A New Way of Life

Introduction:

I’ve repeated now many times but it bears repeating again; we often forget as we read the accounts of peoples lives in the Bible we forget that they were human just like we are. ..Imagine with me for a moment the mental and emotional state you would be in if you had just gone through and witnessed the same events that Noah and his family had witnessed.

The terrifying judgment of God being poured out on the entire planet through violent eruptions of the subterranean waters and the downpour of a vast globe covering storm for 40 days and nights.

Noah and his family were inside the ark for 370 days knowing that when they did finally get the chance to leave the ark they would be the only 8 people left alive.

Now he had just stepped out onto dry ground for the fist time in over a year and it was on some mountain peak had likely never seen before and what he saw was utterly horrific. Complete devastation, debris covering the ground, human and animal bones that had not been carried away as the waters receded, then most likely, if he peaked over the mountain edge he saw water still rushing downward in waterfalls as it receded to the valleys below.

Imagine now being so gripped with reverence for and fear of God that you immediately turn to worship by offering an abundance of sacrifices to God; slaughtering and burning dozens and dozens of every kind of animal and bird species. Imagine being so appreciative to God for saving you and yet so fearful of God’s awesome power at the same time that you lift your heart up again and again in renewed commitment to serving your creator.

All of this played into Noah’s state of mind as he left the ark to begin a new life in a new world. There is little doubt that Noah and his family felt: insecure, restless, unsure, hesitant, wondering and questioning what to do and where to start.

Noah’s first step in this new world was to turn to God. He cast himself entirely upon God and offered the largest sacrifice ever made to God by a single person. This was Noah’s way of letting God know he was totally dependent upon Him and that he trusted God fully to instruct and provide guidance as Noah and his family carved out a new existence in this world.

The passage before us this morning details for us God’s instructions to Noah regarding life in this new world. God gave Noah 3 commands regarding “The New Way of Life” for Noah, his family and his descendants. These commands can be summed up into just three words: Multiply, Sustain, Protect.

1.) Multiply. (v.1,7)

Before God gives his first command regarding life in this new world, He first blessed Noah and his sons.

Bless- To present a gift to a person. To confer something upon a person (benefit, pleasure, delight or bliss). To extend goodwill and good intentions toward a person. To act in love toward a person; to abundantly grant mercy and grace.

This tells us that God decided to abundantly pour out on Noah, his family and all of their descendants His mercy, grace and all of his good will.

The blessing God poured out on Noah and his family was the ability to reestablish life and fill the earth again.

God tells Noah and his family to be fruitful and multiply in order to fill the earth once again. The human race had been almost entirely destroyed and the earth needed to be repopulated quickly. This was the exact same mission God had given to Adam and Eve.

In giving this command God was reestablishing two truths in this world washed clean by the flood:

A.) God reestablished the family- Reproduction establishes the principle that God intended for the family unit to be established by the bond of one man and one woman for each other for a lifetime. From that lifetime partnership children were to be born. There is perhaps nothing that exemplifies the love, care, trust and loyalty a husband and wife have for each other than the reproduction of offspring. The husband, wife and children are equal image bearers of God each with their own function in the family unit.

God never intended for seperation and divorce to occur in marriage. Split families or the absence of a father or mother was not a part of God’s design. All of that was brought on by sin. God’s design was for the strong family unit of a Husband, wife and children to walk hand in hand through life together worshipping the Lord and loving each other. Free from domination abuse and dysfunction. Both the husband and wife are involved in God’s mission for the earth.

Matthew 19:4–6 NKJV

4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

B.) God reestablished that all people are of “one blood.”- This means that all people everywhere are descendants of the same source. All people (races and nations) are to live together in peace and unity, working together to subdue the earth. Things like prejudice, discrimination and violence were not a part of God’s design.

God gave Noah and his family the command to multiply and quickly fill the earth with their offspring and he blessed them by giving them the ability to do so.

2.) Sustain. (v.2-4)

By giving Noah and his family the command to subdue life on this earth He was reestablishing mankind's dominion over the animal kingdom that was given to Adam and to Eve. However there is one key difference the command given to Adam and Eve and given to Noah and his family.

Adam and Eve were told to Subdue the earth. (Genesis 1:28) This meant they were to rule over and master the earth. To look after and care for it. To investigate research and discover all its wonder. To develop and use it’s resources and to manage and supervise all its provision and resources. But, when Adam and Eve sinned mankind's ability to subdue the earth was severely marred and weakened.

Man can no longer fully have dominion over nature like it once did in the garden. But we are still to work at sustaining and controlling all that we can on this planet. We still have the ability to explore, invent and develop it’s resources in order to sustain human flourishing.

We still have dominion over the animal kingdom, but not in the same way Adam and Eve did. Once man and animal lived side by side. Man didn't eat the animals and the animals didn't eat mankind or each other. They lived together in perfect harmony but man was the dominating force, the leader of all God’s creatures if you will.

But the relationship between mankind and animals had been severely corrupted by the fall. Notice here in v.2 God puts a fear of man into the animal kingdom.

Have you ever heard the phrase regarding an animal “It’s more afraid of you than you are of it”? Well, that’s true according to v.2.

Man’s dominion over the animal world before the fall was based on harmony and affection, after the flood it’s based on fear and terror.

Part of man’s command from God to sustain the world allowed for the consumption of animals for food. Prior the the post flood world while mankind did consume the flesh of animals it was against the will of God and wasn't out of necessity. Now God allows for it.

The environment left behind by the flood was vastly different than in the pre-flood days. Plant life no longer was able to produce all of the nutrients that man needed for survival.

Talk about the idea of the earth being surrounded by a “canopy of water” pre-flood and the greenhouse like atmosphere.

God needed to enlarge mans food supply in order to sustain life. Man was now given permission to eat all animals that live and move. (Fish, birds, cattle, pigs etc.) Later God would make distinction for his people, the nation of Israel, between clean and unclean animals for religious and ceremonial purposes. But in this new world, for the purpose of food for Noah and his family, man was given the right to use whatever animal he wanted to for sustenance.

God put one exclusion on his allowance of man to consume animals. Man was not to eat an animal with its life still in it. In other words, live animals were not to be eaten, nor dead animals who’s blood had not been drained. Life was in the blood and by forbidding man at this point to consume any blood God was showing Noah and his family that all life was to be respected, even if you were butchering an animal for dinner. The life was in the blood and life comes from God and should be respected even in an animal. Later blood would play an important role in the Mosaic sacrifices of the Jews.

Speak of Jesus allowing all food to be permissible and both Peter and Paul saying the same thing. This restriction is no longer on God’s people.

Application: Every time we eat meat, we should think of the blood that was poured out to provide life to us, nourishment that we may live and not die. Then allow that thought to point us toward Jesus and his shed blood that we may have eternal life.

Matthew 26:28 NKJV

28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Romans 5:9 NKJV

9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

Hebrews 9:12–14 NKJV

12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

3. Protect. (v.5-6)

In vs. 5 and 6 the Lord gives instruction regarding the protection of animal life and human life. In a sense, this is the establishment of human government. God is establishes law in order to protect human life.

He sets up capital punishment as the most basic law in this new world. This means then that is man’s life is to be protected, then by extension that involves everything that makes up a man’s life. Men are to develop and establish laws to protect all possessions and justice for each other.

Noah and his family and their preceding generations no doubt were expected to take God’s basic law and build human society and government upon it.

There is a principle we see here in God setting up the rule of capital punishment for murder and that principle is this: Both law and government are divinely established institutions and as such are to be obeyed unless they contradict God.

Romans 13:1–5 NKJV

1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake.

James Montgomery Boice- Genesis pg. 307

“There are two errors that people tend to make in regard to human government.

⇒ One is disregard for the state. It is a refusal to recognize its authority, expressed in a scorn of public leaders and a flaunting of perfectly valid laws. This is what Paul is primarily dealing with in Romans.

⇒ The other error is to regard the state more highly than we ought, believing that the government will solve our problems. This is the characteristic error of American democracy, particularly at the present time.”

God sets up two laws regarding the protection of human life:

The law governing animals. Animals are an important and vital piece of God’s creation, but they were created for man and have a lower order. Mankind is the peak of God’s creation. So God instructs Noah that if an animal attacks and kills a person, then that animal is to be put to death. Justice for that persons life is executed upon the animal.

The law governing murder. God establishes that willful murderers are to face two judgements: God will punish the murderer (v.5c). Men are to execute justice upon murderers (v.6).

Application: Mankind bears the “Imago Dei” (the image of God) stamped upon him. To murder a person is to remove a part of God’s image from this earth. Murder is a serious offense to God, justice must be executed. But the ability to take a life is only given to man in an official and governmental capacity. An individual has no right to take another life except in defense of his own life.

Conclusion:

In fact, all three of these commands given by God to Noah are all about the flourishing of human life and the glory of God brought about by his image bearers. Human life is precious to God and must be multiplied, sustained and protected. Every human life is a soul for which Christ died. Is a soul who needs the gospel.

Give the gospel.