off the earth and take them to their
new home in Heaven).
After that
world-altering event, there will come seven years of wrath called
The Tribulation. The last three
and a half years of that period is called
The Great Tribulation. It will consist of a series of intense judgments from
God, the like of which the world has never before seen.
The climax of
the Great Tribulation will be Christ’s literal return to Earth to rule and reign
here for a thousand years. That is called
The Millennium.
After that
one thousand years, the fiery destruction of the entire universe will take
place. I will not comment further here concerning these time periods
and judgments. A detailed discussion of them can be found in my commentary on
Revelation.
Coming back to our text, the question arises …
How did Noah know which animals were clean
and which were unclean? The answer is,
He didn’t. Not until all the animals came to the ark for loading. Those who
arrived in groups of seven pairs were the clean ones and those who came in
single pairs were the unclean. Also, notice that all of the birds came into the
ark in groups of seven pairs each. In the “for what it’s worth” department, the
book of Exodus lists the clean animals that God designated under the Law.
_________________________________________________________________
And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him.
Noah was six hundred years old when the
floodwaters were on the earth. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his
sons' wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of clean
animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on
the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God
had commanded Noah. And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the
flood were on the earth. Genesis 7:5-10
7:5-10
Back in verse 4, God said …
after seven more days I will cause it to
rain on the earth forty days and forty nights. Here, in the 10th verse,
we read that is exactly what happened. The Flood didn’t begin after six days,
nor did it wait until the eighth day, it came exactly seven days later, just as
God said that it would. I mention this to emphasize that God’s word is always
true and precise and is always carried out to the letter. What God says God
means. His word is his bond. Everything God has ever said has come to pass, or
will yet come to pass, exactly as he has said. As Jesus put it in John 17:17 …
Thy
word is truth. The detailed and precise fulfillments of hundreds of
prophecies in the Bible are more than adequate proof, by the way, that the Bible
is the Word of God and that God always means and does what he says.
_________________________________________________________________
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. And the
rain was on the earth forty days and
forty nights. Genesis 7:11-12
7:11-12
The first thing to note here is that we are reading history. We are given the
exact day when the Flood began. From our previous discussion of the age of the
earth, you will remember that it occurred around 2520 BC (Gen.11:10).
Now, just a few hours of extremely heavy rain can have disastrous consequences.
I was in south Texas once when we received eight inches of rain in a single day.
It turned the whole area into one giant lake. Only the roads, which were
elevated two or three feet above the surrounding farmland, remained above water.
It was an eerie sight. Driving down the highway felt like you were driving
across a lake! Here, in Genesis 7, we are told that, not only did flooding rain
come, but it came simultaneously over the entire face of the earth and, also, in
conjunction with the opening up of all the fountains of the great
deep. I believe that is a reference to unprecedented volcanic activity
that occurred at that time ... on a scale never seen before nor since in Earth's
history.
I recently watched a PBS special on volcanic phenomena. It made the point that,
in Earth's past history, there have been outpourings of magma that far exceeded
mere volcanism. Some were so extensive that the magma covered literally hundreds
of square miles and even large portions of entire continents. They stated that
the only explanation for this was that the earth's crust must have fractured, resulting in outpourings of
magma on an unimaginably gigantic scale. I believe that this is exactly what is
referred to here by this expression ...
all the fountains of the great deep were
broken up.
The fracturing of the earth's crust resulted in massive changes in topography
and, no doubt, significantly raised the level of the seas that existed on Earth
at that time. The evidence of these massive extrusions of magma from the earth's
core can be seen almost everywhere on earth where one travels today. And, there
has been no observable repetition of it in the modern era. This great judgment
by water from above … combined with
the great fountains of the deep
being broken up from below … brought swift and devastating annihilation of all
animal and human life on earth. Furthermore, it continued, non-stop, for
forty days and forty nights. For nine hundred sixty consecutive hours,
the entire surface of Earth was pounded with torrential rain accompanied by
massive outpourings of magma from the earth's core. The utter devastation that
resulted can only be imagined. As the Apostle Peter put it,
The earth that then was perished.
The wording here, clearly speaks to the fact that the Genesis Flood was a
universal one and not the small local flood that many would like to have us
believe.
_________________________________________________________________
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; 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. And
they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the
breath of life. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as
God had commanded him;and the LORD shut
him in. Genesis 7:13-16
Again, please be reminded that all the creatures came to Noah of their own
accord and then entered the ark simply because their Creator was directing them
to do so. Noah didn’t have to gather them up. All he had to do was have an ark
ready to receive them. There are many questions and objections to the details
that are given here in Scripture of this unprecedented event. I will not attempt
to answer them all. Usually, a careful reading of the text dispels most of these
objections, as they are simply based on wrong assumptions.
For example, some would object that most of the animals were dangerous to humans
and to each other and therefore such a gathering of them all together in one
place would be highly dangerous and inevitably result in chaos and death.
However, the Bible states that all the creatures of this ancient world were tame
and friendly to man at that time. This is brought out in the
Noahic Covenant (9:2). Also, we have
already been told that all the creatures of this ancient world were vegetarians
(2:29-30). There were no carnivores. As I recall, evolutionists make a big deal
about the fact that lions have stomachs similar to that of a cow, proving that
they once ate grass and that they evolved. I agree. Nevertheless, they were
always lions.
Finally, notice that it was the Lord who
shut the door of the ark. For Noah, his family, and the creatures aboard the
ark … when that door rumbled shut ... it meant safety, security and refuge. For
all who were left outside, however, it meant certain and irreversible doom.
May I chase a rabbit here for a moment? There always comes a point in time when
it becomes too late for a lost, Bible denying and unbelieving sinner to be
saved. The door clicks shut to them. There comes a time when it is too late to
repent ... too late to come to Christ ... too late to do anything but perish.
For some, that irreversible moment may come years before their actual physical
death when they hard-heartedly blaspheme the Holy Spirit who, for so long, has
so patiently and lovingly been pleading with them. It is that certain point in
time when they say to him a final and emphatic, "NO, I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU!"
… which is, in effect, calling God a liar. In my opinion, that emphatic
and total rejection of the Holy Spirit's pleading is inevitably followed by the
solemn click of a forever shut door. This is what Jesus was referred to in
Matthew 12:31,
when he said,
Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the
blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word
against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but
whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in
this age or in the age to come.
The unforgivable sin is unbelief … the
stubborn and adamant refusal of the truth. The Bible says
today is the day of
salvation (Hebrews 4:7). No one knows if they will have a tomorrow. When God
closed the door of the ark … it meant total safety of those within … but it
meant destruction for those who were without. For a hundred and twenty years,
God had been calling out to men and women, through his Holy Spirit and through
Noah’s preaching (II Peter 2:5), but all turned a deaf ear. Then, one ominous,
dark and cloudy day, the door of the ark was shut by the hand of God and the
long-suffering of God had come to an end. Jesus said,
I am the door.
If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find
pasture. John 10:9
When Jesus uttered those words, it wouldn't surprise me if his mind went back to
the day when he shut the door of the ark, 2550 years before. Jesus, God’s Door,
is open for you and me today, friend. Have you entered in? Come to him. In
prayer, ask him to save you. He is the ark of God's safety for all who will
enter in. Get on board before it’s too late. As you have it in the book of
Romans,
For 'whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.' Romans 10:13
_________________________________________________________________
Now the flood was on the earth forty days.
The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and
the ark moved about on the surface of the
waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth,and all the high
hills under the whole heaven were covered.
The waters prevailed fifteen cubits
upward, and the mountains were covered. 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. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was
on the dry land, died. 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. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty
days. Genesis 7:17-24
7:17-24
For the second time here, we are told that the flood of waters persisted for
forty days and forty nights. It was devastating. The word,
prevailed, means that the waters continually increased, minute by
minute, higher and higher. For the ark, however, this was not a problem.
Designed and preserved by God, it had not been made to go anywhere. It was
simply a huge barge. All it needed to do was float. And, float it did … drifting
about on the surface of the waters.
By the way, I believe the earth’s topography, in Noah’s day, was very different
from what it is in our day. There is a great deal of evidence that Noah's world
was a low, hilly, lush paradise.
And, that the high mountain ranges we see today are the results of the Flood.
They did not exist in the previous world. This would answer to the often brought
objection that, There couldn’t have been
enough water to cover Mount Everest! Nevertheless, if Mount Everest did
exist in Noah’s day, you can rest assured that it was no problem for God to put
it under water. Our text says that, at the peak of the Flood (verse 22),
the highest hill, or mountain, on Earth
was twenty-two and a half feet under
water and all that was on the dry land, died. Many of the water creatures,
of course, survived.
_________________________________________________________________
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.
The fountains of the deep and the windows
of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And
the waters receded continually from the earth.
At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.
Genesis 8:1-3
8:1-3
It is significant to me that God was not just concerned about Noah. Notice that
he was also concerned about all life that had survived the flood as well as the
animals inside the ark.
Proverbs 12:10 says,
A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the
wicked are cruel.
God is a righteous God. He cares about his creatures.
Psalm 84:1-3, says,
How lovely is your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints
for the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home, and
the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young; even your altars, O
LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
Jesus said,
Are not two
sparrows sold for a copper coin? And
not one of them falls to the ground apart
from your Father's will. Matthew 10:29
The fact that so many animals perished in the Flood should not detract from
these truths. No doubt, God had a higher purpose for the removal of all the land
creatures of that first world than just the preservation of their short lives. I
believe that one of his purposes had to do with the dinosaurs. God wanted all
those fossils created so man could observe them in the ages to come and be
accountable for how he analyzed and interpreted them. The question is …would the
paleontologists and geologists believe God’s Word concerning the massive
evidence set before them from that previous world that God destroyed? Or ...
would they foolishly make up some other stubborn and completely unscientific
explanation? I guess we know the answer to that. However, the time will come
when God's Word will be completely vindicated and its history be undeniable.
Now, concerning the different time periods during the Flood, we are given the
figure of 150 days, during which the waters completely covered the earth. Adding
to that is the initial 40 days of rain and subterranean emissions … bringing the
total to 190 days. Then, we are given an additional 150 days during which the
waters subsided from off the earth. This brings the total number of days of the
entire Flood event to 340 days. Sound like a local flood to you?
...
40 days of rain and subterranean emissions.
... 150 days,
during which the waters completely covered the earth (brings the total to 190
days).
... 150 days,
during which the waters subsided from off the earth. (brings the days of the
total event to 340 days).
_________________________________________________________________
Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on
the mountains of Ararat.
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. Genesis
8:4-5
8:4-5
The area in which the ark came to rest is known today as modern Turkey. In fact,
there is a high mountain in Turkey named
Mount Ararat. Several expeditions have been launched there to search for the
remains of the ark and some have claimed some success. Because of the political
instabilities in the region, however, gaining permission from Turkey’s Islamic
government and local officials for these expeditions has always been difficult.
The possibility that Noah's ark coming to rest on that particular mountain,
however, is probably slim. Our text says it came to rest on the
mountains of Ararat. That is a general
area that is given to us, not an exacting location. Nevertheless, it is in that
general area of northeast Turkey that the ark came to rest.
Our text says that the Flood began in the 600th year of Noah’s life, in the
second month and the seventeenth day (7:11). Here in chapter 8, we read that the
ark ran aground on the seventh month and the seventeenth day (8:4), and that it
sat there until the first day of the tenth month, when the waters had abated
enough for the tops of the mountains to be seen (8:5).
_________________________________________________________________
So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the
ark
which he had made. Then he sent out a
raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the
earth.
He also sent out from himself a dove,
to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 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. And he waited yet another seven
days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 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. So he waited yet another seven days and
sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore. Genesis 8:6-12
8:6-12
Ravens are scavengers. They are members of a select group of creatures that are
eaters of dead meat. There is mounting evidence that
Tyrannosaurus Rexwas a pre-Flood scavenger in the animal kingdom. At
any rate, it was natural for a raven to come and go from the ark, after feeding
on the dead flesh that it had found. A dove, on the other hand, wouldn’t land on
a floating carcass to feed. So, when it finally returned to the ark with an
olive leaf in its beak, it was a true indicator that the earth was drying out.
Finally, the dove didn’t return at all and Noah knew that his first impression
had been verified. Keep in mind, however, that these experiments were generated
by Noah to simply salve his own curiosity. He had no intention of leaving the
ark until his God told him to do so.
_________________________________________________________________
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. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of
the month, the earth was dried. Genesis 8:13-14
8:13-14
In the 601st year of Noah’s life, the first month, the first day, the door of
the ark was removed and the waters were seen to be completely abated (8:13).
Notice, however, that no person or creature left the ark. Nearly two months went
by, after the covering was removed. Only when Noah received word from the Lord …
would they leave the ark. On the second month, twenty-seventh day … the earth
was dried.
_________________________________________________________________
Then
God spoke to Noah, saying, ‘Go
out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with
you. 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.’ So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his
sons' wives with him. Genesis 8:15-19
8:15-19
I can’t help but think of
Isaiah 40:31, here,
But those who
wait on the LORD shall renew their
strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be
weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Think about it. The door of the ark had stood open for nearly two months. The
ground was dry. Yet, Noah stayed put. He
waited for word from the Lord. As you have it in
Romans 8:14,
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
And again, in
Psalm 37:23,
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and he delights in his way.
God had told Noah to get on board the ark and, until Noah heard otherwise,
that’s where he would stay. Noah was an obedient servant. He knew what it was to
walk with God. He had been walking with God the entire year he had been on the
ark. He knew what God expected of him. One of the greatest problems we saints
have in our walk with the Lord … is
waiting on him, is it not? If God tells us to do something or be somewhere,
we shouldn't anticipate his will to leave that ministry or place until we hear
otherwise. Like soldiers in an army, we have our orders. Our job is to follow.
His job is to lead. When the time is right, God will give us any new orders he
has for us. Don’t anticipate God’s direction for your life. Moses comes to mind
here. He tried to jump the gun on the will of God by thinking he knew best when
to deliver the people of Israel (Acts 7:23-29). But, in God’s timing, that
didn’t come about for another forty years. Do you wait upon the Lord, dear
saint? We are invited to walk with
him, you know, not ahead of him.
Coming back to our text, can you picture the utter delight of all those
occupants of the ark when they finally got word from the Lord to get off that
ark? In total, they had spent over a year in there. It must have been quite a
celebration when the ark was finally emptied out. We can only imagine all those
animals’ joy at being free to roam again.
_________________________________________________________________
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. 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.
While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and
summer, and day and night shall not cease.’ Genesis 8:20-22
8:20-22
It is significant that the first thing Noah did, after getting off the ark, was
to worship God. He built an altar and
presented sacrifices. For over a year, Noah had undoubtedly missed worshiping
the Lord at an altar. His heart must have been overflowing with thanksgiving for
the great salvation he, his family and all the animals had received and, also,
for the new, clean and wonderfully different world that now lay glistening
before them.
Now, there were only seven pairs of any one clean animal that had entered the
ark the year before. I suspect, however, they may have procreated and increased
in number while aboard the ark. In any case, Noah didn’t hesitate to offer some
of them as a sacrifice. Noah knew his God and he knew that putting the Lord
first came before everything else. As a result, we read that the Lord
smelled a soothing aroma. Of course this expression is another
anthropomorphism. God doesn’t have nostrils. God is a spirit. The Lord often
accommodates his wording for us by using human expressions to communicate with
us.
May we step aside here for a moment? The Mormons often use these
anthropomorphisms to try and prove that the God of the Bible is really just a
highly evolved human being. They believe that God has always had a human body.
They have a saying … As man is now, God
once was. As God is now, man soon will be. How utterly foolish this is. In a
famous debate, a Mormon was challenged by a verse from the Psalms that says …
Under his wings we safely abide. The debater then asked …
Is your god also a giant chicken? I
relate this somewhat amusing point because it brings up another very important
principle of interpretation we need
to use when we interpret Scripture. It’s
the principle of accommodation. God often accommodates his terminology in
order to better communicate with us. When someone does not recognize this about
the Bible, they can come up with some pretty strange views about God ... like
the Mormons have.
Coming back to the text … notice, the Lord purposed in his heart that he would
never again curse the ground for man's sake ... He meant, as he had done with
Adam and then, again, with Cain (4:12). That kind of judgment would never be
used by the Lord again. Also, it says …
while the earth remains, he would
never again
destroy every living thing. For what it is worth, a great many
men and creatures will be destroyed during the Great Tribulation. However, it
will come in gradual stages … with many people being delivered (See: Rev. 7:20)
before the final day of the dissolving of the universe by fire comes.
Finally, I believe that verse 22, is a very important verse concerning the
nature of the new world in which Noah and the animals found themselves. Notice,
it was at this point in Earth’s history that
seasons were instituted. Apparently,
during the Flood, God caused a tilt in
the earth’s axis causing it to begin to wobble in its orbit around the sun.
So, from that time on, the earth began to experience distinct seasons that it
had never experienced before. Gone was the uniform climate that was so taken for
granted prior to the Flood. The institution of seasons was, no doubt, the final
nail in the coffin for the dinosaurs.
_________________________________________________________________
So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply,
and fill the earth. 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. Every moving thing
that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the
green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh
with its life, that is, its blood. 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.
Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his
blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. And as for you, be
fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.?
Genesis 9:1-7
9:1-7
We come here to the first covenant
that God made with man. Theologians call it the
Noahic Covenant. It is very important
to note that this covenant is still in effect today. Nowhere in the Word of God
is any part of this covenant said to have been set aside or fulfilled. There are
six parts to it. God said:
1.
...Be
fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
During my college days, I took a course called
Population Problems. It was presented
by the Sociology Department at New Mexico State University. The gist of it was
that the earth is basically overpopulated and we need to take drastic measures
to confront the problem. However, the professor also pointed out that, as far as
actual space on our planet is concerned …
humans only take up a minute fraction of space. He illustrated his point by
demonstrating on the blackboard that if
you dug a hole one mile square and one mile deep, you could put every living
human being on Earth at that time in that hole and still have room left over!
The population of the earth today is approximately 7 billion and my professor’s
calculations still pencil. There are many different aspects to the debate about
overpopulation. I would simply point out two things.
a. First,
the earth is designed by God to
completely accommodate man and all his needs ... far in excess of what we
might imagine.
Food surpluses that have been produced by U.S. farmers alone are evidence of
this fact.
b. Second, wherever there is starvation in our
world today ... it is primarily due to
politics, war, greed and evil men. It is not due to the lack of
resources or size of the population. The Catholics have it right on this point.
They say that man was commanded to be fruitful and multiply and that’s exactly
what they intend to do until God tells them otherwise. That is the first tenant
of the Noahic Covenant and a point well taken.
2. ...the
fear and dread of you shall be upon every beast...
The second tenant of the Noahic Covenant was for God to put into the hearts of
animals, birds, fish and creeping things ...
the fear and dread man. Up until that time, man, and the animal
kingdom, lived in harmony and without fear. That had been so from the days when
Adam first named the animals. This goes a long way in explaining how the animals
were so manageable during the days in which they were in the ark, does it not?
But, why put the fear of man into the hearts of animals, birds and fish now?
Might I suggest it was so that ... now that they were a God given source of food
for man ... it would go a long way toward preserving them? I think so. If all
had remained docile and friendly to man like it was in the pre-Flood world, I
suspect that just about all of them would now be extinct.
3.
...Every
moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even
as the green herbs.
Not long ago, one of my granddaughters came to me and said that her friend
wanted to know if there was anywhere in the Bible that said it was all right to
eat meat. I sensed that it was her question as well, since the majority of her
liberal teachers in the public school system of Oregon were constantly pushing
the animal rights agenda and its companion, vegetarianism. This third tenant of
the Noahic Covenant runs completely counter to these popular, unbiblical views
of our day. Their premise, that man is
just a higher form of animal ...
animals have the same rights as humans ...
hamburger chains should be put out of
business ... we must lobby Congress ... etc ... all run contrary to the Word of
God. In the Noahic Covenant, it was God himself who gave all the living
creatures over to man for food. The Apostle Paul speaks to this issue as
follows,
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the
faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits
and
doctrines of demons, speaking lies in
hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to
marry, and commanding to abstain from
foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who
believe and know the truth. For
every creature of God is good, and
nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is
sanctified by the word of God and prayer. I Timothy 4:1-5
This is right where we live today, is it not? Notice, in the above scripture,
that the meat that we eat is sanctified by the
word of God and prayer. In other words, all meats are for our eating
because the Word of God says so. That right and freedom, I might add, was born
here in Genesis 9, in the Noahic Covenant. Jesus himself ate meat (John
21:10-13).
4. ...But
you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
The fourth tenant of the Noahic Covenant forbids the eating of raw flesh with
its blood. When the early Church at Jerusalem sent out a message to its new
Gentile believers, it instructed them to
abstain from the eating of blood.
But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and
fornication, and things strangled, and
blood. Acts 15:20
This was in deference to the Jewish believers who would have been greatly
offended by such a practice as it was forbidden in the Mosaic Law. However, they
were also correct in their admonition in that it adhered to the Noahic Covenant
as well ... a Covenant which was still in effect at that time, even as it is
today.
Clearly, blood is precious and
special in the eyes of God. The Scripture says that without
the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22).
The animal sacrifices that Noah brought to God, as well as all the sacrifices
that were later offered under the Mosaic Covenant, depicted the shed blood of
the coming Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, that would be shed on the
cross one day. I believe that eating or drinking of blood should be avoided by
believers if at all possible.
5.
Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be
shed; For in the image of God He made man.
The fifth tenant of the Noahic Covenant was the institution of
capital punishment. There is a great deal of confusion among
Christians and non-Christians alike about this subject today. And, it is only
clarified if we accept God’s Word on the subject. God is the one who delegated
to man (through government) the obligation and commandment to execute murderers.
The argument is often brought up that capital punishment is simply murdering a
murderer! The reasoning goes like this … When you kill a murderer, you are no better than they! How can two
wrongs make a right? Not! When
murderers are executed, they are executed by the direct will and commandment of
God … an obligation which he has delegated to man through human government.
Notice the reason that God gave that murderers should be executed. It is because
they wantonly destroyed another human being who was made in the image of God
himself. Humans are very special in God’s eyes. Each one is made in his own
image. Therefore, man has been given the responsibility to avenge all who have
been deliberately murdered. It is very important that they carry this out. As
you have it in Romans 13:1-4,
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no
authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are
appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the
ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For
rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid
of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For
he is God's minister to you for good. But
if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is
God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
_________________________________________________________________
Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: ‘...and as for me,
behold, I establish my
covenant with
you and with your descendants after you, 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. 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.’ 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: I set my
rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant
between me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that
the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 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.
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.’ 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.’
Genesis 9:8-17
9:8-17
6. ...
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.
This is the final, yet core tenant, of the Noahic Covenant. Namely, that God
would never again destroy the earth with water. Let’s step aside here for a
moment and look once again at the evidence that the Flood was not just local, as
so many liberal critics have proposed.
First, if this were merely a local flood, there
could never have been another following it, according to God’s Word in the
Noahic Covenant.Obviously, however, that has
not been the case. There are floods all the time. So,
God couldn't have been referring to a local flood.
Second, God’s
sign of his Covenant with Noah, from that day forward, was the rainbow.
This seems ridiculous to men today. I recall in college that it was roundly
debunked in favor of the scientific explanation … namely that a rainbow is
merely the refraction of light through the prism of water droplets resulting in
the colors of light becoming visible, following the curvature of the sun. For
the believer of the Bible, however, a rainbow is far more than the scientific
explanation of it. I believe a rainbow had never before been seen by man prior
to the Flood. You will remember that before the Flood, the earth was not watered
by rain. Hence, there were no clouds as we know them. The earth was watered
subterraneously (2:5-6). The first rainbow was a new and wondrous phenomenon to
Noah and his family.
However, also keep in mind that the sign of the Covenant (the rainbow)
was not given primarily for man to see.
It was for God to see (9:16). Does
God need reminding? No. But, he wants you and me to know that he is faithful.
So, for our sakes, he assures us that at
all times he will keep a visible representation before him of his promise never
again to destroy the earth by water. You may have noticed that, from an
airplane, rainbows are completely round. Let me ask you a question. How many
rainbows do you suppose exist right now, right this very second, around the
world? I should think hundreds, if not thousands. And, our omnipresent God looks
upon each and every one of them. He even has one that is perpetually above his
throne in Heaven (Rev. 4:2-3). The point is … God will keep his word. Never,
ever, again will mankind and all of Earth’s land creatures be destroyed by
water. God’s rainbows are his ever present reminders of that promise in his
Noahic Covenant with us.
_________________________________________________________________
Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were
Shem,
Ham, and
Japheth. And Ham was the
father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the
whole earth was populated. And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a
vineyard. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his
tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told
his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both
their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father.
Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. So
Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. Then he
said: ‘Cursed be Canaan; a servant of
servants he shall be to his brethren.’ And he said: ‘Blessed be the LORD, The
God of Shem, and may Canaan be his
servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; and
may Canaan be his servant.’ And
Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. So all the days of
Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died. Genesis 9:18-29
9:18-29
I would like to comment on three things here:
Noah's
predicament brought out the nobility of
Shem and Japheth.
They honored their father’s predicament by not entering into whatever Ham did.
Ham’s sin was crass, perverted and disrespectful. Possibly, he just made fun of
his father's nakedness and took others to see. However, the text indicates that
he may have done more than that. Shem and Japheth, however, would have no part
of it. By their actions, they fulfilled one of the Ten Commandments, not yet
written … namely …
honor thy father and thy mother. They acted righteously and went
to their helpless father’s aid by covering up his nakedness and they did so
without so much as actually looking upon him themselves.
Noah’s curse on Ham and his lineage was prophetic
and appropriate.
The age in which Noah lived was the age of the Patriarchs. Noah was a Patriarch.
The Patriarchs were men who were both
priests and heads over their families. Their word was law and was so honored
by God. Having said that, however, let me say that it is sad that many have
taken this curse from Noah out of context. Some have said that all of Ham’s
descendants are cursed forever. They twist the Scripture here, saying that it
refers to the Black race, seeking biblical support for their racism. That is
utter nonsense! This curse was long ago fulfilled. It ended with the Canaanites.
It began to be fulfilled when the Canaanites were subjected under Abraham, and
the curse was finally and historically fulfilled under Joshua when the people of
Israel entered the Promised Land and completely subjected the wicked Canaanite
descendants of Ham that they found there.
Noah may not have been at fault for becoming drunk.
The new world that greeted Noah and his sons had many unfamiliar aspects. I
suspect that the fermentation process, or the timing of it in that new
environment, was one of those new unfamiliarities. So, Noah may not have been
familiar with the potency of what he was drinking.
Finally here in this chapter, we come to the death of one of God’s great saints.
We are told that Noah died at the ripe old age of 950.
_________________________________________________________________
Scripture taken
from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.