Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: Can you imagine driving along the busiest freeway in the world only to find that you're the only one on the road? It would be weird, right? Well, according to our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee, that's similar to the situation that Noah and his family faced as the door to the ark opened and they walked out onto dry lands.

Welcome to Thru the Bible, I'm Steve Schwetz, and if you're wondering about the first thing that Noah did after the flood, then you are in the right place. This is a fascinating part of scripture, so grab your Bible and in just a minute we're going to get started with our study in Genesis 9.

First though, we've got time for just one quick note from a listener named Kevin. He writes: "I'm not much for writing letters, but I receive so much from this program that I at least want to express my gratitude. A heartfelt thank you to the entire team, both here in the USA and abroad.

When I hear the impact the ministry is having around the world, I'm blown away. But at the same time, I'm not surprised because I've seen its impact in my own life. The simple and steady teaching of the Bible has delivered me from numerous addictions and brought me to a closer walk with Jesus.

I can happily give to this ministry knowing that you all are hard at work giving the whole word to the whole world. The faithful slow drip of the teaching of the word of God has transformed my life and it is my prayer that it'll do the same for everybody around the world who hears this program.

I would say that I would change out the brakes on the Bible bus, but it doesn't seem like the bus is slowing down anytime soon. If anything it's speeding up. I listen daily on the app in Redondo Beach, California, and also read the studies on my Kindle. This ministry is such a blessing."

Well Kevin, thanks so much. We really do appreciate you taking the time to tell us how God's word is making a difference in your life and thanks for letting us know you read on your Kindle, that helps us too. And what about you? Has the slow drip of God's word, as Kevin calls it, strengthened you in a hard season?

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Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Open to Genesis 9. As we go through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. Today we come to the ninth chapter of the book of Genesis and we have come through the flood, I trust, and that we came through dry shod. But we have attempted to lift out of this tremendous incident some great spiritual truths that we believe are for us.

Now we have found out that when Noah came out of the ark, the first thing that he did was to build an altar to the Lord and offer a sacrifice to him, which was the burnt offering as we're told here. And that burnt offering speaks of the person of Christ. It was offered on the basis of acceptance before God and of praise to God and a recognition of him.

May I say to you that this was without doubt one of the things that caused God to be pleased with Noah at this particular time because we've seen in the flood, actually, man there learned the three R's. First was rebellion of God realized; it came right out in the open.

And then there was the revelation from God which was rejected. Noah's witness did not reach them. And then their repentance was absolutely repudiated, no return to God at all. And they refused the refuge that God had provided and for 120 years, Noah had no converts.

And so we have rebellion, revelation, and repentance. Those were the three R's and they led in that first. But the other two, they rejected the revelation and there was no repentance on their part. Now this man Noah comes forth from the ark and actually friends, he stands in a most unique position.

He stands in the position of being the head of the human race again, just in the same position Adam is. A great many people say, well we're all related to Adam. May I say to you, we're closer kin than that. All of us are related to Noah. Noah is the father in one sense of all of us today.

Now we have here in chapter nine the new beginning and you can imagine what a revolutionary beginning it is. The dispensation of human conscience is over with. Now God is putting man down now under government. He's to govern himself and that is something we'll see now in this covenant that God made with Noah.

And when he made it with Noah, he made it with you and me, for he made it with all mankind and we all have a stake in it. Now he said to Noah first of all, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. And again the word replenish is meaningful here because we know there was a civilization before the flood.

Now there is to be a civilization after the flood. But Adam was told to replenish the earth also. So obviously there must have been here on the earth before Adam, creatures, I don't know what to call them, but creatures on this earth, living creatures, God's creation, and anything I say beyond that is speculation to be sure.

Now will you notice he says, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. That's number one that God tells him to do. This is the propagation of the race. Now there comes a time when God does not give that. I think we're living in that period right now because of the fact that we see in our day that there's overpopulation.

We have a regular population explosion in our day that actually is quite dangerous. But again let me come back to Noah and say he's in a unique position. He's the only one around. Just imagine one day driving out on the freeway going to work of a morning and there are cars in front of you, cars to the right of you, cars to the left of you, and cars behind you honking and you're just in a traffic snarl.

And then it's not but about a year later, you drive out on the freeway and there's nobody there. You're the only one on the freeway and you just as well take down all the streetlights because you won't need them because you're the only one driving through. May I say that would be quite an unusual experience, would it not? Well Noah had an experience like that for his day.

Now notice the second thing God says to him: "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth and upon all the fishes of the sea, into your hand are they delivered." Now we have man's protection and rulership of animals given. That's part of the covenant.

And I take it before this that there were several things. Man, as we're going to see, did not eat meat before and now he's able to eat meat. But before he couldn't because all animals were tame and you just don't like to eat tame animals, that is those that you've become attached to.

And so we find that the animals came to Noah, there was no problem there at all. And man therefore today is responsible for the animal world and man's treatment of the animal world is a brutal story, the way that they've attempted to exterminate, well you take the whale out around the Hawaiian Islands. They had to stop while man was going to slaughter all of them, of course for money.

The buffalo been largely killed out in the West and at one time they went in great herds. Why? Well, man. And they have game refuges today in order to protect animal and bird life and they do well to do that. The animals of Africa would all be exterminated. Man's a pretty brutal creature himself.

And then the third thing: "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things." Now before, God gave to man the green herb, plant life to eat. Now he tells him that he'll be able to eat animal life and this is something that you need to take into consideration.

I've told the story many times about this woman who was a faddist on diet and was in a religion of course, and that generally becomes a religion, and she made a great deal of the fact when I told her one day that the antediluvians were all vegetarians and that's what she was advocating and propagating was that we should just eat vegetables.

She had one of her assistants to take it down, but I think it was erased later. I told her, I said I wouldn't make too much of it because you must remember it was a bunch of vegetarians that were destroyed in the flood and if diet had anything to do with it, then certainly they would not have been destroyed. But now man is permitted to eat flesh.

Now verse four: "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." In other words, the blood should be drained out, that speaks of life and that would indicate that the animal was dead, indicates something else, that the animal might be killed in a merciful way rather than prolonging its suffering.

That is one of the reasons that I hate to hunt. And I ought not to put it like that, I love to hunt and I haven't been able to now for a couple of years as I've been so busy at the fall season and was this year. But the fact of the matter is that the reason you don't like to shoot certain birds, quail for instance, is that sometimes you merely wound the little fellow and he just crawls away and you can't find him.

Now you don't like to do that. God says when you are going to eat animals, why the thing to do is to make sure you don't eat them with the blood. The blood should be drained out. In other words, the animal should be killed in a merciful manner. And he says: "Surely your blood of your lives will I require, at the hand of every beast will I require it and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man."

Now that's an interesting statement and not meaningful for us today because we do not live on a frontier and most of the frontiers are gone today. But up to the present hour, animals have been a danger to man. They still are a danger to man. There are certain animals that you do well to beware of.

Fact of the matter is, if there's a possum in your neighborhood or a skunk, you'll do well to be wary of it, chances are it has rabies. And animals are those that man is to beware of. Now we have the next statement that God gives and this is the amazing one, the fifth and the last one: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man."

Now you have here you see something that's quite interesting, the principle for government and protection for man and he gives to government capital punishment. So that we have first the propagation of the race, protection and rulership of animals, provision for food, and prohibition, that is no blood is to be eaten.

Now the principle of government and this is the basis of capital punishment. And may I say to you that it's amazing the attitude that this generation has as it's got away from the Bible. You see we do not have a Bible-oriented population today. They're totally ignorant of the word of God and that's one reason we're teaching the Bible because we believe it's very important to teach the word of God and that it's needed today.

And as a result, you find the judges and the lawyers and our politicians all wanting to get rid of capital punishment and they've done a pretty good job and I think finally it'll be totally eliminated. And at the same time, we have the most horrible crimes that are taking place and there is an increase in crime as many of us predicted.

But I've dealt with this very important subject. I believe today that capital punishment is scriptural. I think it's the basis of government that a government has the right to take a life when that individual in turn has taken a life. Now why? Well it's quite obvious I think. It's in order that God might protect human life.

You're not safe today to walk on the streets. In fact your life is not safe today. Now I know that the officials would deny this and believe me they are very quick to deny it. But the reason your life is not safe in this land of ours today is because of the attitude toward capital punishment.

When a criminal knows that if he takes a life, his life is going to be sacrificed, then may I say to you, he'll think twice before he takes a life. Then the idea today we're trying to get a gun control law. May I say to you the problem is not with the gun in the hand, it's the heart that's inside a man. That's where the problem is today.

And therefore you have to control man in this particular area to make it safe for you and for other human beings to walk our streets and to step out of their home at night. Why, we're finding many members of our church, that is those that are single women that are mature, that are single, they shut their door at night and they don't dare open up until the morning light.

May I say to you, we better get the law back on the statute books let me tell you and get rid of this sob sister stuff. "Whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man." Now this is the basis of human government. This is the area into which man and the Gentiles have moved.

This has not been changed as far as governments of the world are concerned. Now will you notice: "And you, be ye fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply therein." And God continues on here and God spake unto Noah and to his sons with him saying, "And I, behold I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you."

That includes now the human race. Now he says: "And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl of the earth, of every beast of the earth with you from all that go out of the ark to every beast of the earth." In other words, all of God's creatures are included in this.

And there's a very interesting statement made by Isaiah about the lion and the lamb someday lie down together and that they'll not hurt. And then Paul says the whole creation is groaning and travailing in pain. May I say to you that God now has made this covenant for the protection of these until that day comes for all of God's creatures with every living creature that's with you, God says.

Now will you notice he says in verse 11: "And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off anymore by the waters of a flood, neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth." Now here is God's promise and his purpose is that he'll no longer destroy the earth with a flood. The next judgment on the earth is a judgment by fire, we find that in Second Peter the third chapter.

Now we come down here to verse 12 and you have here the picture of the covenant and I think really a spiritual meaning of the covenant. It's a sort of a sacrament if you please. Now the thing that makes it that, the visible signs to which are annexed promises. And here you have it. Now let me read this particular section here beginning at verse 12.

And God said: "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that's with you for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the cloud. It shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth." The rainbow is more or less of a sacrament, that is it's a token of a covenant.

"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 water shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud." Now will you notice God says I will look upon it and that I may remember.

You see God didn't say you'd see it, he said he'd see it. He didn't say you'd look upon it, he'd look upon it if you please, and it would be an everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. That ought to be the encouragement when you look at a rainbow.

Verse 17: "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." Now this is God's covenant not just with Noah but all flesh that is upon the earth. You see what you have here is actually almost a sacrament as we said.

A sacrament is a visible sign to which are annexed certain promises. The Passover, they ate the Passover. The brazen serpent was put up. And there was Gideon's fleeces. And there's baptism today and the Lord's supper. Dr. Lange puts it like this: "God's eye of grace and our eye of faith meet in the sacraments."

And that's what happens here when man looks at the rainbow. Faith lays hold of the promise attached to the sign. You see the merit is in what the sign speaks of. There's no faith in a promise and there's no assurance in a sign. The word and the sign go together you see. God makes a promise and attaches a sign to it.

Now the rainbow is God's answer to Noah's altar. God says I'll remember and I'll look upon it. Friend of mine told me he was traveling by plane across the country and they were going over a storm and all of a sudden they saw a rainbow and he says it was the first time in his life he'd ever seen a rainbow that went all the way round.

Now this is something that's very disappointing in the rest of this chapter. The question arises, well when man came out after the flood and all the sinners are dead, then there's no more sin in the earth. Is that right? Well let's look and see: "And the sons of Noah that went forth of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth and Ham is the father of Canaan."

Now why does he say that? Well for two reasons we'll see in a moment and the second is that they are going right now traveling to the land of Canaan. It's nice for them to know this. It'll be an encouragement. These are the three sons of Noah and of them was the whole earth overspread. And Noah began to be an husbandman, he planted a vineyard.

He drank of the wine and he was drunken and he was uncovered within his tent. And my friend, may I say to you, here you have Noah's sin. And the hard fact of the matter is that Noah got drunk and this is sin. There's actually no satisfactory excuse. Many have been made.

One is that he was ignorant of the effect of wine since no one had been drunk before and you'll notice back before the flood, drunkenness is not mentioned as one of the sins. Then there are those who hold the canopy theory about the flood, the many things I did not mention. The canopy theory is that there was ice covering over, the sunlight filtered through and that grapes would not ferment before.

And this was something new for this man Noah. Well all I can say is that it's a new beginning and a new world but it's old sin that still lay. And this reveals that. That's the reason this is given. That's the big question, why did God give it? Well he gave it for a very definite reason.

Let me drop down, read verse 22. We're told that he was drunken, uncovered within his tent and Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren without. And then we're told Shem and Japheth covered him and Noah woke from his wine, knew what his younger son had done unto him. And notice what he does: "He said, cursed be Canaan, not Ham."

And I'd have you note that and I'd like to answer this as something that always comes up. Isn't the curse of Ham upon the dark races? That is not true. That is absolutely absurd and the scripture does not teach that to begin with. The coloration of the skin, the pigment that's in the epidermis of the human family has come there not because of sin within but because of sunlight on the outside.

And he says, cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Now these people are going to the land of Canaan. That's the reason it's mentioned here. "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, Canaan shall be his servant. And God shall enlarge Japheth and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem and Canaan shall be his servant."

You must remember that the first two great civilizations were Hamitic civilizations, the Egyptian and the Babylonian, they were both there if you please. Now this is the great covenant God made then with Noah. We'll leave off right there today. So until next time my beloved, may God richly bless you.

Steve Schwetz: Dr. McGee's free notes and outlines are available anytime in our app or at ttb.org. Just click on Briefing the Bible to download our digital book that contains them all. Or you can call 1-800-65-BIBLE and we'll put a paperback copy in the mail too.

I'm Steve Schwetz and I'll save a seat for you as the Bible bus rolls along.