The Days of Noah Part 1: Noah was a real, historic person

Are you one that doubts the reality of the man called Noah, and the flood that God brought upon the earth?  This is the first in a 7 part series of in-depth articles on Genesis 6 to 9 based on the King James bible.

The Days of Noah Part 1

The Proofs that Noah was a living, historic person and the flood was an actual, historic fact.

Genesis 6:1-14 "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.  There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.  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.  These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.  And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.  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."
 
About 5,000 years ago, around 3,000 BC there lived a man called Noah.  Noah was a man who was very different from the generation in which he lived.  We read about Noah mostly in the book of Genesis.  The book of Genesis is the book of beginnings and it is a history book.  Genesis contains real, actual, literal history.  Genesis is the foundation of the whole bible and all the major doctrines of scripture can be traced in their foundation to the book of Genesis.  The author is God, the writer is Moses.  The first 5 books of the bible are called the books of Moses, the Lord Jesus says so in John 5:46 "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me."  2 Chron 35:12 "......as it is written in the book of Moses" 2 Corin 3:15 "But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart." Romans 10:5 "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law..." 1 Corin 9:9  "For it is written in the law of Moses..."   To disagree on this is to disagree with the bible.  Noah and the events recorded about his day are real history.  These things happened and these things are recorded for us that we may learn from them.  1 Corin 10:11 "Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come."  There is a stark lesson for the new testament church to be found in Noah and his day as recorded in the book of Genesis 6.

God Will Provide Himself With a Sheep?

A few weeks ago in one of the meetings of the church I attend, an older gentleman quoted Genesis 22:8 from his J.N. Darby translation and it is noted that there is a big difference, and an important difference, between the J.N.Darby translation and the King James..

Genesis 22:8 King James

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Genesis 22:8 J.N Darby translation 

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself with the sheep for a burnt-offering. And they went both of them together.

Both of these verses say that it is God that will provide, but here is the big difference.  The King James says "God will provide himself a lamb"  while the Darby says  "God will provide himself with the sheep"

We know that God did provide himself a lamb, for the Lord Jesus Christ is God incarnate, Philippians 2:7 "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."  John 1:1, 14 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."  John 1:29 "The next day John (the Baptist) seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

The Darby translation is only speaking of this specific occasion when Abraham went with Isaac to offer him as a burnt offering as he was instructed to do in Genesis 22:1-2 (King James)  "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.  And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."  The reason why I say that the Darby is only speaking of this occasion is by the use of the word "with", this word "with" was added, it is not in the King James.  And also, in the Darby translation it says that "God will provide himself with the sheep"...  while the King James speaks "God will provide himself a lamb".

The King James is speaking of this occasion, because it is Abraham speaking to Isaac, believing that God will intervene,  but it is also looking forward to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who was crucified on Calvary's cross, who shed his precious blood and took upon himself the penalty for sin and then gave up his spirit, to be raised from the dead on the first day of the week.   The Darby translation is not looking forward to the Lord Jesus in this verse.

We know from Genesis 22:13 that according to the King James "..Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns..."  the very fact that it was an adult ram that was provided for this instance, this makes the words "God will provide himself a lamb" so much more significant.

This is one of the reasons why I use only the King James, for I trust it.

Bible Men: Nehemiah - Rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem

According to the book of Ezra 2:2, Nehemiah, whose name means "consolation", was one who came out of captivity in Babylon to return to Jerusalem.. but how he did that is told in the wonderful book that bears his name.

The book of Nehemiah is written in the first person.  We learn that Nehemiah was the cup-bearer to the king Artaxerxes,  (Chp 2:1 "And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it to the king....." where he was placed by the Lord in order to accomplish His purposes for Jerusalem, and Nehemiah was in the palace of Shushan, the same palace we read about in the books of  Esther and Daniel.

And one day Nehemiah was able to inquire of certain men of Judah about Jerusalem.  He was told that the wall of that great city was broken down, and the gates burned with fire.  Upon hearing this news, Nehemiah wept and mourned, fasted and prayed before the God of heaven (chp1:4-11) confessing his sins and the sins of the children of Israel, and beseeching the LORD to remember his words to Moses and to hear the prayer of Nehemiah and those who desired to fear the name of the LORD.  He also prayed for mercy in the sight of the king.  Because Nehemiah, as stated before, was the king's cup-bearer, and as such was able to approach the king directly.

Nehemiah's actions are very convicting.  when he heard of the devastation of Jerusalem, he was overcome with grief, and immediately went before the Lord in prayer.  So my question is, what do we do when we hear of problems within our church?  do we go before the Lord in prayer?  do we get involved?  or do we go on with our lives with no heart for reviving that which has fallen.   In this case, the LORD gave Nehemiah a heart for Jerusalem.  Has He given you a heart for a place that has fallen into hard times? 

The Lamb of God - Old Testament

The Lamb of God - Old Testament

Genesis 22: 8 "And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:....

Exodus 12: And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood,, I will pass over you..."


I used to like to watch a show called Lonely Planet.  The guide went to different countries around the world where the culture is much different than it is in North America.  Quite often there were lambs sacrificed, and one thing I noticed is that they never make a sound..they went to their death without struggle.  Often it moved the guide to tears to see this innocent animal killed.  This post is about the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ as he was foreshadowed in the Old Testament.

There are many references to lambs in our bible.  The first one is in Gen.3:21 "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them." Adam and his wife had tried to cover themselves with fig leaves after their disobedience to the command of God not to eat the fruit of the tree of life, but this covering was by their own works.  God covered them with the skins of animals, requiring the shedding of blood.   Nothing could cover the sins of Adam and Eve but that which God gave them, just as our sins are covered by the precious blood of Christ, Romans 4:6-8 "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."  1 Peter 1:18-19 "Foreasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things.........but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Hebrews 8:12 "Neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."