Friends of Faith Baptist of North Chili,
Last night in our Prayer Meeting Bible study, we saw (from Genesis 8:21 – 9:7) specific revelation from God to Noah and his family that refutes what the cultural and “intellectual” elite of our day espouse as absolute truth (even while they claim to deny the existence of absolute truth)! In their insistence that everything has come about by natural causes and random chance, they are eager to remove God and accountability to Him from their existence. God spoke to Noah and his family as they prepared themselves to start afresh and anew, repopulating the earth and rebuilding civilization. He wanted them to know these truths so they (and we) can avoid erroneous thought patterns, groundless fears and the violent anarchy that existed before the flood.
Today we hear (conveyed with a sense of alarm) that the world is facing:
1. Global warming as the supposed result of mankind’s presence and influence on earth along with anticipated disastrous climate change signaling the end of seasons and food production. But God says, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”
2. Overpopulation along with the “need” for population control. But God says, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”
3. Cruelty to animals tied to eating red meat from animals, which are at least on the same level as humans if not a higher order. But God says, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.” God wants us to remember that there is a distinction between the animal kingdom and humanity – we are not here to serve them, but they have been given to us (and we are to be stewards of that gift). We are, however, to avoid consuming the blood of animals – out of respect for life (not to worship the creature, but to respect the principle of life) and because blood on the altar was acceptable to God as a substitute for the blood of the sinner making the offering (Lev. 17:11) until the once-for-all substitutionary shedding of Jesus’ blood for the wages of sin. This avoidance of blood isn’t set aside in the New Testament (Acts 15:19-20).
4. An overzealous government which, they say, wants to react to violent criminals with violence in a way that they consider to be cruel and unusual (especially capital punishment). They are overlooking the fact that God delegated the authority to execute His judgment (the death penalty) on a murderer, because God says, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” The basis of law and government is to prevent an individual from taking another human being’s life (which has value because it was made in the image of God). According to Henry Morris’ commentary, “The Genesis Record,” “The authority for capital punishment implies also the authority to establish laws governing those human activities and personal relationships, which if unregulated could soon lead to murder (e.g., robbery, adultery, usurpation of property boundaries). Thus, this simple instruction to Noah is the fundamental basis for all human legal and governmental institutions.”
So, what we have is a wise and sovereign God preparing Noah and his sons to organize themselves with confidence (in Him), purpose, and respect for life. Yup, still needed today!
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