Text: John 5:1-30 (NKJV)
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed... 5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
And that day was the Sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” 11 He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’” 12 Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” 15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”
18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.
22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. 24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth— those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
So the basic idea of the story is that there is a disabled man in Jerusalem who was healed by Jesus. What happens after that was quite the stir though. Within Judaism, there is a reverence for the Sabbath day (see #4 of the 10 Commandments). That 4th Commandment had been expounded upon by the Jewish religious elite. The idea was that people naturally like to get close to the line, inevitably with at least some of them stumbling over it. If rules were made to prevent people from getting close to the line, the transgression of that secondary line would be pretty insignificant. Over the ages however, that secondary line had taken the same weight in the minds of the religious elite in Israel as Commandment #4.
The first alleged violation of the Sabbath occurred when the cured man obeyed Christ in carrying his cot away. The religion police (not far from that, actually) see him carrying his bed. Oops, that's a no-no on the Sabbath since they had interpreted carrying one's own cot as working. In their exchange, it is interesting to note that the religious elite avoid acknowledging that the man had been supernaturally cured focused on who had told him he could carry his bed and not on who had cured the incurable. How stonehearted and ignorant! Anyway, the man didn't really know who it was that had healed him, but in a later encounter, he runs into Jesus and tells the religious elite He was the healer. Now, the Jewish religious leaders are passively acknowledging that Jesus had the power to and in fact had healed the man, but what do they do? They "persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath." So one who was to them at least endued with power from God as the prophets of old was the enemy because He had walked across their imaginary, secondary line.
Now, we get into the meat of the theology from this passage. Jesus had just performed an amazing miracle. As per the purpose of His miracles, the following words showed exactly what that purpose was- He claimed to be God and had just performed an act proving that to be the case. This basically blew the minds of the Jewish leaders. Not only did He break the Sabbath but He has made Himself out to be God! Actually, this is a very important truth for us here. Jesus is God. The religious scholars of His day understood it, but many deny it today. This passage is clear proof that He claimed to be God though many deny that He ever made such a claim.
Now picture the situation- you have these very stuffy, self-righteous types. They are fuming from a violation of their secondary line in the sand. So fuming in fact that they are trying to justify executing Jesus. Then their rage starts to bubble over from His claims to be God. The natural human thing to do would be to slink out the side door, but in this situation, that was not in the plan for Jesus. Nope. He stands up to them telling them not only that He is God but explains the details of that. He brings out His power, judgment, and authority over death as well as bringing up the resurrection, which was a controversial theological topic among the Jews of that day.
In the same speech as He claimed to be God, Jesus claimed uniqueness in person from God the Father. In verse 30, He expressed the unique wills of Jesus Christ, the Son of God in human incarnation, and God the Father. Hard for us to wrap our minds around; however, only a couple years later in His life we see Him praying such as Luke 22:42. His human will wanted to give up, but His divine will was the same beat as that of God the Father.
Application(s):
Belief in Christ as the Son of God who saves people who believe in Him. That is the primary application. Right doctrine and the ability to defend it would be the secondary applications here.
Other Studies from John
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
5/11/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... Sin Just Won't Go Away (Genesis 9:18-29)
A Christian's Guide to Studying and Applying the Old Testament
Text: Genesis 9:18-29 (NKJV)
18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.
20 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25 Then he said:
“Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brethren.”
26 And he said:
“Blessed be the LORD,
The God of Shem,
And may Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth,
And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;
And may Canaan be his servant.”
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
Content coming...
Application(s):
Content coming...
Other Studies from Genesis
"Herme- what?" How to Understand the Bible
Text: Genesis 9:18-29 (NKJV)
18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.
20 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25 Then he said:
“Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brethren.”
26 And he said:
“Blessed be the LORD,
The God of Shem,
And may Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth,
And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;
And may Canaan be his servant.”
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
Content coming...
Application(s):
Content coming...
Other Studies from Genesis
"Herme- what?" How to Understand the Bible
Sorry No Recent Posts
Sorry that I haven't been posting much lately. I have been busy working on other things, such as sermon prep for a study in Colossians this June. I hope to get back on it today and keep a few coming over the next week.
~Pastor Olt
~Pastor Olt
Monday, May 2, 2011
5/2/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... God Takes the Initiative in Restoring Wicked Humanity to Himself (Genesis 8:20-9:17)
A Christian's Guide to Studying and Applying the Old Testament
Text: Genesis 8:20-9:17 (NKJV)
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. 21 And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
22 “While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
9:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God
He made man.
7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Bring forth abundantly in the earth
And multiply in it.”
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 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 go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 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 perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 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.”
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
8:20-22 is one of my favorite Old Testament passages. God has just purged the Earth, sparing only a sliver of life. There was no Israel, no Christianity, and there is no evidence of a divine commandment to worship as Noah did here. Noah apparently just felt compelled to worship God, an act that he knew would require a sacrifice of the utmost importance. But, "What to sacrifice?" Noah had likely not understood the purpose of the 7th clean animal coming onto the Ark until he started the ponder this question. With an Earth barren of food resources, Noah took the animals that were really his primary options and sacrificed them to the Lord.
What a contrast from 315 days earlier! God was being deluged by the sin of humanity (remember that He knew Christ would pay the ultimate penalty for it thousands of years later), and He then deluged the Earth to cleanse it. Then, Noah offers a profound sacrifice in worship to the Lord. What amazes me most about this passage is that God, while vowing to never unleash such judgment on the Earth again until the end of time, acknowledges that man is born and raised as a bundle of evil. This is important for our theology of man- he is not born basically good but basically evil. That is human nature since Adam's sin in Eden. God forgave despite knowing that He would be violated by the same group for the rest of time. What love and patience!
God then commands Noah to repopulate the Earth. 9:2 sure made hunting hard! Man is commanded not to murder.
9:6 confirms for us that man was made in the image of God, and that was not wiped out by the overwhelming sin then nor the Flood. This required divine design and not evolutionary chance.
Verses 9:8-17 record God making an unconditional covenant with mankind. He agrees not to wipe out humanity with a flood again. The Book of Revelation tells us how it will be judged and destroyed at the end of time though. Still, God established this covenant with humanity and gives a sign of it- the rainbow. Today, we see it and it looks pretty; however, this must have meant a lot more to Noah. Having just experienced this lengthy, harrowing ordeal by rain that he had not seen before, the natural inclination would have been to fear anytime it rained. If you got mauled by a pack of wolves behind your home in Wyoming, you would probably cringe anytime you heard a wolf howl in the future. Instead, God turned that human fear into a beautiful sign of His forgiveness and longsuffering.
Application(s):
Forgive like God. He forgave and promised longsuffering despite knowing that the evil tide was coming right back. Our forgiveness should be extended without condition or prejudice. That is hard to do. I mean, really hard to do. That spouse who does the same thing 1,000,000 times and you are certain will do it again deserves your forgiveness because God set the precedent of forgiving you.
Other Studies from Genesis
"Herme- what?" How to Understand the Bible
Text: Genesis 8:20-9:17 (NKJV)
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. 21 And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
22 “While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
9:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God
He made man.
7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Bring forth abundantly in the earth
And multiply in it.”
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 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 go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 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 perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 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.”
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
8:20-22 is one of my favorite Old Testament passages. God has just purged the Earth, sparing only a sliver of life. There was no Israel, no Christianity, and there is no evidence of a divine commandment to worship as Noah did here. Noah apparently just felt compelled to worship God, an act that he knew would require a sacrifice of the utmost importance. But, "What to sacrifice?" Noah had likely not understood the purpose of the 7th clean animal coming onto the Ark until he started the ponder this question. With an Earth barren of food resources, Noah took the animals that were really his primary options and sacrificed them to the Lord.
What a contrast from 315 days earlier! God was being deluged by the sin of humanity (remember that He knew Christ would pay the ultimate penalty for it thousands of years later), and He then deluged the Earth to cleanse it. Then, Noah offers a profound sacrifice in worship to the Lord. What amazes me most about this passage is that God, while vowing to never unleash such judgment on the Earth again until the end of time, acknowledges that man is born and raised as a bundle of evil. This is important for our theology of man- he is not born basically good but basically evil. That is human nature since Adam's sin in Eden. God forgave despite knowing that He would be violated by the same group for the rest of time. What love and patience!
God then commands Noah to repopulate the Earth. 9:2 sure made hunting hard! Man is commanded not to murder.
9:6 confirms for us that man was made in the image of God, and that was not wiped out by the overwhelming sin then nor the Flood. This required divine design and not evolutionary chance.
Verses 9:8-17 record God making an unconditional covenant with mankind. He agrees not to wipe out humanity with a flood again. The Book of Revelation tells us how it will be judged and destroyed at the end of time though. Still, God established this covenant with humanity and gives a sign of it- the rainbow. Today, we see it and it looks pretty; however, this must have meant a lot more to Noah. Having just experienced this lengthy, harrowing ordeal by rain that he had not seen before, the natural inclination would have been to fear anytime it rained. If you got mauled by a pack of wolves behind your home in Wyoming, you would probably cringe anytime you heard a wolf howl in the future. Instead, God turned that human fear into a beautiful sign of His forgiveness and longsuffering.
Application(s):
Forgive like God. He forgave and promised longsuffering despite knowing that the evil tide was coming right back. Our forgiveness should be extended without condition or prejudice. That is hard to do. I mean, really hard to do. That spouse who does the same thing 1,000,000 times and you are certain will do it again deserves your forgiveness because God set the precedent of forgiving you.
Other Studies from Genesis
"Herme- what?" How to Understand the Bible
May 2, 2011: One Month Later, North Hills Baptist Church
Having now completed the first full month of ministry in Round Rock, Texas, North Hills Baptist Church is taking the next step. Our Sunday attendance seems to have stabilized just under 50, but we have about 60-70 people to whom we are regularly ministering.
One thing that came up in the course of sitting down and talking with people was that we were just a service on Sunday and not a community of believers. Not having your own building or established networks of people had made it easy for this to become the case. So, we decided to try and make the service a little more personable, which went well. That being said, we have seen a great need to start our small group-type fellowship and discipleship program outside of those hours on Sunday morning. Last night was the first monthly "Pizza @ the Pastor's Place." Roughly 20 people were in attendance and it was a great time to enjoy fellowship and get to know one another better. I felt like people were actually making personal connections for the first time. Many there are also taking part in the Inquirer's Bible Study, and just want more time to study God's Word and fellowship together. We are planning to begin small group networks for fellowship and discipleship within the next month. That requires a lot of planning and wise thought, something I am unfortunately short on.
Some specific prayer requests:
One thing that came up in the course of sitting down and talking with people was that we were just a service on Sunday and not a community of believers. Not having your own building or established networks of people had made it easy for this to become the case. So, we decided to try and make the service a little more personable, which went well. That being said, we have seen a great need to start our small group-type fellowship and discipleship program outside of those hours on Sunday morning. Last night was the first monthly "Pizza @ the Pastor's Place." Roughly 20 people were in attendance and it was a great time to enjoy fellowship and get to know one another better. I felt like people were actually making personal connections for the first time. Many there are also taking part in the Inquirer's Bible Study, and just want more time to study God's Word and fellowship together. We are planning to begin small group networks for fellowship and discipleship within the next month. That requires a lot of planning and wise thought, something I am unfortunately short on.
Some specific prayer requests:
- Praise for everything God is doing through His church here in Round Rock!
- Praise for the many people now getting involved in helping in our ministry.
- The many people getting into their Inquirer's Bible Study. Those will expose people to the Gospel, either bringing them to a point of decision or confirming the knowledge of that in their hearts.
- The 60-70 people we are ministering to. Many, if not most, are going through tough times in their lives and desperately crave to know God more and the fellowship of believers.
- Those who are going through tough times right now. From new babies to deaths in the family with estates to sort through to serious diseases and injury, there are many people who need prayer in North Hills. I am not going to get into specific names or issues, but just lift them up in prayer as a group.
- The pastoral staff. We have a lot of planning to do now as we have this growing body of people that need discipleship and fellowship. We don't get to set the timeline for ministry, and things have happened on a little different schedule than we had guessed. We need wisdom as we plan and make decisions, especially as everything we do sets a precedent in this new church.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
4/28/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... The Flood Cleans Things Out, Part 2 (Genesis 8:1-19)
A Christian's Guide to Studying and Applying the Old Testament
Text: Genesis 8:1-19 (NKJV)
1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
As the Flood had begun with an act of God, so did it end. Initially, God "remembered" not in the sense that He had forgotten about Noah but that He took action based on the knowledge of Noah's (and the other creatures') plight in the Ark. This is the turning point of the Flood narrative both in literary format and the actual content of the story. God's judgment on the inhabitants of the Earth had come to a close, and now God looks toward the repopulating of Earth by the survivors.
Where is this land feature called the "mountains of Ararat (אֲרָרַט)" that the Ark came to rest upon, and can't we find the Ark to provide conclusive proof of the Biblical story today? It is difficult to put exact locations on the map for ancient locations with proper names. Man made places (such as cities) are easier to pin down since archaeology often finds names carved into walls or in records at archaeological digs, but this is still not easy. The most likely location is in modern Armenia near the center of the country above the plains of Araxes on a roughly 12,000' peak. This fits both with the minimal internal evidence in the Biblical account as well as tradition and logic. That area is an interesting place for the repopulation of mankind on the Earth after the Flood. Because of the location along land and sea routes, it really was the ideal location for mankind to spread out to the continents for repopulation.
As I mentioned in my last post, the flooding actually lasted for 314 days.
The passage closed with God giving a command not only to Noah but to all the inhabitants of the Ark. This command was already embedded within the genetics of all those creatures, but given the rebellion of sinful man, God spelled it out for him to make sure. They were commanded to bear young, to repopulate the Earth. This command was obeyed, and with the longevity of the human lifespan, the Earth repopulated relatively quickly.
An interesting question regards what was eaten after the dispersal from the Ark. Now, it is easy to accept that the animals were fed and supernaturally calmed from the desire to eat each other while on the Ark; however, what happened after they left the Ark? Wouldn't the lions just have eaten the sheep pretty fast? Well, it seems safe to assume that there were a lot of freshly dead sea animals left high and dry. This would have provided some food quickly. However, I guess that the long-term (a couple of years) answer was supernatural intervention. If one accepts the rest of this narrative, that isn't really much of a leap for an omnipotent God, is it?
There is something interesting to note in Genesis 8:19. Though Carolous Linnaeus is credited with the modern biological system of taxonomical classification, Genesis provides some better insight. In Genesis 2:19-20, we see that Adam originally gave the names to the various animal species. Not so much "Great Dane" as "dog," but this is the origin of biological taxonomy. Then, as the animals emerged from the Ark, we see that they went out "according to their families." It would seem that this was a technical classification as much as a parental unit. The animals went out with those of their same kind. This is both logical as we see it happen in flocks and packs every day, but it is also quite an interesting designation. In this case, the term best translated as "families" most closely aligns with our modern classification(s) of "species" and/or "genus."
Applications:
The applications here are again mostly intellectual. Know what the Bible says, believe it, and then apply it to your worldview. What holds the authoritative truth in your mind? Is it God who gave us the revelation of Himself in the Bible or the claims of pseudoscience masquerading as true science?
Other Studies from Genesis
"Herme- what?" How to Understand the Bible
Text: Genesis 8:1-19 (NKJV)
1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
As the Flood had begun with an act of God, so did it end. Initially, God "remembered" not in the sense that He had forgotten about Noah but that He took action based on the knowledge of Noah's (and the other creatures') plight in the Ark. This is the turning point of the Flood narrative both in literary format and the actual content of the story. God's judgment on the inhabitants of the Earth had come to a close, and now God looks toward the repopulating of Earth by the survivors.
Where is this land feature called the "mountains of Ararat (אֲרָרַט)" that the Ark came to rest upon, and can't we find the Ark to provide conclusive proof of the Biblical story today? It is difficult to put exact locations on the map for ancient locations with proper names. Man made places (such as cities) are easier to pin down since archaeology often finds names carved into walls or in records at archaeological digs, but this is still not easy. The most likely location is in modern Armenia near the center of the country above the plains of Araxes on a roughly 12,000' peak. This fits both with the minimal internal evidence in the Biblical account as well as tradition and logic. That area is an interesting place for the repopulation of mankind on the Earth after the Flood. Because of the location along land and sea routes, it really was the ideal location for mankind to spread out to the continents for repopulation.
As I mentioned in my last post, the flooding actually lasted for 314 days.
The passage closed with God giving a command not only to Noah but to all the inhabitants of the Ark. This command was already embedded within the genetics of all those creatures, but given the rebellion of sinful man, God spelled it out for him to make sure. They were commanded to bear young, to repopulate the Earth. This command was obeyed, and with the longevity of the human lifespan, the Earth repopulated relatively quickly.
An interesting question regards what was eaten after the dispersal from the Ark. Now, it is easy to accept that the animals were fed and supernaturally calmed from the desire to eat each other while on the Ark; however, what happened after they left the Ark? Wouldn't the lions just have eaten the sheep pretty fast? Well, it seems safe to assume that there were a lot of freshly dead sea animals left high and dry. This would have provided some food quickly. However, I guess that the long-term (a couple of years) answer was supernatural intervention. If one accepts the rest of this narrative, that isn't really much of a leap for an omnipotent God, is it?
There is something interesting to note in Genesis 8:19. Though Carolous Linnaeus is credited with the modern biological system of taxonomical classification, Genesis provides some better insight. In Genesis 2:19-20, we see that Adam originally gave the names to the various animal species. Not so much "Great Dane" as "dog," but this is the origin of biological taxonomy. Then, as the animals emerged from the Ark, we see that they went out "according to their families." It would seem that this was a technical classification as much as a parental unit. The animals went out with those of their same kind. This is both logical as we see it happen in flocks and packs every day, but it is also quite an interesting designation. In this case, the term best translated as "families" most closely aligns with our modern classification(s) of "species" and/or "genus."
Applications:
The applications here are again mostly intellectual. Know what the Bible says, believe it, and then apply it to your worldview. What holds the authoritative truth in your mind? Is it God who gave us the revelation of Himself in the Bible or the claims of pseudoscience masquerading as true science?
Other Studies from Genesis
"Herme- what?" How to Understand the Bible
Saturday, April 23, 2011
4/24/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Genesis... The Flood Cleans Things Out (Genesis 7)
A Christian's Guide to Studying and Applying the Old Testament
Text: Genesis 7 (NKJV)
1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. 2 You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” 5 And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.
7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark— 14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.
17 Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
Here we see the story of the flood. If this is a subject that you are really interested in, I would highly recommend reading The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris. This is simply not the format to go all the way into depth for an adequate defense of a worldwide flood as recorded in the Bible; however, I will summarize them very briefly. The geologic strata are equally as well or better explained by a catastrophic flood than by millions of years of uniform processes. Many, if not most, of ancient societies had worldwide flood stories much like the one in the Bible, most notably The Epic of Gilgamesh from Babylon. The coherence of that many stories from societies geographically, culturally, chronologically, and linguistically separated (not Babylon and Israel...) lends great credence for the authenticity of the story. If an event more disconnected from Judeo-Christian religion (and thus more palatable to modern "scholars") had this level of coherence in such a breadth of evidence, it would be nearly undisputed as reality; however, in the post-modern attempt to reject anything of God, it is tossed aside as myth. The fossil record and fossil fuels equally well or better fit with a worldwide flood. Well, these are actually only a couple of the reasons and are not really explained, again because of space and time restraints.
Ok, on to the story itself. What does the Bible say? Almost all American children are exposed to the story at a young age. For some reason, it is widely incorporated into infant themes despite our secularized society, probably because it is considered as mythological as Mount Olympus and the Greek gods. Let's examine some of the details of this story.
First off, there are 7 of each clean animal and 2 of each unclean animal to be loaded onto the Ark. Why the differentiation? For that matter, since the Jewish law had not been given at this time, how did Noah know what the clean animals were? Obviously, Genesis 1-5 records only a smidgen of what went on during those thousands of years. Just because we don't have a record of God setting up a clean / unclean animal before Moses doesn't mean that it didn't happen. In fact, I would say that this is evidence that it did happen. It was probably far less structured than the Mosaic Law given on the matter in Leviticus 11:1-47 and Deuteronomy 14:3-21, but there was some valuation system in place for animals, likely in regard to sacrifice. The reason for such differentiation then, was that Noah would be sacrificing clean animals (8:20), and as such they would need more pairs to breed more and faster for the sacrifices and food than for the unused unclean animals. Likely, that 7th animal was sacrificed directly in 8:20, and then there were 3 pairs of clean animals and 1 pair of unclean animals left to breed.
Now, what animals got on the Ark? It was the land animals and birds, but every kind? Well, yes, every species. That is the 14th Century Hebrew word idea being imposed on modern scientific terms, but basically every species. So, for example, you would have had 1 species of dog from which all the subspecies resulted. It was through God's providence that all these animals came to Noah and got on the Ark, so it was also through His providence that they got along on the Ark and survived.
Notice that Noah was a very old man- 600 years old at the Flood. It is apparent from the genealogical records in Genesis that two events significantly impacted the human lifespan- sin in the Garden of Eden caused it to go from infinite to averaging roughly 800 years old and then the Flood which reduced the average lifespan to the low-100s. Most scholars think the reduced lifespan was from the increasing effects of the curse of sin and massive global climate change from the Flood. Of course, the human lifespan continued to taper off over time until modern medicine has caused it to head up slowly.
Most everyone knows that the Flood was 40 days long, right? Well, according to the Biblical evidence, the entire Flood experience from the start of the rain until they finished opening up the Ark was a total of 371 days!1 There were actually 40 days of rain, but there were another 274 days where the Ark floated on the flood waters without more rain. So, Noah's Flood lasted a total of 314 days.
Some people claim that the flood really happened, but it was localized in the Middle East. While a convenient theory to try and avoid scrutiny, this theory does not hold water (pun intended). Why would Noah need such a huge boat for a local flood? How would a local flood accomplish God's purpose of destroying all land-based life not on the Ark as judgment? Verse 20 tells us that the waters covered the highest mountains by at least 22' (probably the draught of the Ark), so that language is not consistent with a localized flood. These are just a few of the reasons, and again, more are explored in the Whitcomb and Morris book.
Ultimately, the Flood accomplished God's purpose of judgment on the Earth for humanity's sin. Only Noah and those with him on the Ark survived (verse 23).
Application(s):
Our task here is to learn the truth from the Bible, believe it, and stand on it against the attacks of the world. Creationism and belief in a worldwide flood are not inconsistent with science, although much of the post-modern scientific world has deviated from its real science roots and takes sides between competing hypotheses that cannot be tested. Stand on what you believe!
Other Studies from Genesis
"Herme- what?" How to Understand the Bible
Text: Genesis 7 (NKJV)
1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. 2 You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” 5 And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.
7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark— 14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.
17 Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
Here we see the story of the flood. If this is a subject that you are really interested in, I would highly recommend reading The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris. This is simply not the format to go all the way into depth for an adequate defense of a worldwide flood as recorded in the Bible; however, I will summarize them very briefly. The geologic strata are equally as well or better explained by a catastrophic flood than by millions of years of uniform processes. Many, if not most, of ancient societies had worldwide flood stories much like the one in the Bible, most notably The Epic of Gilgamesh from Babylon. The coherence of that many stories from societies geographically, culturally, chronologically, and linguistically separated (not Babylon and Israel...) lends great credence for the authenticity of the story. If an event more disconnected from Judeo-Christian religion (and thus more palatable to modern "scholars") had this level of coherence in such a breadth of evidence, it would be nearly undisputed as reality; however, in the post-modern attempt to reject anything of God, it is tossed aside as myth. The fossil record and fossil fuels equally well or better fit with a worldwide flood. Well, these are actually only a couple of the reasons and are not really explained, again because of space and time restraints.
Ok, on to the story itself. What does the Bible say? Almost all American children are exposed to the story at a young age. For some reason, it is widely incorporated into infant themes despite our secularized society, probably because it is considered as mythological as Mount Olympus and the Greek gods. Let's examine some of the details of this story.
First off, there are 7 of each clean animal and 2 of each unclean animal to be loaded onto the Ark. Why the differentiation? For that matter, since the Jewish law had not been given at this time, how did Noah know what the clean animals were? Obviously, Genesis 1-5 records only a smidgen of what went on during those thousands of years. Just because we don't have a record of God setting up a clean / unclean animal before Moses doesn't mean that it didn't happen. In fact, I would say that this is evidence that it did happen. It was probably far less structured than the Mosaic Law given on the matter in Leviticus 11:1-47 and Deuteronomy 14:3-21, but there was some valuation system in place for animals, likely in regard to sacrifice. The reason for such differentiation then, was that Noah would be sacrificing clean animals (8:20), and as such they would need more pairs to breed more and faster for the sacrifices and food than for the unused unclean animals. Likely, that 7th animal was sacrificed directly in 8:20, and then there were 3 pairs of clean animals and 1 pair of unclean animals left to breed.
Now, what animals got on the Ark? It was the land animals and birds, but every kind? Well, yes, every species. That is the 14th Century Hebrew word idea being imposed on modern scientific terms, but basically every species. So, for example, you would have had 1 species of dog from which all the subspecies resulted. It was through God's providence that all these animals came to Noah and got on the Ark, so it was also through His providence that they got along on the Ark and survived.
Notice that Noah was a very old man- 600 years old at the Flood. It is apparent from the genealogical records in Genesis that two events significantly impacted the human lifespan- sin in the Garden of Eden caused it to go from infinite to averaging roughly 800 years old and then the Flood which reduced the average lifespan to the low-100s. Most scholars think the reduced lifespan was from the increasing effects of the curse of sin and massive global climate change from the Flood. Of course, the human lifespan continued to taper off over time until modern medicine has caused it to head up slowly.
Most everyone knows that the Flood was 40 days long, right? Well, according to the Biblical evidence, the entire Flood experience from the start of the rain until they finished opening up the Ark was a total of 371 days!1 There were actually 40 days of rain, but there were another 274 days where the Ark floated on the flood waters without more rain. So, Noah's Flood lasted a total of 314 days.
Some people claim that the flood really happened, but it was localized in the Middle East. While a convenient theory to try and avoid scrutiny, this theory does not hold water (pun intended). Why would Noah need such a huge boat for a local flood? How would a local flood accomplish God's purpose of destroying all land-based life not on the Ark as judgment? Verse 20 tells us that the waters covered the highest mountains by at least 22' (probably the draught of the Ark), so that language is not consistent with a localized flood. These are just a few of the reasons, and again, more are explored in the Whitcomb and Morris book.
Ultimately, the Flood accomplished God's purpose of judgment on the Earth for humanity's sin. Only Noah and those with him on the Ark survived (verse 23).
- The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris, 3.
Application(s):
Our task here is to learn the truth from the Bible, believe it, and stand on it against the attacks of the world. Creationism and belief in a worldwide flood are not inconsistent with science, although much of the post-modern scientific world has deviated from its real science roots and takes sides between competing hypotheses that cannot be tested. Stand on what you believe!
Other Studies from Genesis
"Herme- what?" How to Understand the Bible
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