Witnessing Activities
Special Lectures
| Lecture 23 : [Restoration] The return of providence centered on Noah's Family | |
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| Date created : 2015-02-04/ Views : 953 | |
Chapter 23: The return of providence centered on Noah's Family.
As we saw in our last session, the Bible doesn’t paint a pretty picture of our performance as God’s children. Adultery, murder… the messiah’s mission is to free humankind from these two sins, and to recover the beloved community in which we all can live as one family under God. It can be done!
The second major event in God’s story is that of another family—the family of Noah. You see, in the Principle we look at the Bible from the viewpoint of marriage and family relationships. It opens up a whole new vista, because it teaches us how God works not by us separating from our family, but by us creating godly families, which is the greatest act of love.
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Now, because Cain killed Abel, the restoration providence centered on Adam's family was not fulfilled.
But God's purpose to complete His plan for creation does not change. It will be fulfilled absolutely. On the foundation of Abel's faith, God established Seth, and chose Noah from Seth’s lineage to fulfill the restoration providence.
After he was 500 years old, Noah had a wife and three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japeth.
God saw that human sin was never-ending and saw that the thoughts of our heart were always evil, and He lamented that He had ever created us.
That is why God planned the flood judgment and to begin anew with Noah’s family in the same position as Adam’s family.
Noah's family therefore had to establish conditions of indemnity for the foundation for the Messiah, in order to complete the restoration providence.
The central person to establish the foundation of faith was Noah.
He was the second ancestor of humankind, called 1600 years and 10 generations after Adam.
God blessed Noah the same way he blessed Adam.
Noah was a righteous person, blameless in his generation, who walked with God.
He followed God's orders absolutely and built the ark, even when the world mocked him and his family did not understand him.
Under these conditions God was able to render the flood judgment when Noah was 600 years old.
So Noah became the first father of faith.
On the foundation of Abel's blood, he fulfilled his role as the central person when the earth was corrupt and full of violence.
The Ark was the conditional object for the foundation of faith.
Noah was able to establish the foundation of faith by building it.
The ark symbolized something new.
The three-story structure meant the 3 stages of the process of growth. The 8 family members that entered the ark—Noah and his wife, and his three sons and their wives—represented the 8 people recorded in Adam's family, as well as all humankind, and the animals represented all things in the universe.
The reason God judged for 40 days was to indemnify the four position foundation in each of the 10 generations of Adam that satan had claimed.
Forty represents separation for the foundation of faith. For example, there is the 400 years from Noah to Abraham, 400 years in Egypt, Moses' fasting and prayer for 40 days, the spy mission in Canaan for 40 days, the wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon of 40 years each, Jesus' fasting and prayer for 40 days, and Jesus’ resurrection period of 40 days.
The events that came after the 40 days of the flood judgment had profound implications for the future of heaven and earth.
Noah sent a dove from the Ark once every 7 days.
The first sending represented Adam. It returned to Noah, meaning it could not stay on the earth. The second represented Jesus. It returned, but with an olive branch, giving hope. The third represented the Second Coming. It found hospitable soil and stayed on the dry land, meaning that Noah too, representing God, could return to the earth.
Meanwhile, satan was looking for a way to invade Noah's family. The Bible reveals this by saying a raven was hovering over the water, looking for a place to land.
To fulfill the foundation of substance, Noah's sons Shem and Ham should have established the conditions of indemnity in Cain and Abel's position.
To do this, the second son, Ham, had to inherit the foundation of faith from Noah.
Then Ham could easily restore Abel's position. So, he had to be one with Noah. The one story of the family in the Bible reveals Ham’s failure.
Noah planted grapes, made wine and fell asleep naked and intoxicated in his tent. His act was not evil; he was naked and not ashamed, and God took joy in his innocence as he rested in relaxation. But it was also a test of Ham.
When Ham saw this, he took offense, and incited his brothers Shem and Japeth to walk into the tent with their backs turned to their father and cover Noah's naked body.
Noah woke up and found what his second son had done, he cursed Ham’s lineage to slavery.
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Why did these apparently good actions bring on such a terrible curse?
The reason Noah was naked was to restore God's feelings of seeing Adam and Eve naked and free of sin before the fall.
That is why Noah, in a renewed position after the flood judgment, was naked without any guilt. He was like Adam before the fall.
Ham’s shame put him in the position of Adam and Eve after the fall, filled with shame over their lower parts.
Thus Ham was not one with his father’s foundation, and he could not appear before God.
Satan, the raven, was trying to invade Noah's family by looking for a condition, and he invaded the sons of Noah who stood up and proved that they were satan’s descendants, not God’s through Noah.
Ham failed this providential test and did not become one with Noah's feelings.
If Ham had respected his father without condition, he would have become the central being for the foundation of substance. He already showed that he could lead his elder and younger brothers.
Because of Ham's mistake, the condition for forgiveness to get rid of sin was not established, and the restoration providence centered on Noah' family failed.
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Let's look at the lessons of Noah's family.
The first is that the way to heaven is one of humility, patience and obedience.
Even if Ham was unhappy with and did not understand Noah's actions from an ethical point of view, he should have meditated on how his family was saved because Noah endured jeering and criticism and built the ark, and that Noah's actions had a reason. Thus he should have disciplined himself and been patient instead of rushing to judgment.
The second is that God judges according to the results of our detailed actions.
Because of Ham's seemingly small mistake, God swept Noah's family away.
The third is that if the central person does not fulfill his responsibility, God replaces him or her with another.
After 400 years and 10 generations, God called upon Abraham to succeed in the position of Noah.
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So we have two batters up, and two batters down. We’re down to the last batter, Abraham. The human race isn’t doing so well. And, actually, Abraham has a lot of problems at the outset as well. But in the final tally, God turns out to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. How did that happen?
The story of Abraham and his descendants is rich and powerful. We’ll start in on it in the next session.
Thanks for listening, and God bless you as you build your Ark.
