The Days of Noah

The Days Of Noah

This month the Scarlet Thread leads us to Noah. Noah is introduced in the final verses of Genesis chapter 5. In Genesis chapters 6 through 10, we read the remainder of his story. I think it would be safe to say that Noah is best remembered for building the Ark, gathering his family and the pairs of animals into the Ark, and floating around while they all waited for the floodwaters to recede. But why did God send the flood in the first place? Was He just having a bad day and decided to wipe out virtually all life on this planet? Let's look in Genesis to find out.

As you may recall, in Genesis 3:14-15, God very succinctly outlines the course of history with respect to the coming Messiah and His victory over Satan. I can't imagine that Satan was thrilled to hear this. What I can imagine is that Satan's wheels started turning in hopes of finding a way to thwart God's ultimate act of redemption. And it doesn't take long for us to see Satan's plan in action.

“When men began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took wives of all they desired and chose. Then the Lord said, My Spirit shall not forever dwell and strive with man, for he also is flesh; but his days shall yet be 120 years. There were giants on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God lived with the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy, blot out, and wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground--not only man, [but] the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air--for it grieves Me and makes Me regretful that I have made them. But Noah found grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord. This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a just and righteous man, blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked [in habitual fellowship] with God.” - Genesis 6:1-9, Amplified

Wow! There's a lot packed away in these nine verses, so let's dive right in. Here we see that Satan's first strategy to thwart God's plan of salvation was to pollute the human gene-pool. In verses one and two we see that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair and took all whom they chose to be their wives. (The term sons of God is always used to denote a direct creation of God. For example, Adam was a son of God for he was directly created by God. We are sons of men.) What we see here is that the angels that sided with Satan in his rebellion against God took wives for themselves from the daughters of men. We also see that their offspring were giants, the mighty men of old. Archeological evidence has proven that there were in fact races of humans that were well over ten feet tall and had six fingers on each hand. (One such hybrid was Goliath, whom David slew.) Apparently Satan felt that if he hybridized the human race with fallen angels the Messiah could not come to save mankind. There is no salvation for angels, hence a “hybrid” Messiah just wouldn't be sufficient for atonement.

A few verses later we see that Noah was blameless in his generation. Many naturally assume that this means that Noah was without sin, but this cannot be the case as we are all born in a fallen state. Yes, Noah walked with God, just as his forefathers had. But the importance of this passage is that Noah's family tree hadn't been tampered with by Satan. Therefore, it would have to be his family line that produced the Messiah. It was because of this that God saved Noah and his sons. It was also because of the incredible amount of wickedness and genetic pollution in that day that God had to destroy all life that was not protected in the Ark.

Another interesting tidbit that we find in the flood account is Noah's knowledge of which animals were clean and which were unclean. In chapter seven we see that he didn't simply take a pair of each animal so they could procreate after the floodwaters had receded. He was told to take seven pair of the clean animals and one pair of the unclean. Also he was told to take seven pair of the birds of the air. Then in chapter eight we see that once they were on dry land again, Noah took a pair of every clean animal and every clean bird to make sacrifice to God. But how could Noah know what was clean and unclean if the Law hadn't been given to Moses yet? Simple! God's holy law was established in the Garden of Eden. It was later codified at Sinai. God didn't add anything to His law. He didn't make up something new in mid-stream. God's perfect righteousness has been there from the very beginning.

That's our glimpse at the Scarlet Thread this month. We'll have another installment for you next month!

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8/02


	The Days Of Noah This month the Scarlet Thread leads us to Noah. Noah is introduced in the final verses of Genesis chapter 5. In Genesis chapters 6 through 10, we read the remainder of his story. I think it would be safe to say that Noah is best remembered for building the Ark, gathering his family and the pairs of animals into the Ark, and floating around while they all waited for the floodwaters to recede. But why did God send the flood in the first place? Was He just having a bad day and decided to wipe out virtually all life on this planet? Let's look in Genesis to find out. As you may recall, in Genesis 3:14-15, God very succinctly outlines the course of history with respect to the coming Messiah and His victory over Satan. I can't imagine that Satan was thrilled to hear this. What I can imagine is that Satan's wheels started turning in hopes of finding a way to thwart God's ultimate act of redemption. And it doesn't take long for us to see Satan's plan in action. “When men began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took wives of all they desired and chose. Then the Lord said, My Spirit shall not forever dwell and strive with man, for he also is flesh; but his days shall yet be 120 years. There were giants on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God lived with the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy, blot out, and wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground--not only man, [but] the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air--for it grieves Me and makes Me regretful that I have made them. But Noah found grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord. This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a just and righteous man, blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked [in habitual fellowship] with God.” - Genesis 6:1-9, Amplified Wow! There's a lot packed away in these nine verses, so let's dive right in. Here we see that Satan's first strategy to thwart God's plan of salvation was to pollute the human gene-pool. In verses one and two we see that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair and took all whom they chose to be their wives. (The term sons of God is always used to denote a direct creation of God. For example, Adam was a son of God for he was directly created by God. We are sons of men.) What we see here is that the angels that sided with Satan in his rebellion against God took wives for themselves from the daughters of men. We also see that their offspring were giants, the mighty men of old. Archeological evidence has proven that there were in fact races of humans that were well over ten feet tall and had six fingers on each hand. (One such hybrid was Goliath, whom David slew.) Apparently Satan felt that if he hybridized the human race with fallen angels the Messiah could not come to save mankind. There is no salvation for angels, hence a “hybrid” Messiah just wouldn't be sufficient for atonement. A few verses later we see that Noah was blameless in his generation. Many naturally assume that this means that Noah was without sin, but this cannot be the case as we are all born in a fallen state. Yes, Noah walked with God, just as his forefathers had. But the importance of this passage is that Noah's family tree hadn't been tampered with by Satan. Therefore, it would have to be his family line that produced the Messiah. It was because of this that God saved Noah and his sons. It was also because of the incredible amount of wickedness and genetic pollution in that day that God had to destroy all life that was not protected in the Ark. Another interesting tidbit that we find in the flood account is Noah's knowledge of which animals were clean and which were unclean. In chapter seven we see that he didn't simply take a pair of each animal so they could procreate after the floodwaters had receded. He was told to take seven pair of the clean animals and one pair of the unclean. Also he was told to take seven pair of the birds of the air. Then in chapter eight we see that once they were on dry land again, Noah took a pair of every clean animal and every clean bird to make sacrifice to God. But how could Noah know what was clean and unclean if the Law hadn't been given to Moses yet? Simple! God's holy law was established in the Garden of Eden. It was later codified at Sinai. God didn't add anything to His law. He didn't make up something new in mid-stream. God's perfect righteousness has been there from the very beginning. That's our glimpse at the Scarlet Thread this month. We'll have another installment for you next month! Home 8/02