Constraints Of Restoration-7

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-VII—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:

There are certain constraints/limits/boundaries within which mankind’s restoration can be accomplished before God! If you/we will not operate within those constraints, then you/we will never reach the heights of God’s intent for yourself/ourselves.

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 not be what 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)

5. COVENANT(:8-19): as it concerns...

5a. GOD SPEAKS(:8)

5b. The COVENANT & SIGN(:9-14)

(CONT...)5c—Restoration is constrained thru relationship with...

COVENANT(:8-19) as it concerns...

•REMEMBERING(:15-17)

:15—“& I will remember My covenant which is between Me & you & every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.”

The “sign” will be for God’s use in particular. Yet, though it is not stated, “the sign” will be visible for all of God’s creation—man in particular.

The presence of the visible rainbow will cause God to “remember” His covenant with the earth. The Noahic covenant is again stated(:11) but very concisely here—“My covenant which is between Me & you & every living creature of all flesh.”

•Consider the summary statement of Genesis 19:29—after the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah—“And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, & sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.”

•Consider the 1st Passover of Ex. 12:7, 13—“‘And they shall take some of the blood & put it on the two doorposts & on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.”.....“‘Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; & the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

•“God is certainly in no need of external evidence about the identity of the occupants of each house.” “The point is made” unquestionably, “that God’s promises are entirely believable.”—NICOT-VPHamilton

•Consider the remembrance of His promise to the children of Israel in Ex. 6:5—“And I[YHWH God] have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, & I have remembered My covenant.”;

& Ps. 106:44-45—“Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, When He heard their cry; And for their sake He remembered His covenant, And relented according to the multitude of His mercies.”;

& “a book” of Mal. 3:16—“Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened & heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name.”;

& “books” & “the Book” of Rev. 20:12, 15—“And I saw the dead, small & great, standing before God, & books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”.....“And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

“With the coming of the storm clouds, the bow would prompt his[God’s] assent to the vow.”—NAC-KAMathews

“The whole tone of the paragraph is accommodated to our need of simple reassurance.”—Derek Kidner in ‘Genesis’

This compels me to ‘remind’ you all of the eternal security which is in Christ Jesus alone.

The rainbow is for God because in this covenant, neither man nor animals(the very ones effected) play any active or real part in maintaining the covenant. It is a covenant based entirely on God’s willingness to fulfill it. Almighty God is ultimately faithful to His character & thus His promises(2Tim. 2:13)!

2Tim 2:13—“If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”

•God is not so much faithful ‘to’ you or me, as He is rather faithful to His design as it ‘involves’ you & me!

• “The rainbow” is ‘mediator’ of sorts between God, man, & animals.

• “The rainbow” is a reminder to mankind that God is ultimately gracious.