January 11, 2013
Central Truth
Our amazing God has made this wonderful promise of never destroying the earth and everything in it again by flood. He demonstrates this to us in the form of a rainbow. This promise shows how much He loves us and we can trust Him because of His love for us.
"It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh." (Genesis 9:14-15)
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
6
Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.
7 And you, 1 9:7 In Hebrew you is plural be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that 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. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed. 2 9:19 Or from these the whole earth was populated
20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 3 9:20 Or Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
26 He also said,
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
27
May God enlarge Japheth,
4
9:27
Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for enlarge
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”
28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.
I had an amazing opportunity to go on a discipleship trip to Haiti with my family last February. We got to go to a village and play with a lot of kids. We gathered everyone up after a while, and my family performed a skit. Our skit was about Noah and the Ark and how God used a rainbow to show His promise. We performed this skit to show an example of how much God loves them.
This story doesn't just show how much He loves us, but it also shows us how He is faithful in keeping His promises with us. God said that He will be reminded of the covenant between Him and us when He sees the rainbow. We are also reminded of God's promise to us when we see the rainbow. We need to be reminded of His covenants and to seek to glorify Him with all we think, say, and do.
Matthew 22:37-39 says it well: "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
He has been faithful to us. If we are not focusing on Him all the time, looking for ways to help others, and glorifying Him in all we do, then we are not living the lives that God is calling us to live. He can never break His covenants, but we need His help daily to live the life He created us to live in Christ. Our wonderful, amazing Lord loves us, will always be there for us, and will always keep His promises to us. Now that's a promise!
1. Are you devoting your time to Him daily, looking for ways to help others, and glorifying Him in everything you do?
2. Are you giving little examples of love to others in your everyday life?
3. If you are having trouble living the life He has called you to live in Christ, then what do you need to do today to live that life? Who can you ask to hold you accountable to live that life?