Constraints Of Restoration-5

Series:

SUPPLANTING The LEGACY Of WICKEDNESS—Genesis 6:9—10:32

A—GOD’s REMOVAL STRATEGY—Genesis 6:9-22

Toward Removing the Legacy of Wickedness

B—GOD’s DESIGNED DESTRUCTION(& Salvation)—Genesis 7:1-24

C—SALVATION REALIZED(Getting to Normal)—Genesis 8:1-19

D—EXPERIENCING The VICTORY(Man’s Response)—Genesis 8:18-22...

OR RATHER--MANIFESTATIONS Of ACCEPTANCE—Genesis 8:18-22

E—CONSTRAINTS Of RESTORATION-V—Genesis 9:1-19

1. CONSTRAINTS For FRUITFULNESS(Success)—Genesis 9:1-7

2. GOD’s COVENANT With The EARTH—Genesis 9:8-17

F—SAME Ol’ SAME Ol’—Genesis 9:20-29

G—The NATIONS—Genesis 10:1-32

Attention:

revised from: The Washington Post, February 28, 2019.

By all accounts, the amateur museum that Donald C. Miller ran out of his home in the cornfields of central Indiana wasn’t exactly a secret. Newspaper reporters, Boy Scout troops & residents of the rural farming community of Waldron, Ind., were all invited to drop in & look around in his basement, where glass cases covered most of the walls. Tens of thousands of rare cultural artifacts were on display — including pre-Columbian pottery, Ming Dynasty jade, an Egyptian sarcophagus & a dugout canoe that had traveled down the Amazon River. And the eccentric Mr. Miller was part of the attraction.

On April 2014 the FBI’s art crime detectives showed up at Miller’s museum & began sifting through his extensive collection. In doing so, they came across something that horrified them: about 2,000 human bones, nearly all of which are thought to have been taken from ancient Native American burial sites.

Tim Carpenter, who heads the FBI’s art theft unit, told CBS News in an interview, “To the best of our knowledge right now, those 2,000 bones represent about 500 human beings”. “It’s very staggering."

Miller, a Christian missionary & ham radio operator who claimed to have worked on the Manhattan Project, died at age 91 in 2015, nearly a year after the FBI raided his home & seized about 42,000 items whose cultural value was said to be immeasurable.

Carpenter said that, before Mr. Miller had died, Miller admitted that he had come by many of the items illegally, & that he had gone on unsanctioned archaeological digs all over the country & the world. He also came to agree that the artifacts should be returned to their proper homes. But because he died while the investigation was still ongoing, many aspects of his life — & the trove he left behind — are a mystery.

The FBI special agent in charge of the case, told reporters at the time that Miller’s methods for procuring some of those objects had violated multiple laws & treaties, but also acknowledged that the relevant statutes may not have been in place yet when Mr. Miller was procuring his collection.

The FBI agent heading the investigation believes that Mr. Miller understood the ramifications of his previous actions. Toward the end he felt compelled to do the right thing. At least he knew he should return the bones to their rightful place.

Brother Donald Miller’s guidelines/reconsiderations/limiting factors/constraints for the proper restoration of his artifacts, & his faith, was opened to include the effect that those ‘possessions’ would have on others.

Likewise, there are certain constraints/limits by which mankind’s restoration can be accomplished before God!

Our Success as Christians is Constrained thru certain relationships & actions.

CONSTRAIN—‘To severely restrict the scope, extent, or activity of.’ OR--‘To compel or force toward a particular course of action.’

OR rather--for OUR/Today’s APPLICATION--‘To keep within God’s limits.’

Need:

The constraints attending mankind’s restoration may be different than you may imagine!

God blessed Noah’s family with a restoration based on relationship.

Man’s restoration is to be constrained/limited contained/determined thru relationships.

How do relationships constrain/determine our restoration?

Some relationships constraining/determining our restoration.

We have already found that ‘Our Restoration is constrained thru relationship with’...

1. GOD(:1a)

2. REINSTATEMENT(:1b-2)

3. CREATION(:3)

4. MAN(:4-7)

5a—Restoration is constrained thru relationship with...

COVENANT(:8-19) concerning...

•GOD SPEAKS(:8 only)

Explanation: (a—:8 only)(:8-17)

:8—“Then God spoke to Noah & to his sons with him, saying:.”

God had previously blessed Adam & Eve(1:28). And a part of that blessing was a charge to them to be fruitful & multiply; & to fill the earth & subdue it, having dominion over every living thing that moves on the earth. In 9:1 & 7, that same charge is applied to Noah & his family. So after the flood, that killed all but eight people, Noah & his family are established, & under certain constraints/limitations concerning his relationships with God(:1), Creation(:2-3), & Man(:4-7).

God now “speaks” “to Noah & to his sons.” His sons were “with him.” The wives are not mentioned here. It is understood that Husband-Wife role relationship is implied.

This entire conversation/revelation/declaration(:1-17; :1, 8, 12, 17) is directed at Noah & his sons, who act as mediators for the entire extended human family that would arise from them.

“God spoke” to those who would be responsible as the bearers of God’s truth for their families...the heads of their families, Noah, Shem, Ham, & Japheth.