Sunday Night, Dec 3, 2017

The Bridal Suite Imagery in John 14

That I've been describing here in a different time period of the development of English, which is why newer translations will say dwelling place or rooms to try to get across the idea. Maybe a good translation would be bridal suite.

I don't know. We're going to be building an apartment, a newlywed apartment, onto the house. That's the idea of what he's talking about. The emphasis, I think, is not necessarily on the type of construction as it is the location and the relationships involved being brought to God as part of his family.

Good question. I think it's an interesting thing. I'm trying to think of another. Yeah, I think there's a few other ones, but remember that Jesus, his earthly father, Joseph, was a carpenter, which meant he worked with wood, but he also probably worked with other materials as well to build houses and so on and so forth.

I find it interesting that Jesus, every once in a while, will use an illustration from that background that he undoubtedly learned and worked with Joseph on the job as any son would in those days. He would have had that kind of construction in mind.

How many times did Jesus and Joseph go out to a job site and help a young man build onto his father's house to get ready for the wedding day? It was something that Jesus would be intimately familiar with in his earthly life.

The Noahic Covenant and the Sign of the Rainbow

Okay, well, let's turn over to Genesis 9. We've been talking about the Noahic covenant. Really, sometimes we use those phrases to sum something up, but God makes a covenant with Noah and his descendants and the whole earth.

He makes a covenant. He makes a promise He makes an arrangement that is described in terms of a judgment that will never happen again. The scope of the covenant we've already looked at, that God makes a covenant with all of humanity, which Noah and his sons and their descendants.

He makes a covenant with all the other creatures, the beasts of the field, the birds of the sky, so on and so forth. And we noted that the humans are distinct from the rest of the creatures and are always specially separated in the scriptures from the other creatures.

And the scope of the covenant is for all of eternity. As verse 12 says, that it is for all successive generations or everlasting generations. This is an unending promise that he will never again flood the world and destroy all living things with water.

So we've looked at the scope of the covenant. Now we look at the sign of the covenant. And so I'll begin reading in verse 12 through verse 17 of Genesis 9. God said, this is the sign of the covenant, which I am making between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations.

I set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. It shall come about when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud. And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.

And never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow was in the cloud, then I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.

And God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth. So the manifestation of the sign, the bow, is with the clouds, with the rain.

God, in his merciful providence, knows that this catastrophic disaster, the global flood, is going to live on in the memory of humanity for quite some time. All the ancient cultures, even though they get it wrong and twisted and wrong ideas here and there, all the ancient cultures have a flood story.

This one, of course, is the accurate one, the real one. But all families of the earth, and we'll find out how they got split up in chapter 11, but all families of the earth from ancient times have a flood story.

Something huge happened and it involved a lot of water and a boat. And those are the common factors in all the stories. God gives a sign that should have also been remembered along the way, and it's the sign of the rainbow.

We call it rainbow. He just says the bow. The term bow here is the word used for a hunting bow or a bow used in warfare. And he talks about setting his bow in the clouds. Not that it would show up every single time, but that it would show up in the clouds after some rain.

And this is to remind us of the covenant that God made with all humanity and all creation. So what is the meaning of the bow? Is the bow that direction? When we see the bow, what direction? This way, right?

Why is that significant? I was visiting in Tennessee with the pastor who serves now at Liberty Baptist Church, came in right after me, Brother Blaine Dias. And over the official front door, which of course in the South, no one ever uses.

Over the official front door of the house, he has two of these, two hooks over the front door. I'm trying to remember. I think they were deer hoofs. And then laying across it, what do you think was laying across those two hooks over the front door?

Shotgun. That's right. That's pretty much standard. The shotgun was laying over and it was loaded and ready to go. Now, I think the idea of the bow is that the bow in some sense is hanging over the mantle or over the doorway.

But we see the rainbow when? In the middle of the storm, when everything is swirling about and coming down really hard. We don't see rainbows in the middle of thunderstorms. When do we see the rainbow?

When the storm is basically passed, right? It's past us. And the bow is not loaded. It's hanging up, resting, right? I think it's just a very basic picture that the judgment of God by water has been accomplished.

That shot has been fired. It won't be fired again. Do we see that? The bow has been hung up. And every time we see the bow, we are reminded that that judgment has been spent. And he says in the text, I'm never going to judge the earth like this again, right?

I'm never going to judge the whole earth by water again. I will not destroy the whole earth by water again. That judgment is done. That judgment is spent. The bow has been fired. It's now empty, hanging up.

I think this is the most basic sense of the picture. It does have a lot of other possible significances to it. The fact that it is this idea of a covering, that it is broad and it is great. It is high.

It seems to cover the whole of the created order in every single way. The manifestation of the rainbow fits exactly with the covenant that God made with Noah, his descendants, and all of the created order.

It's a very fitting sign. And when we see it, we are to remember that God judged the earth because violence had filled up the earth. And so he filled up the earth with water. And we are to be reminded that afterwards, he said he would never judge the world with water in that way again.

Peter goes on to say in his letter, as he reflects upon the flood, that it is a lesson to us about God's holiness and God's intent to judge. Just like today, many people would mock the idea that God would ever judge the whole creation in fire, which is the promise.

People mock that idea now, but people mocked Noah in his day as well. And every time we see the rainbow, we are to remember that God is a holy judge, that he judged the earth once and he will do so again.

What a strange, what a strange thing the rainbow has become today, right? It's a symbol of the LGBT movement. You see the rainbow and it's supposed to mean tolerance and acceptance for everybody, no matter who they are or how they live, right?

In fact, it's become in Satan's perversion, a symbol of no judgment whatsoever, rather than a reminder that there was a judgment and there is still one to come. When we see the rainbow, we remember that God has judged the earth because of wickedness and he will do so again.

The empty bow in the sky reminds us that God's wrath in this manner has been spent. It's an empty bow. It's been hung up. The wrath has been spent. No more judgment in this way again. In the same way, it's an important thing.

I think it's an important distinction that, does anybody know the difference between a cross and a crucifix? Anybody know the difference? Yes, that's right. In that sense, a crucifix would be like someone wearing a rainbow pendant with a giant lightning bolt coming down the middle of it, continuing judgment.

The idea behind the Roman Catholic teaching of a continual sacrifice is that Jesus is still on the cross, in some sense, being sacrificed again and again and again, in denial of the scriptures that he died once for all time.

I think the empty rainbow in the sky should remind us of the empty cross, that the judgment of God against those who believe in Christ has been spent. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who live in Christ Jesus.

The wrath has been spent. The cross is now empty. In fact, the tomb is empty and Christ has risen from the dead. There is no more judgment left for those who are in Christ. I think that's ultimately what the rainbow should remind us of.

Any questions about that? Any thoughts about that? Yes, Mr. Joe. A great covering. Well, God says the sign, he made it visible. See, this is the verse 12. This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations.

He says in verse 14, that the bow will be seen in the cloud. And so, in some sense, it is for us and then in some sense, it is for God. For he says that when he sees the sign, he says, I will remember.

I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. Now, again, this is not God writing a sticky note for himself because he might forget.

When we have the language in the Bible of God remembering, such as God remembered his people in Egypt. When we have God remembering, it references his action. When God remembers someone, he takes action according to the word that he had given that person or that people group.

And so, that is the language here. In this case, it is him taking an action in terms of long-suffering, of God not completely judging and flooding the earth and destroying everyone in it again because of the great wickedness that has filled up the earth.

That is a good question. I do not think so. Have you? It is a circle. That is right. Well, when you are on the ground, it looks like a bow. So, Revelation 2, immediately I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and one sitting on the throne.

And he who was sitting was like a jasper stone, and a sargis in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. Yeah. I think we also see this in, and again, the Apostle John, when he writes Revelation under the inspiration of the Spirit, possibly more than any other book in the Old Testament.

And you cannot move half a sentence in Revelation without hitting some Old Testament illusion. And in this case, he paints with the colors of Ezekiel. He is prone to do that, to take up the colors of all the Old Testament prophets and to bring them into one coalescing mural of the glory of Christ.

Noah's Drunkenness, Ham, and the Curse on Canaan

Well, let us talk a little bit about getting drunk. Verse 18, Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Ham was the father of Canaan. Dun, dun, dun. Who wrote Genesis?

Moses. Who is the original audience? Israelites. They are encamped in the Acacia Grove under the shadow of Mount Peor on the banks of the Jordan River. And they have been instructed they are going to go over the Jordan River, or through the Jordan River, and they are going to go conquer the land of Canaan.

This is the great task looming on their literal horizon. Here comes the story from Moses. Here will give them some insight as to their task. Ham was the father of Canaan. So these were the three sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.

Wow. Genesis 9, 19. There was ever a verse that some people wish were not there. That would be one of those verses. For those who hold to human race leaping into our current homo sapien form 100 ,000 years ago, or even farther back, this is definitely something that they would deny outright.

Now I've got to tell you, those who claim to be evangelical and believe the Bible is inerrant and so on and so forth, when they come to Genesis 9, 19, they will want to tell you that this is poetry, mythology, symbolism.

Is there anything in Genesis 9, 19 that sounds like that? Does this sound poetic? Would you write a poem like this? When my children wrote this for a poem, I would say that's not a poem. That is as much prose as you can get.

This is written as history to be received as history. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. Important. The unity of the human race. Verse 20. Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard.

He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Why would he do that? Because that's what happens when you get drunk. You do foolish things. Just so we're clear on that. Proverbs 23.

Proverbs chapter 23. Verse 29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine. Those who go to taste mixed wine do not look on the wine when it is red.

When it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly, at the last it bites like a serpent, stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perverse things, and you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.

They strike me, but I do not become ill. They beat me, but I do not know it. When shall I awake that I will seek another drink? And the lampooning and the satire on the sin of drunkenness continues throughout the Old Testament.

And it's not the only sin of excess. It is the poster child sin of excess. But there are other sins, such as honey is good, but if you eat a lot of it and vomit, then what's the point? And there's a whole lot of list of things, and it's always about sinning in excess, and drunkenness is the poster child of that.

In some ways, and no, no, this is not an exact correlation, but in some ways, wine and anger are not in and of themselves wrong. But it takes some self-control to handle both of them, right? Jesus got angry, and Jesus drank wine, and he never sinned, and he never got drunk.

Noah could not handle his wine. Noah gorged himself on wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside of his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.

This is not Ham giving a tidbit of information to Shem and Japheth. We'll see later that this was in a mocking kind of way. This was in a, let's make fun of dad kind of way. Let's look at the result of sin and make it a thing to joke about.

He did not honor his father, but Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father, and their faces were turned away, so they did not see their father's nakedness.

When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. How is that? Perhaps Shem and Japheth told him, this is how you ended up covered up by a robe. So he said, cursed be Canaan.

Okay, well hang on. So Ham had done it, and Noah says, cursed be Canaan. The New Testament qualifies Noah as a prophet, and so for reasons that are beyond us, he curses one of the four sons of Ham, Canaan.

He says, cursed be Canaan. Ham has been a disappointment to me as a son. Ham will have a disappointment as a son named Canaan. A servant of servants, he shall be to his brothers. He also said, blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.

May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. Noah lived 350 years after the flood, so all the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died. Now again, Moses is writing this, who is the original audience, Israelites, descendants of Shem.

One of Shem's descendants was a man by the name of Eber, from which we get the Hebrews, and so on and so forth. And so there was this prophetic curse uttered sometime just after the flood, that Canaan was slated to be conquered by the descendants of Shem.

This has absolutely nothing to do with people who live in Africa, or people who were kidnapped from their villages, enslaved, and murdered along the slave trade routes, and brought to the Caribbean and to Americas.

And I say that because we have to say that, if you go back a hundred years ago, this was still being taught. If you go back 200 years, it was definitely being taught that Ham was cursed, and all the descendants of Ham who lived in Africa were cursed and destined to live as the slaves of the descendants of Japheth and Shem.

And that was the standard teaching, and you can still read it in the commentaries that were published from that day. It was still being taught back in the 1950s. Now, does it say Ham was cursed? Who was cursed?

Canaan. And we know what happened to the Canaanites, don't we? Those whom God bore with their idolatry for 450 and 50 years, who lived in the land of Canaan, and then slated them for judgment after all those years of long-suffering and patience, having given them the revelation of the gospel by Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

And they rejected the gospel and lived for 400-something years in idolatry, and God was patient with them and long-suffering with them, and then brought the instrument of their judgment, namely his people Israel.

That has been fulfilled, and this has nothing to do with people who were kidnapped from Africa and brought over as slaves. You see? It doesn't have anything to do with Ham. It has to do with the biblical story, and has something to do with Moses' original audience, Israel.

Any questions about that? Okay. Now, I know that you all love a good genealogy, and in some ways, Genesis 10 is like the biggest genealogy of them all. Not the longest one, just the biggest one with the most breadth.

So, don't miss out next time when we talk about the 70 nations that came from the sons of Noah. And if anybody can figure out why and how that 70 pops up again somewhere in the New Testament, you'll get extra credit.

Okay. Let's go ahead and close by singing the doxology.