CbC Jan. 5-11

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January 5, Sunday

Reading A5 — Genesis 5 — The Generations to Noah ………… Audio link: Genesis 5 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Growing in Our Walk — Listings of Hebrew genealogies often have gaps.  This list in chapter 5 begins with a gap, that of skipping Adam’s sons, Cain and Abel: “When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son … and named him Seth” (v. 3).  In the previous chapter, we learned that Seth was born after Abel was killed (4:25).  This might also partially explain the long periods of time listed before a son was born, the shortest being 65 years old in this list (vv. 15, 21).  That seems to suggest either that puberty may have been delayed in those times or that they had other undisclosed sons and daughters before the identified sons in this list.  Another surprising fact was the huge lifespan of people who lived before the Great Flood.  The spiritual giant of this list was Enoch, who “walked with God” (v. 24).  This was not a normal “walk” but one so unique that God took him without his having experienced death.  Later, the prophet Elijah had a similar ending to his life on earth.  So, this begs us to ask, “How is my walk with God?”  Well, you and I are still here, so we haven’t reached the Enoch-Elijah level yet.  This also demonstrates the wide spectrum of a spiritual walk with God.  We were spiritual infants when we first came to Christ, but we have matured as we have learned through God’s Word, the influence of others, and experiences of life.  Have we reached the puberty stage of our growth yet?  Are we spiritual adults?  It is rather expected, then, that we can never get enough of our infinite God and our relationship to Him.  We still have the time and opportunity to grow up.

January 6, Monday

Reading A6 — Genesis 6 — Preparing for the Flood         Audio link: Genesis 6 (ESV)

Popular but Punished — There are several unanswered questions arising out of this chapter, like the identity of “the sons of God” who married “the daughters of man” (v. 2) and the drastic drop in human longevity from around 900 to 120 years (v. 3).  What is clear, however, is that the reason for the flood was the moral collapse of human society: “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and … every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (v. 5).  Something similar happened later with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness (Gen. 18:20; 19:24), when God saved the relatively righteous Lot from that punishing annihilation.  In today’s chapter, it was Noah who was rescued: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation.  Noah walked with God” (v. 9).  He was rescued because he was righteous.  It is not popular to be righteous and to walk with God, then or now.  You feel alone, people ignore and mock you, but you are popular with God.  It was said of Noah that he “found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (v. 8).  Which is more important: to be popular with the world or to find favor with God?  The worldly people in Noah’s time were destroyed because of their sin, and the worldly people in our time will be eternally punished in hell.  Flood then, fire next.  Noah was not an effective evangelist, but we could be, calling people to the ark of salvation, which is open to everyone.

January 7, Tuesday

Reading A7 — Genesis 7 — The Great Flood               Audio link: Genesis 7 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

The Real, Worldwide Flood — This is the first time in the Bible that clean vs. unclean animals are mentioned, although this distinction was clearly made much later when God gave Moses the Law.  God must have given Noah some unrecorded instruction about the difference between these animals, so he would know to bring in seven pairs of the clean animals to provide for food and sacrifices.  We will read in the next chapter that Noah built an altar after the flood to offer a burnt offering of every clean animal and bird (8:20).  The detailed description of the beginning of the flood on the 17^th day of the 2^nd month of Noah’s 600^th year (7:11), and a similar statement about the end of the flood in chapter 8, emphasize the reality of this event.  Some have suggested that this was only a local flood, but the fact that the waters covered “all the high mountains under the whole heaven … covering them fifteen cubits deep” (v. 20), and that it persisted for 150 days (v. 24), shows that it had to be a worldwide flood.  All of this was to punish sin and to give us a wonderful picture of God’s saving provision for those who are willing to trust Him and be faithful to Him.

January 8, Wednesday

Reading A8 — Genesis 8 — The Waters Recede            Audio link: Genesis 8 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Will Evil Continue? — The cartoon drawings we sometimes see of the ark with Noah and animals looking over the side of the main deck is not accurate.  The entire top of the ark had a covering, and the only opening was a window, apparently in that covering.  Ventilation was likely provided where the roof covering overlapped the top sides of the ark.  From the detailed chronology provided in the text, Noah, his family, and all the animals were in the ark for 370 days, just over a full year.  Because of that long time in the ark, although the animals entered the ark “by pairs” (7:2), they “went out by families” (8:19).  They were already obeying the command to “be fruitful and multiply” (v. 17).  God’s response to Noah’s burnt offerings indicated a change in plans.  He pledged to “never again curse the ground … Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature” (v. 21).  The attitude of mankind never changed, however.  Before the flood, God said that “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (6:5), and after the flood, He said, “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (8:21).  The flood provides a lesson to mankind about punishment for sin and the possibility for salvation.  Will evil continue to reign in the hearts of people we know, or will our message of hope convince them to accept the only offer of true salvation?

January 9, Thursday

Reading A9 — Genesis 9 — The Rainbow Covenant        Audio link: Genesis 9 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Sacred Matters — This chapter points out three things that are sacred to God.  The first one is the blood of mankind.  The legal civil penalty for shedding human blood is that “by man shall his blood be shed” (v. 6), and the reason immediately follows: “for God made man in his own image.”  Because of this close connection between God and man, man’s life and blood are sacred to God.  The second sacred matter is God’s covenant.  The one to Noah was the first of several mentioned in Scripture.  His promise to Noah and all his descendants, which includes us, was that He would never again destroy all life on earth by a flood (v. 11).  The rainbow was designated as the reminding symbol of His sure promise.  The third matter of sacredness had to do with Noah’s nakedness.  The youngest son of Noah, Ham, apparently took some delight in discovering his drunk father naked in his tent, and he shared it with his brothers.  In contrast to Ham’s flippant attitude, Shem and Japheth took great care to cover their father without looking at him.  Nakedness is to be reserved within the marriage relationship alone.  What a contrast that is to our current cultural delight in showing more and more of the human body in public and having absolutely no restraint in popular pornography.  What is sacred to God must be carefully honored by His people.

January 10, Friday

Reading A10 — Genesis 10 — Descendants of Noah    Audio link: Genesis 10 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Generational Influence — You will probably never hear a sermon from this chapter, but there are many interesting and important facts contained here.  It is basically a listing of the descendants of the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  The seven sons of Japheth are listed first, followed by the descendants of two of those sons.  They settled mostly along the northern Mediterranean coast all the way to Italy and Spain, but they also dispersed in areas north toward the Black Sea (Please see the helpful map at this link: https//static.esvmedia.org/media/esv-study-bible/images/big/map-01-03.jpg).  The four sons of Ham get the most attention as the descendants of three of those sons are listed.  It is from Ham’s sons that the Egyptians, Philistines, and Canaanites come.  The five sons of Shem are listed last but have great significance.  The descendants of two of his five sons are listed.  Abraham is a descendant of Shem, and it was from Shem’s great-grandson, Eber, that the word “Hebrew” comes.  Much of the history of the Hebrew people are impacted by these descendants of Noah.  Noah had three sons and 16 grandsons, and it multiplied from there.  How big is your family?  How big will it be in 50 years and 100 years?  Families multiply quickly and the influence of the parents on each of those families will be carried throughout the generations that follow.  Influence your children and grandchildren now about the goodness of God and the saving work of Jesus.  It will carry on.

January 11, Saturday

Reading A11 — Genesis 11 — The Tower of Babel       Audio link: Genesis 11 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Frustrated Plans — I learned several interesting facts about today’s chapter.  One is that the Hebrew word for “Babel” is the same as for “Babylon,” although there is no clear evidence that the tower was built in Babylon.  The tower represented the desire for people to stay together in one place (v. 4) rather than to “fill the earth” as God commanded Noah (9:1).  It also represented the pride of accomplishment as it did later for King Nebuchadnezzar when he boasted, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power … for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:30).  Babylon is a very important biblical city of symbolism, mentioned 288 times in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  Another interesting discovery is that the name of Abram’s brother, Haran, is not the same name in Hebrew as the city Haran where Abram’s father, Terah, settled in Mesopotamia.  So, the city was not named after Abram’s brother but existed long before that.  Another fact in this chapter that caught my attention was the simple statement, “Now Sarai was barren” (11:30).  After reading 11 chapters of genealogies in Genesis, it abruptly stops with Abram.  No future.  No hope.  However, what seems to be a dead end for mankind is no problem for the greater purposes of God.  God can cause good to come out of seemingly hopeless situations.  Are you in one of those conditions today?  Look to the God of the “impossible.”  His plan likely won’t be the one you anticipated, but it will be the best one.  God’s plan wasn’t hindered by Babel or barrenness.