Friday: Further Thought ~ All Future Generations
Further Thought:
Read Ellen G. White, “The Flood,” pages 90-104 and “After the Flood,” pages 105-110, in Patriarchs and Prophets.
“The rainbow, a natural physical phenomenon, was a fitting symbol of God’s promise never to destroy the earth again by a flood.
Image @ Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
Inasmuch as the climatic conditions of the earth would be completely different after the Flood, and rains would in most parts of the world take the place of the former beneficent dew to moisten the soil, something was needed to quiet men’s fears each time rain began to fall. The spiritual mind can see in natural phenomena God’s revelations of Himself (see Rom: 1:20). Thus the rainbow is evidence to the believer that the rain will bring blessing and not universal destruction.” — The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 265.
Discussion Questions:
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Summary:
In this week’s study, we have noted that the covenants God made with Noah are the first to be discussed explicitly in the Bible. They display His gracious interest in the human family and His desire to enter into a saving relationship with them. God reaffirmed His covenant with Noah, and it was Noah’s commitment to God that shielded him from the prevailing apostasy and eventually saved him and his family from the devastating judgment of the Flood.
“This symbol [the rainbow] in the clouds is to confirm the belief of all, and establish their confidence in God, for it is a token of divine mercy and goodness to man; that although God has been provoked to destroy the earth by the Flood, yet His mercy still encompasseth the earth.” — Ellen G. White, The Story of Redemption, p. 71.
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Has the time of this world closed yet? Is the present leveled to Noah's days? Is there anyone also preaching a new ending? If not with water, does the Bible point to a different manner of the Earth's destruction? What is the main focus of mankind lately? Collectively, of church? Ours, individually?
In Genesis 6:18 “God said to Noah I will establish My covenant with you;(future tense)
121 years later after the flood in Genesis 9:12-15,’And God said;’ This is the sign of the covenant which I make (present tense)between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: verse 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud and it shall be for the sign of the covenant....
With Abraham Genesis 17:2 I will make (future tense)I Genesis 17:10 this is My covenant (present tense)which you shall keep....Every male child among you shall be circumcised;” and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you;” verse 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised....here the covenant is between God and men. Marriage is union between husband and wife there is no comparison at all. For over 20 years I have been looking into our sabbath school lessons there are doctrinal errors and error in typology.....for example the last sabbath school lesson the author did not do justice to the book of Isaiah. Sabbath school department needs to do a better job.
"Noah did more than warn his generation of God’s approaching judgment. The purpose of his warning was to help the people sense their need of salvation." (Taken from today's section of the lesson.)
As we live in preparation for Christ's return and as we preach to the world, this should be the underlying thought and theme of our efforts. Very often we live and present the gospel as a means of escape from hell and eternal destruction-- which it is too-- but we fail to present the beauty, joy, fulfillment and hope that the gospel affords humanity right now. We scare folks with messages about hell. We fail to give folks a sense of their need of salvation now. I am not here trying to minimize the awful reality of hell, but what we get as a result of this kind of preaching is persons who accept Christ and some may even continue serving Him, out of fear of hell and eternal damnation. Though this is a good reason for accepting Christ, it is not good enough to sustain a loving relationship with the Saviour. We must live, preach and teach the saving grace of God, which, accepted and applied to the life, helps us to live abundantly, joyfully and contententedly right now. Anyone living in this way will be a part of God's kingdom from now, and yes, such persons will, consequently, escape eternal damnation.
When we preach Christ and His love, our focus will not be on escaping impending doom but on living triumph lives now.
Studying this past week's lessons, I found that, *believe*, *trust*, *faith*, and *action* are still the only important factors in our relationship with our Creator; love will follow their footsteps. They kept Noah close to God and still keeps us close to our Lord and Savior. Nothing new under the sun, so to speak, except God’s rainbow – which obviously makes all the difference in the remade world of the believer! 😊
John 3:19KJV ”And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” In one of this week’s comments, I mentioned inertia, which, when overcome, will allow movement. I see the new believer’s unwavering Faith in that which he believes to be true, as counteracting the forces of this inertia which try to bind him to 'what is'; by God’s Grace, moving away from that which is toward that which will be, becomes increasingly easier as he continuesly applies God's Truth and Light to his life.
Overcoming the strong pull of old habits, the newly *hearing* person applies great faith-efforts to stay the course. This is the time when the help of all those already matured in their faith is most needed. God’s patient, loving Grace, transferred through the helping assistance of his already established children, is desperately needed as the newly converted believer lets go of the old ways to safely continue the journey toward the new destination – everlasting life. We need to refrain from judging, extending our loving help instead.
No matter how much knowledge we accumulate as bible students, our relationship with the Lord will always come down to our practical faith and how we interact with our fellow man. As in the days of Noah, we too are surrounded by gross iniquities of the fallen world; and still, God looks into the heart of man to find the soul which seeks after Him and His Righteousness.
I am grateful that my Lord and Savior did not require more of me than my simple faith, believing to walk in His Way is better than walking in my own. The Light, God’s Son, our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus - Salvation - , is come into the world to show humanity the right way of living.
Our Savior is no respecter of persons, wanting all to live like brothers and sisters in His spirit of Love; and even more – to open our eyes to personally know the heavenly Father who watches over His children and guides their lives along His Path of loving righteousness – Acts10:34-35KJV; Rom.2:11-16KJV.
How can we explain the rainbow covenant not to destroy the world again with flood with all flood we experience in our world today
Andrew- all floods we have today only occurs in a specific locality. I might have a flood where I live but you and others dont have to be experiencing any rain for mths. The flood in Noah time was universal. All over the world at the same time.
The promise in the covenant symbolized by the rainbow was that a worldwide flood and destruction of all life would not happen again. There was no promise that localized floods would not happen.
I hope that doesn’t sound like nit-picking but that is my understanding of that covenant.
Because there is still dry land in most places- the floods, although devastating, are localized and not world wide or even an entire continent.
And because He said so.
The floods that I think of now are social media and internet and a constant barrage of garbage (of course some is good - like ssnet.org!)
I think these are the enemy’s way to flood our brains.
What have I learned from this week's study guides?
a) because He is the Creator the LORD claims the right to decide what is good or evil and to eradicate evil and retain the good.
b) Noah became righteous because he walked with the LORD for over 400 years - a close personal relationship with Him
c) the LORD gave Noah extensive, detailed, specific instructions of how to build the ark that would save them
d) after the flood the LORD blessed them told them to multiply, gave them dominion over the animals, specified their food and standards for relations between humans (like He did for Adam & Eve)
e) He made a promise not to wipe out the world by water.
I was surprised there was so much more to this covenant than just the sign of the rainbow!!
God offers sinners hope and salvation by His covenant of grace. He has given a Substitute which we may accept by repentance and faith. The Gospel is what the ark was only a type of, are we "building" on the ark today and inviting all to find safe passage to the new world that is promised? I read that Noah invested all he possessed into the building of the ark. Doesn't this help to define how we may accept this covenant from God?
The preaching of Noah for 120 years was not to frighten his neighbours with stories of destruction so as to get them into the ark. Nor was it to tell them they had to be good enough to get into the ark. It was this:
Noah preached the revelation of God’s heartbroken love in the hope that all would enter the ark and be saved. The study this week misses this vital point.