FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

I Will Bless You

Scripture Reference: Genesis 12:1-3

God is sovereign—over all creation and in all ways, (see Isaiah 40:12-31). He is sovereign over time, events, nature, people and spirit beings, including Satan. He plans, purposes, programs and puts into effect. None can hasten, delay, change or stop His decisions.

He is sovereign in creating man, He is sovereign in commanding man, meting out punishment for sin, rewarding the obedient, dealing with mankind through different dispensations, making covenants and promising blessings to man.

He is sovereign in sending the deluge to destroy all flesh because of total corruption and violence, and in choosing Noah and his family to repopulate the earth.

He is sovereign in confounding the one common language of man into numerous tongues at Babel, and in dispersing the rebellious descendants of Noah worldwide.

And when the whole earth was totally engulfed in idolatry, God is sovereign in giving them up, (Roman 1:13-32), and sovereign in choosing and calling Abraham. He is sovereign in entrusting Abraham with the mission to produce the Messianic line and the “seed of the woman.”

So when God told Abraham “I will bless thee,” it was an exercise of His sovereignty. “You shall be a blessing” speaks of God’s goodness, grace and mercy towards Abraham.

God’s promise of blessing to Abraham was four-fold, (Genesis 12:2-3).

1. Personal—his name would be great
2. National—he would become a great nation
3. Universal—all families of the earth would be blessed, (or cursed if they cursed Abraham).
4. Spiritual, Messianic—in Abraham’s Special Seed, our Lord Jesus Christ, all peoples would be blessed—with salvation through redemption, God bestowing upon mankind His fullest blessing through Abraham.

Adapted and modified excerpts from Day by Day: Bible Promises
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Remembering My Covenant

Scripture Reference: Genesis 9:12-17

As Noah surveyed the scene before him, so drastically changed, he certainly needed God’s assurance. This God gave in His covenant with Noah, his sons, (Genesis 9:8), “all flesh that is on the earth,” (Genesis 9:17), and “for perpetual generations” (Genesis 9:12). As the token of this covenant, God “set (His) rainbow in the cloud” as a reminder to men that He would remember His covenant.

The features of the covenant are: (1) the fixity of nature in its various cycles; (2) the fruitfulness enjoined upon Noah’s family, and the filling of the earth; (3) the fear of man—on the part of the animals; (4) food from animal flesh in addition to the green herb; (5) forbidden food—blood, which is the life of the flesh; (6) the forfeiture of life—for murder; (7) floods like the global deluge will never destroy the earth again.

As a result of the catastrophic deluge, we see the world as it is today—mighty oceans, with deep troughs to accommodate the flood waters; seven continents with massive mountain ranges; untenable weather conditions; extremes of climate; glaciers and deserts; fossil remains; subtropical vegetation below the Siberian surface; volcanic and seismic activity; and unfiltered harmful cosmic radiation reducing man’s longevity from around 900 years to today’s 70 years.

Some creation scientists also believe that there was an ice age after the flood. They suggest that this may explain how certain animals became isolated in certain parts of the world. As the ice age lowered sea levels, it allowed people and animals to cross land bridges into all continents, and its cessation caused the isolation of some species of animals, such as kiwis and koalas.

However, whatever the consequences of the flood, scripture teaches that God’s covenant with Noah governs man’s society and nature right till the end of time, as long as the rainbow endures—an everlasting promise, a magnificent covenant indeed!

Adapted and modified excerpts from Day by Day: Bible Promises
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Seed Time and Harvest

Scripture Reference: Genesis 8:20-22.

Seven days before He sent the deluge the Lord invited Noah and his family—eight persons in all—into the ark.

Then, under God’s direction, the animals arrived from every part of the world.

Scoffers must have gasped at the gigantic ark towering over them, and been amazed and stunned as they saw the animals troop in.

Finally, Noah and his family entered—and God shut them in! (Genesis 7:16). It was too late for last-minute mind changes for, when God shuts, “no one opens” (Revelation 3:7).

That same day “all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:11-12).

Creation scientists tell us that if all the clouds today were to precipitate as rain, it would only raise the ocean level by less than two inches! Where did all the rain come from? On the second day of creation God had prepared an extensive water vapor canopy above the atmosphere just for this purpose.

Genesis 7 and 8 describe the progress of the flood, covering the high mountains and levelling after five months, beginning to subside when God caused a wind to pass over the earth. One year after Noah first entered the ark, the earth was dry.

God told Noah to leave the ark, and he immediately offered burnt offerings to the Lord.

Noah must have been shocked to see the “new world”—bleak, barren, and inhospitable, vastly different from the beautiful “old world” he had left.

Now came God’s great reassuring promise. The essential cycles of nature, governed by the laws of the universe He had made at creation, would remain for the benefit of mankind—day-and-night cycles, climate cycles, season cycles and agricultural cycles.

God promised Noah that He would ensure the stability of nature “while the earth remains.”

Adapted and modified excerpts from Day by Day: Bible Promises
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.