Genesis (Part 16)(BST 9-28-08)

Genesis (Part 16)
Bible Study Time 9-27-08
(From James Roberts 11-17-96)

In our Journey Through the Scripture last week, we saw something about the curse that was placed upon Canaan in the days of Noah. Canaan’s father, Ham, did something that was dishonoring to Noah, and God used that incident to utter a prophetic judgment against Canaan. Seven hundred years later, Moses would use this prophetic curse to encourage the children of Israel as they prepared to enter the Land of Canaan.

According to Genesis, Chapter 15, the children of Israel served the Egyptians as slaves for 400 years before Moses came to lead them to the land of Canaan. God promised them that He would give them the victory over the Canaanites, but the children of Israel had to remain in the land of Egypt until the iniquity of the Canaanites was full. With the iniquity of the Canaanites full and running over as the nation of Israel left the land of Egypt, it was time for the righteous wrath of God to be poured out upon the children of Canaan.

Moses wanted the children of Israel to know that they had nothing to fear from the Canaanites because even in the days of Noah God had predicted that a great judgment would come upon the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. Even from the days of Noah, God knew that the children of Canaan would become so wicked that He would have to bring a great judgment upon them. As the children of Israel neared the land of Canaan, Moses announced that it was time for that prophetic judgment to be fulfilled.

As we approach the book of Genesis, Chapter 10, we see how that the earth was divided up into various nations, and we also see how the various languages came about. We’ll begin reading in verse 5.

Genesis 10:5 NKJV
5 From these (three sons of Noah) the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

After this statement, Moses goes on to talk about the sons of Ham and Shem and then of Japheth as he gives their various generations. But it’s very interesting to note that these people were of different languages. You would think that these three sons of Noah would all speak the same language, and you would think that their families after them would all speak the same language.

How did it happen that they all spoke different languages, and what is the origin of all of the various languages that we see in the world today. To understand this we need to go over to Genesis, Chapter 11. Notice as we begin reading in verse 1:

Genesis 11:1-9 NKJV
1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.
3 Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.
4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6 And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.
7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.
9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

We find this word Babel in our language today. People are said to be babbling if they speak in a confused manner and that expression comes from the word Babel. Another word that comes from the word Babel is the word Babylon, which was to later become the name of the capital city of the Babylonian Empire.

The city of Babel and the city of Babylon are seen in the scriptures as two great centers of rebellion against God, and we see the beginning of these two cities in Genesis, Chapter 11. These two cities were established under the rule of a man named Nimrod. Genesis, Chapter 11, tells us that the beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom was Babel.

Now let’s just take a look at why God brought such great judgment upon the people of Babel. They built a city and they built a tower and there seems to be nothing wrong with that. But in the book of Romans, Chapter 1, the Apostle Paul is used of God to fill us in and help us to understand what was really happening there in Babel.

The people of Babel were not just building a city, although that was in itself something that came out of their own minds and out of their own hearts in their rebellion against God. But notice what Paul says in Romans, Chapter 1.

Romans 1:16-18 NKJV
16 . . . I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

You see, God revealed Himself, and instead of man accepting that revelation by faith and being saved, man tried to hold it down. This carries the idea of suppression. It carries the idea of resistance. Man did not want anything to do with the revelation of God, and Paul says that the wrath of God is revealed against all those who labor to hold down the truth.

Then Paul went back to the time of Noah’s sons in Genesis 10 and 11 to give us an example of a group of people who tried to hold down the truth. Notice verse 19:

Romans 1:19 NKJV
19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

God had an ancient revelation of Himself which He had given to these people, and notice what that ancient revelation was.

Romans 1:20 NKJV
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

God had clearly revealed Himself in the creation. The creation, itself, was the ancient revelation which revealed that God was the creator of all things, but the creation also reveals the various attributes of God in such a way that they are clearly understood. The creation reveals God goodness and His mercy and so forth. If the sons and grandsons of Noah had only looked with an open mind at the creation, itself, they would have been able to see that God is the creator and the sustainer of all things. But notice:

Romans 1:21-23 NKJV
21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and changed (or exchanged) the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

They exchanged the truth of the creator for an image that they made from God’s creation. They actually started a system of worship that was filled with idolatry.

Romans 1:24-25 NKJV
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie . . .

Notice, they took the revelation that God gave of Himself, and they exchanged it for Satan’s lie. They:

Romans 1:25 NKJV
25 . . . worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to vile passions, and Paul describes the depth of the perversion of their sexual desires. God simply gave them over to these desires.

And do you know what happened? Paul says that they did not want to retain God in their knowledge. They gave themselves over to work all manner of uncleanness. They ran greedily after their evil desires. They filled their hearts and their minds with every evil thought so that they could crowd out any knowledge that they had of God. That’s exactly what was happening in the city of Babel in Genesis, Chapters 10 and 11, so God came down and confused their language so that they would go into the various regions of the world.

When we look at Nimrod in Genesis, Chapter 10, we see that Nimrod was a mighty hunter. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Undoubtedly, this is not just speaking of someone who goes out with a bow and arrow hunting animals, but it carries the idea that Nimrod was a hunter of men. He gathered men together in rebellion against God. He hunted the souls of man, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel.

It would appear that Nimrod was the leader of the great rebellion that took place at Babel, and when God confused their languages, Nimrod left Babel and went into the area that was to become the kingdom of Assyria. It was there that Nimrod established the city of Nineveh. As we continue in our Journey Through the Scripture, we will see much more about Babylon and Assyria for they were both destined to become two of the greatest enemies of the children of Israel.

As we close this lesson, I would just like to mention that there was another great line that came from Noah, and that was the line of Shem. The children of Israel came through the line of Shem, and the Lord Jesus Christ came through the nation of Israel. The whole earth was to be blessed through the line of Shem.

Next week we are going to see how God called out Abraham from all of the confused mass of people on the earth. Abraham was the descendant of Shem through whom the nation of Israel and the Lord Jesus Christ would come.

Well, I see our time is gone so our journey for today is over. We’ll take up again next week. Until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 15)(BST 9-21-08)

Genesis (Part 15)
Bible Study Time 9-21-08
(From James Roberts 11-10-96)

In our previous studies on Bible Study Time, we have been taking a Journey Through the Scripture. We saw Noah and his family and animals of every kind as they entered into the ark where they were protected by God and brought safely through the flood judgment. During this flood judgment, God destroyed the heavens and the earth that were in existence at that time.

As He brought Noah out of the ark, God made a covenant with Noah in which He said that He would never again destroy the earth with a judgment such as the one that Noah had just experienced. In other words, God said that He would never again destroy the heavens and the earth with a flood judgment.

However, the book of 2 Peter tells us that there will come a time in which God will destroy the heavens and the earth with a judgment of fire. The heavens and the earth that now exist will melt with fervent heat, and out of that old heaven and old earth will come a new heaven and a new earth in which dwells righteousness.

Every person who has been saved, from Adam right down to the last person, will be with the Lord in eternity in a new heaven and a new earth in which dwells righteousness. The old things will pass away, and all things will become new.

Many people are very confused about this fiery judgment that is going to take place. They think that at any moment God could just end everything with a fiery judgment in which He destroys the heavens and the earth. I believe that the scriptures are very clear in telling us that there are many things that must take place before that fiery judgment takes place.

In our present age, God is calling out the Church which is the Body of Christ. This is the Church that God is building in the heavens today. In the book of Acts, God suspended His program with the nation of Israel which had to do with the calling out of the nation of Israel and those Gentiles that will be blessed with Israel in God’s earthly kingdom. In our present age, God has suspended that program because of Israel’s unbelief.

As a result of Israel’s unbelief, God set Israel’s program aside and started calling out the Church of our present age. In God’s program for us today, God is taking Jews and Gentiles who put their trust in Christ, and He is adding them to the Church. When a person puts his faith in Christ, he automatically becomes a member of the Church which is the Body of Christ. This is the means by which God is building the Church today.

Someday, the last member will be added to the Church, and God will at that point take the Church up to be with Himself in the heavens. This is our hope today. At that time, those who have died, who are members of the Body of Christ, will be raised up with a body that will never die. Those who are alive when the Lord completes the Church will never seen death, but they will be taken up into heaven where they will be given new bodies that will never die.

After the catching up of the Church, God is going to send a great time of judgment upon the earth. This will be the time when God resumes His dealings with the nation of Israel. In fact, the Bible calls this period of time the time of Jacob’s trouble.

During this period of great tribulation, God is going to purify unto Himself the nation of Israel. Out of the old unbelieving nation will come a new nation of Israel, purified by the trials and afflictions of the great tribulation period. The members of this new nation will put their faith in Jesus Christ as Israel’s promised Messiah, and they will as last have the Law of God written in their hearts by the Holy Spirit of God.

When the Lord returns to the earth at the end of this tribulation period, He is going to save the nation of Israel in a day. The nation of Israel will be born again, and they will be the ministers of God in a perfect kingdom here on this earth. In this kingdom, the Lord Jesus Christ will reign over the earth for a thousand years as he sits upon the throne of David in Jerusalem. At that time, Jesus Christ will rule and reign over the earth as the Prince of Peace, and Jerusalem will be the capital city of His kingdom.

The great judgment of fire which was predicted by the Apostle Peter will not come until after Christ’s thousand year kingdom. At the close of that kingdom. Christ will sit upon a great white throne from which He will judge all of the unsaved, wicked dead. All unsaved people from the time of Adam all the way through the ions of time, who have never trusted God and who have never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, will be cast into the lake of fire. Only then will God destroy the heavens and earth with fire.

So the thing that man needs to be concerned about today is not the fiery judgment. Today, man needs to be concerned about whether or not he has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. The book of Hebrews says that it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment.

The judgment that is awaiting those who have never trusted Christ will take place after they die. We are not to be overly concerned about the fiery judgment. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, Paul says, there is no judgment, or condemnation, for those who are in Christ Jesus.

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you are safe and secure in the ark of safety, even as Noah was safe in the ark. No judgment fell upon Noah and his family because they were in the ark. The judgment fell only upon those who were outside the ark.

Oh, I ask you today, do you know the Lord as your personal Savior? Do you know the one who died for you, who was buried and rose again? Do you know the one who became your substitute, the one who paid the penalty for your sins and then was raised again and went back into the heavens? Do you know him today? If you don’t, you’re under judgment. The only thing that’s keeping you from the judgment of God is the breath that is in your body. By simply placing your faith in Jesus Christ and calling upon His name, you can be saved today.

Now, after Noah and his family came out of the ark, there was an incident that took place which has been a point of controversy through the years. In Genesis, Chapter 9, we read that Noah became a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then one day, as Noah was drinking the wine, he got drunk and was lying in his tent naked. Then,

Genesis 9:22-25 NKJV
22 . . . Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
23 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.
24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him.
25 Then he said: "Cursed be Canaan; . . .

Notice that Noah did not say, cursed by Ham, the one who had done this thing, but Noah said, cursed by Canaan. Now, verse 25:

Genesis 9:25-28 NKJV
25 . . . A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren."
26 And he said: "Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant."
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

So here we see a curse, a judgment, that was placed, not upon Ham, but upon Ham’s son, Canaan. Why is it that the judgment did not fall upon Ham, who did the deed? Why did the judgment fall upon Canaan?

We need to keep in mind that the first five books of the Bible were written by Moses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God was using Moses at the close of Moses’ life to instruct Israel through these first five books of the Bible. God had brought the children of Israel up out of Egypt with the promise that they would inherit the land of Canaan, and God wanted them to understand that the land of Canaan was already under a curse. God wanted them to know that He would fight for them against the Canaanites.

But some may say that it’s unfair to pronounce a curse upon people before they even exist. Well, God knew all about the wickedness that would come from the descendants of Canaan. In Genesis, Chapter 15, we read that God told Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in a strange land for 400 years. God said that Abraham’s would remain in that land until the iniquity of the Amorites was full.

So God was patient and longsuffering with the children of Canaan. He endured their wickedness for 400 years while the children of Israel were being afflicted by the Egyptians. But after 400 years, God brought the children of Israel up out of Egypt, and He led them to the land of Canaan where Moses instructed them concerning the curse that had been pronounced by Noah hundreds of years earlier.

Obviously, the curse upon the Canaanites was not just because of Noah’s words, but it was because of the wickedness of the children of Canaan. The iniquity of the Amorites had finally reached its fullness, and so it was time for Noah’s curse to be fulfilled.

Do you remember what happened when the children of Israel first came up to the borders of the land of Canaan? They sent in spies to spy out the land, and when the spies came back, Joshua and Caleb were confident that they could take the land.

How did they know that they could take the land? Undoubtedly, their confidence was at least partially due to the prophesy of Noah, that God had placed a curse upon the children of Canaan. This prophesy was well known by the all those who were familiar with the writings of Moses.

Many things have been written about this curse that was placed upon Canaan. Tragically, some have interpreted this curse as being a curse upon the black race. According to this interpretation, the black man was destined to be a servant of servants all the days of his life.
That interpretation is a misreading of the scriptures. God never placed a curse upon the black race. The curse upon Canaan was a curse upon the children of Canaan, and this prophetic curse was fulfilled when the children of Israel entered and conquered the land of Canaan. This curse has nothing to do with the black race.

Now, before we close, there are a couple of other things that I would like to mention concerning the descendants of Noah. In Genesis, Chapter 10, we see two very important people. One of the descendants of the Ham was Nimrod, whose kingdom was initiated at Babel in the plain of Shinar. Then he went out from Babel to establish the city of Nineveh which became the capital city of the Assyrians. We are going to take a closer look at Babel and Nineveh next week. These two great kingdoms of Nimrod are very important.

But then it’s also important to see that God had a great promise that was to come to pass through Shem, for it was through the line of Shem that the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, would come into the world. So, Nimrod, the picture of wickedness, came through Canaan, while Jesus Christ, the picture of righteousness, came through Shem.

Well, I see our time is gone. Be sure to be with us again next week as we continue our Journey Through the Scripture . Until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peaceChurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenueChurch.com/

http://gracebibleChurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 14)(BST 9-14-08)

Genesis (Part 14)
Bible Study Time 9-14-08
(From James Roberts 11-3-96)

In our Journey Through the Scripture, we have been looking at Noah and his family. We have seen that they went into the ark that God had told Noah to build, and there they were kept safe from the flood judgment that God brought upon the earth. God destroyed the earth and all that was in it, but those who were in the ark were safe and secure, and they were brought safely through that flood judgment.

Now since we have started our Journey Through the Scripture there has been a great deal of talk in the national media about the Genesis Project. This is a series of broadcasts that Bill Moyer is planning to do on public television regarding the book of Genesis.

Study groups around the country, especially on the East Coast, have contributed to this study in the book of Genesis, and I want to give you one word of warning about this project. I just read an article in Newsweek magazine which gave some background information concerning these programs.

Generally speaking, the people who are involved in this project and these programs that will be broadcast over public broadcasting are people who do not believe in the integrity of the scriptures. They do not believe in the absolute authority and inspiration of the scriptures.

For instance, they say that the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis are just tales that were handed down from mouth to mouth until someone in the time of David and Solomon saw fit to write them down. They say that they were written down as little moral homilies, and they were written down so that you and I could look at those myths and get some moral application from them.

I want you to know that I believe in the integrity of the scriptures, the wholeness of the scriptures. The Bible is not just a compilation of writings from different men, but it is a compilation of writings by men who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God. Because God is the author of the entire Bible, the scriptures stand in their entirety as an integrated whole.

The Bible, itself, gives us the method by which we should study the Bible. We are not to study any portion of the Bible in isolation, but we are to study each portion of the Bible in the context of the Bible as a whole. Each passage must be seen in its relationship to the rest of the Bible.

The process of Bible interpretation that was used by the Genesis Project is very dangerous. Let me give you a couple of illustrations. They say that there is no mention of sin in the account that is given in the early chapters of the book of Genesis. Their doctrine not only misinterprets the scriptures, but it violates the basic principle that every passage must be seen in the light of the scriptures as a whole.

The book of Romans, Chapter 5, very clearly states that when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they committed an act of disobedience, and that act of disobedience was sin. It also says that when they sinned, they brought the sin nature upon themselves and upon all of their descendants.

The reason that you and I today are sinners by nature, by birth, is because Adam and Eve passed that nature to sin right on down to all men who followed after them. Romans 5:12, says:

Romans 5:12 KJV
12 (For) by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

It is a violation of the scriptures to say that there is no account of sin in the book of Genesis.

Another example of their erroneous thinking is seen in the fact that they blame Noah for not telling his contemporaries about the coming flood. Well, in this they are willingly ignorant. In the book of Genesis, itself, we find that Enoch walked with God, and the book of Jude tells us that Enoch was a prophet. For 300 years Enoch prophesied concerning the coming judgment of God.

Enoch named his son Methuselah, no doubt according to the revelation of God. Methuselah means, when he is dead, it shall be sent. Well, what shall be sent? This was talking about the judgment of God that was going to come.

God allowed Methuselah to live for nearly 1000 years. He lived to be the oldest man that has ever lived on the earth, and this is a great testimony, not to the vengeance of God, but to the longsuffering and goodness of God. God is not willing that any should perish.

Enoch warned the people of his day, but it is also clear that Noah also warned the people. Noah was a preacher of righteousness for 120 years, while the ark was being built. So there was ample warning about the judgment that was going to come.

It would appear that the Genesis Project has no intention of revealing what God has actually said in His word, but rather, it’s intention is to question the character of God. It leaves the clear impression that we today have no reason to fear any future judgment from God. It is true that each person must decide this issue for himself, but we had better decide on the basis of what God has said in the entirety of His word. We should be very skeptical of philosophers and theologians who propagate ideas which are not based on the teachings of the entire word of God.

The book of 2 Corinthians tells us that Satan is able to transform himself into an angel of light and that his ministers pose as ministers of righteousness. The book of 1 John says, prove every spirit to see if it is from God. When men start denying any portion of the word of God, you had better reject their testimony. If you do not believe in the integrity of the scriptures, that all of the Bible is the word of God, then you cannot place your confidence in any part of it.

One of the reasons that men want to discredit the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis is to do away with the historical account of creation. They want to believe that the earth just came into being through natural evolution, but Genesis, Chapter 1, absolutely refutes the idea of evolution.

If evolution is correct then there was no historical Adam who sinned and brought the sin nature into the human race. If there was no historical Adam then there is no reason to think that man is a sinner by nature.

As far as I’m concerned, if I could not believe in the historical, Biblical Adam, I think I would find it very difficult to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven’s glory to live as a man on the earth. If there was no sin in the world, why would Jesus Christ leave the glory of heaven? He came first and foremost to save the world from sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, this second Adam, came down and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh in order that you and I might have eternal life.

I say this to you as a word of warning. Be careful what you hear. False doctrine can come in the garb of religion. It would appear that these philosophers and theologians are trying to get Jews and Christians and Muslims to come together in one religion, and this would do away with the most basic doctrine of the Bible which states that there is no other way to come to the Father except to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Men may work ever so hard to bring human beings together as one, but the Bible still remains true. The Bible tells us that the Jesus Christ was the God of glory in human flesh. He was Emmanuel which means God with us. Jesus Christ came to the earth to open up a new and a living way for man to come to God. Jesus Christ was not just a prophet, He was not just a good man, but He was and is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Jesus said:

John 14:6
6 . . . I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.

There's only one way whereby man may approach God. It’s not through Islam; it’s not to Judaism; it’s not through Christendom. It’s through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only way.

In the Old Testament, the tabernacle had only one door; there was only one way to enter into the tabernacle. The ark that Noah built had only one door. Likewise, there is only one door that leads to heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ said:

John 10:9 KJV
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

There’s only one door to heaven, and if you don’t enter in through that one door, you’re not going to make it. The Lord Jesus Christ is that door.

1 John 5:12 KJV
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

As time goes on, there will be all kinds of movements and cults that will try to seduce people away from the one door that leads to heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. It may be today that you are depending upon church membership or some ordinance to get you into heaven. But unless you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you do not have eternal life. The Lord Jesus said:

John 3:16 KJV
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Who is it that is of the antichrist? It is the one who does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you find any kind of doctrine or religious activity that does not hold to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fact that He bore the sins of the whole world when He died on the cross, you can count that as a false religion. That is the standard, the plumb line, by which we can judge false doctrine. This is the standard that God has given to us to judge between truth and false doctrine.

I say these things in love but I say them as a warning. Satan can transform himself into an angel of light, and his ministers may appear as the ministers of righteousness. Be careful what you hear. Prove the spirits to see if they are of God. Test all things by the integrity, by the wholeness, of the Bible.

I see that our time is already gone, and we didn’t get very far on our Journey Through the Scripture today, but we will take up again with the book of Genesis, Chapter 9, next week. Until that time, we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Genesis (Part 13)(BST 9-7-08)

Genesis (Part 13)
Bible Study Time 9-7-08
(From James Roberts 10-27-96)

Last week in our Journey Through the Scripture, we saw God bringing Noah out of the ark. God had sent Noah into the ark because it was time for the great flood which would destroy the earth and all of the inhabitants that were on the earth. When Noah and his family and all of the animals were safely inside the ark, God shut the door, and the great flood judgment came. Noah did not have to suffer the judgment of the flood because the ark bore all of the judgment of God’s wrath. The ark floated above the water and protected Noah from the judgment of God.

The ark is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who is our ark of safety. When the Lord Jesus went to the cross, He died for your sins and for my sins. All of the wrath of God for mankind’s sins was poured out upon the Lord Jesus so that He cried out, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? And now Jesus Christ is the beautiful ark of safety for those of us who have put our faith and trust in Him. When we trust Christ, we are given a position in Christ where we are safe and secure from the coming judgment of God.

The first thing that Noah did when he came out of that ark was to build an altar, an altar whereby he could worship God and thank God for bringing him safely through the flood. Through the judgment of God, Noah was safe and secure, and so his desire was to worship God.

How you and I who have been saved by the grace of God should offer up our sacrifices of praise unto the Lord. We are safe and secure in Christ Jesus. As the Apostle Paul said:

Romans 8:1 NKJV
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus . . .

When God brought Noah out of the ark, God gave Noah new instructions which were to govern Noah and his descendants after the flood. These instructions were different from any instructions that God had given before the flood. In other words, God changed the way He dealt with mankind after the flood. This was the beginning of the new dispensation.

Not long ago I was talking to a man, and I told him that it is important to study the Bible rightly divided and that we need to take into account the various dispensations of the Bible. Well, this man asked, what do you mean by dispensations?

Sometimes people are afraid of the word dispensation, but it’s a good Biblical word. In the book of Ephesians, Chapter 3, Paul speaks of the dispensation of the grace of God that was given to him for us. The word dispensation comes from a Greek word which means a house manager. In the Old Testament, Joseph was placed as a house manager over all of Potiphar’s house. That means that Potiphar gave Joseph authority over all of his house.

In the Bible we see that every time God changes His dealings with mankind, He raised up a person to be responsible for that new dispensation. That person then serves as the house manager, or steward, of that dispensation. Adam was the first house manager of a new dispensation. Adam lived in innocence, but when he sinned, he became conscious of his sin. Then, because of the presence of sin, God gave Adam new instructions for approaching God in a world that was under the curse of sin.

Undoubtedly, God told Adam to tell his family how they were to approach God. As you may recall, Cain rejected Adam’s instructions while Abel accepted them. Accordingly, Abel was accepted by God, but Cain was rejected. Adam was the house manager for this new dispensation.

After the flood, we find that Noah was the house manager, or steward, of a new dispensation from God. God delegated to Noah the responsibility for teaching His descendants about God’s order for their post-diluvian life. In our lesson today, we are going to take a look at some of the changes that God made after the flood. In Genesis, Chapter 9, we read that:

Genesis 9:1 NKJV
1 . . . God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them:"Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

Previously, when Adam and Eve were the only two people on the earth, God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. That commandment was not given again until it was given to Noah after the flood. After the flood, it was just Noah and his wife, and Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives. So God told them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

In our present age of grace, where we have billions of people living on the earth, I don’t see where God tells us to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. There was a need for that injunction in the time of Adam, and there was a need for it in the time of Noah because they were the only ones living on the earth when God gave this command.

After the flood we also see a change in the animals of the earth. Before the flood, animals had no fear of man as they lived among men. But after the flood, God said to Noah:

Genesis 9:2 NKJV
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.

Why is it that God put the fear of man into all the animals? Why is it that when we come close to a bird today, that bird will usually fly away? When a man comes near to an animal, most of the time that animal will flee? Why are they so afraid of man? Notice in verse three:

Genesis 9:3 NKJV
3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.

This implies that man was a vegetarian before the flood, but after the flood, God added meat to man’s diet. After the flood, man was permitted to eat the flesh of animals. They were given to him for food.

In order to preserve and protect animals, God put the fear of man in the heart of the animals to provide for a balance in nature. Animals became afraid of man because man was now going to hunt them for food. God put the dread of man within the animals to protect them in some measure from man.

Some people today are offended by the thought of eating meat. Some claim that eating the flesh of animals makes people more beastly and more violent. However, the people before the flood were vegetarians, and they were extremely violent. Some think that a vegetarian diet will make a person more spiritual, but there is no Biblical basis for that idea. God ordained in Genesis, Chapter 9, that man may eat meat as well as the green herbs.

There was, however, one dietary prohibition when it came to eating meat. God told Noah that he and his descendants should eat no flesh with its blood. Before eating any animal, they were to butcher the animal and allow the blood to drain. In this we see that blood is sacred in the sight of God. In Leviticus we read that the life is in the blood, and the book of Hebrews teaches that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sins. Ultimately, we see that blood is typical of the blood of Jesus Christ which was shed for our sins that we might have eternal life.

Now, as we continue in verse 5, we read:

Genesis 9:5-16 NKJV
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.
7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it."
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."

In this passage, God institutes human government. God said that if a man kills someone, he should be killed by other men. A man’s blood is to be required at the hands of the another men. I believe that God instituted human government right here in Genesis, Chapter 9, and when we come to Romans, Chapter 13, we find the Apostle Paul saying that the principle of human government is still in effect for us today. Romans 13:1, says:

Romans 13:1-3 NKJV
1 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.
2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil . . .

I believe that this authority for human government comes from Genesis, Chapter 9, where God made a change in His dealings with mankind and appointed man to rule over man. In Romans, Chapter 13, we find the authority for capital punishment, and we are told that we should be in submission to all authority, all human laws. This is not only to be done out of fear but also for conscience sake.

Well, I see we have run out of time in our journey today. Next week we are going to see something about the effects of human government and why God established human government for man’s good.

If you don’t know the Lord today and you’re not in the ark of safety, you can be saved today by simply trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Next week we will take up our Journey Through the Scripture once again. Until that time we bid you goodbye.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/