GRACE AND GLORY (CONTINUE)

THE GOD GRACE UPON NOAH (Gen. 6 vs. 8)

Any bible scholar won’t deny the fact that Noah was a peculiar man in his generation, Noah was a man born out of prophecy. The world as of that time was under a greater sense of God’s judgement for the disobedience of Adam and Eve, the curse God put upon them was greatly at work also upon the earth. For a better background of this study let us look at the verses containing the event of Adam’s disobedience and the judgment of God on them in Genesis 3 vs. 1- 24

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

After this event the whole of human race and the earth including all that is in it, were all introduce to a continuous state of reproach, struggle and suffering. The animals became wild, the earth began to produce thorn and thistle, man began to labour extensively before they can eat, and women were plunged into the curse of greater pain at child birth; everything moved from good news to bad news. The end of everything was physical death. From generation to generation, people where praying seeking for freedom from this curse placed upon man. There came a time when God will eventually answer their prayer, a son was eventually born into the family of Lamech the son of Methuselah. Their prayer was, God even if you will punish us for the disobedience of our fore father (Adam) please take away the curse of the earth only producing thorns and thistle. This was the prayer behind the birth of the man called Noah. Let us look at Genesis 5 vs. 28-29 it says

    

28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:

29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.

So we can see that Noah was a man sent from God to solve the problem facing the earth which is the issue of the cursed ground. Noah was a man of prophecy; he was a kind of Jesus in the Old Testament. To be frank, I consider the life and story of Noah as a case study for us as Christian to study about. I am of the opinion that the name Noah means a gift from God, a solution, comforter and redeemer.

Right from Genesis 5 vs. 28, the name Noah began appearing continuously until Gen. 10 vs. 32, which means that there must be something special about this man of God.

Going through Genesis 6 we realize that it came to the attention of God that the thought, imagination and conduct of mankind (the offspring of Adam) became worse as they increase in number. There were marriages between falling angels (referred to as sons of God) and the beautiful daughters of men. The off springs produced from these marriage where recorded to be giant of unimaginable heights, they became mighty and renown men. God realized that things were going very far away from his plan; God regretted creating man and so decided to clear off all he had created. God discovered the man of prophecy for the moment (that is Noah) stood out in righteousness (Gen 6 vs. 9); as a result he found grace (favour) in the sight of God. As Proverb 13 vs. 34 says 34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. It was the faithfulness of Noah that made him find favour in the sight of God, just as it is that people who do what we want are the ones we tend to like and cherish, so it with God ). I consider the following scriptures as the basis on which Noah and every other patriarch found grace in the sight of God:

    

Prov 8:17  I love those who love me, and  those who seek me diligently find me.

Prov 1:7  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

Prov 1:32 For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them; 33 But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil."

The beginning of every chapter right from Gen 7 to 10 shows the result of the grace Noah enjoyed, let us look at them

    

Gen 7:1 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.

Gen 8:1 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.

Gen 9:1-4 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

 Gen 10:1 Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.

Let us look at what other books  (both in the Old and New testament) have to say about this great man called Noah:

        

Isa 54:9

9 For this is like the days of Noah to Me; as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you. (Amplified)

Ezek 14:14

14 Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they would save but their own lives by their righteousness (their uprightness and right standing with Me), says the Lord God. (Amplified)    

Ezek 14:20

20 Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. (KJV)   

Matt 24:37-:38-39 37 As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For just as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, [men] marrying and [women] being given in marriage, until the [very] day when Noah went into the ark, 39 And they did not know or understand until the flood came and swept them all away — so will be the coming of the Son of Man. [Gen 6:5-8; 7:6-24.] (Amplified) (Same as Luke 17 vs. 26 -27)

    

Heb 11:7 7 [Prompted] by faith Noah, being forewarned by God concerning events of which as yet there was no visible sign, took heed and diligently and reverently constructed and prepared an ark for the deliverance of his own family. By this [his faith which relied on God] he passed judgment and sentence on the world's unbelief and became an heir and possessor of righteousness (q that relation of being right into which God puts the person who has faith). [Gen 6:13-22.]

    

1 Peter 3:20 20 [The souls of those] who long before in the days of Noah had been disobedient, when God's patience waited during the building of the ark in which a few [people], actually eight in number, were saved through water. [Gen. 6-8.]

    

2 Peter 2:5 5 And He spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven other persons, when He brought a flood upon the world of ungodly [people]. [Gen 6-8; 1 Peter 3:20.]

4 Products (Output) of the grace of God upon Noah

1.   Separation from destruction (Gen 7:1) 

 Anyone who receives or enjoys the grace of God will be exempted by God from destruction automatically as long as the grace remain there. Just as a person in authority will do all he or she can to protect those they cherish, God separated Noah and his family, even the wives of his children from the flood. In the same way, we also can enjoy the grace of God in this dispensation. You may as why? Why because, the grace of God has appeared to all men…

We should know that there is a reason why Noah found grace in the sight of God, and that reason is he was righteous. To be righteous means to be in right standing with God, not necessarily being perfect, but being on the track of perfection and having the heart for perfection. God looks at the heart and not our physical motives or act. We must first of all connect with God from out heart (spirit) and not from our head and mouth, as we all know God cannot be mocked, whatsoever we sow that we will reap (Gal. 6 vs. 7). Now coming back to the main crux of this section, which is separation from destruction. The desire of God is that all men be saved, but God is not a confused person, he has conduct and operate by laws, scriptures says the law of the lord is perfect (Ps. 19 vs. 7). I remember the scriptures that says “it is by the mercy of God that we are not consume” (Lam 3 vs. 22), yes God’s mercy endures forever but we must know that the mercy of God is only limited to man’s time on earth, that is why no matter how much God’s mercy is we must always be full of his grace and continue to grow in it, such that God will always love to favour us every time by separating us from destruction when his mercy time expires. God was merciful to mankind until a time but grace kept Noah.

Gen 7:1  AND THE Lord said to Noah, Come with all your household into the ark, for I have seen you to be righteous (upright and in right standing) before Me in this generation. [Ps 27:5; 33:18,19; 2 Peter 2:9.] AMP

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