Trials are not enemies of faith,
but are opportunities to prove God's faithfulness |
Are you going through a trial right now?
From Noah's point of view, he went through a tough trial of his faith. Nearly everything and everybody he knew were not there any more. He lost a lot and suffered a lot. You and I go through our trials of faith also. Maybe your personal world has seemed to go upside down. Maybe you have lost everything you had. Maybe all around you is devastation and destruction. Maybe all you deal with daily is hopelessness. Maybe it seems to you like God is not around any more. Maybe it seems like there is a ceiling of brass over your head that your prayers seem to bounce back from. Maybe there is a Satanic curtain around you and many visitors to you from the enemy. Maybe you are injured, in pain and need encouragement. Maybe you have little or no money. And I can mention much more. I encourage you to be an overcomer- take one day at a time and keep looking up. Allow the time length of the trial to run it's course. God will see you through it and help you. He won't allow you to be tested more than you can bear.
The Lord has some wonderful words of encouragement for you:
"For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee"
(Isaiah 54:6-10).
You and I go through trials. It takes a lot of faith to trust God when everything around you is destroyed. But Noah trusted God in the midst of all the loss and God brought him safely through it all. God will do the same for you or I if we trust Him with all of our heart.
"And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth- and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah- and of them was the whole earth overspread"
(Genesis 9:18-19).
The modern population of the world comes from these three men:
Why does God want us to know that? Because we are all related to one
another in the flesh. Since we all have the same family roots, then we should seek
to understand and love one another. Living in peaceful harmony with God and one another is
the Lord's will as we see in the scriptures during the future millennium
(Revelation 2:27, 12:5, 19:15) and it should be that way today also.
But there is a problem. Since the time of Noah's sons,
Satan has played us off against one another. Satan causes
mistrust, suspicion, hatred, cruelty, violence, war, and so much more between the descendants
of these three individuals. Some of his weapons are lies and deceit. One such lie is
that mankind evolved. Evolutionists consider each man to be nothing more than a biological accident.
A man serves no purpose on this planet, has no destiny, and has no worth.
Life is something we inherited from the goo and zoo.
Most evolutionists do not believe in God or sin but do believe that mankind has superiority
over the animals even though they consider mankind to be an animal itself. But they have a hard time
explaining how this animal species of mankind is the only one that has the capability
of killing itself off in violence and warfare. No other species of animal has the
ability to annihilate itself. So, evolution asks more questions than it has answers
for. Remember, evolution is an unproven theory- a religion with a creed and a
purpose- a religion that is acceptable to be publically proclaimed as fact in many
schools and universities and by the mass media, especially in wildlife and animal
shows in movies, on television, and on other electronic devices. What can the religion
of evolution produce? Adolph Hitler of Germany was a secret Satanist and an
evolutionist. He acted on what he believed and we can see the result of those beliefs in his
actions at that time. Over fifty million people died during World War Two.
If people have no value, then getting rid of them simply reduces the population rate
of the world. That is what the religion of evolution can produce- a gospel of hate
where the strong rule over the weak. But, as God's children we are to resist the lies and deceit of the devil and
promote Christ's kingdom on earth
(Matthew 6:10, Luke 11:2).
How can that be relevant? Let each of us be a peace maker as the Apostle Paul exhorted us to be, "...finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you"
(2 Corinthians 13:11).
"And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard- And he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent"
(Genesis 9:20-21).
Noah got drunk:
People do what they want to do. We are not told the exact reason why Noah got drunk- if he needed a reason. Surely the extermination of the human race could not have been such a reason! Maybe there were other reasons. Maybe he was experimenting with fermented grapes and this happened to him for the first time. We do know that his family was there so maybe they were having a celebration, or a party, and Canaan spiked the punch. Regardless of the reason, in an ungarded moment, it happened. No one likes to see a drunk naked person lying in their own vomit. I do not believe that Noah was an alcoholic, however, drinking may lead one to be an alcoholic. Did the evil deeds of Canaan, Noah's grandson, influence Noah to get drunk? Possibly, because Canaan made the choice to sell himself to the devil and so instituted Satan worship as it was before the flood. If that were the case then Canaan was a slave to sin. God had just destroyed the wicked in the flood and now Noah saw the whole thing
beginning all over again in his grandson, Canaan.
When I was in the U.S. Navy, on a World War Two aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War, we had 40 cooks or so who cooked food in the ship's galley (kitchen). When we pulled into a liberty port for R and R (rest and relaxation) we usually had port and starboard liberty. That means that half of the ship's crew went ashore and a lot of them got drunk and came back to the ship that way. We had one tall skinny cook we nick named "bones." He climbed into his top rack (bed) one night but could not stay there and fell out of his rack and landed on his head after falling about 6 feet down. Fortunately, he was so drunk and limber that the fall did not hurt him. Another one of the wags came into our sleeping quarters but was too drunk to find the bathroom so he urinated inside of the shoes of the guy who slept on the bottom rack. It wasn't good to ever sleep on the bottom rack for any reason and my rack was the top one out of four high.
The drinking of fermented wine today is appropriate in some church denominations and not appropriate in others. Guzzling the booze is no substitute for God the Holy Spirit who blesses us with a sound mind, love, joy, and peace in our hearts
(Ephesians 5:18). The Apostle Paul condoned the use of "a little wine" only for medicinal purposes
(1 Timothy 5:23). The first miracle of Jesus was turning water into wine at the wedding of Cana but it was "new wine" or "must wine" that contained no alcohol. I used to work in a winery and at crush time we had a tank with 180,000 gallons of "must wine" in it that was delicious but alcohol free. They had to add hundreds of gallons of fermented wine to it in order to ferment it, so there is a big difference between fermented and unfermented wine. God does not condone the activity of anyone getting drunk today and this was not acceptable to the Israelites in the days of Jesus. The scripture states:
"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise"
(Proverbs 20:1).
"And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness"
(Genesis 9:22-23).
A covering of love- showing love and respect:
Noah got drunk in his tent and passed out. Ham saw his father like that and told Canaan. Then Canaan probably blabbed it around as malicious gossip to destroy his grandfather's witness for the Lord. This action by Canaan brought rebuke and judgement upon him. Some people will see your faults and then tell them around to others. We all have faults. We should not go around as tale bearers blabbing around people's faults to others.
Noah's other two sons refused to look at his faults (by going into the tent backwards). They covered him with a blanket of love and respect in spite of his condition. You and I have a bad condition of sin. It is wonderful when Christ covers us with His grace, love, and forgiveness.
Canaan should have walked in love as Christ did and practiced showing love to others. This is what is pleasing to God. I think this may be why God placed this story in His word. Let us refuse to look at the faults of others. Let us be gracious and not gossip or slander about another true Christian who has problems. Let us help others in need like Shem and Japheth did to their father when he was in need. Let us walk in love and not shame others. This is a story of blessing and cursing. Let us be right and act right so God blesses us. Let us not gossip and slander others so we are guilty of sin and receive chastisement (a curse so to speak) from God.
"And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said: cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren"
(Genesis 9:24-25).
A prophecy of the Canaanites in spiritual disfavor with God:
Ham could be taken out of the world but not the world taken out of Ham. This was probably the beginning of a very dysfunctional family.
Ham probably mocked his drunken father- that is why the scripture says that
"...wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging- and whosoever is deceived
thereby is not wise"
(Proverbs 20:1). I imagine that Ham mockingly told Canaan about Noah
(Noah knew what his younger son had done unto him). Noah was probably sober enough to
know what was going on around him. So Canaan went to Noah's
tent, pointed his finger at him, started laughing at him, and making fun of him.
In the eastern culture, elders were usually treated with respect but not in this
instance. Noah did not deserve respect so he received none. But this caused problems
in that family. After Noah was sober, he repented and talked to God about Canaan and God gave
Noah a prophecy about Canaan.
The prophecy of Noah is also a poem. It is the second poem in the bible book of Genesis- the first being Lamech's boast in Genesis chapter four. In the spirit of prophecy, Noah saw the future of the Canaanites. Many years later, God drove the wicked Canaanites out of the Promised Land and placed the descendants of Shem in their place. Can you explain this a little more?
Yes. Disagreements can take place in the best of families, however, I see a prophecy here in reference to the curse on the Canaanites. God, through Moses, here is informing us about the seed or beginning of the wickedness of the Canaanites. This meant a lot to Moses because he was originally chosen to fight in warfare against the Canaanites in order to win the Promised Land. Let me explain: several hundred years after Noah died, the Canaanites lived in the promised land when Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt in the Exodus. The Canaanites were very wicked to the point of being reprobates (beyond the hope of salvation). God passed the death penalty on them and God used the Israelites under Generals Moses and Joshua to exterminate them.
In other words, when the Israelites came out of Egypt in the Exodus, they were ordered by God to exterminate the Canaanites in warfare. God was taking away the land from the Canaanites and giving it to the Israelites. God could have exterminated them Himself but He wanted the Israelites to do it. Why? One reason might be that what one obtains too easily, one esteems too lightly. God wanted the Israelites to fight for the land of Israel so they would value it as a blessing that He was giving them.
The prophecy of Noah seemed to indicate the origin (the seed) of the Canaanites and to show the source of their moral iniquity. It gives us some spiritual insight where the seed of this moral corruption began. Where did it begin? It began with Canaan- it appears he passed down in his family lineage a legacy of unholiness. Such unholiness served Satan's purposes. These seeds of disobedience were propogated greatly by Canaan, who was the ancestor of the wicked individuals who later lived in the land that bore his name. These were the perpetrators that the Israelites had to fight. What did the Canaanites do? They worshipped the idol gods of Baal and El as well as Astarte, Asherah, and Anath. They believed in and practiced Satan worship (the cult of serpents), human sacrifice, child molesting, homosexuality, beastiality, fornication, adultery, and more. It is possible that venereal disease was rampant in all those people and in all their animals. All had to be done away with for more than one reason
(Exodus 33:2; Deuteronomy 2:34).
God mentions the beginning seed of iniquity at other places and times in His Word.
For instance, the tribe of Dan chose to worship idols and God tells us in His word
where this began
(Judges chapters 17 and 18). That spiritual cancer eventually metastasized to all of Israel so the
Great Surgeon had to operate on His patient to cut it out to save the body (the nation). He did that
by using the Babylonians as His surgical instrument
(Jeremiah 24:5). In another instance, King Solomon married women who belonged to the
devil and they turned him away from God. That began idol worship in Judah
(1 Kings 11:4). In another instance, King Jeroboam of Israel had two golden idol calves made for Israel
to worship. That began an accelerated idol worship in Israel
(2 Kings 10:29). How can these beginnings be relevant? We have to be careful what kind of beginning seeds
we sow. We can sow seeds of righteousness or seeds of wickedness. No person is an
island- that is, none of us are isolated. Each of our lives influences the lives of others.
Let us influence others for Jesus
(Mark 16:15).
Let me ask you a question- how can God condemn the civil premeditated murder of individuals in His ten commandments
(Exodus 20:13) but then order the killing (extermination) of an entire group of people (the Canaanites)? Is not that a contradiction? Well, murder is a civil law. Warfare involves military law. Sometimes these laws are very different. If a soldier deserts his army during a battle and is caught, he might be stood up against a wall and shot to death. That is not considered murder but justice and it is done to send a message to others not to do the same thing. We see the same thing at the time of the flood- God is seen as a symbol of a dove being peaceful and harmless
(Genesis 8:11; Matthew 3:16), yet He violently killed people with a flood because of His justice. By doing that, He sent a message to mankind. Those who have spiritual ears to hear should listen intently. That is not a contradiction. God is love, full of grace, shows mercy, et cettera, but He is also a God of justice, holding all evil doers to accountability for their sins and wickedness
(Revelation 6:10).
This is God's universe and His creation and He controls it all according to His will. Sometimes God exercises His divine perogative as Divine Creator to right a wrong. In the case of the Canaanites as a people, they committed continual iniquity and had to be judged. God judges from His righteousness and holiness. He does not enjoy judging others, punishing them, or hurting them. When God judges, sometimes He warns before He acts. He would much rather see people repent and change than to judge them. We see that in the bible book of Jonah where God sent the prophet, Jonah, to the Assyrian city of Nineveh to get them to repent so He did not have to judge them. They did repent and God spared them.
"And he said: blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant"
(Genesis 9:26-27).
Does the black race have a curse on it?
No. The black race does not have a curse on it. Noah's prophecy was for the Canaanites to be slaves. Did they ever become slaves? Yes. When? As General Joshua's prisoners of war, the conquered Canaanites were assigned to military slavery or forced labor. In writing this prophecy from Noah, Moses was a former Egyptian military general and he wrote from this perspective. Here is the scripture that fulfilled their slavery prophecy:
"And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose"
(Joshua 9:27).
At no other time in the history of the world were blacks supposed to be made slaves.
The Canaanites were to be slaves of the descendants of Shem and Japheth. The Israelites were descended from Shem but what about the descendants from Japheth? How were the Canaanites slaves of them? The descendants of Japheth were scattered throughout the land. Many of them were included among the Israelites and referred to by Moses as "strangers" because they were not of the blood line (family lineage) of Jacob
(Leviticus 17:8-10, 19:34, 20:2). This is how Japheth dwelt in the tents of Shem. Therefore, General Joshua's prisoners of war served the descendants of Shem and Japheth as slaves at that time.
How did some folks in our past justify the slavery of the black race? Many folks want scripture to justify their evil actions. And this is one of Satan's favorite tactics. Many folks twisted God's word to make it say what it was not meant to say. The physical slavery of the Canaanites began and ended during the days of General Joshua. All wicked Canaanites would eventually be spiritually cursed in the Promised Land- not because of the color of their skin but because of the sinfulness of their hearts:
"Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts"
(Zechariah 14:21).
Let us take a look at this spiritually. Shem and his descendants, in general, were to be blessed by God. Japheth and his descendants, in general, were to be blessed by God. I imagine that the blessing was in response to those individuals who loved the Lord. Ham was left out of the blessing, as this family, in the beginning, wrongly choose to follow Satan into disobedience to God. In other words, Canaan's descendants would be slaves (servants) to sin. It is significant since God mentions it twice.
If you are in God's family then you will be blessed. God wants you to prosper. If you are in Satan's family then you will be a slave or servant to sin. The spiritual trumps the physical. What does that mean? That means that no matter what human race you belong to physically, your spiritual inheritance is more important. God does not have any grandchildren- He only has children adopted by Him into His spiritual family. So it does not matter what race of mankind you come from physically because God loves you, died for you, and wants you in His family:
"Then Peter opened his mouth, and said: of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (He is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and showed Him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is He which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To Him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins"
(Acts 10:34-43).
It is not Length of life but
Depth of life that is the most important
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"And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died"
(Genesis 9:28-29).
The age of mankind was gradually diminishing:
Shem only lived to be 600 years old and Peleg only lived to be 239 years old. Some folks think that the atmosphere of the earth was changing in those days as more and more ultraviolate radiation from the sun was allowed to hit the earth and age people more rapidly. This climate change probably happened over a long period of time. What is the relevance? God blesses His children with long life.
Click on the heart to go to the Genesis Table of Contents
As of July 1, 2014
"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them:
"Then Jesus said unto them: verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever"
Murder is forbidden:
"And I, behold, I establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish My covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said- this is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations- I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall 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 the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah- this is the token of the covenant, which I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the earth"
Let us take a brief look at the Noahic Covenant (Genesis 8:21 - 9:29):
