The Church and New Beginnings, Genesis 9

We have been considering the life and work of Noah, and the parallels it contains for our own situation. Tonight we come to chapter 9 where we see how the new beginning after the flood works out for God’s people.

We are working toward a new beginning ourselves. We want to start a new church, and we will have to overcome obstacles that most of us haven’t had to confront before. We will be small to start with, we will have to remember God’s plan, and look for his grace. We may have some difficult issues to deal with. Just because we’re starting a new church doesn’t mean it’s going to be sin-free. We have to commit ourselves to dealing with sin as a church faithfully, recognizing that it may even occur in our leaders.

A new start, verses 1-7

There is a lot of encouragement to be enjoyed as we contemplate a fresh start. God, by telling Noah’s sons to be fruitful and multiply, is communicating that he intends to bless them in this way.

There are some new things to be considered. In Noah’s case, there was a change in the animal world. Man could now eat meat, and animals would be afraid of man. Deviating slightly from our theme to comment on this detail, this change seems to me to be an added measure to subdue the animals to mankind, indicating that part of the fall of Adam had probably included some loss of control over the animals. This may be the reason that God did not allow the dinosaurs to survive the flood. I think it likely, contra Ken Ham, that the dinosaurs were a pre-flood phenomenon, and we do not need to take Genesis 7:8 “Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of everything that creepeth upon the earth,” as an absolute literal “every.” The Bible often uses the words “every” or “all" or “whole” in a more general, less technical sense.

This relief from dinosaurs, or (whether I’m right about the dinosaurs or not) relief from dangerous animals in our case, might be a relief from the oppressive worship practices, or unfaithfulness in church discipline, or injustice, or bad preaching that we have had to endure. We all look forward to some relief in that regard. But this relief does not come without its consequences.

You notice that God feels it necessary to warn Noah and his family against murder. They may get used to killing animals for food, and they might think it’s not a great stretch to kill a man. I’m not sure why else this part of the law would be reiterated specifically at this point. We may have some temptation related to our new situation that may make us vulnerable to a sin that we have not been so vulnerable to up until this point. Perhaps we will be tempted to be proud of ourselves for pulling out of unfaithful churches. Maybe we will become too focused on our distinctives to recognize other Christians as our brethren. Maybe we will get stuck in the 17th century, and fail to see how our faith applies to the world we live in. We need to be vigilant against new types of sin.

A continuing covenant, verses 8-17

It is always good to be reminded of the basics of the gospel we believe. God is a gracious God who overlooks, by the provisions of his covenant, the atrocious sin we commit. We must never forget the heinous nature of our sin, and the grace of God and sacrifice of Christ that makes it possible for us to have fellowship with him. This never changes. God is the same yesterday, and today and forever. When you see a rainbow, remember God’s grace.

Sandy and I were out for a walk late one night not long ago, and we saw something that neither of us had ever seen before. The full moon was creating a rainbow in the dark. I don’t know if there is a name for that, but we called it a “moon bow.” What a marvelous picture of God’s mercy in the midst of dark providences. Are we passing through difficult times? God doesn’t forget the rainbow, God doesn’t forget his mercy, He remembers the sacrifice of Christ and He will preserve us for his own glory.

Sin in the church, verses 18-22

We need to recognize that in spite of a new beginning, sin is still with us. It was with Noah, and it was with his sons. We can’t overlook Noah’s own sin. His drunkeness was a sin of excess, a lack of vigilance, maybe an experiment to see if an old way of life was still as pleasurable, or still a temptation. We don’t know why he did this. It was wrong.

The sin of Ham, however, was even more evil, as is evident from the curse that comes upon him. Noah is still regarded as a righteous man. He is commended in Hebrews 11 as a man of godly fear and faith. Ham has a lasting posterity among the wicked. The children of Canaan are Ham’s descendants (mentioned twice in these few verses). Ham’s disrespect for his father was also a demonstration of disrespect for God, and he tempted his brothers to engage in it with him. He attempted to steer the entire race of mankind off the track of righteousness.

Faithful perseverance, vv. 23-25

Thankfully, Shem and Japheth, and Noah recognize the seriousness of what Ham had done. Shem and Japheth cover their father’s sin, and pay him the honor he deserves as their father. We might think that Noah was allowed to get away with this sin without consequences. However, notice that this incident is recorded in the Bible. They, Shem and Japheth (and Noah), preserved this record faithfully, they did not expunge the record, they acknowledge the sin of Noah. It had to be preserved as a warning to future generations.

Noah might have been tempted to cover up Ham’s sin, but he did not. This is often the case. A father does not want to expose his son. He does not want to deal with the shame. But Noah utters an inspired curse against the sin of Ham. I hope it was enough to convict Ham personally of his sin and to gain his personal repentance, but the curse was enforced in Ham’s descendants by God through his providence.

We, as we begin this church, need to remember that there will be sin in it. We need to discern the degrees of sin, properly applying corresponding degrees of discipline. We can’t shrink from this duty.

A blessing for a faithful church, verses 26-29

Notice, finally, that there is a blessing for the church that deals properly with sin and that rejoices in its covenant relationship to God. These blessings given to Shem and Japheth will belong to us if we faithfully serve the Lord with godly fear as they did. There is a promise of long life to the faithful, we may not live another 350 years, but we have hope that our church will. So many churches fall by the wayside in a single generation. We want to pray that God will preserve our church for many years to come.