(Genesis 9:1-17) 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 terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. 3 Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. 4 Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God
He made man.
7 “As for you, be fruitful and multiply;Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9 “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. 11 I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 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; 13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, 15 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. 16 When the bow is 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.” 17 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.”
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
After the flood, God gives mankind the rainbow as a sign that He will never again destroy the earth with a flood... As well, God blesses Noah and his sons, reminding them of their (and our) purpose in life... to be fruitful and multiply, and to govern the earth responsibly.
Governing the earth includes being humane to animals, even though we have not only been given permission from God to eat meat - it is part of the blessing. So we should not feel guilty eating meat. Enjoy! In moderation!
Now, obviously, killing people is wrong. This is opposite of being fruitful and multiplying! It is murder, and there should be consequences. Therefore part of governing the earth is to make sure that systems of justice are established and upheld.
So for us today, what should it look like to be fruitful and multiply? It doesn't necessarily mean that we should all be having truckloads of children! I do see this as also being evangelical.
As believers, we should be fruitful in good deeds so that the gospel message will spread throughout the nations. The Church should not just be growing in maturity, but we should be growing numerically. We should be doing what we can, where we can. Reaching out to the lost should not just be our prayer, but we each need to be figuring out how we can be part of that big picture. This is our purpose in life! This should bless and fill our lives!
No comments:
Post a Comment