Gênesis 8
John MacArthur · Citado em PreceptAustin
Gênesis 8
MacArthur - God’s covenant with Noah brought provision and protection in the midst of severe judgment. The remnant was preserved and God initiated steps toward re-establishing the created order on earth. the waters subsided. (See MSB notes) NET NOTE - The Hebrew word translated “remembered” often carries the sense of acting in accordance with what is remembered, i.e., fulfilling covenant promises and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided God again demonstrates that even in the face of chaos He can bring order. He used natural wind to dry the ground and evaporation returned water to the atmosphere. This recalls God's use of wind in Ex 14:21+ "Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided." There the wind provided a way of escape for Israel and in Genesis 8 the wind provides a new world for Noah to experience.
Gênesis 8
MacArthur - MSB Notes (note all mountains link to Wikipedia articles) Mt. Ararat (in modern Turkey), where Noah’s ark came to rest (Gen. 8:4). Mt. Carmel, where Elijah was victorious over the prophets of Baal (1 Kin. 18:9-42). Mt. Ebal (opposite Mt. Gerizim), where Moses commanded that an altar be built after the Hebrews entered the Promised Land (Deut. 27:4). Mt. Gerizim, where Jesus talked with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:20). Mt. Gilboa, where King Saul and his sons were killed in a battle with the Philistines (1 Chr. 10:1, 8). Mt. Hermon, a mountain range that marked the northern limit of the conquest of Canaan (Josh. 11:3, 17). Mt. Lebanon, the source of cedar wood for Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem (1 Kin. 5:14, 18). Mt. Moriah, where Abraham brought Isaac for sacrifice (Gen. 22:2) and the location of Solomon’s temple (2 Chr. 3:1). Mt. Olivet, or Mt. of Olives, where Jesus gave the discourse on His Second Coming (Matt. 24:3). Mt. Pisgah, or Nebo, where Moses viewed the Promised Land (Deut. 34:1). Mt. Seir, south of the Dead Sea, the location to which Esau moved after Isaac’s death (Gen. 36:8). Mt. Sinai, or Horeb (near Egypt), where the law was given to Moses (Ex. 19:2-25). Mt. Tabor, 6 miles east of Nazareth, served as a boundary between Issachar and Zebulun; also Barak launched his attack on Sisera from Tabor (Judg. 4:6–15). Mt. Zion, originally limited to the SW sector (2 Sam. 5:7), was later used of all Jerusalem (Lam. 1:4). Genesis 8:5 The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible. decreased continually - Heb. were in going and decreasing, the tenth. Ge 7:11 Genesis 8 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries Mount Ararat 16, 854 ft High and surrounding mountains THE EXACT DATE OF "TOUCH DOWN" The water decreased steadily (NET - "kept on receding") until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible (See Chronology) Why would God's Spirit inspire Moses to give exact dates for these events? Clearly this detail speaks to a definite historical event that took place on this day. THOUGHT- Believe it or not! You can choose to not believe, but you can not choose the consequences you will incur if this disbelief of the Flood Event causes to to disbelief the rest of the Bible. If your disbelief extends to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, the consequence you will incur will be eternal separation from Jesus! Be very careful when you begin to doubt sections of God's Word like the Genesis Flood. Wenham - “Over two months later, after a gradual decline, the water had fallen sufficiently for the mountain tops to be seen. “The withdrawal proceeds in steps: Ge 8:4 corresponds to Ge 7:18 (ark floats—ark touches bottom): Ge 8:5 corresponds to Ge 7:19–20 (hills are covered—tops of hills become visible” (McEvenue, Narrative Style, 65). Note also the correspondence with the account of creation: “on the third day dry land appeared” (1:9). The third dated event in the flood story is the appearance of the mountains.. (BORROW - Genesis 1-15) NET NOTE on water decreased steadily (NET - "kept on receding") - Heb “the waters were going and lessening.” The perfect verb form הָיָה (hayah) is used as an auxiliary verb with the infinitive absolute חָסוֹר (khasor, “lessening”), while the infinitive absolute הָלוֹךְ (halokh) indicates continuous action. John
Gênesis 8
MacArthur on raven - Ravens survive on a broad range of food types. If any food was available outside the ark, the raven could survive. In contrast, a dove is much more selective in its food choices. The dove’s choice of food would indicate that new life had begun to grow; thus Noah and his family could also survive outside the ark. (See MSB Note) Spurgeon thinks the raven was "Sometimes alighting on the ark; then flying away again." I wonder whether Noah sent out these creatures on the Sabbath mornings. The mention of seven days, and the resting in between seems to look like it. Oh, dear friends, sometimes people send out a raven on the Lord’s day morning, and it never brings them anything. Send out a dove rather than a raven; come to the house of God with quiet, gentle, holy expectation, and your dove will come back to you. It may be that it will bring you something worth bringing one of these days, as Noah’s dove brought to him. Bob Utley on raven....dove (Ge 8:8) - Be careful not to allegorize these birds! There is an exact parallel in Mesopotamian literature (i.e., Gilgamesh Epic, Gen. 11:145-155), which seems too specific for coincidence. There is a literary or worldview relationship between the Bible (i.e., Genesis 1-11) and Mesopotamian literature. In my opinion the Ancient Near Eastern traditions about creation were known to all humans before the Tower of Babel dispersion in Genesis 10-11 (ED: EXPLAINING HOW THEY SPREAD WORLDWIDE - SEE FLOOD LEGENDS). These traditions became polytheistic in the culture not guided by YHWH. Raven [NAVE] A black carnivorous bird, Prov. 30:17; Song 5:11. Forbidden as food, Lev. 11:15; Dt. 14:14. Preserved by Noah in the ark, Ge 8:7. Fed Elijah, 1Ki 17:4-6. Cared for by divine providence, Lk 12:24. BORROW helpful resource Raven and Dove on page 54 in All the birds of the Bible : their stories, identification and meaning by Alice Parmelee Genesis 8:8 Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; a dove - Ge 8:10-12 Song 1:15 2:11,12,14 Mt 10:16 Genesis 8 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries NOAH SENDS DOVE TO RECONNOITER Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated (receded) from the face of the land - The dove is a clean animal which was suitable for sacrifices to the LORD (Lev 1:14, Lev 12:6). Wenham (BORROW - Genesis 1-15) - Nothing is said here about how long Noah waited after sending out the raven before sending out the dove, but Ge 8:10 “another seven days” implies a week. Dove, Turtledove [NAVE] Sent out from the ark by Noah, Gen. 8:8-11. Mourning of, Isa. 38:14; 59:11; Nah. 2:7. Domesticated, Isa. 60:8. Nests of, Jer. 48:28. Harmlessness of, typical of Christ's gentleness, Matt. 10:16. Sacrificial uses of, Gen. 15:9. Prescribed for purification: Of women, Lev. 12:6, 8; Luke 2:24; of Nazirites, Num. 6:10; of lepers, Lev. 14:22. Burnt offering of, Lev. 1:14-17. Trespass offering of, for those with little resource, Lev. 5:7-10; 12:8. Sin offering, for those who touched any dead body, Num. 6:10. Market for, in the temple, Matt. 21:12; John 2:14. Symbolical Of the Holy Spirit, Matt. 3:16; Luke 3:22; John 1:32. BORROW helpful resource Raven and Dove on page 54 in All the birds of the Bible : their stories, identification and meaning by Alice Parmelee Genesis 8:9 but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself. found - De 28:65 Eze 7:16 Mt 11:28 Joh 16:33 and she - Ps 116:7 Isa 60:8 Genesis 8 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries Related Passage: Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man (NOAH) has regard for the life of his animal (THE DOVE), But even the compassion of the wicked is cruel. DOVE'S FLIGHT WITHOUT SUCCESS but the dove found no resting place (manoach) for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark (tebah; Lxx = kibotos), for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark (tebah; Lxx = kibotos) to himself. - Note the play on words as resting place (manoach) with Noah's name (noach) Wenham (BORROW - Genesis 1-15) quips that "Literally, “the dove found no mānôȟ (resting place).” She looked for another Noah outside the ark, but finding none, she returned to the Noah she knew." Wenham (BORROW - Genesis 1-15) says in his careful Noah illustrates his righteousness not only by his piety toward God but by his devoted concern for the animals; he was an archetypal conservationist. This is another respect in which he is an imitator of God (cf. Ge 8:1). Excerpt from Spurgeon's introduction of "The Dove's Return to the Ark" - THE sending forth of the raven and of the dove, have furnished ready materials for numerous allegories with which divines in different ages have sometimes edified, and more frequently amused their hearers. We cannot afford time to mention many of them, but one of the host may serve as a specimen. Certain expositors have fancied that the mission of the raven prefigured the sending forth of the law, which was black and terrible, and which came not back to man bearing any token of comfort, or sign of hope; and that afterwards the Lord sent forth the gospel, foreshadowed by the dove, which by-and-by came back to sinful man, bearing the olive-branch of peace; thus they illustrated the great truth, that there is no peace on the terms of the law, for that raven can only croak hoarsely and fiercely, but there is peace on the ground of the gospel, for the dove bears the olive-branch in her mouth. Such farfetched allegories as these, at the time when they were contrived and carried out may have had their value, and have been instructive to an undiscerning age; it is not, however, to be regretted that the Church of to-day has far less taste for such childish things. We are quite as willing as any men to see allegories where they are really clear, for we remember the words of Paul concerning Hagar and Sarah, “which things are an allegory,” but we are not ready to follow the quaint and queer inventions of spiritualists whether ancient or modern. The clue must be evident, or we had rather not enter the labyrinth. There is one adaptation of the incident before us which seems so naturally to suggest itself, that I could not help using it this morning. The dove may well picture the believer’s soul. That soul sometimes flies abroad to and fro, and takes a survey of all things, but it finds no rest for the sole of its foot anywhere except in Christ Jesus; and, therefore, however long its flight, it is sure eventually to return to its own proper resting-place. The child of God can never be content out of his God: he who has once had Christ in him, the hope of glory, can never be satisfied to rest or glory except in the Lord Jesus. Excerpt from Spurgeon's sermon "THE WEARY DOVE’S RETURN" - NOAH knew that God would in due time let him out of the ark. He was quite sure that the Lord had not put him into the ark to make a great coffin of it, that he and all those living creatures that went in with him should perish there; and, because he believed in God, therefore he removed the covering of the ark, and looked abroad, expecting by-and-by to see not only the tops of the mountains, but also a dry and green earth once more. True faith often goes to the window. If your faith turns her face to the wall, and expects nothing, I do not think it is genuine faith. Faith has eyes, and therefore she looks afar off, and she often watches as the watchman of the night looks for the grey dawn of the morning. You remember the story of the child who went to a prayer-meeting, which was called together to pray for rain. She expected that God would send the rain, so she took her umbrella with her because she wanted to get home in the dry. I wish that you and I had learned the same simple art of faith. Having prayed, and having believed, let us expect; let us open the window, and look out. God never failed an expectant people yet; but a great many of his people fail to expect; and if you do not expect, you are not likely to receive. David said, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him;” and when your expectation is from him, it will not be disappointed. It is a great pity when we keep the shutters up, so that we cannot look out of the window to see the dry land. Next, because Noah expected the earth to be dry, he sent out the raven; and when the raven did not answer his purpose, he sent out the dove. After the dove came back with no tidings, he waited seven days, and then sent her out again; and when she returned with only an olive leaf in her mouth, he waited seven days more, and then sent her out again. Oh, dear friends, often send out your doves! Be looking out for blessings; you have asked for them, God has promised to give them, send out your doves to see whether the blessings are not there; and if you do so constantly, and perseveringly, verily, I say unto you, you shall have your reward. Still, notice that Noah, when he had the best evidence that he could get that the earth was dry, did not dare to go out of the ark till God opened the door. So, gather all the information you possibly can about your position, and act according to the rules of common sense; but, after you have done that, still wait upon God. When you know from your ravens and your doves that the earth is getting dry, do not come out till he that shut the door opens it for you. Dear people of God, I wish that we had more of that old habit of looking to Providence. We have become so wise, nowadays, that we do not require the fiery-cloudy pillar. We run without divine guidance; but, mark you, we often have to run back again. We are guests at the table of Providence, and if we will let God carve for us, our plate will always have a sufficiency on it; but if we get carving for ourselves, we shall cut our fingers, and not cut much else, and we shall have great cause to be ashamed that, instead of trusting God, we took to trusting ourselves. Do not trust your raven, do not trust your dove, trust your God; and if you go where he guides you, you will go the right way, even if it should be a rough way, and you will have to say, “Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” Now to come a little closer to the text, and to what we are about to say upon it. I do not know where the raven rested, whether he did, as some suppose, alight on the corpses floating on the flood, which I hardly think is likely, for God was preparing the earth for Noah to come back upon it, and he would not leave it strewn with carcases, as some have imagined. Whether the raven returned to the ark, but refused to come in; or whether it found a resting-place on the slimy boughs of trees, or on the tops of the mountains, which we are told began to be visible, I cannot tell. This I do know, that, wherever the raven rested, the dove could not do so; there was no clean place fit for the dove’s clean nature. So it had to return to the ark; and when, weak and weary, it could hardly reach the ark, being heavy with the damp, perhaps mired with the filthy water into which it may have fallen in its weariness, while just able to get as far as the ark, it might have perished in the waters had not Noah perceived his little bird coming to the window. I suppose he was there already looking out for her, and he stretched forth his hand, and caught her, and pulled her in, and she was safe in the ark again. There are three lessons which I am going to try to teach you from this simple little incident..... Genesis 8:10 So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. waited yet another seven days - Ps 40:1 Isa 8:17 26:8 Ro 8:25 seven - Ge 8:12 7:4,10 Genesis 8 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries NOAH PATIENTLY WAITS SEVEN MORE DAYS So he waited yet another seven days (See Chronology) And again he sent out the dove from the ark - Noah is clearly a very patient man! Noah seems to be thinking in terms of "sevens." Seven in Genesis - Gen. 5:7; Gen. 5:26; Gen. 5:31; Gen. 7:2; Gen. 7:3; Gen. 7:4; Gen. 7:10; Gen. 7:11; Gen. 8:4; Gen. 8:10; Gen. 8:12; Gen. 8:14; Gen. 11:21; Gen. 21:28; Gen. 21:29; Gen. 21:30; Gen. 23:1; Gen. 25:17; Gen. 29:18; Gen. 29:20; Gen. 29:27; Gen. 29:30; Gen. 31:23; Gen. 33:3; Gen. 37:2; Gen. 41:2; Gen. 41:3; Gen. 41:4; Gen. 41:5; Gen. 41:6; Gen. 41:7; Gen. 41:18; Gen. 41:19; Gen. 41:20; Gen. 41:22; Gen. 41:23; Gen. 41:24; Gen. 41:26; Gen. 41:27; Gen. 41:29; Gen. 41:30; Gen. 41:34; Gen. 41:36; Gen. 41:47; Gen. 41:48; Gen. 41:53; Gen. 41:54; Gen. 46:25; Gen. 47:28; Gen. 50:10 Genesis 8:11 The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. an olive - Ne 8:15 Zec 4:12-14 Ro 10:15 Genesis 8 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries SUCCESSFUL SECOND FLIGHT: THE SIGN OF THE OLIVE LEAF The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, (hinneh - draws attention) in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf - Mission accomplished! Freshly picked and not a residua of the plants that had been destroyed and may have been deposited as dead debris on the ground. And note that implication is that this was not just dry ground but ground that had already sprouted plants with branches and leaves, an observation which certainly suggests this was a supernaturally enabled sprouting this soon after the flood had destroyed every living thing. NET NOTE - behold, (hinneh) "draws attention to the olive leaf. It invites readers to enter into the story, as it were, and look at the olive leaf with their own eyes." Henry
Gênesis 8
MacArthur - In the process of replenishing the created order that He had judged with destruction, God repeated the words of the blessing which He had put upon non-human creatures (Ge 1:22). Noah faced a new world where longevity of life began to decline immediately; the earth was subject to storms and severe weather, blazing heat, freezing cold, seismic action, and natural disasters. (See MSB notes)
Gênesis 8
MacArthur - Regardless of how sinful mankind would become in the future, God promised not to engage in global catastrophe by flood again (cf. Ge 9:11). Soothing (sweet) (05207) nihoah from nuach = to rest) means a quieting, soothing, tranquilizing. In 20 of the 43 uses of nichoach, this noun (usually with the sense of an adjective) is used with the phrase "burnt offering." Almost all uses describe the odor of a sacrifice as pleasing or acceptable to God. Sadly, we see this word used to describe Israel's offering to idols (Ezek 6:13-note, Ezek 15:19, Ezek 20:28), which is in stark contrast with Jehovah's assessment of His rebellious people in Ezek 20:14 where they are described as a soothing aroma! - “As a soothing aroma I shall accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples (Gentiles) and gather you from the lands where you are scattered (A prophecy that is unfulfilled, but which will be when Messiah returns and all Israel is saved - Ro 11:26-27-note); and I shall prove Myself holy among you in the sight of the nations." Norman Geisler - When Critics Ask - Genesis 8:21—Did God change His mind about never destroying the world again? PROBLEM: According to this verse, after the flood, God promised, “Nor will I again destroy every living thing.” Yet Peter foretells the day in which “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). SOLUTION: After the flood, God only promised never again to destroy the world in the same way “as I have done” (Gen. 8:21), namely by water. The rainbow is a perpetual symbol of this promise. The second time God destroys the world it will be by fire, not by water. It will “be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). Even so, God will not then destroy all living things. Humans will be saved in their resurrected and imperishable physical bodies (1 Cor. 15:42). QUESTION - Why would the aroma of a sacrifice be important to God? ANSWER - On sixteen different occasions in the book of Leviticus, an “aroma” is mentioned as something pleasing to the Lord. Specifically, the aroma of a sacrifice is important to God. The importance of a sacrifice’s aroma is not the smell but what the smell represents—the substitutionary atonement for sin. The very first mention of God smelling the aroma of a burnt offering is found in Genesis 8:21. Noah offered a burnt offering of clean animals and birds after leaving the ark. We are told it was a “pleasing” aroma to God. The idea is that Noah’s sacrifice was a propitiation, or satisfaction, of God’s righteous requirement. God was pleased with the sacrifice and then gave the promise to never again destroy every living creature with a flood. In Leviticus, a pleasing aroma is mentioned in connection with the various offerings of Jewish tabernacle worship. Leviticus 1:9 says, “The priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.” As in the case of Noah’s offering, what pleased the Lord was the commitment to offer worship in His name as He commanded. The “pleasing aroma” is also mentioned in Leviticus 1:9 and 13, emphasizing the action of propitiation rather than the actual smoke of the burnt offering. The same is true in Leviticus 2 regarding the grain offering. Despite the fact that this offering involved grain rather than meat, it had “an aroma pleasing to the LORD” (verse 2). Even the larger sacrifice at the yearly Feast of Weeks focused on the redemption of sinners as the reason for the pleasing aroma. Leviticus 23:18 states, “Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the LORD, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.” Offerings made to false gods were also described as having a “pleasing aroma”—to the idols, at least (Ezekiel 6:13, ESV). The smell of the incense may have been appealing to the idolaters who offered it, but such false worship displeased the Lord, who demanded worship only of Him and sacrifice only to Him. The New Testament reveals Christ as the final sacrifice for sin, the ultimate propitiation: “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). Jesus, the Son of God, was the only One who could provide the eternally pleasing sacrifice. He alone is the One of whom the Father says, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11).GotQuestions.org Related Resource: Why did God require animal sacrifices in the Old Testament? | GotQuestions.org Excerpt from Spurgeon's sermon on Genesis 8:21 - "HUMAN DEPRAVITY AND DIVINE MERCY" - PETER tells us that Noah’s ark and baptism are figures of salvation. He puts the two together as pictures of the way by which we are saved. Noah was not saved by the world’s being gradually reformed and restored to its primitive innocence, but a sentence of condemnation was pronounced, and death, burial, and resurrection ensued. Noah must go into the ark and become dead to the world; the floods must descend from heaven, and rise upward from their secret fountains beneath the earth, the ark must be submerged with many waters—here was burial; and then after a time, Noah and his family must come out into a totally new world of resurrection life. It is the same in the figure of baptism: the person baptized, if he be already dead with Christ, is buried; not purified and improved, but buried beneath the wave; and when he rises he professes that he enjoys newness of life. Baptism is setting forth just what Noah’s ark sets forth, that salvation is by death and burial. You must be dead to the world; the flesh must be dead with Christ, buried with Christ—not improved, not made better, but utterly put aside as unimprovable, as worthless, dead, a thing to be buried and to be forgotten; and we must come forth in resurrection life, feeling that above us there is a new heaven, and beneath us a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, seeing that we are new creatures in Christ Jesus. It would be very instructive to dwell upon each point of the resemblance between Noah’s deliverance and the salvation of every elect soul. Noah enters into the ark: there is a time when we distinctly enter into Christ and become one with him. Noah was shut in the ark so that he could never come out again till God should open the door: there is a time when every child of God is shut in, when faith and full assurance give him an evidence that he is indissolubly one with Christ Jesus; grasped in Christ’s hand so that none can pluck him thence, hidden in Christ’s loins so that none can separate him from the love of God. Then comes the flood: there is a season in the Christian’s experience when he discovers his own depravity; he is saved, he is in the ark, he is however still a sinner, still the subject of inbred lusts: on a sudden all these conniptions break up, they beat upou his ark, they assail his faith, they endeavour if possible to drown his soul in sin, but he is not destroyed by them all, for by the grace of God he is where other men are not, he is where he cannot be drowned by sin, he is in Christ Jesus. He mounts as the floods deepen; the more he feels the depth of his depravity, the more he admires the fulness of the atoning sacrifice, the more terrible the temptation the more joyous is his consolation in Christ Jesus; and so he rises in holy communion towards his God. Then comes the wind: typical of the breath of the sacred Spirit by which the floods of corruption are assuaged and peace reigns within, and the soul sings, “Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Then the tops of the mountains appear: sanctification takes place upon a part of the man; there are some bright graces which glisten out of the general flood of corruption, there are some points of his new-born nature which delight him with their beauty. His ark has grounded and settled: he no longer floats, so to speak, tossed about with a struggling faith, and contending unbelief, but he feels that as Christ Jesus is for ever seated firmly at the right hand of God, so he, in Christ Jesus, has entered into rest. The ark grounded on the top of Ararat: so does the believer’s experience come to a settled condition; he is no more moved about with fears and questioning, but he rejoices in hope of the glory of God. He sends forth his thoughts in search after evidence of his complete salvation, and probably he sends out some of his own ignorant carnal expectations, just as Noah sent out the raven; these ignorant imaginations of what the work of the Spirit is, go forth and they never return because no unclean child of the old Adam can be a discerner of the new world. Then he sends out the dove—holy desires, earnest prayers go to and fro; by and bye they come back with a token for good, some choice mercy from the hand of God, an olive branch of assured peace, and the believer surely knows not only that he is in Christ, not only that he is grounded in Christ, but that all the waters are assuaged, all sin is gone, all danger removed, all death destroyed. Then occurs a period wherein God opens the door; Christ had been as a sort of prison to the Christian up till then, the cross had been a burden, he did not rejoice in liberty; but God the Father now comes with the blessed Spirit and opens the door, and the believer is fully at liberty in the new world. The saved soul’s first act is, like Noah, to build an altar unto God and, as a priest, to offer sacrifice, which as it rises to heaven, is accepted because it is a memorial of Christ. The Lord smells a sweet savour, and though the believing man is still full of sin and from his youth up has evil imaginings, yet he hears the covenant voice which says, “I will no more curse, I will no more smite;” he hears the covenant promise which confirms for ever the faithfulness of God, and he rejoices to inherit, like Noah, a new world wherein dwelleth righteousness. I do not lay any stress upon these interpretations, but I know the apostle says concerning Hagar and Sarah, “which things are an allegory,” and I believe that the book of Genesis is a book of dispensational truth, and if it were rightly read, not by the eye of curiosity, but by the heart of the student who has been made wise to see the deep things of God, very much of divine and holy teaching would be discoverable in it. But now I come to the text itself. We have here, first, a very sad and painful fact, “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth;” we have, secondly, God’s most extraordinary reasoning, “I will not again curse the ground for man’s sake, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil;” then, thirdly, we have some inferences less extraordinary but practical to ourselves from the text. Genesis 8:22 "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease." While the earth remaineth - Heb. as yet all the days of the earth, Isa 54:8 seedtime - Most of the European nations divide the year into four distinct parts, called quarters or seasons; but there are six divisions in the text, which obtained in Palestine among the Hebrews, and exist among the Arabs to the present day. According to this gracious promise, the heavenly bodies have preserved their courses, the seasons their successions, and the earth its increase for the use of man. Ge 45:6 Ex 34:21 Ps 74:16,17 Song 2:11,12 Isa 54:9 Jer 5:24 Jas 5:7 day - Jer 31:35 33:20-26 Genesis 8 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries NO INTERRUPTION OF THE CYCLE OF NATURE While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease - Why would God say this at this time? Because the flood had interrupted the normal cycle of the seasons for a year, but He promises that would never be repeated. God continues His revelation to Noah after his sacrifice. Here God says that as long as the earth exists there will be seasons will exist and this is vital because without seasons (see Wikipedia) to grow and harvest, we could never be sure of having the necessities for life. THOUGHT - Are you in a valley spiritually speaking, doubting God's faithfulness to you as His child? Clearly the days, seasons, etc, are ever present reminders of God's faithfulness. Thank Him for the Sun this morning as a clear reminder of His faithfulness, not to mention His sovereign control over the entire universe and your personal life! Steven