Angelic Conflict part 109: Human history – Gen 9:1-17; Isa 24:5-6; Heb 2:10.
length: 61:43 - taught on Jun, 28 2013
Class Outline:
Title: Angelic Conflict part 109: Human history - GEN 9:1-17; ISA 24:5-6; HEB 2:10.
There are a few things that I want to address as we document the Noahic Covenant. The general layout is chiastic.
A. God resolves to destroy the earth.
B. Noah builds the ark.
C. God commands Noah and family to enter ark.
D. The flood begins.
E. The flood covers the mountains 150 days.
F. God remembers (delivers) Noah, GEN 8:1a.
E. Flood recedes 150 days, mountains revealed.
D. The earth dries up.
C. God commands Noah and family to exit ark.
B. Noah builds an altar.
A. God resolves not to destroy humanity.
There had never been a flood before and likely there hadn’t been rain before as the earth was still watered from below. But Noah was a believer and walked with God and so he obeyed God.
This flood is unique since only one Hebrew word is used exclusively for it and not for any other flood. The same is true in Greek. The word katakusmos is used for Noah’s flood only.
Therefore this is not a typical flood. It wasn’t just local, but it encompassed the entire surface of the earth to a depth that covered the highest mountains. The language is clear that everything on the earth was to die and not just the local area.
Plus, God promised He would never do it again, and so if it was just a local flood then He would have broken His promise.
Naysayers and mockers like to claim that there wasn’t enough room. There was plenty and even extra. They also like to claim that Noah and his sons didn’t have time to capture so many animals. The account states that God brought the animals to them. They also state that there are animals that are not indigenous to the Middle East and so these would have perished, but we see them on earth today. Again, God brought them to Noah. Is there anything impossible for God?
Noah was in the ark for as total of 378 days. It rained for 40 days and nights.
Before the flood, God predicts the coming of the Noahic Covenant, GEN 6:18.
GEN 6:18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you.
And then we have what sets Noah apart in his generation - his obedience to God, GEN 6:22.
GEN 6:22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.
Everything on the earth was destroyed, GEN 7:21-23.
GEN 7:21 And all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind;
GEN 7:22 of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.
GEN 7:23 Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.
Therefore, with the flood the earth returns to a state like it was in GEN 1:2 - without form and void. In that verse the Holy Spirit moved over the waters and the restoration began. In Noah’s flood, God caused a wind to pass over the surface of the water and it receded both into the ground and upward by evaporation.
GEN 8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.
The words for wind and the Spirit are often interchangeable. And so another covenant will be established.
The new era begins the same way as the previous one: with a blood offering, GEN 8:20-22.
GEN 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
God instructed Noah to take seven pairs of all the clean animals so he’s not extinguishing any kind of animal.
This is the first mention of an altar in the Bible.
The GOE is destroyed and so the Shekinah Glory presence is no longer there to which offerings can be brought. Humanity will now make use of the altar.
In place of the Shekinah, humanity will now make use of the altar.
GEN 8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.
“As I have done,” means with water. He will destroy again, but at the end of history and with fire.
“The intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth,” is a reference to the OSN. It is significant that God makes this promise after smelling the fragrant aroma, which is Noah’s faith in the coming Savoir, represented by the sacrificial animals.
Despite the continuing evil, because of Jesus Christ the many will be brought to God’s glory.
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
So, although there will be continuous evil from the human race, those who are glorified will continue in every generation as will the seasons.
GEN 8:22 "While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat,
And summer and winter, And day and night
Shall not cease."
When destruction comes again it will be with fire at the end of human history.
ISA 24:5 The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant.
ISA 24:6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.
So the flood was necessary for the perpetuation of the human race and the Seed through Noah. The entire earth had become corrupt through angelic infiltration and evil.
But there was Noah, and Noah obeyed.
Noah obeyed. Spirituality is often described in terms of what a person does not do, when it is not a suppression as much as it is an expression in obeying and yielding to the will of God.
Stories of the great flood are found all over the world from different cultures. Though satan has used these to discredit the true flood, it only shows the historical fact of the flood and that as children of Noah fanned out and some rejected the one true God they altered the historical flood to fit their man made religions.
Greek mythology has a flood story as to other mythologies, but those that are most similar to the Noah account is those of ancient Mesopotamia.
Although these accounts (Sumerian - hero Aiusdra; Old Akkadian account - hero Atrahasis; Old Babylonian account contained in the Gilgamesh Epic - hero Utnapishtim) share many similarities with the biblical account, the biblical account stands apart in significant ways. In the Mesopotamian stories the petty gods bring the flood to control overpopulation andor to get rid of the annoying noise of people. Once the flood comes, they are frightened by it, and afterward they hungrily gather around the sacrifice. In contrast, God sovereignly brings the Flood because of human wickedness, and in response to Noah’s sacrifices, he pledges never again to destroy the earth by water.
The Noahic Covenant has 5 provisions, GEN 9:1-7.
First God blesses Noah and his sons.
GEN 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
First provision: Fill the earth through reproduction. Much like Adam’s provision (GEN 1:28), Noah is the new federal head of the human race.
Noah will not have any more children, so the covenant will be carried forth through his three sons.
GEN 9:2 And the fear of you and the terror of you shall be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.
God puts the fear of man into the animal kingdom. Now that they are food they are protected to some degree through fear.
Every animal runs off when it gets the scent of man unless it is extremely hungry and hunger overcomes that fear. This protects them. Hence hunting isn’t so easy.
Man still has authority over the animal kingdom, repeating Edenic Covenant; however, the command to subdue the earth is not repeated. Man has lost authority over the earth to satan.
"Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out.
And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God
GEN 9:3 Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.
Third provision: Animals become fit for food. Up to this point it would appear that man was vegetarian.
I would seem that until now, animals were raised for the purposes of clothing, such as from their wool, for dairy products, and for sacrifices. Now all animals become fit for food. Animals are given a fear of man for self-preservation. Plants are given for food as well, which is a continuation of the Edenic Covenant.
GEN 9:4 Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
Fourth provision: prohibition against eating blood, which is later incorporated into the Mosaic Law.
The life of the animal is in the blood, which is the argument against animal’s having souls, which argument seems to wax and wane in direct proportion to one’s love for hisher pets.
Drinking of blood was prohibited. Furthermore, drinking blood is often connected with demonism; thus this prohibition might be, to some degree, a response to the events of demonic worship when human women and fallen angels intermarried.
GEN 9:5 And surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man.
GEN 9:6 "Whoever sheds man's blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God He made man.
Fifth provision: Capital punishment from both a divine and human side.
Verse five is divine retribution and verse six is human retribution. Man now has the authority to put another man to death. Later, the Mosaic Covenant will add other crimes requiring the death penalty, but as far as the Noahic Covenant goes, it is mandatory only for premeditated murder. The purpose is not to deter crime, but to punish the evildoer.
Much of the argument today about the use of capital punishment concerns whether it does or does not deter crime. Biblically speaking, that is irrelevant and not the issue. The issue for the Bible is punishing the evildoer, not reforming him or her.
Some have also argued that after the fall, mankind was no longer made in the image of God. This verse shows that opinion to be false. The reason given for capital punishment is just that, “for in the image of God He made man,” and every man born into the world from Cain forward is born fallen and in 100% depravity.
GEN 9:7 "And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Populate the earth [spread out] abundantly and multiply in it."
Verse 7 reaffirms the first provision. In Hebrew this is alliteration - the command to multiply is repeated again, but the command to subdue the earth is not repeated. So man retains the authority over the animal kingdom and the vegetable kingdom; but he does not have the authority over the earth as the earth has been forfeited over to satan.
The sign of the Noahic Covenant - the rainbow.
The word of God comes again:
GEN 9:8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,
GEN 9:9 "Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you;
The Noahic Covenant applies to Noah, his sons, and with all humanity from this point on.
This includes the animal kingdom.
GEN 9:10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.
GEN 9:11 And I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth."
There will never again be a universal flood and God will never again destroy the mass of humanity with water.
God will destroy the earth fully with fire at the end of time:
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
GEN 9:12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations;
GEN 9:13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.
Noahic sign - rainbow; for Abrahamic sign - circumcision (GEN 17:11); for Mosaic sign - Sabbath (EXO 31:16-17).
“bow” - tv#q#[qesheth] = a hunter’s or warrior’s bow. It is as if God hung up his battle bow on the cloud as a sign of peace.
No matter how evil man may become, God will not war with man so as to destroy man, for when God wars, who can stand against Him?
GEN 9:14 And it shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud,
GEN 9:15 and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.
“Remember” is used showing a covenantal relationship and referring to God’s faithfulness to His covenant.
GEN 9:16 When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
GEN 9:17 And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth."
Outside of the Noahic Covenant the rainbow is found three times; EZE 1:28 and REV 4:3 as part of the Shekinah glory and in REV 10:1, where it deals with the reflected glory of a leading angel.
The Tower of Babel - GEN 11:1-9.
This passage follows the Law of Recurrence because it explains how the dispersion of chapter 10 took place.
The Law of Recurrence - when the Scripture repeats an event with greater or added detail. Gen 11 explains the dispersion of Gen 10.
For instance:
GEN 10:5 From these [sons of Japheth] the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.
GEN 11:1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.
GEN 11:7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."
GEN 11:8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.
GEN 11:9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.
So GEN 11:1-9 happened prior to GEN 10:5 and further explains the dispersion of the families of Noah’s sons.
Together a great many of the descendents of Noah with one speech decided to oppose God and create their own city based on idol worship and astrology. They were led by Nimrod.
God confused their language and dispersed them creating nationalism over internationalism. If the status of the people perpetuated, all the peoples would have been brought up in an idol worshipping, star worshipping, demon worshipping atmosphere with only this one religion being taught.
Think of a child brought up under communism where only atheism is taught and the Bible is forbidden or under radical Sharia law where only jihad is taught. Imagine if the entire world was like this and there were no nations that knew of and worshipped the one, true God.
GEN 11:1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.
It is very possible that this language was Hebrew, since all names are Hebrew prior to this chapter and all the word plays only make sense in Hebrew.
They had the same tongue and the same vocabulary.
GEN 11:2 And it came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
“Plain” - good land for cultivation.
“Shinar” - Babylonia.
The families of Noah return to where life originated.
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