Blog Archives - Created through Him

Created Through Him

Honoring parents

10/11/2013

18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. 20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant (Genesis 9:18-27).

Admittedly this is a difficult passage to understand. Noah was not acting as he should have and evidently Canaan behaved in a shameful way. It is hard to tell exactly what Canaan did, from the words it seems a bit trivial, but evidently it was a big deal. Noah’s reaction was harsh. The reaction it seems was aimed at the fact that Canaan did not honor his father. Though it would be 1000s of years before the Commandments of God were given to Moses clearly the idea of honoring father and mother were present from antiquity.

Rainbow

10/10/2013

8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. 11 And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow 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; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth (Genesis 9:8-17).

A covenant is a promise. In these verses we read of the covenant that God made with Noah. That covenant was that a flood would never destroy all creatures again. The sign of the covenant was a rainbow. The sign was set as a reminder. The reminder is one of hope. Hope is for things yet to come and promises yet to be fulfilled. The hope of the rainbow is the Lord Jesus Christ: high and lifted up, standing in the light of His glory.

The significance of the Image

10/9/2013

5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. 6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. 7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein (Genesis 5-7).

The significance of Man being created in the image of God is evident in these verses. Man is so special of a creation that God made Man in His own image. Image is a reflection or a representation of the original. So, Man as a special creation of God is unique and wonderful. Therefore, anything that tarnishes Man tarnishes God. And if Man’s actions are the cause of problem, then those actions are wrong and must be avoided.

Image bearer

10/8/2013

4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. 6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man (Genesis 9:4-6).

God desires Man to value life. It is God that gives life and it is for God to take life. So Man is to cherish life and protect life especially the life of fellow man. God reminds us in these verses that we were created in the image of God. As the image bearer, we are to be representatives of God in this world. There is no higher calling.

Change after the flood

10/7/2013

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. 3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things (Genesis 9:1-3).

After the flood God reinstated the command for dominion over creation. He did this so Man would prosper and multiply on the earth. This dominion though was for this set purpose and not to waste resources or animal life. Man did became a meat-eater after the flood. Prior to the flood, God likely desired mankind to be vegetarian. Genesis 9:3 is the first verse in bible granting permission for Man to eat animal flesh.

Noah bult an alter to the Lord

10/6/2013

18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. 20 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. 22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8:18-22).

Noah’s reaction to being saved from the flood was to worship God. This response pleased God. God in turn promises, that as long as the earth remains, never again will the earth and all living things be destroyed. But notice too that God still states that Man is often against God, He is not excusing this but merely declaring that His response will not be to the destroy the earth. Judgment though is not eliminated. We now know that God desires is to restore mankind to Himself and therefore save Man from judgment through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Be fruitful and multiply

10/5/2013

14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. 15 And God spake unto Noah, saying, 16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. 17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth (Genesis 8:14-17).

God’s desire was for creation to start anew after the flood. The command was to be fruitful and multiply. Can you imagine being one of only 8 people on the whole earth? The earth too would look much different than it did just months before. It was literally like starting over. All that was once known had vanished. But there too must have been hope; hope for a new future.

Details

10/4/2013

4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. 6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: 7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. 8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; 9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. 10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. 12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. 13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry (Genesis 8:4-13).

There is a lot of detail here on process of how the waters receded. Additionally there is a very detailed description of time. The detail is provided so future generations would have a frame of reference. This was a real event and the detailed account is from an eyewitness, Noah. And while Noah clearly did not write the manuscripts we have of Genesis, the eyewitness account was passed down verbally for generations. We see flood accounts (although differing in actual facts) in almost all ancient civilizations. Why: because the flood occurred and people talked about it for many generations.

Once the waters abated

10/3/2013

1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged; 2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; 3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated (Genesis 8:1-3).

It took a period of time for the waters to recede. It is important to realize that not all the water for the flood came from rain. There was a tremendous amount of water from beneath the earth’s surface. The shear amount of water changed the earth’s topography. Additionally, the evaporation of the water would have led to significant cooling of the earth’s atmosphere resulting in a post-flood ice age.

A fearful thing

10/2/2013

18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days (Genesis 7:18-24).

Water covered the whole earth including the mountains during the flood. The flood caused massive destruction, death, and rapid burial of debris. Millions of creatures and people were destroyed in a very short period of time. It is a fearful thing to be under judgment by God. Only Noah and his family survived the flood. There is just no way of rectifying this situation with our idea fairness. But God is just and therefore all His actions, no matter how disagreeable they are to us, are holy.

Created Through Him