Sermon(Gen. 9:1-17): Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025222198

 

 

 

Scripture reading:

>> 1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image. 7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it.” .... “11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. ... 13 I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ....” (Gen 9:1-17)<<

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The Bible is truth. There are many miracles in the Bible. We believe the miracles of the Bible, for the God we believe in is omnipotent. The Noachian deluge is a fact, too. The God who created the world can cause a deluge to flood all the mountains of the earth. And he also can make the water of deluge disappear so that the world is restored to the world as it used to be. He is able to create new water and to remove the water. This is a right faith.

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(But some people don't believe the Flood was a real event because the story of it looks like a novel. I'd like to say to them, "Why don't you believe it like this?":

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Thousands years ago, there was a godly believer who loved God. He was troubled by the sins and wickedness prevailing in the world. one day this man climbed a high mountain to pray there. And he found a surprising fact at the top of the mountain. There were shells at the high top of the mountain. You, knowing modern science, do not surprise at the fact that the land under the sea can be the highest mountain in the world, that is, Mt. Everest, thanks to the crustal movement. But the man, not knowing the fact, could not but be shocked at the shells in the mountain. This man went around the world and looked around all the high mountains. And this was a worldwide phenomenon. He thinks based on his faith. 'I've looked around the world, and there were shells on the top of the high mountains. This is because the world must have been under the water because of a great flood. If there was so much water as to flood all the world, it must have been caused by the Almighty God. It seems like God judged the world full of iniquity with a deluge. The size of the shells tells the period of the deluge - about 150 days. But considering the present human beings, God must have permitted some righteous men to survive the deluge. Maybe God ordered them to build an ark in which they and animals could preserve their lives.' It seems that a man who had this faith and experience wrote the story of the Flood. Perhaps the editor of the Bible incorporated the story into the Bible because it told well about man's sin and God's judgment so that later generations loved it.

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The Bible is not a book of history or science, but a book of faith. You have a precious faith if you think the religious meaning and lessons of the story of the Flood is a truth although the story came into the Bible in the way mentioned above. Anyway, it is important for those, who are skeptical of the historicity of the events in the Bible, to accept the religious truth that the Noachian deluge gives, for the books of the Bible were written in various literary genres. (Why shouldn't a part of the Bible be a short story?) It is a terrible logic that a man judges the Bible by his own imperfect logic, rejects the truth of faith and misses the eternal life, the most important thing to him. It is important for you to reach the religious truth whether you go round or straight, and to believe it.)

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What is the lesson of the Flood? It is that God certainly judges the sins and wickedness of the world with stern punishment. And that those who fear God and keep away from sin and whose family all live piously will certainly be blessed by God and delivered from judgement and will possess all the lands.

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Let's take a look at today's text. At v. 1 and v. 7, God blesses those who have survived the Flood, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply!" At v. 11, God promises that he will never destroy human beings by a deluge. What these words mean is as follows. What God wants is to bless the creatures, not to destroy and wipe out them. >Be fruitful and multiply< was the blessing that God gave the creatures when he created them. However, humans sinned so much that the earth became too defiled. So God killed all human beings and animals except some seeds of the creatures. Having experienced the horrible Deluge and the fearful God, humans and animals were shuddering. And to them God said, "Be fruitful and multiply." My brethren, you must know this is the true mind of God. In fact God is one who tolerates sinners long. The Bible emphasizes many times that God is slow to anger. Until the Flood God had endured man's sin for a long time. We believe that God is one who wants us to receive blessings, be fruitful and multiply. God is one who says he will never destroy human beings by such a flood again no matter how many sins they commit. It is painful for him to endure man's sins, but he will tolerate human beings until the end of the world however many sins they may commit. He gives humans the chance to obtain the eternal life until then. Of course, he will judge human beings with eternal life or eternal punishment at the final judgement after the Second Coming of Jesus. So we can say that the Noachian deluge was an inevitable punishment that was given to human beings in order that they might see the sure eternal punishment in advance and live piously and obtain the eternal life. He gave humans the punishment in order that they might realize that there would be a stern judgement of God that would not be prevented even by all human power. God's concern is not to destroy men, but to give them eternal life. What God really means is for all creatures to be fruitful and multiply.

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God made a covenant with Noah's family and animals that had survived the Deluge and with Noah's descendants. The covenant defines the relationship between humans and animals. Animals become human food. The food of humans and animals was green plants, from the time of Eden to the Flood. Now God gives the meat of animals to humans for food. What does it mean? All animals could survive the Flood thanks to the ark which Noah, a righteous man, had made in sweat and pains. Animals owed their lives to human beings. God gave these animals to Noah and his descendants as their food. All animals die once anyway. Their meat will rot away, but it can be used for a good purpose. God gave the meat to humans so as to make the meat worthier. Humans obeyed God's commands thoroughly and built an ark to keep the species of the animals God created, therefore God gave the meat of animals to humans considering their deeds. In other words, man is the owner of the life of the animals. God is, of course, the absolute owner of all living creatures, but through the Deluge God placed humans in a position to control the lives of animals. Yes! It is God's law that you should repay the grace you've received. Animals should repay humans for their grace, by giving their meat to them when they (animals) die. Sons and daughters should love, respect and support their parents because they have received much grace from their parents. All the saved human beings should offer their body and soul entirely to their Savior, Jesus. Do you like pork, beef and >nakjibokum<? Then you should be completely obedient to Jesus, the Master of your life, and live for him. Don't you think so? Have you received much love and grace from your husband? And do you have many gold rings and necklaces and fur which your husband has given you? Then respect and obey your husband! This is the law of God.

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There is one condition. God requires that you should not eat the meat with the blood because life is in the blood. God warns that he will punish those who eat the blood as well as the meat; because life is in the blood, so eating the meat with the blood is violating the life, which infringes the authority of God who is the Lord of life. You may eat the meat, but not the blood. First, this is the commandment of God that you should not violate the life. It is not a violation of the life itself for a man to kill an animal and eat it, because the slaughter is for the extension of human life that is worthier than the life of an animal. But blood is life itself, so to eat blood is to violate the life. The life is God's, so if you slaughter an animal, you should not eat the blood but shed it on the ground. The lesson of this commandment is that God will punish us if we violate the life. There are many life-violating sins. It is a violation of life to rape a woman. It is a violation of life if you enjoy sex satisfactorily and abort a pregnancy without mercy. Generally, sex crimes are life-violating crimes because human sex is related to life itself. God will surely punish these felonies. You may eat the meat, but not the blood having life. You can enjoy sex legally in marital relationship, but must not destroy the life (existing) in the sex. It's not a trivial matter! It's a matter of your life, too. The second lesson of the commandment of God not to eat blood is that man must live a life of fellowship with God. It is a time of festival to slaughter and eat the cattle. It's a feast of life. God wants to participate in this feast. At this time, God's share is the blood. (The Israelis sprinkle blood on the altar during the rite.) Humans can not but think of God while eating beasts for God gave strict order that they should set apart some portion of the beasts for God himself. It is the blood of the beasts. When humans enjoy the meat of animals, they think of God again and give thanks to him for the good meal. They thank God at the wonderful feast - what a blessing and what a grace! This is better to behold, therefore God ordered them to leave the blood for him. But the blood, God's portion, is the least delicious part! He looks like a father who loves his children so that he eats tasteless part and gives all the delicious and healthful parts to them. In general, the life should be said to be in the head, but God says the life is in the least delicious part. Korean parents said before, "I don't like meat. I like to eat bones for they are delicious," when the meat was scarce. My brethren, think of God's grace whenever you have delight and good things. God wants to live with us in our daily lives. Remember him always. Today, after the time of the New Testament, you may eat the food made of blood. Even if you enjoy >sundae-soup<, you can go to heaven without any difficulty.

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It is murder that God really forbids strictly. God tells us that we must execute him who has killed any man on purpose because man is created in the image of God (Gen 9:6). God's image! Of course, it doesn't mean that God has the same body as we have. The word >Man is created in the image of God< means first that man is a spiritual being who is to enjoy eternal life, that man is created a personal being who is responsible for his deeds. But more important thing than this is the fact that God declared that man was created in his (God's) image, in order to enhance the value of human beings. The Roman emperors made their statues and forced people to worship them as gods. These days, too, North Koreans still bow to the statue of Il Sung Kim, a dead man. Like this, an image (a statue) of a man of high position has a special meaning. The image replaces the real person that the image indicates. Therefore anyone who violates the image is punished relentlessly. Yes! God declared man to be his image to raise him to a very high position. God is saying, "Any one or any animal is directly against me when he or it kills any man because he is created in my image!" Roman emperors and Il Sung Kim made their images to unfairly exalt themselves, but God grants lowly humans the rank of >God's image< to protect them. The reason why God raised human beings so high was that he wanted to be worshipped by high-ranking creatures. There is no other reason. But God will judge severely those who, elevated so high, live a beastly life. The higher elevated, the more responsible.

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God designated the rainbow as a token of his covenant with humans and animals. Of course, there had been rainbows before that, but God specifically used them as a token. The like is a couple who wear gold rings as the token of their love. Gold existed before. Anyway, God said that he would never destroy the world again by a deluge, that he gave the meat of animals to human beings for food, that men should not eat blood of animals and shed blood of any man (kill any man). In addition to this, God blessed humans and animals that they be fruitful and multiply. And he gave creatures the rainbow as the token of this covenant of peace. This is the new covenant after the Noachian deluge. My brethren, God says he will remember the covenant when he sees the rainbow in the cloud, and will keep the covenant. It doesn't mean that he has a bad memory and can remember the covenant only when he sees the rainbow. The rainbow is a token to reassure humans. Seeing the rainbow, humans should believe God to be one who has delight in making them be fruitful and multiply. Seeing the rainbow, humans should believe that God wants to bless them rather than to destroy them. Even if we are punished for our sins, we must believe in the good God who keeps the lives, when we see the rainbow in the clouds. Don't be afraid to be destroyed, but think of the God good and merciful and relax. Seeing the rainbow, we must remember God's commandment. We must respect life as his commandment requires, and must not transgress the limit that God has set on our life of pleasure. Everyone who faithfully keeps his commandments like this will so blessed as to be fruitful and multiply. May God helps you live a life of modesty and obedience so that you are blessed with many good descendents and prosperity.

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Chong Tack Kim

                                     - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -