We noted in chapter 8 that Noah kept his priorities right when he left the ark. He made an offering unto the LORD. He honoured God first of all. This is important. In yesterday’s devotional I spoke of the ungodly annual prayer breakfast that was held in Ottawa, paid for by our tax dollars, to honour false gods. No one on that platform honoured the true God. Quite the contrast to what Noah did after spending over a year in a confined space.
Canada is in big trouble. We certainly need to be on our knees praying for this country. This country is falling apart at a record speed. It was mentioned a few times at that prayer breakfast that it was the largest attendance of any of the annual prayer breakfasts that Ottawa has held. It was a record display of the ecumenical ungodly nature of this country. What a shame. What a tragedy.
As a result of Noah’s right actions as a man who walked with God, God could bless Noah and his sons. God wants to bless man. He created man to glorify Him. Man does not glorify God when he dismisses the true God and assumes that all religions serve the same God.
God blessed Noah and his sons by telling them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. There was a need for the earth to be refilled with people. God designed the earth to sustain many people. Even after the flood, the ground was still very fertile. We can still today, several thousand years after the flood, grow very good crops on the soil. I know there are farmers today who have ignored God’s design for keeping the land productive. Thus farmers are needing to use more inputs in order to get the crops they want to have. God created the earth. He knows how to sustain the quality of the soil so that it can produce good crops. Even though the earth is under the curse, it can still produce good crops without excessive costs, when God is honoured.
The problem in our time is bad management because most people do not want to honour God in their farming and in most other occupations. The earth can readily supply enough food for all the people that are born on this earth. The criminal actions of those who have murdered unborn children by the thousands is a curse upon the earth. The murder of unborn children is nothing to celebrate. The planned murder of other people by our godless system is also nothing to celebrate. We need to walk in the fear of the Lord and honour Him.
In verse 2 God told Noah and his sons that He had put the fear of man into the beasts of the earth. God put distance between man and the animals to protect man from being overrun by the animals or the birds or even the fish of the sea.
In verse 3 we see that God gave man permission to eat meat. Today we are hearing the elite tell us that we need to get away from eating meat and we should eat vegetables and allow “scientists” to create “meat” in a lab. We certainly do not need to concern ourselves with the lie that there are too many animals on this earth. The earth is well able to look after the waste of all the animals and all the people. What is missing is the lack of respect for the true God. Those who want to follow and worship false gods, will find themselves slaves to these false gods and their demands. Of course these false gods are the imagination of man. Thus there are people who are inventing these false gods to gain control over other people.
God designed man to eat both meat and herbs. They are there for us to benefit from.
In verse 4 God reminded Noah and his sons and us as well, that when we eat flesh, we need to be careful not to eat the blood. The animal needs to be properly slaughtered and bled out so that we do not cause health problems for ourselves. There are cultures that like to eat raw meat and even eat blood. Those cultures are sinning against God. They are inviting trouble into their lives and they are finding that trouble as well.
In verse 5 God also instituted capital punishment. Those who want to murder other people need to be dealt with by the government. Even an animal that is known to kill a person needs to be killed, by God’s standard. It is important to keep law and order.
Canada abolished capital punishment a number of years ago. I can understand that today we have a very corrupt judicial system and there likely would be some innocent people put to death by the state. However, the problem is that we have godless government and godless citizenship. Law and order is important. We see senseless killings far too often now.
Interestingly, we have banned capital punishment, but we have developed MAID. This is a program designed to kill people who do not want to live and do not want to go out and kill themselves. The government will use tax dollars to put people to death. Canada is encouraging more people to “take advantage” of this offer.
In verse 6 God further reminded Noah and his sons that man was made in the image of God. Man needs to show respect for his fellow human beings because we are made in the image of God. We can kill and eat animals, but we cannot kill people. The state has the authority from God to kill those who commit murder. Self-defence is another matter. However, murder initiated by hatred or greed is not allowed according to God’s righteous standard.
God established the way for man to live and to prosper on this earth. If we would follow God’s order things would be much different than they currently are. Unless man knows the fear of God in his heart, he will be a rebel just like Cain was. Nothing God said to Cain stopped him from his wickedness. God marked Cain and limited violence in doing this. Eventually, he died and he is in torment now and will be for all of eternity. Capital punishment is a necessary tool to deter murder. It is God’s law. It works.
The Liberal government is proposing a new bill that will have the potential to greatly deter free speech in this country. According to that proposed law, people can go back on anything you or I have posted on line and if they find something they deem to be hateful, the person can be arrested and fined and even imprisoned. This bill is a very evil bill and it will no doubt keep some from speaking out against sin. However, those who are saved have the love of God in their hearts and they speak the truth because of the love God and they love their fellow man. The truth still sets the captive free. Hiding the truth from people is to hate them. We, who are saved, need to honour God in our hearts and our lives.
Pastor Bartel