Genesis-Job – Page 142 – I'm Following Jesus

King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Friday, January 03, 2020
Chapters: Genesis 6–8
Message: According To All God Commanded

Hello My Friend,

Command; To govern, lead or direct; to have or to exercise supreme authority over. There is another definition to the word command and that is, the power to control. I disagree with that definition as it would imply that whoever gives us direction has power to control us. God is and never has been about controlling mankind, if He wanted to control every soul He created, then we would all be the same. However, God does want supreme authority over us, meaning to have no other gods, people, possessions, directing us. God gives us a choice, and if we choose to have Him in our lives, we will live an amazing life here and beyond, all He asks for His faithfulness to us is that we be faithful to Him, and to keep His commands. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” – I John 5:2-4.

I have to admit that I have not been very focused the past few days, my prayer time with God has been a lot of questions. I do not want to go into this new year wondering if every decision I made last year was the right one. Then God reminded me of something, as long as I do everything with Him in mind I cannot go wrong. Chapter 6 is here from yesterday, I felt, rather God felt, that it was necessary to talk about the Ark being built because I honestly failed to read the whole chapter myself. When God saw the wickedness of nearly all mankind He felt great grief for even creating man, I do not think God was angry at them because they were all kind of ignorant to what they were doing. He was deeply saddened, first of all, they wanted nothing to do with Him, and second, they only lived to please their flesh. One man out of millions believed in, and was faithful to Him, and that was Noah. God decided to remove both man and beast from the earth, and repopulate it with Noah’s family, which were a total of eight people. God commands Noah to build an ark, which means a box.

“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” – Genesis 6:5-8,13-14,17-18,22.

“according to all that God commanded him,” Think about what God was asking him to do, build a box that would hold his family and hundreds of animals because a flood was going to destroy the earth. Noah, and his family followed God’s commands to build the ark, and it actually took one hundred and twenty years to complete. In that time, I am sure people were mocking him, wondering why he was following commands from God when they saw no signs of Him whatsoever. Nevertheless, the Ark was built, and it was time to fill it up.

“And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.” – Genesis 7:1-5,10-11,5-16.

“For yet seven days,” This was the weather forecast from God, it was going to rain in seven days, that means they had seven days to board the animals and themselves. “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens,” There were not only one set of each animal, cattle and birds were sets of seven. Now, think about what was happening while they were boarding on the Ark, clouds appear, something else they never seen before either. You would think that any of the people seeing this would have had some common sense to get on board, but sadly they did not. Once the door was shut there was no escaping what was about to come. “the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up,” As soon as the door was shut, drops of water fell from those clouds. And it did not just rain for forty days and forty nights, water gushed out of the ground, the rivers, seas, and lakes, all coming out, and overflowing the earth. It really must have been a sad sight, I am sure both people and animals we scrambling to find cover, people banging on the door of the Ark trying to get in. Nevertheless, the waters prevailed and every living thing, man and beast, all died in the flood.

“And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.” Genesis 7:18-24.

“Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail;” Twenty-two and a half feet, that is how high the waters reached over the tallest mountains. It really aggravates me when you see archaeologists find fossils up in the mountains and somehow believe that they evolved that way over billions of years ago. Ridiculous people! Let me tell you, it is the few and faithful from this generation that keeps God from destroying all the earth right now. And yes, there will come a time when there will be no one left, and the entire planet will be destroyed, not with water, but with fire (II Peter 3:9-13). You see, while God’s faithful do have to face some repercussions because the world refuses to follow one command, and many saved, born again Christians refuse to follow one command, other than get saved, He never forgets their faithfulness. God remembered His covenant or promise with Noah and after a hundred and fifty days He stopped the rain and began the waters began to dissipate.

“And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.” – Genesis 8:1-3,8-13.

“in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off:” Did you ever wonder why it was an olive branch? Well, the olive tree had the closest connection, with the domestic life of the Israelites (II Chronicles 2:10), their trade (Ezekiel 27:17, Hosea 12:1), and even their public ceremonies and religious worship. The olive also is the center of one of Paul’s analogies of the Gentiles as being the “wild olive,” grafted in upon the “good olive,” to which once the Jews belonged, and with which, they may again be incorporated one day (Romans 11:16-25). So, the olive tree plays a significant part in the people of God. The dove, we know is a picture of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16). Think about it, Jesus being a picture of the Ark, is the only way to be saved. The dove comes to us the second we get on the Ark of Jesus by receiving Him. “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” – I John 4:2,4-6.

We may not understand everything that is going on, and it may seem like months before there is any relief even in sight, but little by little God lets the waters subside in our floods, and even gives rest while we are waiting. One year after the rain began, the waters filled the earth, then subsided, the land was dried, and life was sustainable upon the earth, God commands Noah and his family to come out of the ark and live, He also made a covenant with Him. “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” – Genesis 8:20-22.

“And the LORD smelled a sweet savour;” This would be the start of God making atonement for His people upon confession of their sin. “for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth;” And this is why the wicked are free to be wicked. While we do get caught up in the wake of God’s judgments, He will not punish all of us for what someone else does. If there is one thing I have learned these past few years is that God protects me, even when I am in the midst of some catastrophe. Noah, willingly built and altar to God, just to worship Him, and God was pleased, he may not have understood what had happened, or even what life would be like anymore, but He did understand that it was by God’s mercy and grace that he and his family were alive. “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:14-16.

Today’s Prayer: God, You make it simple to have a blessed life here on earth, give ourselves willingly to You., and follow Your commands if we choose You. In doing so we not only get saved through our faith in Your Son, we receive Your favor, and that is truly amazing. I am humble to be one of the faithful and few who serve You continually, but it is not of my own doing, it is You who lives in me that I am who I am. Lord, lead me and guide me, fill me with Your grace, keep my heart open and tender as I try to deal with life, and let it always be willing to serve You however You lead me. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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