In the Beginning - Pt.11

11 chapters; 11 posts! I didn't set out to produce this much, but what feedback there has been has been positive, so I trust that many others who read these weekly messages will have been helped by our thinking about these seminal chapters of the written Word of Almighty God, the Bible.

However, we are at the end - I have no wish to go through the various genealogies, important 'though they are in their own way - as we look at Gen.11:1-9: « Now the whole earth had one language and few words.  And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Ba'bel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. »

It was the Augustinian monk and founder of the Order, Augustine, who coined the phrase « Man proposes, but God disposes. » However, Solomon perhaps put it best in Prov. 19:21 : « Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of YHWH that will be established. » When we read this episode in the history of humanity, we realise just how true this is!

Notice the opening words - « ... one language and few words. ». As one who has lived in France for, now, seven years I would love that that situation could have continued! Of course, this unity of language of the whole human race followed from the unity of its descent from one human pair. 

In Gen.10:8, we discover that Cush, Noah's grandson, « … became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. ». We also discover, in 10:10, that he was a man of ambition, who established a kingdom, beginning with Babel, in the land of Shinar. This land was the setting for the record that we are now considering. By the way, Babel and Babylon are identical. The first is the transliteration of the Hebrew language word, the second is the Greek language equivalent.

Babel was the first centre of civilisation in the ancient, post-Flood, world. It was famed for its "ziggurats" - tall, wide-based, stepped towers; and its name even meant "gate of the gods". However, their gods were their own perceived cleverness and power - and how many counterparts they have today! In the Bible, Babel/Babylon is the type of society without God (see, e.g., Rev. 17-18). Here, the true God scorns the self-reliant pride of the inhabitants - their great power is actually so puny that He has to "come down" to see the city and its tower! Of course, Almighty God doesn't have to literally investigate what is happening in His universe. The language is used simply in order to make a point in anthropomorphic terms. I think, too, of the words of Psalm 2: 2-4 - worth looking up! 

This infamous project was, effectively, an arrogant « spitting in the face » of Almighty God. They wanted to « … make a name for themselves, ». Was this a follow-on from the first temptation of the satan, at which we looked earlier? They wanted it to be « a tower with its top in the heavens, » - to be   « like God »? It was certainly a revolutionary act! In Gen.9:1, Noah and his family were instructed to « Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ». These people wanted to stay, together, in one place. However, the firm establishment of an ungodly unity, the wickedness and audacity of men would have led to fearful enterprises. A society without God at its centre falls apart into communication breakdown, and international disputes - and we are seeing evidence of that in our own time!

« A society without God at its centre falls apart. » and so does an individual! Augustine also said that « Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee » A modern equivalent is «There's a God-shaped hole in every heart that only God can fill. » Those words are usually attributed to the 17th century French philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal. Sadly, he didn't use those precise words! However, they are catchy enough, and are not far from what he did write: « There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man, and only God can fill it. »  If you are finding life to be heavy going; if you sometimes feel that you are coming apart at the seams; if you have reached the end of your tether; may I encourage you to turn to the One Who has, and is, the answer to even your situation? He may not remove the difficulty - but He will show you how to cope, and He will be right there with you!

In Matt.28:19-20 we have what is usually referred to as "The Great Commission" - the final words of the risen Lord Jesus to His disciples: « Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. » (emphasis added). Those emphasised words apply to every situation in which any of His disciples find themselves. No other friend can make that promise, with such absolute assurance. Let Him fill that vacuum, and discover that He truly did come that you « ...  may have life, and have it abundantly. » (Jn.10:10).

In the Beginning - Pt.10

So, Noah and his family, and all of the creatures involved, have left the ark. What is the first thing that you would have done? Start building a house, or at least erecting a tent - just in case it rained!!!! Perhaps you would have thought that gathering wood for a fire would be a priority. Maybe you would have encouraged the land animals to get as far away as possible - you wouldn't really want the larger ones to be wandering around too close to where you were! But what did Noah do? The record states it simply: "... Noah built an altar to YHWH, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar." (Gen 8:20).

This is a new order that God has brought out of the chaos of the Flood. But it was more than just a new beginning; it was a new peace after hostility - the hostility that had grown between the holy Creator, and His disobedient and sinful creation. Noah's sacrificial offering was not merely a "Thank You" to Almighty God for His safe-keeping. It was an understanding that sin had been the cause of God's judgement, and that Noah and his family were still sinners. Noah knew that sin would remain as a barrier between God and humanity. So we are informed that "... when YHWH smelled the pleasing odour, YHWH said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." (Gen 8:21-22).

God accepted Noah's sacrifice with pleasure, not because of any virtue in Noah, or in the clean animals and birds, but because of the coming Peace-maker that they represented. Peter reminds us that we, who are in Christ Jesus "... were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake." (I Peter 1:18-20). God then declared peace in two ways:

1. by a covenant.

Part of that covenant is in His promise at the end of chapter 8. However, in chapter 9, we have more spelled out: "Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, « Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. » God said to Noah, « This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. »" (Gen 9:8-17).

YHWH guarantees that the world is under His protection. Note the repetition of the words "never again". Note how long the covenant is to last - "for all future generations". Note how wide is the scope of the covenant - "between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh;". Then as a reminder of that covenant, He gives us the rainbow - a picture, it has been suggested, of the laying aside of His war-bow.

But we must note, also,

2. His commands.

"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, « Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image. And you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it. »" (Gen 9:1-7).

YHWH restores mankind's mandate to look after the planet, but He recognises that it is no longer the "very good" world that He had created. It is now a sinful world of fear and bloodshed. In order to recreate order in a tangle of disordered relationships, He stresses the supremacy of human life, and the sanctity of all life. People may now use animals for food, but this is not to lead to inhumane, or murderous, violence. As I read the daily newspapers; as I watch the news programmes on television; I realise how far humanity has travelled from those simple commands. 

Of course, under the New Covenant in the Lord Jesus, each of us may enter into a relationship with our Creator that is personal - "God has no grand-children" to use the title of one of the books on my shelves. The salvation that is offered is offered to individuals, and each of us must make our own decision as to whether we accept it, or reject it. For those who accept it, it is greater by far than being saved from drowning, by entering a wooden ark. It is being saved from sin - its penalty, its power and, ultimately, its presence - and the assurance that when we fall (and we do!) "...  if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." (I John 1:7-10).*

May all who read these words be among those who can say with Paul: "Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing." (II Tim.4:8).

In the Beginning - Pt.9

"But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark." (Gen.8:1). Those opening words of chap.8 are wonderful. While disorder, and chaos, raged all around them, Almighty God "remembered" Noah, and all of the other inmates of the ark. That word "remembered" is important. When you, or I, "remember" it means that something that we have forgotten has suddenly come to the forefront of our minds. 

In this particular context, that would imply that Father God had "forgotten" Noah and the other occupants of the ark, and then suddenly thought "Oh! I've just remembered! Noah, his family, all those creatures. I should do something about them." However, the Hebrew word used has the additional sense of  "to mark (so as to be recognised)". So God had not "forgotten" Noah. He had, in fact, taken special; note of him, and the others. He kept them safe and healthy; He gave them resilience not to give up hope. He encouraged them with signs of new life beyond the disaster. The first of these was that "... God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually." (Gen 8:1-3). Then, we read, "... in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat." (v.4). Note, by the way, that in spite of several claims to have found the remains of the ark on the modern Mt Ararat, there is no definitive proof that the modern peak is the same one on which the ark rested. Indeed, the text does not even claim that it rested "on Mt Ararat", but "... upon the mountains of Ararat." - a different scenario! The two other Biblical references to "Ararat" support this - they are found in Isaiah 37:238, and Jeremiah 51:27 where Ararat is described as a "land" and a "kingdom" respectively.

The third encouraging sign that was given to Noah was when "... in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen." (v.5); and the next sign was when a dove that he had sent out for the second time "... came back to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth." (v.7). It was when he sent the dove out on a third occasion, that "... she did not return to him any more." (v.12).

So, Noah was now free to open the ark, and allow all of its passengers to disembark! Well, that is what many of us would have done. Having been confined in the ark for more than a year, we would be desperate to get back on to dry land. In my youth, I spent a couple of years in the British Merchant Navy. As I recall, the longest stretch at sea was about five days - and we were delighted to be able to be on "terra firma" once again! Noah was not like that! Even after that length of time, he waited - about eight more weeks - until God said: "Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.” So Noah went forth, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. And every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves upon the earth, went forth by families out of the ark." (vs.16-19).

The circumstances, as seen from the window in the ark, looked encouraging. However, Noah knew that that was no guarantee that Almighty God wanted them to leave immediately - and so he waited for a clear direction. Obedience to Father God means doing the right thing, in the right way, and for the right motive. But it also means doing it at the right time! How often I have "run ahead" of my Heavenly Father - and I suspect that many of those reading this will have done the same!

This 8th chapter ends with a glorious promise, that Eternal God "... will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." (vs.21-22). A promise never again to curse and destroy that enables us to look forward, even in our own time, to renewed order out of the chaos in which we currently live; and a guarantee that, as long as the earth endures, the basic rhythms of His creation will continue.

Perhaps you, or someone you love, or know, have/has been going through a period of personal difficulty - even disaster! May I encourage you to look to Almighty God? If He could guide Noah and his family through the Flood, He can guide you, and me, through the worst that the enemy would throw at us. That doesn't mean that He will make the difficulties disappear - but He will "remember" us. 

There was a chorus that was popular in my younger day:

"God is still on the throne,
And He will remember His own;
Tho’ trials may press us and burdens distress us,
He never will leave us alone;
God is still on the throne,
He never forsaketh His own;
His promise is true, He will not forget you,
God is still on the throne."

Of course, it is "His own" for whom He cares. Are you His? If not, why not? As I have often stated, the offer is there. You only have to accept. If I can be of any help in a more personal way,. please do not hesitate to contact me using the e-mail address at the top of the blog.

In the Beginning - Pt.8

The purpose of the flood was not simply to destroy sinful man - it was to destroy sinful man, but to destroy sinful man, and all of the land animals, and the birds, and the earth itself! (Gen.6:7, 13). Only a global flood would achieve that! 

The purpose of the Ark was not to save a few animals and birds, so that Noah could start a farm afterwards. (7:1-3). If the flood was local, the Ark was unnecessary. 

Consider, too, the volume of the Ark. Forget the pictures of the Ark in most (secular!) children's books. They are as different from the reality as day is from night. Check the dimensions! In modern terms it was 450' x 75' x 45' - giving a volumetric capacity of more than 1.5 million cubic feet! That is a lot of space!

How many animals and birds were on the Ark? Well, we must take careful note of the text. « Then YHWH said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive upon the face of all the earth. » (vs.1-3). « ... every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, every bird according to its kind, every bird of every sort. » (v. 14).

Now, I neither wish to, nor am I properly qualified to, go into even a brief lecture on zoological terminology (and you may be relieved to know that!), but a "kind" is a very large grouping. It is a "genus", not a species. For example, there are many species and breeds of dog. But the "kind" or "genus", is "canine". That is why one breed of canine is able to mate with another breed (size permitting!); but felines (cats) will not breed with canines!

This is very important! It means that Noah did not need to take a breeding pair of Border Collies, and Yorkshire Terriers, and Dachshunds, and King Charles Spaniels, etc., etc. He simply needed to take a pair of canines - and from even just one pair, the genetic information would be available to produce, over time, different breeds. And, of course, he would not have taken mature adults. He didn't want grandparent elephants! What was required was a couple of teenagers who would have many tears of breeding once they were released from the ark! 

However, even if we deal with species - a much wider group, with many more creatures than if Noah only took "kinds", the picture is little different. I shan't bore you with individual figures, but even taking the figures that would have made the situation the most difficult for Noah, there would have been less than 50,000 creatures. Now, when we note that the average size of mammals, especially those that have not yet fully grown, is about the same as an average sheep, we find that all of those creatures could be housed in little more than 35% of the Ark's capacity. There can be no doubt whatsoever that the Ark was large enough to take all of the animals that Noah was required to take, as well as sufficient food for both them and the Noahic family.

But what about the building of the Ark? Well, in spite of what some modern reproductions show, it was not necessarily a ship-like construction. The Hebrew word (tebah) is derived from a word that means, simply, a box! In other words, building such a large vessels would not require great shipbuilding, or even carpentry, skills. If it was merely a very large box (and since it was required only to float (7:18), and did not have to be propelled or steered, that is all that was needed!), then there can be no doubt that Noah and his sons would be able for the task - and that is not even allowing for any divine intervention!

So, when all was prepared - and it didn't happen over a weekend! - « Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark, to escape the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah.  And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. … … … they that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and YHWH shut him in. » (vs.7-10; 16). Now that is security! When the Creator, Himself is taking care of us, we need not fear. 

One final point. Does this not provide a picture of a God Who is cruel? Certainly not! It provides a picture of a God Who is righteous, and Who will punish sin. However, that does not mean that He watched the Flood, unmoved. The previous chapter drew attention to the pain and grief that Almighty God experiences at sin and its destructive effects. This chapter does not make any definitive statement about the deep sadness that He must feel at the death of those He had created, but His written Word reveals it elsewhere. « For I have no pleasure in the death of any one, says Adonai YHWH; so turn, and live. » (Ezek.18:32; emphasis added). « The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. » (II Peter 3:9; emphasis added). Indeed, it was because of His love for you and for me that « … He (the Creator) gave His only Son (the Lord Jesus), that whoever believes in Him (the Lord Jesus) should not perish but have eternal life. » (John 3:16; emphasis added). In the days when the death penalty was available in the UK, we did not consider the judge who delivered such a verdict on a convicted murderer to be cruel. He was merely acting justly. Surely, then, we may agree with the implied answer to Abraham's question: « Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? » (Gen.18:25)

Have you made that choice? The offer is there - and it is free, because He has already paid the price.