I'm Following Jesus – Page 1594 – Mark 8:34 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.

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: Saturday, January 04, 2020
Chapters: Genesis 9-11
Message: Learning From History

Hello My Friend,

I was never a fan of history in school, perhaps it was the way it was taught, but it was my least favorite subject until I started learning about American History last year. I became fascinated about the Indians and how they ended up in North America, and how America was discovered by people in search of new land to escape religious persecution. We should never be ashamed of history nor hide it. Of course, there are things that did bring shame to our nations and families. We can never do anything about the past, but we can do something about the future by taking the knowledge we got yesterday and making changes today. And let me tell you, those changes do not include compromising your faith or giving into the demands of immorality for the sake of getting along with people. “Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.” – Proverbs 23:10-11.

My fascination with American History began when I started learning about World History, but not the way the world tells it, the way God tells it. We can really learn a lot about our own history by reading God’s Word. After the flood, God blessed Noah, which means to make happy, successful, or prosper in future matters, and his sons with the ability to replenish the earth quickly, notice what He blesses them with, and the covenant He makes.

“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and 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. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And 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. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And 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 waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.” – Genesis 9:1-6,9-10,14-15.

“into your hand are they delivered.” This is where God puts the fear of man upon beast, they would no longer be domesticated, and would actually be hunted for food. “And surely your blood of your lives will I require;” This is where God begins requiring blood sacrifices as payment for sin, although prior to the flood, animals were placed on the altar as an offering, this was done purely out of giving honor and thanks to God for His blessing them. Since life is always in the blood of the living, it was important that the sacrifice be a living animal, and not one that died by natural causes. “I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;” God’s promise to not flood and destroy the entire earth is given to all of us, and the animals as well. The rainbow is up in the sky to remind God that no matter how evil man becomes, He will not destroy them all with a flood. Of course, man mocks this by proving just how evil they can become. Human life is very important to God, after all, we are created in His image, meaning we are the only living beings with a soul and the ability to make choices. Animals do what they are designed to do by God, we have a choice in matter, and those choices are what blesses or curses us. “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.” – Deuteronomy 11:26-28.

Noah found out the hard way that life on earth was a lot different after the flood, he proceeded to do what he did after all this, and that was a farmer. He planted fruits, vegetables, herbs, and vineyard as it was normal to use the grapes for juice. Well, the grapes fermented as they probably sat in the barrels for quite a while, and for the first time became alcohol.

“And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.” – Genesis 9:20-27.

“and was drunken;” The drunkenness of Noah is recorded in the Bible, with that fairness which is found only in the Scripture, to show that the best of men cannot stand upright unless they keep their eyes upon God in all that they do. Ham is quick to expose his fathers infirmities, perhaps to even his grandson, Canaan, but Shem and Japheth, respecting their father, covered him up, careful to not even look at him. We are all sinners, therefore, we have no right to gossip or expose ones sins to others, it is disrespectful and also opens up exposure to our own sins. The sons or descendants, of Japheth are mentioned first, if you were born into a family of European descent, then your father is Japheth. “Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.” – Genesis 10:1-5.

“By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands;” Gentiles were not unbelievers of God, they were known as any believers that were not of the children of Israel. When you see how the names of their children you can get a deeper understanding as to how clueless they were. Think about it, each every one of them knew God existed, and of His power, and yet, over time, they either turned from Him completely, worshiped them by their own reasoning, or made up their own god. Especially those of the descendants of Ham, or rather, Canaan. Canaan’s descendants are pointed out as they would actually be the opposition to all the rest of them. If you were born of African descent than your father is Ham. Note the descendants and what nation they built.

“And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.” – Genesis 10:6,8-11,15-20.

“And Cush begat Nimrod:” Nimrod was a great man in his day, he began to be mighty in the earth, those before him were content to be upon the same level with their neighbors, and though every man ruled in his own house, Nimrod became a lord to his neighbors. Nimrod established the first world empire and ruled it, the city was known as the city of Babel (Babylon). As their leader he convinced them to build a city and tower that could reach up to heavens. “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” – Genesis 11:1,4-9.

“and now nothing will be restrained from them,” This is known as the tower of Babel, and would become Babylon, these were children of men, not of God, meaning they had no desire to reach God, but perhaps become gods themselves. God wants His people separated from the world, they might all try to get to heaven, but there in only one way and that is Jesus Christ. God gave them different languages so they could not understand each other. Did you know that God has a language all of His own? He does, and the only people who understand it are those who are saved and following His Word (I Corinthians 2:6-16). “Go to, let us go down,” Notice God said, “let us”, this is the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The descendants of Shem are mentioned last, this is of course, where the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) would descend.

“These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.” – Genesis 11:10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24,26,28-29.

Theologians claim they know the Bible, but cannot explain the simplest things from it, scholars claim to know history, but cannot explain the miraculous things that happened over time, scientist claim to know everything, but cannot explain creation. God makes everything simple, trust me, believe in my Son, and live in my Word, it is man who makes everything complicated. Why? They are so smart that they have become fools. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” – Romans 1:22-25.

Today’s Prayer: God, As Your children, it is Your desire that we stay faithful to Your teachings. Both, Scripture and history gives many examples of those who knew to do right, but chose to do wrong. The consequences of their actions caused a great deal of loss, life-long regret, and emotional pain, not only for themselves, but the rest of the world as well. Lord, History gives us ample testimonies of how blessed or cursed we are as a nation of Your people, let us not remove the landmarks that remind us of just how far we have become. Give us Your power, wisdom, guidance, mercy, and grace to live for today in Your Word so that our future has blessings to look forward to rather than curses. I love You, and pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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