Genesis Chapter 8:6-12 A Picture of Baptism

Genesis 8:6-12 – A Picture of Baptism

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

 7And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

 8Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

 9But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

 10And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

 11And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

 12And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

Noah has been sitting in the ark through the storm. He had gone through this for 40 days and now things had calmed down a little bit and he decides to check things out. He sends out a raven and a dove and this is an interesting thing.

The raven would be a picture of the flesh because he is black and he searches and devours the flesh.

The dove has always been a picture of the Holy Spirit.

 

But we see some more interesting things as we look more into our subjects.

 

Noah’s name means “comfort” and we know that the Holy Spirit is called the Comfoter by Jesus in the Gospel of John.

In the episode here we also see a picture of baptism. We see Noah, surrounded by water much the same way we are when we are baptized.

We also see what baptism represents.

We see a dying to the sin around us in baptism and salvation and we see him waiting on the Lord for 40 days.

 

But that leads us to another Old Testament character who was surrounded and submerged by water.

His name was Jonah, and his name meant “dove”

Jonah was swallowed by a whale because he was running from God. He didn’t want to preach to the Ninevites.

In his episode we see another aspect to what baptism represents

A dying to the selfishness within us.

Of course we know that Jonah did end up doing what God had told him too and he preached that judgment would come in 40 days.

 

Both these episodes lead us to yet another Person, the One, Jesus Christ!!!

 

Matthew 3

   
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He^[c] 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.”

 

He came out of being submerged and surrounded by water and we see the Holy Spirit, descending like a dove. The Comforter had come down and lighted upon Jesus.

Then the Spirit lead Him into the wilderness to be tempted and put through trials for 40 days.

 

But we see something wonderful here. We see ourselves being submerged and surrounded by water in baptism. We see our dying to the sin around us and to the selfishness with in us.

 

And just like Noah and Jonah, even though we have done these things we still see sin creeping up.

Noah died to the sinful world around us but this sin came back, so to speak, the raven came back and he messed up by drinking.

 

Jonah, who is a picture of dying to the selfishness within, had preached to the people in Nineveh and they were all saved, but anger still crept up into his heart and the old nature came back.

 

Jesus Christ did what these two could not do. He was submerged and surrounded by water. He was baptized by John and as He rose from the water we see the Godhead being displayed. The Spirit descended as a dove upon Him and we hear a Word from God , “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

 

He came to this earth and He emptied Himself for us. He became a man – a God-man in order to die on the cross and to completely save us from the sin that surrounds us and the self that is within us and it is through His sacrifice that we hear the same words directed toward us

 

“This is My beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”

 

Genesis Chapter 9:24-27 – The Sons of Noah

Genesis 9 v24-27 – The Sons of Noah

 24And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

1. Concerning Ham and Canaan

 25And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

Canaan would be in general, a servant of the seed of Shem and Japheth.

Joshua, David, and Solomon (descendants of Shem) subdued them.

Alexander the Great and the Romans (descendants of Japheth) subdued them.

The Hamitic people have contributed 2 things to the world:

1) They are responsible for man’s well-being

2) They are responsible for the technical proficiency of mankind

Arthur C. Custance states that all the earliest civilizations of note were founded and carried to the highest technical proficiency by the Hamitic peoples

Vol.1: Noah’s Three Sons: Human History in Three Dimensions

PART IV

 

THE TECHNOLOGY OF HAMITIC PEOPLE

  

Publishing History:
1960  Doorway paper No. 43, published privately by Arthur C. Custance
1975  Part IV in Noah’s Three Sons: Human History in Three Dimensions, vol.1 in The Doorway Papers Series,
1997  Arthur Custance Online Library (html)
2001  2nd Online Edition (corrections, design revisions)

 

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INTRODUCTION

     IF YOU enjoy reading catalogues now and then, you will probably enjoy this Paper, although it is dull indeed if read merely as literature. But if treated as intended, namely, as a list of technical achievements, it may come as a surprise to find how many, how varied, and how fundamental have been the inventions of Hamitic people, and how great a service they have rendered to mankind in the field of technology.
     Hitherto our ethnocentrism in the writing of history has obscured this fact, but we now have a sufficient and ever-growing body of documented materials to justify this presentation.
     Some of these achievements may be considered slight by those who have never actually contributed anything new to the sum total of human invention. But one should not be deceived by simplicity: it may be the hallmark of genius. It could also be argued that if we can only point to one invention of note in some particular tribe, that people can hardly be termed inventive. However, if we have only mentioned one invention that does not mean it was their sole achievement. It was mentioned only because it illustrated a particular aspect of native ingenuity.

 

2. Concerning Shem

 26And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Here we see a special favor given to Shem’s descendants, beginning with Abraham and ending with the greatest blessing – Jesus Christ!!!

The Semitic people have contributed 2 things to the world:

1)      They are responsible for man’s spiritual well-being

2)      They are responsible for developing the major religions

At least three of the major religions spring out of  Shem – Judaism, Islamism, and Christianity

3. Concerning Japheth

 27God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

The Japhetic people have contributed 2 things to the world:

1)      They are responsible for man’s mental well-being.

2)      They are responsible for the scientific development of mankind especially in the area of philosophy

Since 539 B.C., with the defeat of the Babylonians by Cyrus the Great, no Semetic or Hamitic race has succeeded in breaking the world supremacy of the Japhethic race

 

Romans 11

13For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

 14If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

 15For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

 16For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

 17And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

 18Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

 19Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.

 20Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

 21For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

 22Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.

 24For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

 25For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Here are some other things worth mentioning per Arthur Custance

Part I: The Part Played by Shem, Ham and Japheth in Subsequent World History

Chapter 1

The Threefold Framework as Reflected in Scripture

1. Abraham’s Three Wives

     Abraham had three wives. The first was Sarah, a daughter of Shem (Genesis11:29). The second was Hagar, the Egyptian, a daughter of Ham (Genesis16:3). The third was Keturah (Genesis 25:1). According to Hebrew tradition (presumably based upon genealogical records preserved in the Temple prior to their destruction by fire in A.D. 70, records which were priceless to the Jewish people, particularly where Abraham was concerned), Keturah (4) was descended in the line of Japheth.
     It may be pointed out that in Genesis 10 the sons of Noah when grouped together are habitually put in the same order — Shem, Ham, and Japheth — although it is not absolutely certain that this is the order in which they were born. As will be seen with reference to Abraham’s wives, this order is preserved. The implication of Scripture seems to be that in Abraham, the father of the faithful and the father of many nations, the whole race was in a unique way united into a single family. The subsequent events of Hagar’s life in no way alter the fact that she had become a wife to Abraham.

2. The Three Synoptic Gospels

     In the New Testament recognition of this threefold division is consistently accorded. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are termed synoptic because they deal with the events of our Lord’s life in a way quite distinct from the Gospel of John. It has always been recognized that these three Gospels form a mosaic.
     It has been observed from the time of the earliest commentaries that Matthew presents a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ as King, and wrote his Gospel primarily with the Jewish people in mind. The opening genealogy traces this King, appropriately, back to David and to Abraham. His Gospel is full of references to the Old Testament and continually points out how this or that event was a fulfilment of prophecy. This was a message directed primarily to the children of Shem.
      Remembering the order in which the sons of Noah are always given, one might logically expect that the second Gospel, Mark’s, was directed to the children of Ham. We believe that it is. In considering this aspect of the subject, it is very easy to introduce the ideal of racial superiority, for Mark wrote his Gospel with the clear intent of portraying our Lord as a Servant of mankind. In doing this, he may either be thought to have degraded the Lord to the level of a servant or elevated the servant to the position of God’s Anointed. The former view which seems the most obvious, is most false. One is reminded of Luther’s hymn, which points out that he who sweeps a floor as unto the Lord makes both the floor and the action “fine.” This is a wonderful truth. That the children of Ham have been servants par excellence to mankind (5) — have in fact habitually served mankind better than they served themselves — is not to degrade them but to acknowledge a debt which we, with our ethnocentric pride, have been slow to admit. As we have already said, this is a point to be considered more fully.
     That Mark wrote from this point of view seems clear. There is no genealogy of the Lord. A servant is known by his service, not by his pedigree. Mark is full of such phrases as immediately, straightway, forthwith, etc. This Man commanded power. It is a striking thing that the gods of Hamitic people on the whole were gods of power, whereas the God of Shem was pre-eminently moral, and the gods of Japheth were gods of illumination. Mark’s Gospel is a Gospel of doing, of ceaseless activity. There are some references to the sublime position of a servant which are not found in the other Gospels. (6) Here and there Mark refers to people as servants where the other Gospels omit the fact, and Mark himself is singled out elsewhere as of particular service to Paul.
     Luke’s Gospel was clearly written for the Gentiles. It appears traditionally that the term Gentile was reserved for the children of Japheth. This is reflected in Genesis 10:5, which we shall examine a little more fully subsequently. In Genesis 9:27 the text reads, “God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem.” This occurred when the Jewish people committed national suicide by rejecting their King. The Kingdom was taken from them (Matthew 21:43) and the responsibility for its administration was given to Japheth. But this is a temporary arrangement, and when “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24) are fulfilled, the original division of responsibilities will be restored.
     Luke wrote for these Gentiles. Being himself Greek, this was an appropriate divine appointment. In his Gospel, the genealogy of the Lord, quite properly, goes back to Adam, and the characteristic delineation of the Lord is as “Son of Man.”

5. Servant of Servants: for evidence that this phrase is not one of degradation as commonly assumed, see “Why Noah Cursed Canaan Instead of Ham”, Part III in Noah’s Three Sons, vol.1 in The Doorway Papers Series. LINK
6. Mark’s unique reference to the place of “service,” is found in Mark 10:44. He himself is referred to as a particularly valuable minister, by Paul in 2 Timothy 4:11.

It is also worthy of note that the name Japheth means “fair” or “light,” as the word Ham means “dark” (not necessarily black). The word Luke also means “fair” or “light.”
     So we have three synoptic Gospels which, by many internal evidences far too numerous to enter into here, seem clearly to have been written under divine direction specifically for Shem, Ham, and Japheth ? in this order. It is not certain, of course, that the actual text of each Gospel was completed in this chronological order, but the fact remains that God has seen to it that they should be preserved for us from the earliest times in the order in which we find them today. There is no direct evidence, as far as I know, that the writers or the receivers were conscious of this association, but the association surely is clear.

Genesis Chapter 9 – Sin in the Tent

 

Genesis 9 – Sin in the Tent

 

 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

It is interesting to note here that mankind has been pretty much the same way for all time. Here we see Ham, one of the sons of Noah, seeing his father’s nakedness in the tent, and what does he do? He runs to spread the gossip. He gets a good laugh and shares it with his brothers.

Who would be at fault here, when we get down to the bottom of all that has happened. Noah has become drunk and something odd, something not right is either able to be seen (his nakedness) or something has happened here in this tent. Noah has become earthy and he has in totality opened the door to sin and caused his sons to possibly follow suit.

Ham is hamming it up here, making a spectacle of his father in such a bad shape.

Ham saw his father’s nakedness in his tent. Those closest to us see our weaknesses and we see other’s as we get closer to them and bond with them. And then sometimes we start to see only the flaws.

What do we do? How do we react to these situations?

When someone does something that is flawed, when I see the cracks in others.

What do I do when I see sin in other’s tents?

Look at the different reactions of the brothers

 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

 23And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.

Ham runs and tells his brothers about their father. Shem and Japheth take a garment, lay it upon their shoulders, and as they walk backward, cover up their father.

The difference is the reaction, the intent of the heart.

So many times we are all too eager to talk about others. We are all too eager to gossip or to knock someone else down a notch and make ourselves feel better rather than keep our mouths shut!

We should talk about problems, our problems and not others and we can raise questions or share burdens with each other about others but when we start talking ABOUT someone instead of praying for them or trying to help them, we are headed for trouble

 

Galatians 6

 1Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

 2Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

In those times it was considered disrespectful to look upon or see another’s nakedness. The ancient Hebrew says that Ham “told with delight” what he saw. He thought it was funny and he brought possible disrespect to the whole family.

His brothers covered their father, they had respect for their father.

1 Peter 4

8And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins

Proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirs up strife, But LOVE COVERS all sins.

Romans 4:7
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose SINS ARE COVERED;

And we need to be like the older brothers. We need to be covering, loving when we see other people’s sin in their tent, in their body physically and in the body, the church.

 

 24And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

Some believe that Ham just saw his father’s nakedness and that he made sport of it, he hammed it up.

Others believe that he performed castration on his father to keep him from having more children

The Legends of the Jews
by Louis Ginzberg

 

In his drunken condition Noah betook himself to the tent of his wife. His son Ham saw him there, and he told his brothers what he had noticed, and said: “The first man had but two sons, and one slew the other; this man Noah has three sons, yet he desires to beget a fourth besides.” Nor did Ham rest satisfied with these disrespectful words against his father. He added to this sin of irreverence the still greater outrage of attempting to perform an operation upon his father designed to prevent procreation.

Some think that the sin was homosexuality

Some think that it was an incestuous relationship with his mother

 

 25And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

Generational curses

Many times sin is passed down, not just by genes or by nature but through examples.

 

One does wonder if perhaps Canaan was also involved

Ezekiel 18

 1The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

 2What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?

 3As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.

 4Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

And yet he might not have done anything but feel the unfortunate repercussions from the sin of his father. Some believe that this was because Noah and his sons had already been blessed by God and so could not be cursed

Noah’s Three Sons

by Arthur C. Custance

 

The Curse on Ham’s Son

It has always been a matter of controversy as to why Canaan rather than Ham should have been cursed. Canaan was Ham’s son, and was therefore grandson to Noah. Some people have supposed that the name Canaan was substituted for Ham by Jewish scribes who had particularly strong feelings against this branch of Ham’s family. Evidence for this is believed to be provided by some manuscripts of the Septuagint and the Arabic versions, which have the words “Ham, the father of Canaan” instead of the word “Canaan” alone.

There is another explanation which seems to me more probable and which, if it is true, means that Noah really was cursing Ham. It is a common social custom among many primitive people to attribute the greatness of a son to the father, who then receives the honour for having raised such a worthy child. This is clearly reflected in Scripture where Saul seeks to honour David after the slaying of Goliath. He asks his general whose son the lad is (1 Sam. 17:55). This has always seemed to mean that he did not recognize David, which would seem strange in view of David’s close associations with him. Undoubtedly Saul knew David well enough, but evidently did not know who his father was. And it was the father he was seeking to honour according to social custom.

A man, in blessing his own son, was in fact blessing himself. This was true when Noah blessed Shem and Japheth. By the same token, however, if he had cursed Ham, the real offender, he would at the same time have been cursing himself. Quite logically, he could only pass judgment upon Ham by cursing Ham’s own son, which is what he therefore did.

 

 26And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

 27God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Shem

Shem means “glory”

He is the father of the Semite people, the Jewish and Arabic peoples. They settled primarily in the Middle East.

Ham

Depending upon the lexicon used, Ham means “black, or hot”

The Hamite people settled in Africa. Some believe that the curse on Canaan is the reason why the people of Africa were enslaved

The Legends of the Jews
by Louis Ginzberg

 

When Noah awoke from his wine and became sober, he pronounced a curse upon Ham in the person of his youngest son Canaan. To Ham himself he could do no harm, for God had conferred a blessing upon Noah and his three sons as they departed from the ark. Therefore he put the curse upon the last-born son of the son that had prevented him from begetting a younger son than the three he had.” The descendants of Ham through Canaan therefore have red eyes, because Ham looked upon the nakedness of his father; they have misshapen lips, because Ham spoke with his lips to his brothers about the unseemly condition of his father; they have twisted curly hair, because Ham turned and twisted his head round to see the nakedness of his father; and they go about naked, because Ham did not cover the nakedness of his father. Thus he was requited, for it is the way of God to mete out punishment measure for measure.

This would not be the case though because Canaan was the cursed one and not all of the Hamite people. Canaan’s descendants were so perverted and polluted that God ordered their annihilation in order to put them out of their misery

Japheth

His name means “Ruler” and his people settled mostly in Europe

We will be able to look at each son a little better in the next chapter

 

 28And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

 29And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

And as we looked at before, Noah’s last years did not seem to match the glory of his first ones.

Genesis Chapter 9: You Reap What You Sow

 

Genesis 9 – You reap what you sow

 20And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

 21And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

 

Noah becomes drunk and he is lying in his tent uncovered.

The original language seems to tell us that this “nakedness” is related to some kind of immorality on his part and this same word is used a number of times to denote some kind of “showing,  or looking upon”

Exodus 20 

25And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

 26Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

Leviticus 18

6None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD.

 7The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

 8The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.

 9The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.

 10The nakedness of thy son’s daughter, or of thy daughter’s daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.

 11The nakedness of thy father’s wife’s daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

 12Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman.

 13Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister: for she is thy mother’s near kinswoman.

 14Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.

 15Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son’s wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

 16Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.

 17Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.

 18Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.

 19Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.

 20Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her.

Leviticus 20

 11And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

 12And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them.

 13If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

 14And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.

 15And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.

 16And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

 17And if a man shall take his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.

 18And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

 19And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister, nor of thy father’s sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity.

 20And if a man shall lie with his uncle’s wife, he hath uncovered his uncle’s nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.

 21And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

Some think that he acted wrongly in some way towards another person but it seems that perhaps he was just uncovered. Perhaps the best lesson that we can learn from this story is that we are always being watched, especially when we have children and when we don’t act properly we open the door for our children to follow suit. Noah had been called by God to enter into the boat, he had been called by God to enter into salvation and his house followed. Many times in Scripture, it speaks of the husband, the leader of the house being saved, and then his whole household.

Acts 16

22And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.

 23And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:

 24Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

 25And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

 26And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

 27And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.

 28But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.

 29Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

 30And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

 31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

 32And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

 33And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

 34And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house

Noah was reaping something that he had sewn and he reaped this one awfully quick. You see, he had made some wine and now he was in a drunken state. He had taken his place of nobility and caused his children to in a sense loose respect for him and God by their actions. He had actually caused his sons to sin by his own actions

Why??

Because where you lead, dads, your children will always follow. If you act like you want too, and you live a worldly life, then don’t be surprised if you have worldly children. They are like little tape recorders, and they soak up everything you do and say. So if you want future hell raisers and drinkers when they grow up, keep living it up and it will show.

This happens even when you don’t think anyone is looking. I think this is a prime example of what Paul says

Galatians 6

7Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

 8For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

 

But if you want them to be godly, if you want them to be saved, then act like God wants you too. Live life like you should, be a good godly example and your kids will follow.

You don’t have to be an excellent teacher of the Word.

You don’t have to come up with illustrations and dynamic devotions to keep your children loving the Lord and interested in Him.

All you need to do is teach by living. If you want your children to love God, then you love Him in front of them. If you want your children to pray to God, then let them see you pray. If you want them to trust in God, then you trust in Him. Believe in Him, look too Him, rely completely upon Him and trust me, they will follow.

If you want them to go to Church, then you go. You want them to go to Sunday School, then get up early and take them.

Of course they are children so there will be times of trouble. They might fall away or rebel for a season but when you have lived it in front of them, when the Word is ingrained inside them and they will be drawn back eventually.

Pray for them, live in front of them, and let Jesus lead them through you.

Because where you go they are surely to follow

Genesis Chapter 9: The Shelf of God

Genesis 9 – The Shelf of God

 

 20And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

 21And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

The Legends of the Jews
by Louis Ginzberg

Volume I

Bible Times and Characters from the Creation to Jacob

 

THE CURSE OF DRUNKENNESS

Noah lost his epithet “the pious” when he began to occupy himself with the growing of the vine. He became a “man of the ground,” and this first attempt to produce wine at the same time produced the first to drink to excess, the first to utter curses upon his associates, and the first to introduce slavery. This is the way it all came about. Noah found the vine which Adam had taken with him from Paradise, when he was driven forth. He tasted the grapes upon it, and, finding them palatable, he resolved to plant the vine and tend it.[57] On the selfsame day on which he planted it, it bore fruit, he put it in the wine-press, drew off the juice, drank it, became drunken, and was dishonored–all on one day. His assistant in the work of cultivating the vine was Satan, who had happened along at the very moment when he was engaged in planting the slip he had found. Satan asked him: “What is it thou art planting here?”

Noah: “A vineyard.”

Satan: “And what may be the qualities of what it produces?”

Noah: “The fruit it bears is sweet, be it dry or moist. It yields wine that rejoiceth the heart of man.”

Satan: “Let us go into partnership in this business of planting a vineyard.”

Noah: “Agreed!”

Satan thereupon slaughtered a lamb, and then, in succession, a lion, a pig, and a monkey. The blood of each as it was killed he made to flow under the vine. Thus he conveyed to Noah what the qualities of wine are: before man drinks of it, he is innocent as a lamb; if he drinks of it moderately, he feels as strong as a lion; if he drinks more of it than he can bear, he resembles the pig; and if he drinks to the point of intoxication, then he behaves like a monkey, he dances around, sings, talks obscenely, and knows not what he is doing.[58]

This deterred Noah no more than did the example of Adam, whose fall had also been due to wine, for the forbidden fruit had been the grape, with which he had made himself drunk.[59]

Here we have the first mention of drunkenness in Scripture. Some, as evident from the above, believe that drunkenness is what has beguiled man from the beginning. Others believe that perhaps this was a condition that only came about after the flood and that Noah had no idea as to what would happen to him if he drank too much. Either way it hurt him in more ways than one.

Noah had preached too the people, he had done everything that God told him. He built an ark, for water when there had never been a body of water. He had floated around with his family for more than a year in the first mobile petting zoo. He had built the altar to God and blessed Him and He found grace in the eyes of God

He walked with God, looked too God, and waited on God before and during the storm.

But now everything is over. He isn’t as active as he was. He is not “on call” with God so to speak and he has a leisurely existence.

Everything has become normal, mundane and he becomes vulnerable.

Noah had been a carpenter, a preacher, a farmer, and now he has become a husbandman or literally “A man of the earth,”

We can be the same way.

Be careful that when things get quiet, when things get normal, mundane, that we don’t become too “earthy” or men of the earth. Don’t let the normality of life sneak up on you and you become fleshy or earth-like and loose what God was doing with us.

We get cocky and we stop praying too God, talking too Him and listening too Him.

We tell Him, “I’ve got it from here on out God, I can handle whatever comes my way.”

“Thanks for all the help but I can take it from here.”

And then trouble comes

Sometimes we get trouble just because that is the way things are but there are times when God brings trials and tribulation too us and on us, not for us, not so that we will become better, but for God.

Why??? Because sometimes that is the only way that He can get us to talk too Him. Sometimes that is the only way that He can have a part in our lives. That is the only way we will cling too Him.

 

Mark 4 

36And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.

 37And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

 38And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

 39And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

 40And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

 41And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

 

Luke 8

 25And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him

 

Sometimes He must pass us by in order for us to see His glory

 

Exodus 33

18And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

 19And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

20And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

 21And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock

And yet praise be to God that we can now see His face. We are able to stand upon the rock, Jesus Christ and we are able to see His glory as His awesome glory passes before us and comes to indwell us.

Mark 6

46And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.

 47And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.

 48And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.

 49But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out:

 50For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.

 51And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.

Amen and amen!!!!

Noah dies at the age of 950. The ultimate tragedy is that no accomplishments are recorded during his last 350 years. He could have experienced that thing so dreaded by men of faith, which is to be placed on the shelf by God

 

1Co 9:19  For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.

1Co 9:20  And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;

1Co 9:21  To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

1Co 9:22  To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

1Co 9:23  And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.

1Co 9:24  Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

1Co 9:25  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

1Co 9:26  I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Genesis Chapter 9 – The Noahic Covenant: The Specifics of the Covenant Part 4

 

 

 Genesis 9 – The Noahic Covenant: The Specifics of the Covenant Part 4

1.       My covenant is with all the earth

 

 8And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

 9And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

 10And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

 11And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

God promises to never again destroy the earth with a global flood. However when things do become like Noah’s day, God will destroy the earth by fire!!

Matthew 24

37But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

 38For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

 39And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

2 Peter 3 1This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

 2That ye 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 Saviour:

 3Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

 4And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

 5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

 6Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

 7But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Genesis Chapter 9 – The Noahic Covenant: The Specifics of the Covenant Part 3

Genesis 9 – The Noahic Covenant : The Specifics of the Covenant Part 3

1.       Man is responsible

 

 4But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

 5And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 

Man is now responsible to both mankind and the animal kingdom. The world has changed. Things aren’t better but they aren’t worse.

Man has not changed though

Proverbs 21

Genesis 8:21

21And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done

There are three institutions God has established.

1.       Family

2.       Church

3.       and here we see Government with the basis being capital punishment

Man is responsible to respect the blood

Man is responsible to life (the blood)

The blood is precious. Man could catch and eat animals but he couldn’t eat anything raw. Man had to show the proper respect for the blood when eating an animal because the blood was their life principle.

Leviticus 17

 8And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice,

 9And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the LORD; even that man shall be cut off from among his people.

 10And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.

 11For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

 12Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.

 13And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.

 14For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

Deuteronomy 12

 23Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.

 24Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.

 25Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

The blood is precious, not only because it is the life principle of all living beings but because of the precious blood that was shed for you and for me

Matthew 26

 

26And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

 27And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

 28For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Hebrews 9:14
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Hebrews 10:29
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

The responsibility of shedding blood was upon everything and everyone.

1.       To the animals

2.       To the hand of every man (this could include suicide)

3.       To everyman toward each other

6Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

Capital punishment

Life is now required for life. We are required to keep the death penalty. Why???

Because man was created in the image of God. Man is totally depraved and God knew what comes with the hunger for killing!!!

This decree restrains man’s depravity

Romans 13

 1Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

 2Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

 3For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:

 4For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

Because unpunished murder defiles the land

Numbers 35

31Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.

 32And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.

 33So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.

 34Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.

Yes this law can be misused and abused but the principle intent never changes. When murder and sin runs rampant the whole nation is punished and suffers. When things get out of whack, when the terms change and become more of a slap on the hand than justice, that nation is surely in trouble

Man is responsible to the earth

 7And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

 

 

Genesis Chapter 9 – The Noahic Covenant: The Specifics of the Covenant Part 2

Genesis 9 – The Noahic Covenant: The Specifics of the Covenant Part 2

 1And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

 2And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

 3Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

Here in this chapter we deal with the Noahic covenant and God shows us three things that pertain to mankind.

1.       Meat is ok.

 3Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

 

Fire up the barbeques!!!!  Meat is now all right to eat.

Noah receives the same instructions that Adam had. He was to be fruitful, to multiply, and to eat (Genesis 1:29-30, 2:15-17) The only difference was that now Noah was told that man could eat meat. Meat is OK! You can now fire up that grill cause beef was for dinner!!!!!

Here are some reasons why this might have been ok now:

1)      Vegetation might not have been as productive as it had been before the flood.

2)      There are those who believe that meat can ward off evil spirits!!!

They believe that meat was necessary, not just for flavor but to repel demonic spirits who had taken possession of men and had interaction with the women (Genesis 6:2) They take this from 1 Timothy 4:1-3

1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

 2Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

 3Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

 4For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

 

Either way, the hunger for meat was now inside mankind. He was ready to eat some steaks!!!!

At the same time, fear and dread towards man was placed inside of the animals. They were delivered into the hands of man, but not for fun. Man couldn’t just walk up to them and they would lie down and wait to be slaughtered and eaten. Man was now going to have to work in order to get his meat.

Genesis 8:13-22 – The Mercy of God and the Praise of Man

Genesis 8:13-22 – The Mercy of God and the Praise of Man

 13And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.

 14And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

 15And God spake unto Noah, saying,

 16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.

 17Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

 18And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:

 19Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

 20And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Noah built the ark at the command from God. He had planned and preached up until it was time to enter into it. He floated on the waters for over a year and waited on God. Now God tells Noah and his family to come out of the ark. They exit with all of the animals. Noah does something that at first doesn’t seem like much but when you think about it speaks volumes as to how Noah found grace in the first place.

And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD

Noah built an altar to the Lord, with no commandment, no pressure from God. He just built an altar to God in order to sacrifice offerings to Him.

Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Noah took of every clean beast, and every clean fowl and offered them right there as burn offerings to God. We can learn a few things from this sacrifice for our lives.

Our sacrifice should be costly too us

God had caused only 7 of each clean animal to be saved in the ark, so Noah risked extinction by sacrificing some of these animals before they could replenish the earth. Costly sacrifice pleases God.

Sacrifice should cost us

2 Samuel 24:24

18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded. 20 Now Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.
21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.”
22 Now Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood. 23 All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.”
And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”
24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

 

Our sacrifice should be prayerful and thankful toward God

That’s the kind of praise and worship that God wants from us, regardless of where we are or our situation. We are saved! We are delivered and we should be thankful for just that.

Romans 12:1

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service

 

Our sacrifice should be an offering from our hearts toward mercy from God

God did not have to tell Noah to offer these animals as sacrifices, Noah just did it right then and there. Noah must have been thankful to God and he must have wanted to praise Him and thank Him. God has blessed us in so many more ways that scream out for our honor and praise. Yet God has to command us or coax us to offer the slightest thanks. We grumble and huff about getting up and praying to Him, reading about Him in His Word, and offering praise too Him when He offered much, much more than we could ever hope for

Ephesians 5:2

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.

 

 21And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

 22While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Noah’s sacrifice pleased God. He smelled this wonderful barbecue and it pleased Him and He made this wonderful promise to Noah and to mankind.

Matthew 9

12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’^] For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Hosea 6

 
       6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
      And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
       7 “ But like men they transgressed the covenant;
      There they dealt treacherously with Me.

 

God desires an obedient heart more than physical sacrifice. He accepted Abel’s sacrifice and not Cain’s because of the conditions of the hearts of these two brothers.

 

Genesis 4

 

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
6 So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

 

“do well” is yatab, a verb meaning “to do well”

 

We do well when we worship and praise God without command, without prodding as God usually seems to have to do. We come to the Lord with some kind of attitude like we are doing God a favor through our “being there” at church. Many times, we don’t even deserve to be in His presence because of the state of our hearts as we come to worship.

 

I challenge myself and anyone who will accept it with me. Let’s come to worship God with every breath and every thought in each day that we are blessed with on this earth. Then when we are gathered together with our fellowship, our church home, then let’s make sure that our hearts are ready and in the right shape and mindset to honor and bless God. Make sure your body, your temple to God is prepared before you step into the sanctuary of praise and worship and He will draw nigh unto you in a way that you have always dreamed

 

May we have the faith of Abel and the heart of Noah and may our worship be a sweet savor to God

 

 

Genesis 8:6-12 – A Picture of the Work of the Holy Spirit

Genesis 8:6-12 – A Picture of the Work of the Spirit

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

 7And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

 8Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

 9But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

 10And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

 11And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

 12And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

The ark is a picture of salvation.

The door is a picture of Jesus Christ

Noah, like ourselves is safe in Christ, in salvation so to speak. In every instance of God’s working we usually see the Godhead

In the beginning – Genesis 1 – we see the Godhead at work in creation

At the baptism of Jesus – Matthew 3 – we see the Godhead at work in calling Jesus the Son

After the burial – John 20 – we see the Godhead at work in the resurrection of the coming King

So if the ark is a picture of the salvation of God and the door is Jesus then the work of the Spirit is pictured by the one window. Why because the window let the light in just as the Spirit lets the Light into our lives.

But we see here that Noah had the ability to open and close the window as he pleased in order to let more or less light in.

We have that same ability. We can either let more or less Light into our lives by either allowing the Spirit of God to work in our lives or we can grieve or quench the Spirit and we will not produce much fruit

1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (King James Version)

 9But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

 10But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

 11For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God

1 Thessalonians 5:18-20 (King James Version)

 18In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

 19Quench not the Spirit.

 20Despise not prophesyings.

The dove represents the work of the Spirit of God, while the raven, represents the work of the flesh.

The dove is peaceful, the raven is restless

The dove found no rest for her feet so she returned to Noah. The Spirit of God is looking for people. The Spirit is searching and sometimes He does not find rest. Why because we won’t give Him room.

Is there room for Him in us?

Christians have the Spirit. We are indwelled with the Spirit but does the Spirit have us?

He could have sat there and waited. He could have proclaimed “well I am open and ready so if you want to land on me then that’s ok!”

Have we done that? Have we been that way? Have you ever said that? I have.

“Well God, I am right here. I am waiting for You to give me the Spirit. I am waiting here so if You want to work through me go ahead. I’ll just set here and wait”

Noah didn’t do that. He reached out and he pulled her into him.

God wants our action. He wants us to participate with Him

All through Scripture, God commands, He tells His people to choose, to listen, to obey but it is up to them as to how much blessings and curses they want in their lives

Luke 11

9And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

 10For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

 11If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

 12Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

 13If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

The Spirit interacts with mankind in three ways

 

John 14 – The Spirit is with us  - before salvation

15If ye love me, keep my commandments.

 16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

 17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

 18I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

 19Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

 20At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

 21He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

 22Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

 23Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

 24He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.

 25These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.

 26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

The Spirit is with us, along side of us, telling us “You need salvation, you need Jesus Christ!”

The Spirit is with in us – indwelling us – He has come to us and we are saved through Jesus Christ

22And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

 23Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

The Spirit is upon us – Working through us

Acts 1

 1The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

 2Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

 3To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

 4And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

 5For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

 6When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

 7And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

 8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Reach out and grab the Spirit today. If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior – let Him have rest in and on you today. Open up that window and let the Light shine in!!!!!!!!!