Genesis 9B (2011) Our focus as we ended last week was the covenant between God and Noah. God took upon Himself one term

Transcription

1 Genesis 9B (2011) Our fcus as we ended last week was the cvenant between Gd and Nah The cvenant was a ne-way, suzerainty cvenant Gd decreed t Nah and all Creatin The terms created a new dispensatin r perid f Gd s grace ruling ver sinful men Included in the terms was the allwance that men culd eat animals fr fd While animals fr their part were changed by the cvenant t nw have the fear f men Als, men wuld nw rule ver each ther with the authrity t shed a man s bld as penalty fr taking life Meanwhile, Nah s family wuld again fill the earth as Adam did nce befre Gd tk upn Himself ne term That He wuld never again destry the Earth with water Leaving pen the right t destry the Earth in ther ways The cvenant depends nly n Gd s faithfulness, and s lng as Gd remains faithful t His term, the rest f the cvenant will remain in effect as well The Nahic Cvenant begins a new dispensatin in Gd s plan fr mankind, ne that lasts until Gd s call f Abraham and the patriarchs Like all cvenants, this agreement came with certain features t help set the agreement a part and mark its establishment This mrning as we finish Chapter 9, we ll see ne f thse markers And we als want t cnsider a questin: what did the Fld ultimately accmplish n Earth? It came in respnse t the extreme nature f man s sin n Earth, but what did the Fld achieve tward that end? 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

2 Genesis 9B! 2 Gen. 9:12 Gd said, This is the sign f the cvenant which I am making between Me and yu and every living creature that is with yu, fr all successive generatins; Gen. 9:13 I set My bw in the clud, and it shall be fr a sign f a cvenant between Me and the earth. Gen. 9:14 It shall cme abut, when I bring a clud ver the earth, that the bw will be seen in the clud, Gen. 9:15 and I will remember My cvenant, which is between Me and yu and every living creature f all flesh; and never again shall the water becme a fld t destry all flesh. Gen. 9:16 When the bw is in the clud, then I will lk upn it, t remember the everlasting cvenant between Gd and every living creature f all flesh that is n the earth. Gen. 9:17 And Gd said t Nah, This is the sign f the cvenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is n the earth. Cvenants usually include certain features t help mark r dente the cvenant s existence and remind the parties t bserve its terms Sme Bible cvenants highlight these features mre clearly while thers examples given in Scripture skip ver the details Rest assured that every cvenant included at least a few cmmn, basic elements One f the thse basic elements was a sign r tken Signs culd be cmpared t a receipt r a signature When I drp ff my dry cleaning at the cleaners, I have entered int a cntract with that business The terms f the cntract are simple and mstly unspken The cleaners will clean my clthes withut ruining them and I will pay their advertised fee When I leave my clthes at the cunter, they clerk will hand me a receipt fr the clthes This receipt is a sign f ur cntract Every time I lk at that receipt, I see visible prf f ur cntract I als see a reminder t pick up my clthes! 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

3 Genesis 9B! 3 The sign is nt the same thing as the agreement itself Fr example, if I were t lse my receipt, the cntract is still in effect The receipt was merely a representatin f the cntract, nt its substance Likewise, cvenants use signs t remind the parties that an agreement existed between them It wasn t the substance f the cvenant, but it pinted t it And these signs served the same purpse as signatures n mdern cntracts The parties respected the sign f a cvenant as a slemn guarantee frm the ther party like a signature n a cntract We can see this in anther example, when Abraham receives his cvenant and when Israel receives the Law These cvenants als had sign Abraham s sign was circumcisin Israel s sign was the Sabbath Day Bth circumcisin and the weekly Sabbath were reminders given t mark their respective cvenants Nw in v.12, the Lrd declares the sign fr the Nahic cvenant will be a rainbw In keeping with the nature f the cvenant itself, the Lrd selected an apprpriate sign t cmmunicate t every member f Creatin Signs shuld share certain characteristics if they are t mark a cvenant prperly First, a sign shuld last as lng as the terms f the cvenant itself It des n gd if the chsen sign disappears befre the cvenant itself runs it s curse 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

4 Genesis 9B! 4 Secndly, the sign shuld be visible t every party f the cvenant, s that all wh participate can see the reminder and understand its meaning Finally, a sign must stand ut frm the nrmal everyday It serves n purpse t select as a sign smething that desn t draw attentin t itself If we select an everyday, nrmal event as a sign, then it cannt cmmunicate that smething new has cme int existence The rainbw meets these requirements perfectly The rainbw everlasting As lng as the Earth remains and water falls frm the atmsphere, rainbws will exist The rainbw is universal Every cntinent, every lcatin n Earth sees rainbws Every persn and even every animal has pprtunity t see this sign and by Gd s wrd understand its meaning Finally, the rainbw is uniquely assciated with the end f a rain strm and the appearance f the sun Since we knw the arrival f rain was the cause f the Fld And the prmise f this cvenant is that rain will never again bring a wrldwide fld The rainbw is a perfect way t cmmunicate the cvenant still at wrk, Gd relenting frm ever bringing t much water This als leads us t cnclude that rainbws were entirely new in Nah s day, prbably since rain itself was new With v.17 we reach the end f the cvenant Gd has instituted human gvernment with its implied laws and penalties 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

5 Genesis 9B! 5 Gd has stated that the acts f human gvernment are ultimate acts f Gd in that they serve His divine purpse n Earth Gd has established that a life must be given fr a life and that shed bld is the way that life may be pured ut Yet men cannt take in bld as fd All these terms freshadw future cvenants created by Gd If we tk time, we culd identify similarities between this cvenant and the Old Cvenant and the New Cvenant As in the way this cvenant established human laws and human rulers But the Old Cvenant established Gd s Law and the New Cvenant brught Gd s Ruler As in hw this cvenant shwed us that crime against man required a man s life be given But the Old Cvenant shwed a merciful Gd wuld make a sacrifice available fr sin And the New Cvenant revealed a permanent sacrifice capable f remving all sin As in hw this cvenant men were taught t pur ut bld f animals But the Old Cvenant taught that the puring ut f bld was an act f sacrifice t atne fr sin And the New Cvenant taught that the bld f Christ was the necessary sacrifice t remit fr the sins f men There are ther similarities and cnnectins, but the sum f it all is a greater pint Gd is at wrk t reveal His plan t men, but in small steps And with each new revelatin, Gd fills in a picture f His plan t address the sin f the Garden nce and fr all The writer f Hebrews describes it this way: 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

6 Genesis 9B! 6 Heb. 1:1 Gd, after He spke lng ag t the fathers in the prphets in many prtins and in many ways, Heb. 1:2 in these last days has spken t us in His Sn, whm He appinted heir f all things, thrugh whm als He made the wrld. And this leads us t the secnd questin fr the mrning: what has this Fld event accmplished in Gd s plan fr the Earth and fr men? We get the answer in the curse f the rest f chapter 9, in a stry f what happens immediately after the Fld Gen. 9:18 Nw the sns f Nah wh came ut f the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham was the father f Canaan. Gen. 9:19 These three were the sns f Nah, and frm these the whle earth was ppulated. Mses reminds us f the men wh left the Ark Shem, Ham and Japeth were Nah s sns And Mses adds that Ham was the father f Canaan This statement serves tw purpses First, it tells us that enugh time had passed since the Fld that the first f Nah s grandchildren have nw been brn Remember there were n grandchildren arund when they entered the Ark Cnsider hw merciful Gd was t ensure that n children were frced t endure the Ark adventure Secndly, it sets the scene fr the rest f this chapter, since Canaan becmes a fcus in the stry Frm these three men, the whle Earth was ppulated We ll learn in the next chapter hw these men spread ut and what families came frm them But fr nw cnsider that the full diversity f humans we see tday came frm the same family We can safely assume that Nah s children lked very similar 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

7 Genesis 9B! 7 One wasn t caucasian, the ther riental and the ther black skinned And yet these variatins emerged frm these families As we cntemplate this fact, we find the Bible challenging us n ur deeply held prejudices tward ther peple grups Race is nt a bilgical distinctin There is n race gene in DNA All men came frm the same family In the NKJ, Paul says it this way: Acts 17:26 And He has made frm ne bld every natin f men t dwell n all the face f the earth, and has determined their preappinted times and the bundaries f their dwellings, S ur attitudes tward thers men must be entirely blind t differences in physical attributes, since these differences are incidental They came as a result f hw these men migrated away frm each ther And their physical islatin eventually caused their genetic differences t cncentrate int different races r natins f peple But at the end f it all, we are n different t Gd nr shuld we be t ne anther Nw that life is beginning t return t nrmal, Nah returns t farming Gen. 9:20 Then Nah began farming and planted a vineyard. Gen. 9:21 He drank f the wine and became drunk, and uncvered himself inside his tent. Gen. 9:22 Ham, the father f Canaan, saw the nakedness f his father, and tld his tw brthers utside. Gen. 9:23 But Shem and Japheth tk a garment and laid it upn bth their shulders and walked backward and cvered the nakedness f their father; and their faces were turned away, s that they did nt see their father s nakedness. Nah plants a vineyard, and eventually it prduces grapes 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

8 Genesis 9B! 8 Frm the grapes, Nah makes wine Clearly sme time has passed since the Fld, several years at least And it s frm that vantage pint that we gain enugh perspective t assess the impact and purpse f the Fld In enjying the harvest f his vineyard, Nah becmes drunk ne night This is the first mentin f wine in Scripture, and it is nt a cincidence that drunkenness fllws clsely We culd take a lng side trip n this tpic, but I wn t d s here Suffice t say that wine itself is never cast as the enemy in the Bible Drunkenness is the evil we are tld t avid And Nah s stry is a great testimny t this truth If we cannt enjy wine (r any alchl) withut drunkenness, then we shuld refrain frm it altgether Nah s drunkenness leads him t pass ut in his tent with his rbes pen r therwise expses him t his children In his nakedness, Nah is expsed in a shameful and sinful way The sns eventually cver their father s bdy t lessen his shame But nt befre ne f the sns increases the shame thrugh his wn sinful respnse Befre we lk at the details f this stry, I want t remind yu f an earlier mment in Genesis in the stry f Adam in the Garden At the beginning f Adam s time n the new Earth, his life was simple and slitary, living nly with his wife He enjyed Gd s prvisin, and Adam had a testimny f blamelessness and inncence befre Gd But he wasn t t remain that way 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

9 Genesis 9B! 9 In a mment f weakness and influenced by the Enemy, Adam tk a fruit f the field And thrugh its abuse brught himself t shame befre Gd and men In respnse t his shameful state, Adam and Wman tried t cver themselves thugh their effrts culdn t satisfy Gd And by his fall, men suffered a lasting penalty Nw returning t Nah s stry, the parallels jump ut at us We immediately see that Gd rchestrated these events t reinfrce the basic stry f man s sin and Gd s plan fr redemptin Nah has becme a farmer in the pst-fld age, thugh he was nt a farmer befre Obviusly, farming wuld have been a necessity fr Nah and his family after the fld wiped ut s much Just as Adam was given the respnsibility t tend the Garden in his day Then Nah makes an uncharacteristic mistake: he becmes drunk Nah s mistake was t partake f a fruit in excess Obviusly, this is similar t Adam s taking f a fruit in the Garden And bth are sins in that bth are acts prhibited by Gd s standards Drunkenness is a sin, accrding t the Bible, and it s a particularly insidius ne It breaks dwn the barriers erected by ur cnscience which Gd gave us t prtect us frm sin It verrides ur willingness t hear and fllw the Spirit f Gd as He directs us It tempts us int further sin 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

10 Genesis 9B! 10 One sn, Ham, sees Nah naked And its cnsequences extend far beynd urselves and int the lives f thers Nah s experience reflects all these Biblical truths Nakedness in ur culture tday is lsing its sense f shame Peple glry in shwing their bdies, especially t an inapprpriate degree It s the ultimate sign f Christian immaturity and selfishness when we see a man r wman wearing revealing clthing, especially t gathering f believers Because it tempts thers int lust and gains the persn nthing with respect t their testimny But in the day f Nah and even int this day by and large, revealing the bdy was a particularly sinful and shameful act T be seen naked brught shame n the persn and upn the ne wh witnesses the indiscretin Fr Nah, his sn Ham will never lk at him the same way again And shuld Nah learn f the Ham s discvery, the shame is magnified fr bth f them S it s particularly hrrifying t hear that Ham ges utside the tent and tells his brthers what he saw, that his father is naked Ham had a chice when he discvered his father Having seen him, the damage had been dne fr Ham, but he still culd have preserved his father s dignity And he culd have avided drawing his brthers int the event Instead, Ham glats in what he finds He tells his brthers what he saw, which spreads the father s shame deeper int the family Secndly, by nt cvering his father, he invites his brthers t see it fr themselves 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

11 Genesis 9B! 11 Frtunately fr Nah, the remaining brthers d all they can t preserve what little dignity remains fr Nah They walk backwards int the tent and lay a cat n Dad Thugh they knew f their father s shame, they didn t chse t see it themselves Clearly Ham s respnse is very different frm his brther s While he glries in His father s shame, the thers d what they can t preserve dignity Here we see mre parallels t the stry f Adam In the Fall f the Garden, there were three actrs One wh was respnsible fr the shame f the Fall, ne wh tried t mitigate against it, and behind the scenes ne wh inspired it Here we have a similar tri First, we have Ham playing the part f Adam He made a cnscience chice t disregard his father s glry and brught shame t him instead Then we have Shem and Japeth playing the part f Wman Caught up in the events and unable t avid the srdid affair But they d what they can t minimize their father s shame and try t defend him as best they can Finally, we have Satan wrking behind the scenes, bth in the Garden and here What is Gd teaching in this sectin? In the Garden he deceived the Wman And here he deceived Nah, bringing the ccasin f Nah s sin First, that the pwer and enrmity f the Fld still wasn t enugh t wipe ut the effects f sin n Earth 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

12 Genesis 9B! 12 It will require mre than a Fld f water t d away with sin Fr example, remember when Nah was described as blameless and upright? Nw we see vivid evidence he was anything but sinless Secndly, the rt cause f sin, that is Satan, is still present and wrking in the sns f disbedience Third, men cannt prduce an acceptable cvering t reverse the shame f sin Even after Nah is cvered by his sns, he is nevertheless still shamed by the act and the cvering didn t erase that shame Only a spiritual cvering can affect that change Finally, the dispensatin f human gverning wn t be an answer t sin any mre than the perid f cnscience Adam and Eve had their Cain Nah has his Ham The wrld will cntinue t experience men wh refuse t recgnize their shame befre Gd and wh celebrate their sinfulness But each new dispensatin brings a new measure f cntrl t mitigate against man s sinfulness And next week we ll examine Nah s respnse Since Nah represents the chief member f this sciety, he therefre represents gvernment n Earth S his respnse t Ham s sin becmes a binding decisin that Gd makes sure in cming generatins 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.