In the previous article in this series, we considered Noah’s willingness to remain in the ark because God had not directed him to leave even though he could see dry land around him. Noah’s subsequent actions indicate that he was truly appreciative of God. On the 27th day of the second month, God told Noah to leave the ark and to bring the animals with him (Gen 8: 14–17). Noah obeyed. And the next thing he did was to build an altar to God. On that altar, he sacrificed one of every clean animal on the ark as a burnt offering (Gen 8: 20).
The fact that he offered burnt offerings is significant. The burnt offering is described in Leviticus 1 with further details given in Lev 6, 7. A characteristic of the burnt offering was that almost all of the animal’s body was burnt on the altar. This was in deliberate contrast to the body of an animal given as a sin offering. When sin offerings were made, most of the animal’s body was not placed upon the altar. The head of the sin offering, symbolizing thoughts dedicated to sin, the legs of the animal, representing actions given to sin, and the animal’s skin, representing the flesh generally, were all excluded from the altar. God did not want any of that. In fact, God decreed that those parts of the animal be cast away with the animal’s dung. (That shows us just what God thinks of our evil thoughts and actions.)
Almost all of the body of an animal sacrificed as a burnt offering was given to God symbolically by being burnt on the altar. The Law specified that first the animal’s head, then its fat, and then the rest of its flesh were placed on the altar. The burnt offering, therefore, symbolized complete dedication to God. It was an appropriate offering for Noah to make. (He is actually the first person in the Bible recorded as having made a burnt offering to God.) The people of the antediluvian world had been dedicated to serving themselves. By offering burnt offerings, Noah signaled his intention to dedicate himself to serving God in the new start that he and his family had been given.
Noah had been in the ark for one year and ten days. During that time, he had given a lot of care to the animals and probably developed a fondness for many of them. But that did not keep him from voluntarily offering one of each of the clean animals in sacrifice to God. The fact that he was willing to sacrifice those animals is an indicator that his greatest affection was for God. It showed that he esteemed God much more than the result of his own labor.
And God was pleased with Noah’s offering. We read:
“And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done” (Gen 8:21).
“Be fruitful, and multiply”
And God blessed Noah and his sons. The blessing that he gave them sounds familiar: “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Gen 9:1). It is an echo of the words that God spoke to Adam and Eve: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Gen 1:27-28).
There are a number of similarities between the blessing given to Adam and Eve and the one given to Noah and his sons. Both were told to replenish the earth and both were given dominion over the animals. Both were given commands about what they could and could not eat. These similarities indicate that the world after the Flood was like a new creation.
But there were also some important differences between the words spoken to Adam and Eve and those spoken to Noah and his sons. Noah and his sons were also informed that the animals would fear them (Gen 9:2); they received a command about the blood of the animals killed for food (Gen 9:4), and they were told that God would judge murderers (Gen 9:5,6). These additional statements reflected the fact that the creation they inherited was going to be a much more savage place than the one that Adam and Eve had initially received. The difference, of course, was sin. Sin had not entered the world when God spoke to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1. So, there was no need to discuss fear or blood. But sin ruins everything. Indeed, the world will not return to the way it was in the Garden of Eden until sin is suppressed under the Lord Jesus Christ. Then the words of Isaiah will be fulfilled: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them” (Isa 11:6).
There was certainly no terror or bloodshed there. And that is a fact that it is important for us to remember, especially when it comes to our entertainment choices. Violence stems from sin, and one of the benefits of Christ’s return is the end of it. So, it certainly does not seem to be the best idea for believers to be entertained by graphic depictions of violence.
God repeated His blessing to Noah and his sons in Gen 9: 7. Although the Flood had brought destruction to the old world, it had meant salvation to them. They probably would have eventually been swallowed up in the confusion of the antediluvian’s way of life (or slain by wicked men) if they had not been delivered from it by the Flood. The Flood gave them a new start, and God wanted them to use it to be fruitful and to multiply: “And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein” (Gen 9:7).
Peter states that the Flood was like baptism: “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure where unto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1Pet 3:20-21). Peter’s words make it clear that Noah and his family were saved by the Flood. It wiped away the folly of the old world and made a new life possible for them.
The same opportunity has been given to us. Baptism into the Lord Jesus Christ is like a Flood covering for the error of our ways. It is the opportunity to wipe away the old world that we used to know. It gives us a new start. It makes us a new creation in Christ: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor 5:17). Baptism, like the Flood, is a necessary step to a new beginning. And it should be followed by being fruitful and bringing forth abundantly to the glory of God. That is our calling.
“The saving of his house”
Heb 11 declares that Noah was a hero of faith: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Heb 11:7). This verse shows that not only did Noah save himself, but he also saved his family as well. Hebrews 11 refers to them as “his house.” Noah’s salvation of himself as well as others is one of the ways in which he prefigured the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, those who will be saved by Christ are referred to as his “house” in Heb 3: “But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (Heb 3:6).
Noah’s sons were named Shem, Ham, and Japheth. “Shem” means “name.” He is the father of the people of the Middle East. Abraham and the Jewish people are descended from him. (When a person does not like Jewish people, he is called an “anti-Semite.” The word “Semite” is derived from the name “Shem.”) God intended for His Name to be declared through the descendants of Shem, so the fact that their forefather’s name means “name” is fitting: “For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear” (Jer 13:11).1
The name “Ham” is identical to the Hebrew adjective that means “to be hot” or “to inflame.” He is regarded as the father of the families from the warm regions of Africa.
The name “Japheth” is derived from the word “enlarge” used in the prophecy about him: “God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant” (Gen 9:27). His name conveys the idea of expansion. He is considered the father of the Europeans and the Asians, whose domain has expanded to cover much of the globe, just like this prophecy said would happen.
“Behold, I establish my covenant with you”
God established a covenant with Noah, with his sons and their descendants, and with the animals after they left the ark (Gen 9: 9-10). He said that He would never again destroy the earth with water: “And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth” (Gen 9:11).
God is unwavering in His commitment to this covenant. In fact, when He wanted to express how determined He is to re-gather Israel with mercy, He stated that His level of commitment to doing so is the same as it is to keeping His covenant with Noah: “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee” (Isa 54:7-10).
“I do set my bow in the cloud”
God demonstrated His dedication to His covenant with Noah by giving the rainbow as a token of it. The rainbow is an ideal symbol for this covenant because it is formed by sunlight hitting particles of rain in the sky after a storm.
The rainbow is also a visual depiction of God’s plan to fill the earth with His glory. It is a representation of us as immortals reigning with Christ in the coming Kingdom. In fact, Revelation uses the rainbow in a symbol of Christ and the immortalized saints in the future. “And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire” (Rev 10:1).
So, why does the rainbow make sense as a depiction of Christ and the saints ruling in the Kingdom? The sun’s light is necessary for a rainbow to form, and the Lord Jesus Christ is referred to as the sun in Malachi: “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall” (Mal 4:2). So, the future depicted by the symbol of the rainbow will be a reality when the Lord Jesus is reigning in Jerusalem and the light he provides will enlighten the world.
The benefits of Christ’s reign are described as being like nourishing rain: “He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth” (Psa 72:6). So, when he is ruling as king, there will be both sunlight and rain, which are necessary for a rainbow to be seen.
God declared that the rainbow would be formed in the clouds: “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth” (Gen 9:13). Clouds are a symbol of believers (Heb 12:1). So, the rainbow is a reflection of the glory of God seen in believers. Indeed, the colors of the rainbow are displayed when the pure white light of the sun is split when it encounters particles of rain in the air. When the saints are immortals ruling as kings and priests in the Kingdom, we will be in the political heavens according to the symbolic language of Revelation. We will be like little particles of water that share God’s doctrine with the world. “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God” (Deut 32:2-3). And like raindrops in the sky, we will project some of the light of Christ. Although we will each make individual contributions, our collective work will all be for one purpose, which is the glory of God. Everything we do will come together to give illumination and warmth to the earth, just like the colors of the rainbow together comprise the light of the sun. That wonderful depiction of our hope is conveyed in this symbol that is inextricably linked to the life of Noah, a man who was faithful in the perilous times at the end of the age in which he lived. (Series concluded)
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One