Genesis 8, 9
Peace be with you, listening
friends. We greet you in the name of God, the Lord of peace, who wants everyone
to understand and submit to the way of righteousness that He has established,
and have true peace with Him forever. We are happy to be able to return today
to present your program The Way of Righteousness.
Today we plan to finish the
story of God's prophet, Noah. First let us review what we have learned
in the past two programs about Noah and the great flood. In chapter six of the
book of Genesis, we saw that the wickedness of man was very great in the time
of Noah; every inclination of the thoughts of man's heart was evil. This is why
God purposed to bring a flood upon the earth to wipe out every sinner who refused
to turn from his sin and turn to the true and living God.
In that crooked and depraved generation, only one man
pleased God. That man was Noah. Noah trusted God and loved Him. That is why,
one day, God spoke to Noah, and commanded him to build a great ark (boat),
which would be a refuge for him, his family and many animals so that they could
escape the flood. For one hundred years, Noah, along with his family, was
building the ark and exhorting the people to repent and believe the word of
God. Yet no one paid attention to the preaching of
Noah. No one really believed what Noah was telling them about the coming flood!
Nonetheless, a day came when the ark was ready. The
hour for God to judge this evil world had arrived. God had been patient with
scoffers for a long time, but now His patience had run out. Thus, the Lord told
Noah to enter the ark with his family and take with him seven males and seven
females of every kind of clean animal {fit for sacrifice}, and two of each
unclean animal, a male and a female. Noah and his family and the animals
entered the ark as God had ordered. And the Scriptures say:"Then
the Lord shut them in." God, who had opened the
door of salvation for the children of Adam, was also the One who closed it. The
day of God's mercy was gone; the day for His fearsome wrath had arrived!
Then came the lightning, thunder and violent shaking
of the earth. Heavy rains fell, causing a great flood. Everyone fled, seeking
to go up into the mountains, but no one could escape from God's holy wrath!
Those who had mocked Noah and rejected God's word, now knew the truth. But now
it was too late! The time of salvation
was past. God had shut the door.
For forty days and nights rain poured down from the
sky and springs gushed up from the earth until even the mountains were covered.
But the ark floated on top of the water. The Scripture says:
"Every living thing
that moved on the earth perished. Every living thing on the face of the earth
was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and
the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and
those with him in the ark." (Gen. 7:21,23)
Thus, the Scripture records that God carried out the
punishment just as He had promised. Everyone outside the ark perished. God
is faithful to keep His word.
What happened to those inside the ark? Did God forget
Noah and his family? God, who feeds the birds of the air, and not one of them
falls to the earth except that He wills it, did not forget them. Let us read
what is written in the book of Genesis in chapter eight. The Scriptures say:
"But God
remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were
with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded
…And on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the
mountains of Ararat." (Gen. 8:1,4)
Thus we see that God remembered Noah and those who
were with him inside the ark. He sent a wind to blow over the earth so that the
waters would recede. God guided the ark so that it came to rest on a high
mountain named Ararat. After Noah and his
family had been in the ark for one year and a week, much of the water which had
covered the earth had dried up. Thus God said to Noah, "Leave
the ark, you and your wife, your sons and their wives." So Noah and his family
went out of the ark, as did all the animals. When he had gone out, he built an
altar, took some of the clean animals and birds and offered them to the Lord on
the altar as a burnt offering.
Did you hear what Noah first did after he left the
ark? He sacrificed some innocent animals, burning them on an
altar he built. God had not abolished His law which stated: "Without
the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin." (Heb. 9:22) While the
great flood destroyed most of the sinners from off the face of the
earth, it did not destroy the root of
sin that
remained in the hearts of the children of Adam. That is why Noah and his
descendants had to continue offering to God sacrifices for sin. As we have
seen, such animal sacrifices were the foundation of the way of salvation that
God had decreed. The sacrifices that our ancestors slaughtered in early times,
symbolized {illustrated} the Redeemer who was to come and shed His own blood to
pay the debt of sin for Adam's descendants. That is why, when Noah left the
ark, the first thing he did was to shed animal blood, thus showing his children
and grandchildren that the laws of God had not changed-that "the
wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23) and "without
the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin." (Heb. 9:22)
Thus, the Scriptures say:
"The Lord smelled
the pleasing aroma (of the sacrifice)…Then God blessed Noah and his sons,
saying to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth…I now
establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after
you…Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again
will there be a flood to destroy the earth…This is the sign of the covenant I
am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for
all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds,
and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the
earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the
clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all
living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to
destroy all life." (Gen. 8:21; 9:1,9,11-15)
In these verses we have just read, there is a word
which God repeated five times to Noah. Did you hear it? The word is "covenant." In the Word of God, a
covenant is a special promise made by God to man. God
is the Keeper of covenants. God is faithful, and He wants to show
forth His faithfulness to the sons of Adam! That is why, in His goodness, He
established a covenant with Noah and those who descended from Him saying, "Never
again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood."That is what God
promised. And He did not limit His promise to mere words, but He confirmed it
by putting His rainbow in the clouds.
Did you know that the beautiful rainbow that we see sometimes in
the clouds after it has rained is a sign which declares the
faithfulness of God?
Every time we see a rainbow in the clouds, God wants to remind us of His
faithfulness that endures from generation to generation. God put the rainbow in
the clouds to confirm His covenant in which He promised that the waters will
never again become a flood to destroy all life. Truly, God is the Keeper of
covenants! He is faithful!
Concerning the rest of Noah's life, there are other
events of which we could speak, but we do not have the time. You can read them
for yourselves, however, in the Torah, the book of Genesis, chapter nine. You
will see that after the flood, Noah lived another 350 years, and when he was
very old he went to be with the Lord on high.
In summary, perhaps we can conclude our talk about
God's prophet, Noah, with a question or two. What was the difference between
Noah and the people of his time? What did Noah do to please God? He did simply
one thing. Noah believed the word of God. That is why Noah did
not perish with the people of his generation. Listen to what God Himself has
testified about Noah:
"By faith Noah,
when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to
save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and
became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith." But
"without faith it is impossible to please God."(Heb 11:7,6)
Before we bid you farewell today, there are two
thoughts which
we must keep in our minds. We just considered the first of these two thoughts.
What made Noah pleasing to God? His faith. Noah believed God; he
believed what God said. Noah had confidence in the Lord and obeyed His word
even when all others around him rejected it. It was Noah's faith that caused
God to deliver him from the evil generation in which he lived. You who are
listening to us today, do you truly believe what God has
said?
God's will for each of us is that we believe His Word as Noah did.
The second thing we must remember from the story of
Noah is even more important than Noah's faith. Do you know what it
is? It is God's faithfulness. Why is God's
faithfulness more important than Noah's faith? Because if God was not faithful
to keep His covenants and promises, the faith that Noah had in Him would be of
no benefit. We all know what happens when we put our trust in someone who does
not keep his promise. Suppose you have a friend who promises you:
"Tomorrow I will bring you a sack of rice." You believe him; you have
faith in him. What happens if he does not bring it? You will be disappointed
(and perhaps hungry!). The faith that you had in your friend was worthless.
Why? Because your friend did not do what he had promised. You trusted someone
who was unfaithful.
It is not like that with God. The Scriptures say:
"If we are
faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown
himself." (2 Tim. 2:13) "For,
all men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands
forever…. and the one who trusts in him will [not be disappointed!]" (1 Pet. 1:24,25; 2:6)
Yes, "God is faithful!" (1 Cor. 1:9)
He will do what He has promised!
In the story of Noah we clearly see how God
did everything that He promised. We read how God saved everyone who was
inside the ark and judged everyone who was outside, just as He had promised. We
also saw how God forgave Noah his sins because he offered up the blood of an
animal as a sacrifice, just as God had told him to do. And we learned how God
placed His rainbow in the clouds so that Noah and all people would not forget
that "God is faithful!"
Oh, fellow listeners, if you should forget everything
we have considered today except one thing, remember this: God
is Faithful!
He cannot go back on His Word. He does what He promises, even if it seems He is
slow in doing so. "God is faithful…. and the one
who trusts in Him will never be put to shame." (1 Cor. 1:9; 1 Pet. 2:6)
Let us then believe Him and accept His Word with humility. And may we benefit
from the story of the prophet Noah and the great flood--by imitating Noah who
believed the Word of God when everyone around him refused to believe it and
were destroyed.
This is where we must stop today. We thank you for
listening. In our next lesson, God willing, we will see what became of Noah's
descendants and learn where the many languages of the world come from….
God bless you as you remember this truth from His
Word:
"God is faithful….
and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame." (1 Cor. 1:9; 1 Pet. 2:6)
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