Genesis 9 Series

Genesis 9

Sunday Morning Bible Study

January 7, 2007

Introduction

Some Great Lessons from Noah’s Ark

Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.

Stay fit. When you’re 600 years old, someone might ask you to do something REALLY big.

Speed isn’t always an advantage. The cheetahs were on board, but so were the snails.

Don’t forget that we’re all in the same boat.

When the doo-doo gets really deep, don’t sit there and complain—shovel!!!

Remember that the ark was built by amateurs and the Titanic was built by professionals.

Remember that the woodpeckers INSIDE are often a bigger threat than the storm outside.

Don’t miss the boat.

No matter how bleak it looks, there’s always a rainbow on the other side.

:1-17 Noah’s Covenant

:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

:2 "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.

It seems that before the flood, animals didn’t have a fear of men. When Jesus returns, the earth will revert back to those days, when the lion eats grass like an ox the child plays at the hole of the poisonous snake (Is. 11:6-8)

:3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.

It is possible that before the flood, man was a vegetarian. After the flood, Noah is told that he can eat animals as well as vegetables.

:4 "But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

An animal that is to be eaten must first have its blood drained out of it.

The same law is repeated to Moses with some clarification:

(Lev 17:10-11 NKJV) ’And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. {11} ’For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’

Not all people follow this command of God. Other cultures make special food dishes or drinks out of blood. The Irish eat “blood sausage”. The English eat “blood pudding”. The Masai make a drink out of cow’s blood and milk. But not God’s people. Not the Jews.

Blood has been given a special purpose by God. Blood is supposed to be represent the life of the animal.

When a sacrifice is made, the sacrifice centers around the spilling of blood, the giving of a life. The animal has its blood spilt on the altar as a picture of the animal giving it’s life for the person offering the sacrifice.

This ultimately paves the way for a Savior to die and have His blood poured out as a sacrifice for the world.

(Rom 3:24-26 NLT) Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. {25} For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. {26} And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.

When we take communion, we drink little cups of grape juice in order to remind ourselves that Jesus shed His blood, He gave His life as a sacrifice for us.

(Mat 26:28 NKJV) "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

His blood not only saves us from our past sins, but continues to cleanse us from sin as we follow Him:

(1 John 1:7 NKJV) But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

:5 "Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.

:6 "Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.