2011-02-18
Good Morning Dear Ones,
It’s very helpful for us to examine the different covenants that God has made with us. So today, we will begin with the Noahatic Covenant, that is the two-way promise that God made with Noah. At first when God discovered how awful the people on earth had become, in GN 6: 18-20, He made this statement to Noah: “I am going to send a flood on the earth to destroy every living being. Everything on the earth will die, but I will make a covenant with you. Go into the boat with your wife, your sons, and their wives. Take into the boat with you a male and a female of every kind of animal and of every kind of bird, in order to keep them alive.” God further told him to take whatever food was needed, and Noah did all that God commanded of him. Noah offered a sacrifice after the 40 days of sailing had elapsed and the water had subsided. GN 8: 21-22, “The odor of the sacrifice pleased the Lord, and He said this to Himself. ‘Never again will I put the earth under a curse because of what man does; I know that from the time he is young his thoughts are evil. Never again will I destroy all living beings, as I have done this time. As long as the world exists, there will be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and heart, summer and winter, day and night.’” GN 9: 1 was God’s blessing and command to Noah and his family. “God blessed Noah and his sons and said, ‘Have many children so that your descendants will live all over the earth.’” In GN 9: 11-16, we find the familiar rainbow covenant, which is part of God’s original promises to Noah. “With these words I make My covenant with you: I promised that never again will all living beings be destroyed by a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth. As a sign of this everlasting covenant which I am making with you and with all living beings, I am putting My bow in the clouds. It will be the sign of My covenant with the world. Whenever I cover the sky with clouds and the rainbow appears, I will remember My promise to you and to all the animals that a flood will never again destroy all living beings on earth.” Brave promise in the face of mankind’s capability for evil? You bet it is! And to think, all Noah and his family had to do was to have followed God’s directions, and when the flood subsided go out and populate the earth! Our God has courage and bravery beyond what any man can have.
We need to look into the origins of making of a covenant. The Hebrew word for making a covenant is “Briyth” [pronounced ber-eeth, with the accent on the second syllable]. What this means is “passing between two pieces of flesh.” The flesh originally came from animal sacrifices, but the “cutting of a covenant” later on in ancient Hebrew society was done by passing of a man’s hand between his male covenant partner’s thighs. This was done from 3000 years before Christ’s incarnation. God’s tender heart was deeply disappointed before the Noahtic Covenant was made. He knew it was necessary for us to see why, which is revealed in GN 6: 5-7, “When the Lord saw how wicked everyone on earth was and how evil their thoughts were all the time, He was sorry that He had ever made them and put them on the earth. He was so filled with regret that He said, ‘I will wipe out these people I have created, and also the animals and the birds, because I am sorry that I made any of them.’” Those of us who read the Scriptures frequently and have an active prayer life know that God has been bitterly disappointed many times since then. That’s why it’s so necessary for us to appreciate what God does for us every day and to obey Him faithfully. As I do in every devotion, I remind all of us that God gave His only begotten Son on the cross, so that all mankind could have a chance to be saved [JN 3: 16: RO 3: 24-25]. And all we need to do is listen to His truth, believe it, and repent of our sins. In view of what God has gone through over the course of mankind’s history, He asks very little of us and gives us so very much. God would discover that even destroying mankind, except for Noah and his family, wouldn’t solve the problem of their sinfulness. What happens with Noah and his family afterward is nothing short of disgusting to those of us who try to obey God’s teaching [GN 9: 18-29].
Like GN 5, GN 10 contains a long list of descendants of Noah and his sons. Beginning Bible students often don’t understand the significance of having these lists in the Scriptures, so they skip over them. However, when they do this, they miss out on how places where Noah’s descendants’ clans settled got their names. More significantly, they miss out on the various members of Christ’s very own family tree! Yes, His ancestry can be traced and verified all the way back to Adam! I once had a respected Bible scholar say to me, “Every jot and tittle, every punctuation mark, number, name, etc. that is found in the Scriptures is there for God’s important reasons.” He was right.
In view of the sad outcome of Noah’s life and legacy, we could ask why God chose to save him in the first place. We get our answer in GN 6: 9-10, “This is the story of Noah. He had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Noah had no faults and was the only good man at his time. He lived in fellowship with God.” What happened to Noah himself was due to his naïveté and the evil of his sons. It’s a lesson to us that we must be alert to the working of the devil. I’ll end today with 1 PET 5 :8, “Be alert. Be on watch. Your enemy, the devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” Hopefully, it’s a lesson well learned.
PRAYER: O Lord, Your heart is so tender and Your love for Your human creation is so great! We often in our sinfulness tread heavily on Your tender heart, and we regret that behavior. At the hand of mankind, You have bore horrendous disappointments, and yet, repeatedly You send the Holy Spirit to open hearts to faith in Your Son and bless those who really have real faith. We should spend more time than we do, noticing the many blessings-some overt and others more subtle-that You bring into our lives. For what You do, we praise You. For Who You are, we thank You. And we also ask Your help, through the Holy Spirit, in teaching us to better stewards of the blessings You give us. One such blessing is our faith in Jesus Christ and our opportunities to witness to it to others from our own first-hand experience. PS 107: 43, “Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.” You have made covenants with us or participated in covenants of friendship made between two or more of us from time immemorial, and that is only some of the blessings You give us. We deeply appreciate the patience You demonstrate with our imperfections. 2 PET 3: 9, “The Lord is not slow to do what He has promised, as some think. Instead, He is patient with you, because He doesn’t want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins.” The cynics among us could accuse You of being naïve, but they don’t understand the degree of goodness You always show us. A true believer will pray PS 16: 1-2, “Protect me, O God; I trust in You for safety. I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; all the good things I have come from You.’” Once again, we offer You our thanks and praise for loving us the way You do. In Christ’s holy and mighty name, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m led to spend one more week discussing the Noahatic Covenant before moving on. There are still points of its significance to be made. Goodness and kindness are words we think we understand. However, it is not until we put them into practice that we realize their power. This is power that God has given those of us who believe and who produce the kind of spiritual fruit that is spoken of in the fruits of the Spirit list given in GA 5 :22-23. The head, heart, hands connection comes to mind. We receive a good teaching from the Lord through the Holy Spirit. This teaching becomes a belief from in our hearts, one which prompts gracious, generous, kindly, caring, and courageous acts, symbolized by our hands. Sometimes the teaching is a warning, like being alert to the devil’s dirty work. The more we study the Bible and pray actively listening to God, the better He is able to teach us to recognize when the devil is being subtle, and it’s easy to miss him trying to establish a stronghold in our lives. That is why we need to show our reverence for the Lord by working in concert with Him to clean up our lives-physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. Big job? You bet it is! But the Lord is eager for us to help Him do it. He leaves us with IS 41: 13, “I am the Lord, your God; I strengthen you and tell you ‘Do not be afraid; I will help you.’” And yes, Dear Readers, He alone has the power and love to do it! Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15