Genesis Sermons (written)

Genesis 10:6-20
The Table of Nations, Part 2
The Sons of Ham

 When I first started typing the sermon we did last week, it was while a friend was in the hospital. She emailed me with the times she’d be in her room so that I could visit and I emailed back and said,

“I’m starting the sermon on Genesis 10 today and I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to come by to visit. There are a lot of names, but not a lot of other information. I think it’s going to take forever to get through this chapter with an entire sermon.”

What I thought would be an uneventful sermon covering the entire chapter, turned into being last week’s sermon on five verses. And I left out so much that I can’t believe the Lord would be happy with the presentation unless I go revisit those verses again someday.

I feel like I committed a crime by passing through them so quickly. And if I stick to the schedule I’ve planned, we will be doing the line of Ham today and the line of Shem next week and then moving on. We’re missing so much as we zip along.

Were we to really dig into Chapter 10, we could probably go on for weeks. But move on we will and I pray that you will forgive me in glory when you see how much we’ve missed in these sermons.

Introduction: The line of Ham, Noah’s youngest son, has been the subject of an immense amount of abuse and people have tried to justify slavery based on Noah’s curse of this line. The African people descend from Ham and past scholars used this logic to account for why it was acceptable to own slaves from there.

But the curse was one of servant hood, not abusive slavery. Overall, Ham is the great ignored figure of Noah’s blessing and the people groups who make up the sons of Ham remain relatively outside of the main scope of the world’s attention, despite being the talent behind many amazing inventions and achievements.

Text Verse: After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9, 10

Precious souls from all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues will stand before the throne of God and worship. Let’s remember that as we arrogantly look down on our fellow man and…

May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I.  The Curse of Canaan

“Cursed be Canaan;
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.”

Ham, if you remember, did a reprehensible and offensive thing to Noah. But God had already blessed Ham, and so instead of cursing his youngest son he turned and cursed his youngest son’s youngest son. This curse symbolically covers the entire line of Ham in the Bible, but it is especially directed at the line of Canaan.

⁶ The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

More space is used in Chapter 10 to describe the line of Ham than either of the other brothers, Shem or Japheth. For this reason, it’s important to know who these people became and how they affect both God’s people in the Bible and future prophecy.

Ham means “passionate” or “hot” but it can also mean “burnt” or “dark.” Both of these descriptions perfectly fit the people who descended from him. Most of the darker people of the world including the Australoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid peoples descend from him. However, other dark groups of people are found in both the lines of Shem and Japheth.

The first of Ham’s sons who is listed is Cush. His name means “black” and today Cush is known as Ethiopia. The people of Cush were spread out as far as Arabia too. Moses’ wife was called a Cushite or an Ethiopian even though she was from Midian and so the two people were mixed by that time.

The second son listed is Mizraim which means “double straits” and they became the people of Egypt, both in upper and lower Egypt. After him, Put is listed. His name means “a bow” and we’ve seen them rise onto the world stage once again in the past months due to the war in Libya.

The Libyans come from Put along with other North African groups such as those in Cyrene, Tunisia, the Berbers, Somalians, Sudanese, etc. For the most part, they’ve been a troublesome group of people to the world in many ways and the name “a bow” is most fitting for their warlike attitude.

⁷ The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

Here, we have five sons of Cush listed. In the next verse we’ll see another. They’re divided up and named based on their importance to the story of the Bible. Out of the five sons listed in this verse, only one has the names of his sons listed too – Raamah. His sons are Sheba and Dedan.

Once again, these are listed because they are relevant to the biblical story and how they will interact with God’s people. There may have been lots of others born to these sons of Ham, but only these are listed because of that. These sons and grandsons spread all around the borders of Israel. They go from North Africa, around Arabia, and as far as the area of Iran today.

In a beautiful example of God’s faithfulness to the line of Cush we read in the book of Jeremiah, about one of his descendants, an Ethiopian eunuch named Ebed-Melech, who saved Jeremiah’s life by getting him out of a dungeon full of mud.

It was so bad that Jeremiah had actually sunk into the mud, so this eunuch went to the king to get permission to pull him out. In order to get him up, they had to put worn out clothes and rags under his armpit and it took thirty men to pull on the ropes.

Because of what he did, in the next chapter, God remembered Ebed-Melech during the horrible siege and eventual overthrow of Jerusalem –

“Go and speak to Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will bring My words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you. ¹⁷ But I will deliver you in that day,” says the Lord, “and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸ For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Me,” says the Lord.’”

And you might remember last week that I mentioned that the very first descendant of Ham to receive Jesus in the book of Acts was also from the line of Cush. He was the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts chapter 8 who worked for the Candace, Queen of the Ethopians.

⁸ Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.”

Along with his other sons, Cush begot Nimrod. This is an enigmatic figure mentioned only a couple times in the Bible and his name means “we shall rebel” and comes from the word marad which specifically means to rebel.

The word marad is used in three ways – either rebelling against God, rebelling against a king’s authority, or in one instance to rebel against the light. It is Job who speaks of it in the last way and it’s possible he was thinking of Nimrod and his descendants and their spiritual rebellion against God –

“There are those who rebel against the light;
They do not know its ways
Nor abide in its paths.
¹⁴ The murderer rises with the light;
He kills the poor and needy;
And in the night he is like a thief.
¹⁵ The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
Saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
And he disguises his face.
¹⁶ In the dark they break into houses
Which they marked for themselves in the daytime;
They do not know the light.

The Bible says Nimrod, “began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD.” He is the first active figure mentioned of all of the Noah’s grandsons. Up to this point, we’ve only had names and places mentioned, but now we get real details on an individual.

There are two general ideas about what being a “mighty hunter” means. The first is that he hunted animals like we do today and that he cleared the land of them in order to establish a place that was suitable to live in… not likely.

The second, and more probable idea, is that he became a leader and gathered people under his command in order to make himself a ruler of the area he would settle. He was a mighty hunter before, or literally, in the face of the Lord.

This certainly means that he rebelled against the Lord and against spiritual authority and this is the picture that the Bible sets for him. Just like Cain before the flood, he has established a line separate from God and has gone into rebellion against Him.

¹⁰ And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. ¹¹ From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, ¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).

Nimrod was a mighty hunter, but he was also a mighty builder, and a mighty leader. Like Cain who established the first recorded city and culture, it is Nimrod who follows this same path after the flood. The line of Cain, though wiped out in the flood, is symbolically alive and kicking in this guy, Nimrod.

There are several ancient writings that speak of Nimrod. One of them says, “He was mighty in hunting… and in sin before God, for he was a hunter of the children of men in their languages; and he said unto them, ‘Depart from the religion of Shem, and cleave to the institutes of Nimrod.’”

Another writing says: “From the foundation of the world none was ever found like Nimrod, powerful in hunting, and in rebellions against the Lord.”

These writings aren’t biblical, they both show us that the belief from ages past that Nimrod fought against the true faith revealed in nature and by his fathers before him.

The word which is used for “hunter” signifies prey. It is used when talking about hunting men by persecution, oppression, and tyranny. And it’s likely then that he acquired power and used it in tyrannical oppression to establish the first kingdom after the flood.

So what is it about Nimrod that makes the list of people suddenly stop and highlight him? It’s not only because of who he was, but more importantly what he did and the cities he founded. His rebellion against God established the land of wickedness which will come into play throughout the rest of the Bible.

From this point on, even to Revelation, there will be two cities of major importance which reflect two concepts. The first is Jerusalem, the city of peace and wholeness. It is the city where God dwells and righteousness reigns.

The other is Babylon, which means “confusion.” It is in Shinar and is the city in spiritual opposition to God. It is where evil and wickedness reigns. Babylon is east of Jerusalem. When man was sent out of Eden and away from God’s presence it was to the east.

When the Israelites were in fellowship, or at peace with God, they possessed the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem, but when they were disobedient, they were cast out of the land to the east, to Babylon in the land of Shinar.

But Babylon isn’t just a place; it is also a concept of spiritual rebellion against God. The second exile of the Jews was by the Romans. In his first letter, Peter writes from Rome, but says this –

She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

God is telling us in His word that the Babylon of the future, the one mentioned as the great Harlot in the book of Revelation will be centered in Rome, right where the Vatican now stands. At some point, probably after the rapture, the city of Rome will become the leader of all spiritual opposition to God and direct the forces of evil against Jerusalem, the city of Peace.

This will certainly include an alliance with the people who live in the actual plain of Shinar today, the muslims. This merging of the world’s apostate religions will come against God’s people, Israel, in an attempt to destroy them from the earth.

II. A Servant of Servants He Shall Be

¹⁵ Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth; ¹⁶ the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; ¹⁷ the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite; ¹⁸ the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite.

I said earlier that more space is used in Chapter 10 to describe the line of Ham than either of the other brothers, Shem or Japheth. And of all of the sons of Ham, more space is used to describe the Canaanites than any of Ham’s other sons.

This is because they settled in the lands directly in and around where Israel is and so they will have the greatest effect on the people of God. Canaan means “merchant” or “servant.”

Eleven groups of people descend from Canaan. Remember, it is Canaan who received the curse of servitude from Noah and these are the accursed descendants of him. Despite this, we see later in the Bible that grace is found even towards some of these people.

Knowing who these people are helps us to understand the avenues the Bible travels as we read through it. To neglect this chapter and these particular names leaves us misunderstanding a lot of what God has done through the people of the world and so we pass over them too quickly at our own loss.

Three examples from the Old Testament of people from the line of Canaan who found the Lord’s grace are recorded in the women who would be named in Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew chapter 1.

Of the five women mentioned in that genealogy, only Mary is an Israelite. Ruth was from Moab which was from the line of Shem, and the three others are from the line of Canaan.

The first is Tamar who was the daughter-in-law of Judah and who fathered his sons Perez and Zerah. Despite the scandal, Judah said she was more righteous than he was in the affair that occurred.

The second is Rahab the harlot of Jericho who hid the spies of Israel and was brought into the people of Israel when she married Salmon. The two of them would have a son named Boaz who would become the great grandfather of King David.

And the third comes from the account of David and Bathsheba. Bathsheba was married to Uriah the Hittite, one of the sons of Heth, who was the second son of Canaan. Despite the what occurred, God’s grace was bestowed on Bathsheba and she was brought from this line into the line of Shem.

In the New Testament, an example comes from Mark 7 –

Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”
²³ But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”
²⁴ But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶ But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” ²⁷ And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

The grace of the Lord Jesus was given to a woman from the line of Ham and from the children of Canaan because she was a woman of great faith.

And I brought up Simon of Cyrene last week. He was the one who carried Jesus’ cross. Here is the account –

Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross. ²² And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.

And it’s very likely that this son of Canaan not only served Jesus, but became a servant of Jesus. In Paul’s closing comments to the Romans, he writes this – “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.” It is believed that the Rufus mentioned here is the same Rufus who was the son of Simon who carried the cross.

Simon then was the ultimate fulfillment of Noah’s words of curse – “a servant of servants you shall be.” Jesus, the Suffering Servant, was served by this son of Canaan who carried His cross for Him, even to Golgotha where all curses find their termination.

And whenever I read this account, I remember what happened between Peter and Jesus on the night He was betrayed –

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?”
Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.”
³⁷ Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.”
³⁸ Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.

Simon of Cyrene the son of Canaan replaced Simon Peter the son of Shem who promised Jesus he would even go to death with Him.

I said earlier that we could spend weeks on the names and people listed in today’s verses. But in order to reach the end of the Bible sometime this century we’ll have to pass over a lot of them. Pay attention to the tribes of the people as you read the Bible and you will find riches and treasures there about the three sons of Noah.

Let me ask you a question though not just about the line of Ham, but specifically the line of Canaan. Of the 11 groups of people who came from him can any of you tell me where the Jebusites settled, what city of biblical importance they held, or the name an important Jebusite?

Jerusalem was settled by the Jebusites and even after they were almost completely driven out during the conquest of Canaan, there remained a Jebusite presence there until the time of David.

The name Jebus means “treading down” or “threshing place” and surprisingly this name becomes a prophecy of the point in history when David buys the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

This became the spot where Solomon’s temple would be built and is the exact same place that almost 1000 years earlier Abraham went to offer his son Isaac. It is also the spot where the TempleMount stands today and which is the single most contested piece of real estate on earth.

If you understand who these people are in Chapter 10, you can understand so very much more about our past, where we are going, and how we will get there.

¹⁸ (con’t)….Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed. ¹⁹ And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

These locations are given to indicate that the Canaanites settled in the land that would eventually be given to Abraham and then to his son Isaac and then to his son Israel. It is generally showing that they filled the land from north to south and from east to west. These cities will be mentioned again as the Bible continues.

²⁰ These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations.

As you can see, the Hamites and the Canaanites figure prominently in the Bible. Many of these people groups were destroyed in conquests and battles, but many of them survive partially intact or after having interbred with other people groups. The accomplishments of these people have been immense and today Ham’s children fill the earth.

III. The Hamites Near You

I was flipping through the TV a while back, and at our house that doesn’t take long. We have about 15 channels and most of them are pretty terrible. But in hopes of finding something worthwhile, and knowing it wouldn’t be on the Christian channel, I clicked down the line.

I came to an education channel and there was this guy talking about Mayan hieroglyphs. I thought, “BO-RING,” but I stopped for a sec anyway. I figured it would be some crazy nonsense about how Mayans have predicted the end of the world or something.

Instead it was Dr. Mark Van Stone who is a Professor of Art History at SouthwesternCollege. He not only reads hieroglyphs, but writes them out too. He did a general greeting to the producer of the show in Mayan and it took an immense amount of labor and care and very special pens to get it just right.

To me, it was one of the most fascinating 10 minutes I’ve spent outside of the Bible in eons. As I watched him write and enunciate each character, I thought “This guy has dedicated his life to something that most people would simply pass by without a second thought.”

Here is this ancient language and ancient writing and a man from the sons of Japheth is keeping it alive. You see, the Mayans come from the line of Ham and all of their great achievements indirectly reflect a part of this third son of Noah. Along with the Mayans, the Aztecs, the Incas, the Babylonians etc. come from Ham.

So what does it mean to be a “servant of servants” in the context of the curse pronounced by Noah? Well, like I said, the curse was on Canaan, but it reflects itself in the entire line of Ham. The line of Shem is God’s servant in the spiritual sense and the line of Japheth is God’s servant in an intellectual way.

The line of Ham however, has provided physical service and invention to the world and therefore, what they have produced has served both Shem and Japheth. In other words, Ham has been a servant of servants.

Two of the great ancient empires of the world, the Egyptians and the Sumerians were from Ham. The sea-going Phoenicians descended from Ham. The African tribes and the Chinese and Japanese people all descend from Ham as do the American Indian tribes which moved from the direction of Asia.

Ham’s sons were the original great explorers, travelling to all parts of the world. They were the first people to cultivate food staples like corn, potatoes, beans, and so on. The Japanese people have made amazing developments in plant grafting and pollination.

Most of the basic forms and types of building structures, and the materials and tools for building have come from the line of Ham. They developed many types of fabrics and sewing and weaving techniques and devices.

Medicines and surgical instruments and practices going back for eons came from Ham’s line as do most concepts of practical mathematics, surveying, and navigation. Banks, postal systems, commerce, machinery, and trade money came from them too.

And paper development, ink for writing, block printing, movable type, and many other writing and communication skills come from them. The further back you go, we find that almost every basic system or device that we use for living and for making life convenient come from one of the sons of Ham.

In this sense, they have been mankind’s servants in fulfillment of the ancient prophecy of Noah. However and despite this, almost all of their inventive skills have come to a certain point and stopped. Eventually, the sons of Japheth or Shem step in and refine them and make them more useful.

And something else… just as we had an interesting flood story in the line of Japheth last week, we have one in the line of Ham too. The Chinese have a tradition that their first king, Fohi, which is Chinese for Noah, appeared on the mountains of Chin which was surrounded by a rainbow after the world was covered with water.

He sacrificed animals to God, just like the Genesis story. And he had a great grandson named Sin, which again perfectly matches the Bible. The Sinites, named after Canaan’s son Sin, lived at exactly the time that the Chinese culture developed. Even today the Chinese culture is called the Sino culture after Sin.

Another flood tradition within the Chinese culture comes from the Miao tribe of southwest China. It’s said that before they were ever visited by missionaries, they believed that God had once destroyed the entire world by flood because of man’s wickedness, but He saved a righteous man named Nuah, his wife, and their three sons.

Nuah’s sons names were Lo Han (Ham), Lo Shen (Shem), and Yah-hu or Japheth. They and pairs of animals were all saved by building a giant ship.

The Chinese also have a Book of History known as the Shu Jing which was compiled by Confucius. This book speaks about an Emperor Shun who ruled about 2200BC when the first dynasty began. He worshipped and sacrificed a bull to Shang Di or the Heavenly Ruler.

Shang Di corresponds to Shaddai who the Almighty of the Bible. Apparently, these sacrifices to Shang Di went on until 1911 when the last Chinese emperor was deposed.

Of all of those who descend from the line of Ham, three in particular have had a huge affect on my own life. You see, the prettiest Hamites around are my wife Hideko and my daughter Tangerine.

Both of them, along with my son, Thorr, are the Hamites closest to me. And like so many from their line over the centuries, God has shown grace and favor on each of them.

The wonderful story of the Bible is that despite whom we are, or where we come from, God looks at us all the same when we call on Jesus Christ as Lord. It doesn’t matter what our color is, where we were born, how much money we have, or any other thing.

All of us are or were enemies of God, but He reaches out His hands to us through His word which tells of Jesus. Jesus lived the perfect life that no one has ever lived and He was willing to give that life up for any who call on His name. We are all either sons of Shem, sons of Ham, or sons of Japheth. And they are all sons of Noah and Noah came from Adam.

We bear Adam’s guilt and Jesus wants to take it away from us. Let me tell you how He will do it for you…

The Line of Ham

Noah’s youngest son had the name of Ham
He displeased his father doing a disgraceful thing
This put his life into a real jamb
And on his youngest son, a curse it would bring

The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan
From these four groups Ham’s line has spread around the world
Cush had six sons to carry his name on
And so his seed spread as his descendant’s lines unfurled

Cush begot Nimrod, a mighty one on the earth
He was a mighty hunter before the Lord
He did great things, but his actions brought a dearth
To the spiritual life of many sons of Noah’s horde

The beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh
These cities he built in the frightful land of Shinar
And from that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh
And also Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen he built them near and far

Mizraim became the people where Egypt is now
And they grew into six more groups as the years passed
From these came the Philistines who pestered Israel… somehow!
By them the Israelites were continuously harassed

Canaan, the one to whom Noah directed his curse
Became eleven groups of peoples that settled in the Land
They spread around, never fearing the worse
But were eventually displaced by Israel, and God’s mighty hand

Despite being a servant of servants and the unfavored son
The line of Ham, great things they have done

And many of these people did our precious Jesus save
Because for all of Noah’s sons, His life He gave

People from Ham’s line all around earth
Celebrate Jesus’ victory at the cross of Calvary
And of Jesus’ name, they too proclaim His worth
Jesus is the Savior of all the people, you see

And to this day we remember Simon of Cyrene
Who carried the Lord’s cross up that hill of Calvary
A servant of the Servant, is how Simon is seen
The ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy

And for me, what a blessing the line of Ham has been
My wife and children all came from this line
But like so many others, they were washed from every sin
When they called out in faith, “Yes, Jesus is mine.”

Thank You Lord for grace upon the people of the earth
May we ever sing Your praise and of Your infinite worth

Hallelujah and Amen…

Next we’ll finish Chapter 10 with – Genesis 10:21-32, The Table of Nations, Part 3, The Sons of Shem

 

Genesis 10:1-5
The Table of Nations, Part 1
The Sons of Japheth

Chapter 10 of Genesis is a lot like Chapter 5 in one respect. It lists names of people and it includes just a little bit of other minor information coming along with those names. For this reason, it’s often passed through quickly and without a lot of study or thought. But it’s been placed in the Bible by God and therefore it is something we should deem as important as He does.

This chapter is the last time that all of the people of the world are listed together in a family type of arrangement. Many of the people groups mentioned here though will show up again in the Bible, particularly in future prophecy.

So understanding who these people were and where they migrated to can help us to understand who is being spoken of in prophecy, including future battles.

Without this knowledge, the events of the world today seem unpredictable and frightening, but knowing who these people became reveals to us that God is in complete control of all things, including our present trying times and the future which we are rushing headlong into.

I hope you’ll allow me a couple minutes to read Martin Luther’s thoughts on this chapter –

“Whenever I read these names, I think of the wretched state of the human race. Even though we have the most excellent gift of reason, we are nevertheless so overwhelmed by misfortunes that we are ignorant not only of our own origin and the lineal descent of our ancestors but even of God Himself, our Creator. Look into the historical accounts of all nations. If it were not for Moses alone, what would you know about the origin of man?…

Of this wretched state, that is, of our awful blindness, we are reminded by the passage before us, which gives us instruction about things that are unknown to the whole world. What do we have about the very best part of the second world besides words, not to mention the first one, which antedated the Flood? The Greeks wanted to have the account of their activities preserved, the Romans likewise; but how insignificant this is in comparison with the earlier times, concerning which Moses has drawn up a list of names in this passage, not of deeds!

Hence one must consider this chapter of Genesis a mirror in which to discern what we human beings are, namely, creatures so marred by sin that we have no knowledge of our own origin, not even of God Himself, our Creator, unless the Word of God reveals these sparks of divine light to us from afar. Then what is more futile than boasting of one’s wisdom, riches, power, and other things that pass away completely?

Therefore we have reason to regard the Holy Bible highly and to consider it a most precious treasure. This very chapter, even though it is considered full of dead words, has in it the thread that is drawn from the first world to the middle and to the end of all things. From Adam the promise concerning Christ is passed on to Seth; from Seth to Noah; from Noah to Shem; and from Shem to this Eber, from whom the Hebrew nation received its name as the heir for whom the promise about the Christ was intended in preference to all other peoples of the whole world. This knowledge the Holy Scriptures reveal to us. Those who are without them live in error, uncertainty, and boundless ungodliness; for they have no knowledge about who they are and whence they came.”

Introduction: Martin Luther correctly came to the conclusion that this chapter contains the thread which started at creation and will continue until eternity. Without this link, there would be a tear in the fabric of our understanding about the things of God and the redemption of man. Because of this, we need to spend some time in chapter 10 and not hurry through it.

Text Verse: So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Deuteronomy 8:3

Every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD includes passages which may seem tedious, but they contain deep riches of wisdom and truth. So, …

May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. The Blessings and the Curse

¹Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.

This is now the fourth set of generations or genealogies that the Bible has given us. So far we’ve seen the generations of the heavens and the earth in Genesis 2; the generations of Adam in Genesis 5; the generations of Noah in Genesis 6; and now we’ve come to those of the sons of Noah.

Noah, which means “rest” safely came to the other side of the flood and received his rest. But from him came three sons, all of which were named in anticipation of growth. Shem means “name or fame” indicating he would expand and become well known.

Ham means “hot or passion” indicating anything but idleness, and Japheth means “to expand or enlarge.” The world was going to move in many directions and these three sons would be the fathers of that human movement. In this chapter, the world will be divided into seventy nation groups. This then, is the table of the nations.

Before going any further, let’s go back and look at the blessings and curse that were given by Noah to his sons. These will come into clarity of focus in the world, even as we know it today. And also from them will come many interesting biblical patterns.

Here is Noah’s curse and blessings as we heard them the week before Palm Sunday –

Cursed be Canaan;
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.”

Because of what Noah’s youngest son Ham did, Ham’s youngest son Canaan was cursed. After this Shem and Japheth are mentioned, but Ham isn’t. Noah’s sons are listed here in chapter 10 and elsewhere in the Bible in order as Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Noah’s blessing to Shem said, “Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant.” Rather than directly blessing Shem, Noah says, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem.” The blessing then is a spiritual one.

And the line of Shem since then has been the main spiritual line of man, including all three of the world’s monotheistic religions, Christianity, Judaism, and islam. Regardless of the validity of the religion, the spiritual nature of the people has continued for over 4000 years.

Ham is the second son and received no blessing or curse directly. Only his son was cursed, but implied in the curse of Canaan is the family of Ham in general. The curse is that they would be servants to their brothers.

The line of Ham, as we will explore in greater detail next week, has truly been the servants to the world in several ways. From the line of Ham have come the great technological and physical achievements of the earth. They are the great artisans and builders.

And finally, Japheth is mentioned last. In his blessing, Noah said, “May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.”

Today we will see how accurately this was fulfilled in the line of Japheth, in both a literal and a spiritual sense. From Japheth have come the great scientific and philosophical achievements of humanity.

In a previous Genesis sermon we saw that in the book of Acts, the same order in which these three sons are mentioned is the same order in which salvation through Christ came to the people of the world. The sons of Shem include Israel, and they received Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts Chapter 2.

The sons of Ham came next when the Ethiopian eunuch received Christ and was baptized in chapter 8 of Acts. And finally, the sons of Japheth were represented in chapter 10 when Cornelius the Italian received Christ together with his family.

But in what is an equally amazingly pattern each of these three groups specifically came seeking Jesus at one time or another and when they do, they are mentioned in this same order – Shem, Ham, and then Japheth. The three groups who seek Him are shepherds, wise men, and Greeks.

The shepherds who sought Jesus at His birth in Luke 2 were sons of Shem. The Magi in Matthew 2, came seeking Him some time later and were probably sons of Ham from Arabia. And finally, the Greeks who sought Jesus in John 12 were from Japheth.

And then again, we can look and find another biblical pattern which follows these three sons and the achievements of their descendants. It is reflected in the order of the three synoptic gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

These three accounts are amazingly similar and yet they contain different information and are directed to different audiences. And these audiences are in the order of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Matthew is obviously directed to the sons of Shem – the Semites, and in particular the Jewish people. In Mark, Jesus is depicted as the servant, just as the people of Ham are noted as the servant people of the world. And there is no doubt who Luke is directed to – the Greek mind, which comes from the line of Japheth.

If you’ve ever wondered how the gospel of Jesus can affect people from every culture, every race, and every ethnic group, it’s because it is directed in various ways to the people of the world, all who came from one of these three sons of Noah. The gospel is a message for all the people of the world and a message of hope which can connect with the thought process of any mind.

And if these wonderful points so far weren’t enough, there is yet another beautiful picture of the universality of the message of Jesus and His work accomplished on the cross of Calvary. It is prominently displayed in the crucifixion account where each of these three branches of mankind took part in His crucifixion.

The sons of Shem were morally and spiritually responsible for His death. They sold Him, they tried Him, they convicted Him, and they handed Him over. As they did, they cried out, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.”

Ham was represented there too. Simon of Cyrene acted as the servant, just as Noah prophesied, when he carried the physical burden of the cross for Jesus, leading him to the Place of the Skull where He would be crucified and die.

And Japheth was there as well. His sons were given the executive responsibility for what occurred when Pilate tried Him and the Roman soldiers actually pierced His body through with the nails and the spear.

From what may have seemed like an innocuous sentence about three sons of Noah in an otherwise mundane seeming chapter of the Bible come patterns and parallels which show us both the immense wisdom of God and the wonderful love of Him for all the people of the world who seek Him out.

II. May God Enlarge Japheth

² The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³ The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. ⁵ From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

Despite being mentioned in the first verse as Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the lineage of Japheth is given first now because he was the firstborn of Noah and possibly also because he was the group of people furthest removed geographically from the Israelites and therefore the people who would have the least immediate affect on them from a biblical perspective.

In this account, fifteen names are mentioned including Japheth, seven sons of Japheth, and seven grandsons.

Some of these names are mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and even in the book of Revelation as people who will come against Israel in the future. In the case of Ezekiel 38, the battles may actually occur in our lifetime… and maybe even in the next few years.

These sons of Japheth became the coastland peoples of the Gentiles. Because of this, they would more easily branch out around the world than Noah’s other sons. From the coastlines, they would become the great sea-going adventurers of the world.

Early on, the descendants of Japheth, also known as the Aryans, split into two main groups. One group settled in the direction of Europe and the other went towards India. These groups, although varying widely in skin tone, are of the same basic stock of people.

What’s really nifty about these two divisions of Japheth is that even apart from the Bible, they both trace their ancestry back to Japheth. The Greeks claim an ancestor named Iapetos. A name which is extremely similar to the Hebrew name Yapeth.

In India, they have their own flood account which is has many parallels to the biblical one. The great hero of their account is a guy named Satyaurata and he had three sons. The name of the oldest son is Iyapeti, again a name amazingly close to Yapeth.

The other two brothers were named Sharma and C’harma (Shem and Ham, or as Ham is pronounced in Hebrew Cham). This story says that C’harma was cursed by his father because he laughed at him when he got drunk. If that’s not the biblical story in a nutshell, I don’t know what kind of nutshell you’re trying to crack.

There is no doubt that what is given in Genesis 10 is truly the Word of God telling us the amazing details of real people and real matters concerning the beginnings of the post flood world.

Because the sons of Japheth are the predominant people of India and Europe, they are therefore the source of most American families and groups as well. As you can see, the sons of Japheth have widely enlarged over the centuries, thus fulfilling the meaning of his name – to enlarge.

But the enlargement isn’t just physical and geographical in nature. It also includes enlargement in the scientific, philosophical, intellectual, and spiritual disciplines as well.

The descendants of Japheth have been at the forefront of scientific understanding, rivaled only by the sons of Shem. History is replete with names like Newton, Pasteur, Galileo, Lavoisier, Kepler, Copernicus, Faraday, and on an on. All of these and so many more have fulfilled the blessing pronounced on Japheth so long ago. Even Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are from the line of Japheth.

In the curiously intellectual realm, it’s evident that most of those who developed the great philosophic disciplines and the most noted philosophers since then are from Japheth. And they continue to be dominated by this group of people.

The Greeks in particular began the western concepts of philosophy. Such great early classical philosophers like Thales, Pythagoras, Xenophanes, and Plato led into great minds like Parmenides, Protagoras, Socrates, Euclid, and Aristotle.

Later came the Hellenistic and Roman Philosophers and then the Western Medieval, Early Modern and Modern Philosophers, the majority of which are of the sons of Japheth. These great minds developed because of an ancient blessing by Noah on Japheth.

There’s one more extremely important point to make about the sons of Japheth. The blessing on him didn’t stop with the thought of “enlargement.”

Remember what else Noah said about him, “And may he dwell in the tents of Shem.” This isn’t speaking of literally dwelling in tents, so it must be relevant to the first portion of the blessing.

Dr. Arthur Custance, from Toronto, noted that Japheth dwelling in Shem’s tents means that he would come to share in the same inheritance as Shem – the spiritual one… carrying on the message of the cross of Jesus. If you understand what I just said, then you can understand the Bible in an entirely new way.

After the Jewish people rejected Christ, the spiritual banner of humanity which is the Christian message, was moved from Shem to Japheth. This isn’t just a leap into speculation either. The Bible elsewhere speaks of dwelling in another’s tent in this manner.

It is this group of people – the sons of Japheth – who has, for 2000 years held the spiritual primacy of the doctrines of Christ. And in a marriage which has proven to complete the message the scientific and philosophical doctrines of Japheth have been united to the theological message given to us by the sons of Shem.

In other words, it is the philosophy of people like Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas which has allowed us to grasp the nature of what the Bible speaks of in matters like the Trinity. This and many other concepts only come into clear focus from what the line of Japheth has brought us through philosophy. God makes no mistakes.

Those of you who listened to my sermon on Genesis 1:1 might remember what I’m talking about. How can we understand the nature of God who is revealed in the Bible? By understanding the concepts derived by the sons of Japheth. Noah’s blessing upon Japheth is amazing when we see how it is literally fulfilled in this way.

Dr. Custance is exactly right about his conclusion. But to complete the thought about Japheth dwelling in Shem’s tents, we need to stand back even further and look at how God both started and will complete His message to the world – through the Jewish people.

Dwelling in the tents of someone means that they encircle you. And the Bible, without any doubt, shows that the Jewish people will again be the focus of the world’s spiritual attention, thus fulfilling the encircling effect of Shem around Japheth.

Let’s stand back and look at the Bible from the widest angle possible. The line of the Messiah is established in Genesis with the son of Adam named Seth, then through Noah, and then through Shem. It then runs down through the Jewish people all the way to the end of the Gospel of John.

After John comes the book of Acts, the first 12 chapters of which are focused particularly on Peter who is the Apostle to the Jews. From chapter 13 until the end of Acts, the book is focused on the work of Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. At this point the spiritual banner is being handed over to the sons of Japheth.

The book of Acts begins in Jerusalem speaking to the Jews and ends in Rome with these words, “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”

After Acts and its end in Rome, the next 13 epistles are written by Paul, specifically to the gentile people. After these letters though, the direction changes completely. The next book is called “Hebrews” and is written again to the Jewish people. After Hebrews comes James who writes to the 12 tribes scattered abroad.

The next two are written by Peter, the apostle to the Jews. From there are 1, 2, & 3 John which carry on the style and form of the Gospel of John. After John comes Jude which is almost a repetition of the words of Peter. These 8 letters from Hebrews to Jude lean toward the tent of Shem and serve a transitional purpose of leading up to the book of Revelation.

In Revelation, the first three chapters deal with the church, but from chapter 4 through 19 it deals solely with Israel and the end times. Finally, in chapter 19, Christ returns to Israel with the church and the book finishes off after three chapters of future events which combine the physical and spiritual. We see there the final merging of God’s people from both Jew and Gentile.

In other words, when one stands back and looks at the overall picture, the sons of Japheth, meaning the Church, truly dwell in the tents of Shem, being encompassed on all sides by his spiritual tent. It is the message of redemption found in the Person of Jesus, the greatest of all the descendants of Shem and our Lord and Savior.

III. The Japhethites Near You…

Although, this might be a bit easier with a chart in front of you, I want to give you the names of Japheth’s line again with the modern equivalent of who those people are. By doing this, you’ll see where they generally ended up in people groups.

Gomer – Germany, Crimea, Cambria, Celts

*Ashkenaz – Germany, Saxons, Scandinavia

*Riphath – Carpatheians

*Togarmah – Armenians

Magog – Georgia, Scythians

Madai – Medes, Aryans, Indians of India

Javan – Ionians, Greeks, coastlands

*Elishah – Hellas

*Tarshish – Spain

*Kittim – Cyprus

*Dodanim – Rhodes (area of the Black Sea, Dardenelles)

Tubal – Tobolsk

Meshech – Moscow

Tiras – Thrace, Teutons

One thing to remember about biblical names is that they are often groups of people rather than individuals. In other words, when we just read the names Kittim and Dodanim we were reading plural names. That “im” at the end of the word is a plural marker, like our “s.” Some translations even change the name to end with an “s” or an “ite” for our benefit in stead of using the “im.”

So when you see a name like this as you’re reading, they are not the names of individuals, but of clans, families, or tribes. They probably got their name from a main figure within the tribe and that name was then identified with all of the people.

To help you get this, try to remember that when you see an “im” name, it’s like reading something that says, “The Garretts are all really handsome people.” You know it’s speaking of a clan bearing the name of Garrett. But… don’t always believe what you read. Not all Garretts are handsome like me.

I want to take a minute and read a portion of what Ray Stedman has to say about the sons of Japheth. This will help you to mentally understand much of what the Bible will speak of elsewhere.

As I said, what is especially important is how these people are mentioned in prophecies to come, some of which might be fulfilled in the very near future.

“We learn here that Japheth had seven sons, but only two of them are traced for us in any detail: The first son was Gomer. From this word, Gomer, … came the word, Gaul, or Gallic. These are the people, interestingly enough, to whom the New Testament Epistle to the Galatians is written. The Galatians were Gauls. Most of us have a Gallic or Celtic ancestry, and the Gauls and Celts were descendants of Gomer. They migrated to the north and settled in Spain, France and in Britain. From these Gauls come most of the early families of Western Europe and, consequently, of the Americas as well.

The oldest son of Gomer was Ashkenaz. He and his descendants first settled around the Black Sea and then moved north into a land which is called Ascenia, and which later became known as the Islands of Scandia, which we now know as Scandinavia. You can trace a direct link between Ashkenaz and Scandinavia. Another of the sons of Gomer was Riphath. Although we do not know too much about Riphath, we do know that he located in Central Europe, and some scholars feel that the word, Europe, itself comes from this name, Riphath. Another son is Togarmah. This name is easily traced. He was the ancestor of the present-day Turks and Armenians, who also migrated northward into Southern Germany. Certain scholars have felt that the word, Germany, derives from the word, Togarmah. If you drop the first syllable you have the basic root of Germany.

Two others of the sons of Japheth were Madai and Javan. These are easily recognizable in history: The Madai became the Medes, of the famous Medes and Persian Empire. Javan is unquestionably the ancestor of the Greeks. His name, Javan, is still found in Greece in the form of Ionia. The IonicSea and IonianPeninsula all derive from this word Javan. His sons were Elishah, from which we get the Greek word, Helles (the Greeks are still called Hellenes), and Tarshish, whom most scholars associate with Spain; Kittim, which is the Island of Cyprus; and Dodanim, who settled around the Black Sea, and still finds a modern parallel in the word, the Dardanelles. These can all be traced by the geographical titles and place names they left behind.”

To close today’s sermon, I’d like to read you the 120^th Psalm. It mentions dwelling in the tents of Meshech. Like I said, Meshech was a son of Japheth and is the basis for the name Moscow, thus representing Russia. The psalm also mentions Kedar which was a son of Ishmael and therefore a son of Shem.

For 2000 years, the Jewish people were exiled around the world and dwelt in the tents of foreigners, but now God has restored them to their homeland. In His sovereign way, He has faithfully protected and returned His unfaithful people and He will continue to do so as the world comes against them.

Let’s remember to pray for Israel – both the people and the land and to pray for the peace of Jerusalem…because when it comes, it will be under the blessed rule of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In my distress I cried to the Lord,
And He heard me.
² Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips
And from a deceitful tongue.
³ What shall be given to you,
Or what shall be done to you,
You false tongue?
⁴ Sharp arrows of the warrior,
With coals of the broom tree!
⁵ Woe is me, that I dwell in Meshech,
That I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
⁶ My soul has dwelt too long
With one who hates peace.
⁷ I am for peace;
But when I speak, they are for war. Psalm 120

The Line of Japheth

Noah had three sons who came with him on the ark
And they each had a wife to carry on humanity’s life spark

The genealogy of these sons starts in Ch 10 vs 1 of the book
Shem is first and then comes Ham and finally Japheth too
Don’t just read this verse without taking a deeper look
Because these names hold immense and wonderful treasure for you

Shem’s blessing was spiritual and spiritual he would be
Through his line came the very oracles of God
And also through Him came the Messiah for all the world to see
When he came among us, and on the earth He did trod

Ham received no blessing, but his son received a curse
Yes a servant of servants to his brethren he shall be
And the line of Ham fulfilled the words of this verse
Even to Simon of Cyrene who carried the cross to Calvary

Japheth was blessed with enlargement, like the spreading of a tree
And enlargement truly has been found in him
He spread out in science and also in philosophy
Greatness of the mind is the fruit of his tree’s limb

And sons were born to Japheth after the flood
Seven sons he had who now fill all the land
Gomer, Magog, Madai and Javan carry on Japheth’s blood
As do Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras across the world they fanned

And Gomer’s sons are noted in the Genesis account
Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah, Gomer say’s “They’re mine!”
These sons add to Japheth’s total head count
And even till today, we can identify them in Japheth’s line

One other son of Japheth has children noted in the scroll
That son is Javan who had four sons of his own
Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim are counted in the roll
And these sons spread out, their own seed having sown

From this line of Japheth the coastland peoples came
Of the Gentiles they were separated each into their land
Everyone according to his language and his family name
Everyone into their nations directed by the Divine hand

Japheth’s name has grown great, especially in one way
His line became the steward of the Messiah’s name
Bearing His banner and waiting for the day
When the sons of Shem will once again do the same

The time is coming full when Shem’s tents will finally
Finish encompassing Japheth’s bearing of the sword
And to Shem the world’s attention will be directed, you see
Because to Shem will return Jesus, God’s living Word

Everything in due time and as directed by the unseen Hand
And when Jesus returns His Rest will be gloriously grand

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

Genesis 9:8-28
A Rainbow, a Vineyard, a Blessing and a Curse

Although for many people the Bible gets easier to swallow from today’s passage on, there will still be lots of stories that are hard to reconcile. We’ll work through each as we get to it, but in the end, every one of them is given by God and bears the reliability of His truthfulness.

Some of the toughest concepts are now behind us though – we’ve worked through God being the Creator, a literal 6 day creation, the Garden of Eden and the Fall of Man, people living to hundreds of years old, and a worldwide flood.

I’ve asked this before and I’ll ask it again now, what would be the point of God making up these stories? If they’re not true, then what kind of a God are we dealing with? Of course they’re true and God expects us to have faith that they are despite the difficulties they present. He even promises through Isaiah to help us along the way – “Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord.”

I personally believe that there is a far greater reward for a person who believes these stories and lives his life as a plumber than there is for a lifetime of being a pastor, a Bible teacher, a seminary professor, a missionary, or any other job that makes someone appear religious while not believing what’s written here.

I am never more amazed than when I hear a preacher or seminary professor say they don’t believe this or that part of the Bible. I mean, I can’t think of a stupider waste of time or a more pointless existence than spending your whole life not believing the very thing you’ve spent your life doing.

One of the people here, right now, was attending a Sunday morning church a few weeks ago and had some questions about the book of Job, which he was reading at the time. He wanted to know about the great beast known as Leviathan. In Job it says this –

His sneezings flash forth light,
And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
¹⁹ Out of his mouth go burning lights;
Sparks of fire shoot out.
²⁰ Smoke goes out of his nostrils,
As from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
²¹ His breath kindles coals,
And a flame goes out of his mouth

His question was asking if this was really some kind of fire breathing creature like a dragon. The pastor’s response was that the Bible will sometimes use local myths and incorporate them into its writings. In essence, God is accommodating His audience… a polite way of saying the story is just a lie.

If God is using a myth about the Leviathan, maybe David is a myth. Maybe Jeremiah the prophet never existed… maybe Jesus was just a guy born out of wedlock with a human father. At what point do we stand up and say, “It just doesn’t matter? I can’t trust anything the Bible says.”

Introduction: Noah was a real man, the flood really happened, and there really were only 8 people who survived to repopulate the world and begin again. Today we’re going to venture into the post flood world along with Noah and see how things started off.

Remember this lesson about Bible interpretation – if something is recorded in the Bible, it’s there because God wants us to learn from it. It is about His great unfolding plan for the lost human soul. It is a gift and a treasure, so let’s handle it carefully and search it diligently for what He is trying to tell us.

Let’s do all of this to the glory of God, for the education of our minds, and for the encouragement of our souls.

Text Verse: “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn
That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
¹⁰ For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:9-10

May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. A Rainbow

Irving Berlin said, “Blue skies, smiling at me / Nothing but blue skies do I see …”

It took a lot of smart people to figure out why the sky is blue. People had to build on the ideas of other people and eventually we figured it out. Aristotle worked on the problem as did Isaac Newton, and many others. The reason why it took so long and so many really intelligent people were needed to figure it out and get it right is because the solution encompasses so many components.

We needed to understand the colors in sunlight, the angle that solar light travels through the atmosphere, the size of little particles that float in the air even to the atmospheric molecules, and also how our eyes perceive color.

It was Isaac Newton who demonstrated that using a prism the white light of the sun contains all the colors of the visible spectrum, so all colors are possible in sunlight. But this didn’t answer why the sky is blue.

Later in 1871, Lord Rayleigh formulated how the interaction of atmospheric particles scatters the light waves into short wavelengths which appear more blue and violet.

These short wavelengths scatter lot more than the longer ones. Because of this the scattered light disperses equally in all directions and so the sky appears saturated with color. The only exception is when something brighter than that saturation appears – like when you look directly at the sun.

When you do, you see all the wavelengths at one time and so they appear white. When we look away from the sun, at just the clear sky, we see light mostly from those shorter, scattered wavelengths like violet, indigo and blue. But we only see the light blue. Why is that? It’s because of the way our eyes are made.

Unlike our sense of hearing which can recognize individual instruments in an orchestra, our eyes and brains interpret certain combinations of wavelengths as a single, discrete color. Our visual sense interprets the blue-violet light of the sky as a mixture of blue and white light, and that is why the sky is light blue.

So the next time you go out and enjoy a beautiful light blue sky, remember that the dust in the air and the cones in your eyes, along with lots of other gifts from God, combine to give you our lovely blue days here on planet earth.

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.”

Back in Genesis 6:18, we read this concerning the covenant with Noah – “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”

Then in Genesis 8:21, we read this – “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.”

God said he would establish his covenant with Noah if Noah would be obedient to the directives – which were to get onto the ark with his family and to leave the world behind. Noah did exactly that and consigned the world to its just fate. But God carried Noah through the flood and safely to the shores of Ararat where he made his sacrificial offering and God accepted it.

And now, here in chapter 9, God confirms the covenant and Noah becomes the heir of the new world. He is just as much a father to all of us as Adam is because we all come from Adam and then through Noah.

The seed of man continued through, and because of, the obedience of one man. And even more, God made the covenant with all of the animal life with him as well. Should we ever presume that we need to build an outpost on another planet because global warming would flood the earth, we would be as dumb as the ox who eats the grass of the field.

God’s promise has and always will stand firm. The earth will never again be flooded as it was. You can dismiss whatever Al Gore says. Tell him to take is up with God.

Have you ever taken an outdoor shower and seen a little rainbow in the mist around you? It’s a treat to the eyes and a personal gift from the Lord. How much more splendid and striking is a giant rainbow, or even a double rainbow on a summer afternoon! We had one right off our dock just this past week on Tuesday evening.

So what is it that makes a rainbow? It’s the droplets of water in the air that act as tiny prisms. Light enters the droplets, reflects off of the side of them, and then exits. When this happens, the light is broken into a spectrum just like it is in a triangular glass prism.

The angle between the ray of light coming in and the ray coming out of the drops causes different colors from different drops to reach your eye and form a circular rim of color in the sky – a rainbow. In a double rainbow, the second bow is produced when the droplets have two reflections internally. They have to be the just the right size to get two reflections to work.

¹² And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³ I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ¹⁵ and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

The very fact that this statement is given here tells us without any doubt that there were never rainbows before the flood. It doesn’t mean there wasn’t rain before the flood, but that the sky, if there was rain, diffused light differently.

In other words, all the way back in Genesis 1 we read about the canopy over the earth, known as the raquia. When we were there we noted that it was probably a solid canopy made of water which had frozen.

Because it was there, light would have come into man’s eyes differently and no rainbow would have been produced. After the flood, when the canopy was gone, God knew that the result would be rainbows in the new blue sky of the post flood era. And so He used this new display of wonder and beauty as the sign of the covenant He was confirming.

If you think about it, this is why the covenant was given before the flood, but only confirmed after the flood. Can’t you just see how everything in the Bible is so perfectly ordered and so logically placed? Now when we look into the sky and see terrifying storms coming our way, we have the reminder that it is only a temporary and local event.

And the thicker the cloud, the more brightly the bow will shine in it. The great life lesson for us in the rainbow then is that when life’s many troubles abound, God’s encouragement and reliability abounds so much more. As the sun shines through the waters to produce a bow for our eyes, we are told to have the light of Christ shine through our souls to produce encouraged hope in our hearts.

And the rumbling of the thunder which directs our eyes to the rainbow is like the call of the Holy Spirit to the dead soul who is looking for God and struggling to find Him. Paul tells us the remedy for that dry condition –

“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”

The light of the rainbow for the physical man is like the light of Christ for the spiritual man. We can trust in both as gracious gifts from our wonderful and glorious Creator. Thanking Him, even now, for the precious promises which proceed from His word.

II. A Vineyard

A few weeks ago I said that various verses in long narratives form pivot points within the narrative. Normally these are ideas which are offset from what is happening on both sides of them. We’ve come across two of them concerning Noah.

The first was in Chapter 6 which was describing the wickedness of man, but when all seemed hopeless we read these words – “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

Then right in the middle of the flood account which went on for verse after verse, we read this – “Then God remembered Noah.” If you look for these types of comments as you’re reading, you’ll be able to understand how God is turning the story on that pivot point for the reader and preparing for the new direction in it.

There’s another type of tool God uses in His word is found in the following two verses –

¹⁸ Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.

Did anyone here see it? Let me read them again.

For the previous 17 verses, God and Noah were interacting through sacrifices, directives, covenant, promises, and signs. Noah’s sons were mentioned during these verses, but when they were, it was only in conjunction with Noah. Now in these verses something more is added.

If you remember way back in chapter 4 on our sermon about the line of Cain, I stressed one name again and again. And I brought up her name several times in later verses as well. The reason I did this is because her name was important to the coming account and yet when she was mentioned it said almost nothing about her. Let me remind you of that verse –

And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

For what seemed like no reason at all, Naamah was mentioned and never referred to again. But if one missed the significance of her name, then their interpretation of much of the rest of the Bible would be flawed. One name in one verse with seemingly no significance at all and yet so important to what God is telling us.

The verses we just read said, “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.”

The tool God is giving to us isn’t just trivial information concerning the names of the sons of Noah. Instead, the tool is the introduction of Canaan. As we’ll see later in the Bible, each of the sons of Noah had other children. In fact, in the Table of Nations coming up in Chapter 10, 16 sons are named to these three men and yet here only Canaan is mentioned.

The tool being used is something you’ll see many times throughout the Bible. When something or someone is added for no apparent reason, it is actually often a key to understanding the overall picture of the redemption of man or some other major subject in the Bible.

Look for these and think on them when they come and you will find both deep treasure and access to sound doctrine in your understanding of the Bible.

Every person on earth descends from Noah, but after him, the divisions start. We are all sons of Shem, Ham, or Japheth. If we are a son of Ham, then we might be a son of Canaan. If we are a son of Canaan, then we may be able to discern something about ourselves, just like Jews can discern something about themselves. Pay attention and understand the workings of God.

²⁰ And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. ²¹ Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. ²² And 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.

Almost all commentaries really hammer Noah in these verses, particularly for getting drunk. The terms “sin,” “shame,” “weak,” “imperfect” and on and on are used. Or, commentators will say that Noah didn’t know that he would get drunk from the wine, and so they show him to be naïve in an attempt to relieve him of the guilt they feel he bore in what he did.

But none of the commentaries get to the heart of the matter, nor do they align this account with what Paul says in the New Testament about drinking. He says there –

For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. ²² What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in?

Although it may show poor decision making, the problem here isn’t that Noah was drunk. Paul notes the people at the Lord’s Supper were drunk, but he never rebukes them for it. And Noah was in his own house when he was drinking which is exactly what Paul told his fellow Christians to do.

It’s simply unacceptable to pick and choose verses for cross referencing in order to suit one’s own personal convictions about a matter, like being drunk or even merely drinking alcohol, and then to disregard the verses one disagrees with. The Bible is a unified whole and what it proclaims as acceptable is to be treated in that manner, whether we personally like it or not.

Having said that, and before I go on, I am not promoting drunkenness. What I am doing is going where the Bible leads us and not taking the Bible where I want it to go.

The issue in these verses has nothing to do with Noah’s state of drunkenness or his nakedness – he was in his own home. The issue has to do with the actions of Ham and is the entire purpose of why Canaan was introduced into that odd and pivotal verse we looked at a few minutes ago.

Back a few sermons, I said that one of the most important of all Bible rules is to not get our attention sidetracked or our Bible analysis swayed by personal biases or what we already believe.

Noah was minding his own business and his son Ham did what was disgraceful. But again, like the earlier verse, it brings Canaan into the picture. “And Ham, the father of Canaan…” Once again, despite what Ham did, the relevance is on Canaan, not Ham, even though Canaan wasn’t even included in what his father did.

Ham “saw the nakedness of his father and told his two bothers.” We can infer that his words were more than just “dad is lying naked inside his tent.” Instead, it seems that Ham made light of the matter and may have treated Noah with either contempt or levity. In other words, he was at a minimum making jokes about his own father to his brothers.

But his brothers treated their father with a decent, reverent, and obedient respect. Instead of joining Ham in his immoral conduct, they took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of him. And while they did this, they had their faces were turned away.

In the book of Habakkuk, we read this comparable verse –

“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor,
Pressing him to your bottle,
Even to make him drunk,
That you may look on his nakedness!

We can act actively or passively in a perverted manner, but either way, the Bible condemns these actions. God calls us to holy living and to act in a manner which maintains both our own dignity and the dignity of others. This is the failure of Ham and it led to the consequences of our next major thought…

III. A Blessing and a Curse

²⁴ So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. ²⁵ Then he said:
“Cursed be Canaan;
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.”

It may be that the words “what his younger son had done to him” are saying that Ham did more than just speak in an irreverent way about his father. He very wall may have actually committed physical perversion against his own dad.

This isn’t unlikely and would explain quite a bit that we’ll see as we progress through the pages of Genesis. No matter what actually happened though, Noah was severely displeased with Ham because of his actions.

So why did Naoh curse Ham’s son Canaan instead of him? Again, commentators of past history have inserted Canaan into the account and said he must have participated in what Ham did. But there are two things to consider which dispel that.

The first is that it doesn’t explain why Ham wasn’t cursed along with Canaan. And more importantly, Canaan isn’t ever mentioned. We already answered this in a previous sermon, but let’s review the answer.

The reason Canaan is cursed and Ham isn’t goes back to verse 1 of Chapter 9, “So God blessed Noah and his sons.” At that time, I said that when God blessed Noah and his three sons, it was certainly a blessing in their physical person and possibly even in a spiritual sense too. But that blessing doesn’t necessarily transfer beyond them.

In other words, God had blessed Ham and therefore Noah couldn’t curse him. As the Bible clearly says elsewhere –

“How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?

Because Ham received God’s blessing, it would be an act of defiance against God for Noah to turn and curse him. Instead he cursed Canaan. Ham was the youngest son of Noah and Canaan was the youngest son of Ham. And so in order to demonstrate justice in the matter and ensure he didn’t curse the one God had blessed, he turned his curse towards Canaan.

This curse of Noah upon Canaan and the blessing of Shem and Japheth by Noah is the first explicit prophetic utterance by man of the entire Bible. What is left unstated is any blessing or curse at all on his son Ham. He neither confirms God’s blessing upon him, nor does he call a curse on upon him.

Ham is the great ignored figure of the prophecy and to this date, the people groups who make up the sons of Ham around the world remain relatively outside of the main scope of the world’s attention.

In the next chapter, we will see the divisions of these sons. The curse on the Canaanites will become more and more evident leading right up until the time of Israel inhabiting the Promised Land and the interaction of these people with Israel will be exactly as Noah has prophesied right here.

After the cursing of Canaan, Noah directs his first blessing to the second son – Shem. This is known as the doctrine of divine election. Abel was put ahead of Cain. When Abel was killed, Seth replaced him as the chosen and adopted son of God. Now, for the second time we see a second son placed above the first.

This pattern will continue and grow richly in the Bible and points directly to the work of Jesus Christ who replaces fallen Adam. The second replacing the first. When we get to the story of Abraham, we’ll see him receive the blessing even though he was the second son of his father.

From Abraham came two notable sons, Ishmael and Isaac, but only one son is chosen to continue the selected line – Isaac. From Isaac, will come two notable sons, Esau and Jacob, but only Jacob will be chosen to continue the selected line.

From Jacob will come the 12 sons of Israel – all who will share in his blessing, but from one of them, Judah, the line will again be narrowed. Judah will have two notable sons – Zerah and Perez, but only one is chosen to continue the line – the second son Perez.

And so the Bible continues in this way. If we think about it, we can see that God places each of us in the exact place where He chooses to display His wisdom and knowledge and yet when He does this, He doesn’t violate the free will of the people of the world. Thus He is both just and the justifier of all who demonstrate faith in Him.

In his blessing, Noah mentions Japheth, his firstborn. He says, “May God enlarge Japheth.” In saying this, he makes a pun on his name. The name Japheth means to enlarge or to widely extend. Noah blesses the son with the very name he gave him.

In all, the prophecy mentions the servant-hood of Canaan 3 times and he is placed directly as a servant to both Shem and Japheth.

²⁸ And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. ²⁹ So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.

Here we are, having arrived at the last verse of Chapter 9 and our last verse for today. Noah was 600 years old at the time of the flood and he lasted another 350 years after it. This means that Noah died in the year 2006 Anno Mundi.

Before we close things up today, I want to give a note of hope and assurance to you all. In the Bible, there are blessings and curses that fall on various people and, yes, these transfer through to the descendants of those people.

The problem many people have then is that if they are outside of the favored line, they may feel like they are still living under the curse of their fathers. However, through Jesus Christ, all are granted the same privileges and the same salvation. The account of Noah lists his sons in this order – Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

In the book of Acts, this is the same order in which salvation through Christ came to the people of the world. The sons of Shem include Israel, and they received Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts Chapter 2.

The sons of Ham came next when an Ethiopian eunuch received Christ and was baptized in chapter 8 of Acts. And finally, the sons of Japheth were represented in chapter 10 when Cornelius, an Italian, received Christ together with his family. In other words, God worked out a plan which would restore all of the people of the world, represented by these three men.

In Christ, every curse is lifted and every heart is made new. All who call on Him are elevated to the same level and none rises above another.

Paul explains this in the book of Galatians – There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Abraham was of the favored line of Noah’s son Shem, but we are all included in the same spiritual blessing through Jesus Christ. No matter where you descend from and no matter what your past may have been like, in Jesus Christ there is a grand and glorious future for you as God’s cherished and blessed child.

A Rainbow, a Vineyard, a Blessing and a Curse

God spoke to Noah and to his sons too
As for Me, behold I establish my covenant with you

And this covenant will continue on forever, it is true
I am also making it with your descendants after you

And even more, it is with every living creature that you see
With the birds, the cattle, and every beast with you
Of all the life that leaves the ark, the promise is from Me
This is my covenant and My words to you are true

Never again shall all flesh be cut off by such an inundation
Nor again shall there be a flood to destroy every living man
I make this covenant with you and make this proclamation
This promise to you is a part of my great unfolding plan

And this is the sign of the covenant between Me and you
And every living creature with you for all generations
I set my rainbow in the cloud, to remember that it’s true
That your flood was the last of such watery devastations

It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the land
That the rainbow will be seen brightly in the cloud
And I will remember my covenant and my word, it shall stand
Never again will a destroying global flood be allowed

The rainbow shall be in the cloud to remind me of this day
I will look on it to remember my everlasting promise
Between God and every living creature I do convey
My word is true so I ask you to not be a doubting Thomas

Now the sons of Noah that were on the ark were three
Shem and Ham and Japheth, each had his given name
And Ham was the father of Canaan, cursed he would be
When Ham did something wrong, on Canaan fell the blame

Noah began to be a farmer and he planted a vineyard
Then he drank of the wine and lay drunk and uncovered in his tent
And Ham for his father’s state, modesty he did not regard
And he talked to his brothers saying things with bad intent

But Shem and Japheth treated their father with respect
They covered Noah’s nakedness in a caring way
They had their faces turned and his dignity they did protect
And their deeds are hailed as noble, even to this day

When Noah awoke from his wine, He knew what Ham had done
And so in repayment Noah cursed Ham’s youngest son

Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants he shall be
He shall serve his brethren and they shall rule over him
Blessed be the Lord the God of Shem, yes blessed is He
And may Canaan be his servant, may his days be ever grim

And may God enlarge Japheth, and in Shem’s tents may he dwell
And may Canaan be his servant, to serve Japheth as well

And Noah lived after the flood 350 years
So all the days of Noah were 950 and he died
He lived through great trials and certainly many tears
It can be said of Noah, his faith was perfectly applied

And we like Noah can also be called sons of God
When we call out to Jesus as our saving Lord
When we do, heavenly streets we will trod
Yes, simply by believing and taking God at His word

Hallelujah and Amen…

For next week, take time to read Genesis 10:1-5, The Table of Nations, Part 1, The Sons of Japheth

 

Genesis 8:20 – 9:7
A New Dispensation – Government

When Abraham was asked to demonstrate his faith in a tangible way, what was it he was asked to do? It was to build an altar and sacrifice his son.

When Jacob was leaving the land of Canaan for the last time, what did he do? He offered sacrifices to God.

When the Israelites were in Egypt, what was the reason they gave to Pharaoh for needing to go into the wilderness? To sacrifice to God.

After receiving the Law, they spent almost an entire year at the base of Mount Sinai building a tabernacle and receiving the instructions for worship, for sacrifice, and how to live within the community of believers.

When they entered the Promised Land and as soon as they had established a foothold by destroying Jericho and Ai, what did they do? They went to MountEbal and built an altar and offered burnt offerings.

When they returned from captivity, and even before they had laid the foundation of the second temple, what did the Israelites do? In Ezra chapter three it says this –

And when the seventh month had come, and the children of Israelwere in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. ² Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brethren, arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God… ⁶ From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, although the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid.

And today, many thousands of years later, the Jewish people are preparing for a new temple, but above all, they are preparing to offer sacrifices on an altar. The Temple is coming, but even before it’s built, they will be making offerings on an altar where it will stand. It is understood from the earliest times of man, even until today, that a sacrifice is necessary when approaching God.

The effectiveness of sacrifices is a separate issue, but the fact that they’re made by the people of the earth is universally recognized as a requirement in our relationship with the Creator.

Introduction: Noah was a man of faith and a faithful man. He understood God in a way that brought him near to his Creator even when the rest of the world had been destroyed. Included in his faith were demonstrations of that faith.

He preached to the pre-flood world about righteousness and the judgment to come. He built an ark when there wasn’t an ocean in sight. He gathered and stored up food when the world was eating and drinking from the abundance of the ground.

And after the trial of the flood, Noah continued to demonstrate faith as we’ll see today. In our opening verse, Genesis 8:20, and lasting until God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, God will work with man under a government type of framework. This is the third of seven general workings between God and man. And it leads us to our text verse today which is Romans 13:1-7

Text Verse: 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. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. ⁴ 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. ⁵ Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. ⁶ For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. ⁷ Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Gratitude and Promises

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

I need to note here that the day Noah does this is the same day that Ezra offered his offerings in the book of Ezra and it is the same day that Jesus was born. Right here in this verse is the first time the Bible mentions an altar. Instead of building a house for himself, Noah offers to God. He prepares a spot to meet, give thanks to, and glorify God.

Later in the Bible, we’ll read these words in Haggai after the return of the Israelites from captivity –

“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” ⁵ Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!
⁶ “You have sown much, and bring in little;
You eat, but do not have enough;
You drink, but you are not filled with drink;
You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
And he who earns wages,
Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! ⁸ Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord.

By this time, the Israelites had started sacrifices, but they’d lost heart in completing the work of building the temple.

One thing I’ve noticed while travelling around America is that in the older towns of the land the oldest building in that town, and the building which is most centrally located, is the usually church. Towns were built around the church and centered on the faith and mode of worship of the people who settled there.

When the Mayflower pulled up to the shore of America in 1620, the first thing they did was to write and agree to the Mayflower Compact and then to set a cross on the shore of the land.

In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

Unfortunately, the first thing that’s built when a modern town is established is either a shopping mall or a sporting arena. Churches now are built on the outskirts of towns. Instead of being places of intimate worship, praise, confession, humility, and the in-depth preaching of God’s word, they now are social events.

There is a high value on providing coffee, creature comforts, and easy listening sermons, and there is a lack of discipline in the Christian life. This is the state of walking with God today. The sanctity and reverence of the altar is a secondary thought, not the first obligation of the purchased and redeemed soul.

But Noah first built an altar; a place for sacrifice. Whether earlier offerings in the Bible included altars or not isn’t mentioned. The reason for it being mentioned now is that the earth was completely swept clean by the flood and the Garden of Eden is gone with it.

The Lord is now on high and His presence is withdrawn from the earth. It won’t return again to dwell until the time of Moses and the tabernacle. And so, the altar is built to burn sacrifices which will symbolically lift on the smoke to Him and to His dwelling place.

We get our word “altar” from the Latin word “altus” which means “high” or “elevated.” Noah was atop the mountains of Ararat and the smoke of his offering would ascend even higher. When the altar was built, it was built to Jehovah and not simply to God.

Jehovah – the Lord, is the covenant keeping God who has proven Himself true to the promise He made to Noah. And because of this, Noah offered “of every clean animal and of every clean bird.” By offering from the complete set of them, it was a demonstration of thanksgiving for his complete deliverance.

The term “olah” is used for the burnt offering. This offering is completely burned up on the altar. When an offering like this is made, it’s asking that God accept the offering as a substitute for the life of the person offering it and asking for the mercy of God. The fire and burning in the offering symbolize exactly that – the acknowledgment that what is deserved is the Lake of Fire.

The animal is given as a picture of this. Noah offered it because his life was granted to him in the midst of the death of the rest of the earth around him. This and all the other offerings in the rest of the Bible point to the work of Jesus Christ.

The book of Hebrews explains these things and shows how they point to His final sacrifice. In the end, Jesus is the only One who can rescue us from the hell that we rightly deserve. This is Noah’s acknowledgment to God.

 ²¹ And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

The Lord smelled a soothing aroma. God doesn’t have a nose, but the Lord Jesus does. There are two ways to look at this. The first is that the eternal Christ – Jesus, who is the sovereign Lord of the Old and New Testaments, somehow actually smelled this offering and all the other offerings mentioned there and enjoyed the smell.

The other explanation is that it is an offering of faith by Noah. In this flame and smoke is the entire essence of the animal which is being returned to God who gave it. When Noah made this offering of faith, his very heart of gratitude ascended with it.

Everything tied up in the gratitude goes along too – the thanks, the feelings of protection he received, the anticipation of the future which is promised – all of it ascends to the Lord and is therefore a “soothing aroma” to the Lord

How can we know if this is the correct interpretation? All we need to do is compare it to other offerings in the Bible that weren’t accepted. There are lots of examples, but let’s just look at one from Jeremiah –

Hear, O earth!
Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people—
The fruit of their thoughts,
Because they have not heeded My words
Nor My law, but rejected it.
²⁰ For what purpose to Me
Comes frankincense from Sheba,
And sweet cane from a far country?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
Nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.”

The same type of offerings are accepted or rejected based on the attitude of the people, not just on the type of animal being offered. If the fruit of our thoughts is evil, then the offering is considered that way by God. We saw this in the account of Cain’s offering.

Even though we’re only a part way into today’s sermon, this idea of an offering of faith leads us to the end and goal of our faith – the work of Jesus. We’d be remiss if we didn’t bring in the true and final sacrifice which God Himself bestowed upon us in Christ –

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. ² And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”

God sent His Son to live the life we can’t live and then to give that life as a substitute for our own. When we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we are transferring our sin and our guilt to Jesus. His death then is just the same sweet-smelling aroma to God which is seen in Noah’s sacrifice. Our very heart and gratitude is flowing to God through the death of His Son.

The problem with us is that too often we begin to take for granted the very sacrifice which was made. We tire of our walk, we skip church and Bible study, and we pick up old habits and tread into waters of disobedience.

In essence, we begin to show contempt for the very sacrifice which saved us and brought us close to God. Let’s take a moment and pray that our hearts will be renewed in Christ again – just as they were on that first day we accepted Him…

PRAYER

Noah’s faithful sacrifice was accepted and God promised to never again curse the earth even though, as He says, “the imagination of his heart is evil from his youth.” Right at that moment in human history, Noah was the priest and representative of his family and everyone who would come after him.

Because God accepted his offering, He graciously transferred that acceptance to the rest of us who came after him. In doing so, God promised to never again destroy every living thing as He as done.

The world will never be destroyed by flood again. One of the questions that I’ve been asked many times is “Then why do we keep having floods on the earth that kill people?”

The answer is obvious. God only promised no more global floods which would destroy all life. The way of the world, the localized calamities which occur, and judgment on sin has and will continue, but it will never happen again as a worldwide flood. Things will continue on in a constant and even fashion henceforth.

²² “While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

“While the earth remains” appears to mean that the earth will not last forever. This is a confusing subject in the Bible, and there are people who will argue verse against verse as to whether the earth will always be here or not, but we’re not at the end of things, so we really can’t be too big-headed about our opinion.

Even if the earth does last forever, it may not be in the state it’s in and so no promise would be violated by God either way. One thing is for sure though – whether the earth lasts forever but has a major makeover, or whether the earth is a goner at some point in the future, until whichever happens, God has promised that things will remain the same.

There will always be seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night. These things are so regular and so predictable, that people have built the wondrous monuments to the precision of God’s handiwork – Stonehenge, pyramids around the world, cave drawings, and even modern scientific equipment and star charts are all testaments to the splendid precision of what God has done.

We know exactly when to plant crops, exactly when we should reap, just the right time to go up to the attic and get out our long johns, and just when we can put them away and get out our swimming suits.

Ski shops know when to put out the new line of snowboards, and the shops in Florida know exactly when the tourists will come down and spend their money buying all kinds of crummy souvenirs that will shortly end up in the landfills of the world.

And along with us, even the animals have a sense of when to do the things they do. Bears hibernate, birds and butterflies migrate, moose get into their annual ruts, dogs shed, and love bugs swarm right at their appointed seasons.

And even more, the plants know when to bud and flower, the grass knows when to sprout its seeds, the oaks know when to drop their leaves, and almond tree has its nuts ready at just the right time.

Everything is balanced so beautifully and so wonderfully that man is ready at just the right time to experience all of these things which come directly from the mind and the wisdom of God who purposed them. We even know when to get out our bows and arrows and our guns and do a little hunting…

II. Tasty Treats

Here we are now, starting Chapter 9 of Genesis. In a beautiful display of God’s love for the people of the world, we come to the comforting words of verse 1 –

So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

When God blessed these men of the earth, it was certainly a blessing in their physical person and possibly even in a spiritual sense too, but it doesn’t necessarily transfer beyond them.

I say this, because in the coming verses, one of the sons is going to act in a displeasing way towards his father and Noah is going to call down a curse on that son’s son instead of directly cursing his own son. As the Bible records elsewhere –

“How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?

Cursing the son who has been blessed by the Lord would be a tragic mistake and so the son’s son will receive the curse.

The blessing is upon them and they are told to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. This is a repetition of the original command given by God to man back in Chapter 1.

The modern concept of cutting back on population growth isn’t just unbiblical, but it’s anti-biblical. God has ordained that man multiply, not abort. And we are instructed to fill the earth, not worship the earth.

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.

In Genesis 1, man was given dominion over the creatures of the earth. This same dominion continues after the flood and the title to them belongs to man as well. They are at our disposal and meant for our use. But a new aspect of this relationship comes about after the flood. The fear and dread of man will be on every beast.

This doesn’t mean that we won’t be eaten by lions if we’re not careful, so don’t go to the Serengeti without a good long rifle to protect you. What it does mean is that a horse has no idea how strong he actually is compared to the puny little rider on his back who beats on him as he rounds the second turn of the Preakness.

God hides this knowledge from him and gives him a fear of the little jockey so that despite his immense power, he remains in submission to the puny weakling. And animals of prey like the tiger and the lion which can’t really be domesticated will still run in terror when man is near. Unless Siegfried and Roy are around, then it’s lunch time.

The only animal in the world which is known to actively hunt man is the polar bear. And they are no match to a well-oiled rifle or a few Eskimos who know how to hunt and kill a bear with spears. What was lost in the loving friendship of man and animal before the flood is made up for by man’s wisdom and skill.

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

I like this verse. This is one of those verses that I enjoy day after day. I like hamburgers. I like lamb cutlet and lamb chops. I like pork chops and bacon and ham and sausage and baloney too. I love lobster and if crabs weren’t so messy I’d like them a lot more as well. Venison is tasty. And who doesn’t love chicken or turkey.

This verse is pretty clear, “every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.” Alligator tail soup anyone? Until the time of the Law of Moses, there was no (notta one) prohibition placed on what we could or couldn’t eat. The Mosaic Law was introduced to the people of Israel. This means the people of Israel, the Jewish people, not the church.

There simply isn’t time today to cite all the verses that tell us the Law of Moses is over and done with, but the book of Hebrews says it explicitly several times. The setting aside of the prohibition against eating certain foods is so clear and so detailed in the New Testament that only someone who has truly been brainwashed can overlook the truth of the matter.

If you struggle with this issue, don’t. Email me and I can give you page after page of information about your freedom in Christ. This freedom includes ostrich burgers. If it flies in the skies, if it treads on the earth, if it slithers through the grass, if it burrows in the ground, or if it swims in the seas, God has ordained that you can have it for dinner. And invite me if it’s in a curry sauce, please.

So get your special sauces together and prepare for a banquet of tasty treats of all types. Bon appétit.

⁴ But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

When the early church was facing legalism and Judaizers telling them what they could and couldn’t eat, telling them that they had to be circumcised, or telling them that they had to observe certain feasts or festivals or the Sabbath, a council was called in Jerusalem. Among the distinguished members were the Apostles Peter and Paul, and James the Lord’s brother, and other apostles and elders.

The questions included things like, “What do we do with and how do we instruct the gentiles who are coming to faith in Jesus.” “What can they eat, what can’t they eat, what do they have to do and why.”

Their conclusion was so simple and concise that – really – only an imbecile could get it wrong. And yet denominations all over the Christian world blow it. The letter is short, only a few paragraphs, but here is the conclusion of the matter for those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord –

“For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: ²⁹ that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.”

The Holy Spirit was pleased to levy on them four necessary things. To abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.

Clearly, since then, the letters of the apostles have to be considered and applied to our lives, but nothing written by those apostles contradicts this early decision, especially concerning what can and can’t be eaten. Paul later clarifies the part about things offered to idols and he and the other apostles speak in detail about sexual immorality.

Beyond this, things that are strangled has its own context in which to be considered. And the drinking of blood is forbidden because it predates the Law of Moses and is explained in the verse we’re looking at. The blood contains the life.

It’s is explained again later in the book of Leviticus – “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”

We’re not to drink blood because God is the source of life. The shedding of blood then is the end of that life. When a sacrificial animal was killed then the life of that animal, its blood, was used for the atonement of the person sacrificing.

When Jesus shed His blood, it was for our atonement. God doesn’t want us attempting an end around what He has ordained by drinking the blood of an animal to somehow gain its life force.

But the drinking of blood for this purpose has nothing to do with blood transfusions. There are cults which don’t allow them, but this completely abuses the intent of what the Bible is saying. The preservation of life through a blood transfusion is a completely different category than what is attempted in drinking blood. Vampires no, donors yes.

III. The Value of Human Life

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.

This is an eternal standard, set down by God. Man was created in God’s image and therefore to shed man’s blood brings about a forfeiture of the blood of the one who shed it – whether it is an animal or another man. In fact, as I’ve said before, Numbers 35:33 says that atonement can’t be made for the land which is polluted by bloodshed except by the blood of him who shed it.

Because man is created in God’s image, and because the Bible gives the unborn the same rights as those who are born, the curse of abortion in a land is one of the gravest offenses that can be committed against God. There can be no atonement for the shed blood of abortion except by the termination of the life of the person who commits the abortion.

Unfortunately, because this is a political issue, the guilt transfers to the political supporters of abortion. They are actively working against God in order to terminate life created in His image. And even more unfortunately for an entire political movement, those who elect those who support abortion bear guilt in the process too.

This may seem trivial when walking into a voting booth, but when you vote for an abortion supporting candidate – at any level of the political spectrum, you are implicitly involved in the murder of God’s image bearer and you bear the guilt of the blood. Think this through when you cast your votes. God demands a reckoning for the life of His image bearers and He will demand it from you.

And one more point about this verse – it says “Whoever sheds man’s blood by man his blood shall be shed.” If someone commits murder, the Bible doesn’t ask us to look at his childhood and determine what made him do it. It doesn’t ask us to look at his social standing or whether he was drunk or on pain meds.

It says, very clearly, that a murderer is to be put to death. This predates the Law of Moses and it is based on the attack against another bearer of God’s image. People who stand outside of state executions and protest aren’t showing compassion; they are really only showing contempt for God.

⁷ And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Bring forth abundantly in the earth
And multiply in it.”

We finish up today with this verse. God repeats His mandate to Noah to “be fruitful and multiply.” The beauty of children and an earth full of God’s people, created in His image must be a delight to the heart of God.

He created because He is love and love is His very nature. How pleased He must be when His creation returns that love to Him in praise, worship, and adoration.

He asks us to bring forth abundantly in the earth and to multiply in it. Children are a blessing and a heritage from the Lord and we bring Him honor when we get married, have children, and bring them up in the knowledge of the fear and the admonition of Him.

The Dispensation of Government

Noah built an altar, he built it to the Lord
Thanking God for bringing him to a restful shore
He offered of every clean animal and every clean bird
And to the heavens did his precious offering soar

The Lord smelled the aroma that the sacrifice did make
And in His heart He made a promise to all men
I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake
Although there is evil in his heart as if inscribed with a pen

The imagination of man is evil from his youth
But I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done
I make this vow, the God of perfect truth
And I will keep it until the end of earth has come

While the earth remains, the cycles will work just right
Through seedtime and harvest, and in cold and in heat
Through winter and summer, and in day and in night
These things will not cease, but will faithfully repeat

And God blessed Noah and His sons with him too
Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth is what I ask of you

Fill it with those who are made in the likeness of God
Fill the whole world, wherever foot may trod

And the fear of you and the dread of you will fill every beast
It will be in them all, from the greatest to the least

Every bird of the air and all that moves on the earth
In the fish of the sea as well will be the dread of you
They are given into your hand for food and for mirth
So enjoy the tasty treats – snack on anything from the zoo

Everything is food for you, even as the garden greens
But do not eat flesh with blood, this is forbidden you
If you want, mix the meat with potatoes and some beans
But first drain out the blood, this is what you are to do

For your lifeblood a reckoning I will demand
From the hand of every beast and also from that of man
Anyone who kills someone in all the land
That one’s blood shall be shed, this is your game plan

Man bears My image, the very image of God
Therefore in holiness on my earth you shall trod

Be fruitful and multiply, this again I say to you
Bring forth abundantly throughout all the land
“Multiply” I say again, it is what I’m instructing you
And your seed will flourish just as I have planned

Hallelujah and Amen…

For next week please read Genesis 9:8-28, A Rainbow, a Vineyard, a Blessing and a Curse

 

Genesis 8:1-19
Then God Remembered Noah

Did you know that Noah was the most successful investor who ever lived? He floated stock while everything around him went into liquidation.

I remember when the TwinTowers were attacked on 911. When I saw all the people in the buildings and heard how many may have been stuck inside when they came down, I remember thinking about the people who were crushed, “How is God going to sort this all out.” Kind of a stupid thought, but the immensity of what we saw that day was hard to grasp.

When the Indonesian earthquake happened and the tsunami went from Indonesia to India and destroyed so many islands and people, it was the same thought, “How can God sort all this out.” Hundreds of thousands of people just ceased to exist.

And then there is us… living in our own anxieties, troubles, and trials. “Where is God in all of this?” It’s a question people ask all the time. “Don’t you remember me Lord?”

Introduction: The number 8 in the Bible is the number of “new beginnings.” We’re starting the 8^th chapter of the book and there are 8 people on the ark total, inclusive of Noah. They may have been scared or troubled by the events going on around them, but four of the most comforting words of the Bible start off our talk today – “Then God remembered Noah.” These words form the key to understanding many things, both in the Bible itself and in our own lives.

There’s a type of pattern which is found throughout the Bible which is hidden in plain site. When you see these patterns laid out on paper, they can help you understand more clearly what God is doing and why.

The pattern makes certain points and then turns around and says the exact same thing in reverse. Because of the shape the pattern makes, they’re called chiasms. The Greek letter chi looks like an x. While we’re talking, I’ll pass around the chiasm on which the Flood of Noah is centered and you’ll see that the pivot is right in these four words – “Then God remembered Noah.” “v’yitskor elohim eth Noakh”

It explains why so many things seem to be repeated for no apparent reason in the flood account. Hopefully, Sergio can figure out how to include the chiasm on the video too so that others can see it.

Its details like these that don’t just show us the wisdom and intricacy of the Bible, but also the mind of God as He reveals Himself to the people of the world. I hope you enjoy this pattern, but I’m not the one who found it.

There a many, many more of them in the Bible and I have a large list of them on my own website. It’s a great feeling to find something hidden in plain sight and to think that you’re the first person in 3500 years to see what God tucked away for us to find. If anyone watching wants to see more of these chiasms, just email me and I’ll send you the link to them.

Text Verse: But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, And did not destroy them.
Yes, many a time He turned His anger away,
And did not stir up all His wrath;
For He remembered that they were but flesh,
A breath that passes away and does not come again. Ps 78:38, 39

May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Did God Ever Forget?

Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark.

The beautiful words, “Then God remembered Noah” are set here for our benefit, not God’s. God never forgets the work of His hands, but Noah may have thought He did as the ark floated on the surface of an endless ocean.

But safe and secure within the ark was a man and his family and the pairs of animals which would again cover the face of the earth. It’s amazing to look around at the number and variety of animals on the earth now and imagine that a little more than 4000 years ago, every living thing on earth fit inside a single ship on the sea.

God remembered every one of them then, and as difficult as that may be for us to comprehend, He knows every one of them now. Jesus told us this when He walked among us –

Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31

God knows and remembers every sparrow. And He knows the numbers of the hair on your head. Don’t worry if He’s forgotten you, He hasn’t. He certainly has His eye on you. As you walk through your trials and struggles, He is right there with you.

While they floated on the ocean, I wonder what Noah thought. “Where would all the water go? If there was no land left, then how could the water ever go down?” It does seem like an impossible dilemma.

Think of it this way – if you have a cup that’s half filled with sand, and then you pour in water, the sand can never come up to the top. If the waters of the flood covered the entire world, then where would all that water go?

Part of the answer is given in the second half of verse 1 –

And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

A wind passed over the earth. Wind is an immensely effective way of licking up the moisture. You’ve probably heard of the Chinook winds of the Pacific Northwest. The term “Chinook” means “eater” and a strong Chinook can eat away snow an entire foot deep in a single day.

The snow partly melts and partly evaporates in the dry wind. At the same time these winds have been observed to raise the temperature, often from below 0 to about 70° and then the temperatures plummet to their base levels.

The greatest recorded temperature change in a single 24 hour period happened on January 15, 1972, in Loma, Montana. It went from -54 to 48° in a single day – over 100° in difference.

In the same way, the Khamsin winds of the Middle East blow so hot and so dry that you can walk outside completely wet – clothes and all – and be dried in mere seconds.

The evaporation of water from a water surface, such as during the flood, depends on the temperature in the water, the temperature in the air, the actual humidity of the air, and the velocity of the air above the surface.

If the winds were on a global scale and the earth’s poles were no longer under the protective layer of the pre-flood world, the water being picked up by the winds would gather at the poles and freeze.

In addition, the land which was probably much more even before the flood now has huge variations in elevation. We don’t only have mountain ranges above the sea level, but we have even larger ones below it.

The caverns of the great deep which were filled with water before the flood probably collapsed once they were empty and now form the sea floor. The 104^th Psalm then fills in the blanks –

You who laid the foundations of the earth,
So that it should not be moved forever,
⁶ You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ At Your rebuke they fled;
At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
⁸ They went up over the mountains;
They went down into the valleys,
To the place which You founded for them.
⁹ You have set a boundary that they may not pass over,
That they may not return to cover the earth.

And to this day, the boundary holds true. With the exception of tsunamis and other rare occurrences, the water stays put. And even after a tsunami, the water returns to where it belongs.

² The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. ³ And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.

The wind and the draining of the water began to stabilize and subside and after 5 months, the waters began to decrease. We have here a logical progression of four things – the winds blowing, the fountains of the deep finishing their release of water, the end of the waters falling from the pre-flood canopy, and the rains stopping.

If you stand back and look at the account, it is exactly as you would expect it to be after a global cataclysm like this. There is no reason at all why we shouldn’t take this account seriously.

After all the rain and the 150 days where the waters prevailed, you’d think that the ordeal was mostly over, but you’d be wrong –

 ⁴ Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month.

The seventeenth day of the seventh month is the 150^th day that’s already been mentioned twice – once in the last verse of chapter 7 and then in verse 3 of this chapter. It might seem strange that this 150^th day is mentioned twice and then it mentions the ark resting on the mountains of Ararat, which is the exact same day.

In other words, unless you do the calculation, you would never know that this was the 150^th day and you’d assume that this was a later date. But it isn’t. It’s the exact same day and so the account isn’t really following a completely chronological path.

This makes sense for several reasons though. First, the chiasm which I mentioned earlier is hidden in these verses to show the wisdom of God in the account. And secondly, if the ark was as big as it was, then it would have a pretty deep draft.

In chapter 7 it said that the waters covered the earth to a depth of 15 cubits. Think about it… if the waters reached their highest point on the 150^th day and only then started to recede, and the ark stuck on Ararat on the 150^th day, then the chiasm isn’t just on the pages of the Bible in ink. It was also literally lived out by Noah.

The exact depth of the ark was the exact height of the water over the mountain God intended Noah to land on. Other mountains could have been pushed higher during the flood, but this particular mountain is the one where God wanted Noah to rest.

God didn’t just remember Noah, He preplanned before the creation of the world for the exact amount of water to be in the canopy above and the great deep below. He had to plan the exact spot that Noah would build the ark. He had to plan the exact waves that would lap the side of the ark as it floated month after month.

He had to know exactly what winds would push its beams to take it to the exact spot where it would get stuck on a particular mountaintop at a specific moment in world history. The execution of the plan had to be accomplished to the very finest detail.

And there’s no reason to believe this wasn’t the case. The entire account shows a minute perfection of detail that is beautiful to contemplate.

But there is one more point about this particular day which is even more beautiful than anything you may have ever considered about the Flood of Noah and how it points to Jesus Christ and His amazing work.

You see, this day – the 17^th day of the seventh month is the same day that Jesus Christ came out of the grave almost 2400 years later. This might be a little hard to follow, but the Bible uses two calendars, the creation calendar and the redemption calendar. Until the time of the Exodus, the calendar started in the fall, but at the Exodus, the first month was changed to the spring.

The 17^th day of the seventh month in the creation calendar is the 17^th day of the first month of the redemption calendar. The Passover occurs on the 14^th day of the first month and the resurrection happened, according to the Bible, on the Sunday after the Passover – the 17^th day of the first month.

And just as astonishing is the meaning that the Bible scholar James Strong assigns to the name of Ararat. Ararat means “the curse is reversed.” On the same day that the ark struck the ground and held fast, the waters began to subside. The curse of the waters was now being reversed at the exact same moment that Noah was brought to the safety of the land called Ararat – “the curse is reversed.”

Noah and his ark then is a picture of the true reversal of the curse which began at the fall of man in Chapter 3 of Genesis. Only 5 chapters after the fall, Noah is given as a sign of what was to come.

Paul tells us that we were redeemed from the curse at the cross. The resurrection proves it to us and thus the curse is reversed.

Verse 5 continues…

In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

This is the 223^rd day from the beginning of the flood and 73 days after the ark set fast on the mountains of Ararat. It’s been almost 7 ½ months and the waters are slowly finding their new homes around the world.

They would be gathered in the Polar Regions; in the mountaintop glaciers; in the seas, lakes, ponds, lagoons, and rivers of the earth, and also in the great caverns of the seas. Noah and his family have more time to wait and play chess before they can leave the ark.

II. Patience in a World of Hurry

⁶ So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.

Every commentary that I read said that this forty day period was from the last comment which talked about the first day of the tenth month when the mountains were seen, but I have to disagree. The reason is that if the mountains were seen, then Noah must have already opened the window.

So this must be 40 days after getting lodged on the mountain top. In other words, this would be day 190 – 43 days before the previous verse. Although it may not make immediate sense to us that the account is flipping back and forth and not in chronological order, if you stand back and look at the overall picture and the purpose of the chiasm in the Bible, then it all becomes much clearer and much easier to understand.

So why would Noah wait 40 days from the ark getting stuck on Ararat before opening the window? Remember, the Ark draws a draft of about 15 cubits. What would be the point of opening the window when everything was 15 cubits below water? The noise of the splashing on the sides of the ark would be all Noah needed to know. There would be absolutely no need to open the window.

⁷ Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. ⁸ He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. ⁹ But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself.

And this confirms what I said a moment ago. The 40 days was from the time of the ark getting lodged on the mountain and not from the next comment about the mountain tops being visible.

The raven kept going to and fro until the waters dried up, implying that they still covered the mountain tops. So, I’m sure you’re asking, “Why would Noah send out a dove at the same time ‘to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground?’”

Why wouldn’t the raven tell him this? It’s because the raven is a scavenger bird and would have been perfectly content to land on any surface, even the dead body of an animal or a person. Plus, it would be perfectly happy to snack on something like this too.

The dove wouldn’t do this. Instead, it would return to the safety of the ark and to a clean, dry source of food. The raven is a symbol then of the unclean world, like a person who lives apart from the grace of God, living only on the world of death. The dove returns to Noah, just as a gentle and repentant heart returns to Christ.

Such a person can truly say just as the Psalmist did –

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
Yes, our God is merciful.
⁶ The Lord preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.
⁷ Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
⁸ For You have delivered my soul from death,
My eyes from tears,
And my feet from falling.
⁹ I will walk before the Lord
In the land of the living.

¹⁰ And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. ¹¹ Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. ¹² So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.

Noah knew that things were drying out finally. But unlike many other plants, the olive tree can strike leaves even under water. And God specifically chose an olive for the dove. Throughout the Bible, the olive, and the oil it produces gives us beautiful symbolism of the work of Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

What this verse is showing us is a picture of the resurrection of Christ. Just as the olive can grow out from under water, so Christ came out of the grave as a victor over death. And even to this day we celebrate this in the rite of baptism.

Tied up in the olive is also the symbolism of peace when God granted His favor upon the new world. This is seen in this fresh new life – the olive leaf. When we receive Jesus Christ and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we are like that olive. Again, let’s go to the psalms –

But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
⁹ I will praise You forever,
Because You have done it;
And in the presence of Your saints
I will wait on Your name, for it is good.

And in the dove we have the symbol of the Holy Spirit descending upon us when we call on the name Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the Messenger of God telling us that all is well with our soul.

The symbolism of the dove and the olive is first truly realized at Jesus’ own baptism in Matthew 3, where all three members of the Godhead are present –

“When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. ¹⁷ And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’”

Because of Jesus, we now have the hope of the same beautiful words of commendation from the eternal God – “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”

III. O Brave New World

“They had mocked him through his misery and remorse, mocked him with how hideous a note of cynical derision! Fiendishly laughing, they had insisted on the low squalor, the nauseous ugliness of the nightmare. Now, suddenly, they trumpeted a call to arms. “O brave new world!” Miranda was proclaiming the possibility of loveliness, the possibility of transforming even the nightmare into something fine and noble. ‘O brave new world!’ It was a challenge, a command.” A Brave New World

¹³ And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry.

The 601^st year here means the 601^st year of Noah’s life. This was the first day of the first month of that year, which is the month of Tishri.

It was the exact same day 1657 years earlier that Adam was created and it was the same day that about 2400 years later, the Savior of the world would be born in a little town called Bethlehem.

Noah opened the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. “O brave new world, I’ve come forth to meet thee.”

¹⁴ And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.

This was 57 days after Noah opened the covering of the ark and it was the 370^th day after Noah and his family entered the ark. One biblical year is 360 days, so they had spent 1 year and 10 days waiting and watching as the world was destroyed by water, the waters rose, the waters receded, and the waters fled to their new home revealing a completely different world. It was 370 days waiting to hear the wonderful words from God…

¹⁵ Then God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶ “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

Just imagine the excitement that the family must have felt as they got word it was time to leave the ark. We don’t know how God spoke to Noah – whether in a dream, or whether directly, or whether in some other way, but he was given divine guidance that he and his family could leave the ark – just as he received divine guidance to enter it.

And just as they filled the ark with animals, they’re told now to empty it out. The three categories which serve as a statement of all animal life are given – “birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps.”

As we noted when the ark was filled, the term “every creeping thing that creeps” doesn’t indicate that politicians were carried on the ark. Yes, these were reptiles.

And as these animals departed, God also gave them a divine command – that they should be fruitful and multiply on the earth. This is the exact same command that was given back in Genesis 1. God created all of the animals at the beginning and the same spark of life that was put into them carried through to the time of Noah and it carries though even until today.

If you stop and think about what life is and where it came from, it should amaze each and every one of us at how stupid the concepts of spontaneous generation and evolution are. There is a spark of life in us and that spark transmits from us to the next generation. There is no new spark occurring, nor is there any evidence that any has occurred since creation.

But every moment is a new moment and it has an equally possible chance of producing spontaneous generation. If this were even remotely possible, then every moment new life should occur. In essence, every moment of time is a new nail in the coffin of the concept of spontaneous generation.

Were it not for the Ark of Noah, then there would be no life on earth apart from the oceans. And any animal which wasn’t on the ark is extinct because its life spark died with the flood.

And finally, if the world is billions of years old like evolutionists claim, then the problem is only exacerbated. From the trillions of moments which have happened since the first life of spontaneous generation supposedly occurred, their only explanation for development is evolution, not more generation. Both are stupid and corrupt systems which have absolutely no basis in reality at all.

¹⁸ So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. ¹⁹ Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.

Probably in a state of awe and wonder, the family obeys the divine command and leaves the ark, taking off the animals as they went. The earth was certainly completely different than it was when they entered.

The canopy was gone and the skies would have been different. The landscape would have been totally reformed from what they had known. The climate would have been different. Everything was new; everything would have been an adventure.

In the same way, Peter tells us in the New Testament that it will happen again, just as it did to Noah. Let’s take a few minutes and read 2 Peter Chapter 3 in its entirety and see the parallels to the flood of Noah – both before and after the flood –

Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), ² that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, ³ knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, ⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, ⁶ by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. ⁷ But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

⁸ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. ¹¹ Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, ¹² looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? ¹³ Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. ¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; ¹⁵ and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, ¹⁶ as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

¹⁷ You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; ¹⁸ but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Then God Remembered Noah

God remembered Noah out there on the sea
And all the animals that were with him on the ark
Noah’s faith held steadfast during these trials you see
Through the waves, the winds, the hours, and the dark

After 150 days God made a wind to pass over the earth
And the waters subsided as these winds blew
The fountains of the deep were shut up in their berth
And the windows of the heavens were also stopped too

God restrained the rains from coming any more
And the waters receded continually to their new place
Things would be different than they were before
And the world would have a brand new face

The ark rested on the mountains of Ararat
And the waters continually decreased
It was the seventeenth of the seventh month, that…
The 150^th day their sailing ceased

On this day, the curse was reversed as the waters decreased
And on this same day the Lord rose from His grave
The world rejoiced at the man they thought deceased
But our curse was reversed when Christ rose, Hallelujah! Mighty to save

And the waters kept going down, this took a while
On the first day of the 10^th month the mountaintops were seen
That probably made our good old friend Noah smile
Even though nothing yet was really of the color of green

After 40 days Noah opened the window of the Ark
And he sent out a raven which flew to and fro
The sun could come in and dispel the deepest dark
And that same sun would help new things to grow

Noah also sent out from the ark a dove
To check and see when the waters had left the ground
But the dove returned to Noah’s hand of love
Because there was not a dry place to be found

Seven more days, it was in the evening of the day
Behold the dove brought in a fresh picked olive leaf
Noah knew the waters had finally gone away
He must have gave a great sigh of relief

Seven more days and again went out the dove
But this time it didn’t return to his waiting hand of love

On the first day of the first month of Noah’s 601^st year
The waters were dried up from the land’s face
So Noah removed the covering of the Ark and turned his ear
And all the waters were gone from that lonely place

On the 27^th of the second month everything was dry
So God spoke to Noah, it’s time to leave the ark
Take your wife and the others out under the sky
No more do you have to live inside where it’s dark

Bring out the every living thing
Bring out the birds and let them sing

Bring out the cattle, every kind of life inside
Yes even the creeping things, it’s the end of their boat ride

Let every living thing abound in the earth
Let them multiply until they’re everywhere
Let them conceive, and bear, and then give birth
Together with them, the world you will share.

Hallelujah and Amen…

Next week Genesis 8:20 – 9:7 – A New Dispensation, Government

The Flood of Noah

A Noah (6:10a)
B   Shem, Ham and Japheth (6:10b)
C     Ark to be built (6:14-16)
D      Flood announced (6:17)
E        Covenant with Noah (6:18-20)
F          Food in the Ark (6:21)
G           Command to enter the Ark (7:1-3)
H             7 days waiting for flood (7:4-5)
I                7 days waiting for flood (7:7-10)
J                  Entry to ark (7:11-15)
K                   Yahweh shuts Noah in (7:16)
L                     40 days flood (7:17a)
M                     Waters increase (7:17b-18)
N                        Mountains covered (7:18-20)
O                          150 days waters prevail (7:21-24)
P                            God Remembers Noah (8:1)
O’                         150 days waters abate (8:3)
N’                       Mountain tops become visible (8:4-5)
M’                     Waters abate (8:6)
L’                     40 days (end of) (8:6a)
K’                   Noah opens window of ark(8:6b)
J’                   Raven and dove leave ark (8:7-9)
I’                  7 days waiting for waters to subside (8:10-11)
H’               7 days waiting for waters to subside (8:12-13)
G’             Command to leave the ark (8:15-17)
F’            Food outside the ark(9:1-4)
E’          Covenant with all flesh(9:8-10)
D’        No flood in future(9:11-17)
C’      Ark (9:18a)
B’    Shem, Ham, Japheth (9:18b)
A’  Noah (9:19)

From the book, Before Abraham Was, by Isaac M. Kikawada and Arthur Quinn.