The second half of Genesis 12
tells a story about
how fearful Abram was
when he went to Egypt
because there was
a severe famine in the land
of Canaan.

Side note - it seems famine
hits this region pretty regularly!
Do you remember the famine
that happened during
the days of Joseph?

Anyway, when Abram
was close to entering Egypt,
he said his wife,
“I know that you are a woman
of beautiful countenance.
Therefore it will happen,
when the Egyptians see you,
that they will say, ‘This is his wife’;
and they will kill me,
but they will let you live.”
In fear, Abram begged,
“Please say you are my sister,
that it may be well
with me for your sake,
and I may live because of you.”

“So it was.”
What Abram asked - Sarai did.

Abram was right.
“When Abram came into Egypt,
that the Egyptians saw the woman,
that she was very beautiful.
The princes of Pharaoh also saw her
and commended her to Pharaoh.
And the woman was taken
to Pharaoh’s house.”

“Pharaoh treated Abram
well for her sake.
He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys,
male and female servants,
female donkeys, and camels.”

Pharaoh really did treat Abram well.
But the Lord was not going to
let it be so.

“But the Lord plagued Pharaoh
and his house with great plagues
because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.”
Pharaoh called for Abram and said,
“What is this you have done to me?
Why did you not tell me
that she was your wife?
Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?
I might have taken her as my wife.
Now therefore, here is your wife;
take her and go your way.”
“So Pharaoh commanded
his men concerning him;
and they sent him away,
with his wife and all that he had.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭12:10-20‬

Pharaoh, the King of Egypt,
was smart enough to understand
that the plagues came
from Abram’s God.

Somehow Pharaoh knew
that he had been manipulated,
and he knew he should not have touched 
what God made sacred.

You see, in those days,
Pharaohs’ accumulated many wives,
they pretty much took whatever they wanted.

They remind me of the sons of God
described in Genesis 6, in times of old.

Scripture says,
“the sons of God saw the daughters of men,
that they were beautiful;
and they took wives for themselves
of all whom they chose.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭6:2
‬
So I have a question.
In the ancient of days, before the flood,
when the human race was completely evil,
did the sons of God possess men,
and make their minds and their hearts
completely violent?

Did that sons of God indwell men,
and use humans vessels
as their puppets and pawns?

This was never a thought I imagined,
UNTIL now, while reading this passage.

For some reason, Pharaoh knew
that he should not
“mess with the God of Abram.”

Immediately, Pharaoh gave Sarai back
and told Abram to go away.

I believe this is just an example
of how God shows
"His manifold wisdom
to the rulers and principalities
in heavenly places."
Ephesians 3:10

The flood wiped out humankind -
God showed Satan and the rebellious angels
that He can and will do whatever he wants!

Can your imagine
if the devil did not have a playground?
What kind of authority would he have?

The Lord has an appointed time,
at the end of 70 prophetic weeks,
when He will enact the Great Tribulation.

The archangel Gabriel said to Daniel,
“Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.”
‭‭Daniel‬ ‭9:24‬

People with hard hearts
will only remain puppets and pawns,
otherwise known as “Satan’s army,”
UNTIL the great and terrible Day of the Lord.

And when that Day comes,
the Lord will have a remnant -
people who carry God’s promise inside them.
They will be just like Sarai and Abram.

In this story, at the beginning of Genesis 12,
God promised Abram 
to make him a great nation.

God said,
“I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth
shall be blessed.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭12:2-3‬

You see, it’s through God’s promise
that the blessing comes.

And in Ephesians 3:8-12
Paul preaches on the great mystery of God.

Paul says,
“To me, the very least of all saints,
this grace was given,
to preach to the Gentiles
the unfathomable riches of Christ,
and to enlighten all people
as to what the plan of the mystery is
which for ages
has been hidden in God,
who created all things;
so that the multifaceted
wisdom of God
might now be made known
through the church
to the rulers and the authorities
in the heavenly places.
This was in accordance
with the eternal purpose
which He carried out
in Christ Jesus our Lord,
in whom we have boldness
and confident access
through faith in Him.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3:8-12‬

Yes God loves us -
but without Christ,
we are just pawns and puppets.

But with Christ,
who is God’s eternal promise,
no ruler in hell can ever touch us!

They will just have to find
another vessel to live in -
UNTIL  the great and terrible
Day of the Lord.

Yesterday, I said I could not understand
why I thought Abraham had heard from God
to leave Ur and go to the land of Canaan.

I was stupefied 
when I learned it was Terah, Abram’s father, 
who decided to take Abram, Lot and Sarai 
to Canaan, after Haran, Terah’s son had died.

As I said yesterday,
Terah must have heartbroken after Haran died,
because the scripture says
that Terah stopped in the land of Haran,
and there he lived and died.

My guess is that the land of Haran
got its name from Terah 
when he decided to stay.

Since Terah was headed to Canaan,
from the land of Babylonia,
I thought he would have headed east,
but the Bible map shows 
that Haran went north,
to what is known today
as southeastern Turkey,
a village along the Balikh River,
24 miles southeast of Urfa.

So I stand corrected.
Abram was not in the land of Ur
when he heard from the Lord.
He was in the land of Haran -
a land that was probably named
after his brother.

Scripture says,
“Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth
shall be blessed.”
So Abram departed
as the Lord had spoken to him,
and Lot went with him.
And Abram was seventy-five years old
when he departed from Haran.
Then Abram took Sarai his wife
and Lot his brother’s son,
and all their possessions
that they had gathered,
and the people
whom they had acquired in Haran,
and they departed
to go to the land of Canaan.”
Genesis 12:1-5

Scripture says when Abram, Sarai and Lot
came to the land of Canaan.
They passed through the land
to the place of Shechem,
as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh.

If you look on a Bible map,
Shechem is located between three mountains,
Mt. Gerizim, Mt. Ebal and Mt. Ephraim.

Today, this area is called Nablus.
It’s a city in the West Bank.
It lies in an enclosed fertile valley
and is the market center of a natural oasis
that is watered by numerous springs.

Scripture says Abram traveled
“as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh.”

This passage stumped me.
What is a terebinth tree, and where is Moreh?

Google says,
“a terebinth tree is a deciduous tree,
that has very deep roots,
and grows at the foot of mountains.
This tree is of the species of the genus Pistacia,
native to the Mediterranean region -
from the western areas of Morocco
and Portugal to Greece
and western and southeastern Turkey.”

As I was researching,
I saw that some believe the terebinth tree
was not a pistachio tree, but an oak.

So, I’m not sure sure -
but I will keep my mind and my eyes open
while future scripture comes.

The exact location of Moreh
is not known today,
but it appears to be a plain close to Shechem,
where a hill must have been.

The Hebrew word moreh
is derived from the verb yarah,
which means “to teach” or “to direct.”
It's interesting to me that moreh
represents a hill where a person
of wisdom and authority can talk -
or do divine work.

There are two Bible characters
whom I identify with the most.
They are Gideon and Paul -
the ones who God had to chase 
and knock them down with zest.

Right now, I am remembering
the story of Gideon - when early in the morning
“Jerubbaal (Gideon) and all of his men
camped beside the spring of Harod.
And the camp of Midian was north of them
in the valley near the hill of Moreh.”
Judges 7:1

And it’s at this location,
under the terebinth tree in Moreh
that “the Lord appeared to Abram” and said,
“To your descendants I will give this land.”
Genesis 12:7

“And there -
Abram built an altar to the Lord,
who had appeared to him.”
Genesis 12:7

My God!
God is an Amazing Compass!

After receiving his teaching,
"Abram moved to the mountain east of Bethel,
and he pitched his tent
with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east;
and there he built an altar to the Lord
and called on the name of the Lord.
So Abram journeyed,
going on still toward the South.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭12:8-9

The mountain east of Bethel
has to be Mt. Ephraim.
Abraham pitched his tent
with Bethel on the west
and Ai on the east -
and he built an altar,
called on the Lord
and must have been directed
to continue to go south.

God was Abram’s amazing compass!
The great Moreh 
​who directed Abram where to go.

Are you ready to hear
another generational line?
This is the bloodline
of Noah’s middle son,
and it tells the transition
from Shem to Abraham -
“Abram” before God renamed him.

You can reference this scripture
and make sure I am speaking the truth -
It can be found in Genesis 11:10-32.

Genesis 8:13 says the flood stopped
when Noah was 601,
and two years after the flood,
his grandson Arphaxad was born.
Arphaxad was born to Shem,
Noah's middle son,
when Shem was 100 years old.

After Shem had Arphaxad,
Shem lived 500 more years,
and had many more sons and daughters.
That means Shem lived to be 600 years old -
the same age Noah was when he entered the boat.

Arphaxad lived 35 years, when he begot Salah.
After he had Salah, Arphaxad lived 403 years,
and had more sons and daughters.
Arphaxad lived to be 438.

Salah was 30 years old when Eber was born,
and Salah lived to be 433 years old.
He also had sons and daughters.

Genesis 11 says that Eber lived 34 years,
and had Peleg.
After Eber had Peleg,
Eber lived 430 more years,
and had many sons and daughters.
Eber was 464 years old when he died.

Genesis 10:25 says, “Eber had 2 sons.
The 1st son was called Peleg,
and his young brother was called Joktan.
That name Peleg means split up.
He got that name
because all the people split up
into different tribes after he was born.”

So I wonder -
were Peleg and Joktan twins?
Why would one scripture speak to both sons,
but the generational timeline only include one?

Also, scripture says the people were split
into tribes after Peleg was born.

This was the time when Peleg’s distant cousin,
Nimrod, ruled over Babylon,
and attempted to build a tower
to reach into the heavens.

This is the time when God said,
“These people can all talk
to each other in the same language,
so they can do anything they want.
If they keep on going this way,
nothing will stop them from doing anything.
Come on, let Us go down to these people,
and we will make them
talk in different languages.
Then they will not understand each other,
and they will be all mixed up.
They will not work things out with each other,
so they will not keep on building this city.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭11:5-7‬ ‭

“They all left that city and went to live
in lots of different places, all over the world.
That’s how God got people
to be in different tribes all over the world.
And they called that city Babel
(which today is Babylon)
That means mixed up.
They gave it that name because God mixed up
their languages at that time.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭11:9‬

Peleg lived 30 years, and had Reu.
After he had Reu, Peleg lived 209 years,
and had many sons and daughters.
That means Peleg was 239 when he died.

Notice -
Noah lived over 900 years
then Shem lived to be 600.
Now Peleg lived to be less than 300.

In Genesis 6:3, when human daughters
were taken by the sons of God,
God said,
“My Spirit will not put up with humans
for such a long time,
for they are only mortal flesh.
In the future, their normal lifespan
will be no more than 120 years.”

God’s Word never returns void,
so we can anticipate that the human lifeline
will continue to deteriorate
until it reaches 120.

Reu lived 32 years, and had Serug.
After he had Serug, Reu lived 207 years,
and had many sons and daughters.

Serug lived 30 years, and had Nahor.
After he had Nahor, Serug lived 200 years,
and had many sons and daughters.

Nahor lived 29 years, and had Terah.
After he had Terah, Nahor lived 119 years,
and had many sons and daughters.

Nine generations passed  -
for God to follow up on His promise
that humans would not live past 120 years.

Now Terah lived 70 years,
and had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.”

“This is the genealogy of Terah:
Terah begot Abram, Nahor,
and Haran. Haran begot Lot.
And Haran died before his father Terah
in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
Then Abram and Nahor took wives:
the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai,
and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah,
the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah
and the father of Iscah.”
Genesis 11:27-31

This means that Nahor’s wife was his niece,
because she was the daughter of Haran.

“But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
And Terah took his son Abram
and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran,
and his daughter-in-law Sarai,
his son Abram’s wife,
and they went out with them
from Ur of the Chaldeans
to go to the land of Canaan;
and they came to Haran and dwelt there.
So the days of Terah 
were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭11:27-32‬

I wonder why
God granted Terah more years to live
when He already said
humans would not live past 120 years?
I guess I should not even ask - because God is sovereign,
and He can certainly do whatever He wants.

But, this passage makes my heart sad.
It sounds like Terah endured much grief
when he lost his son, Haran.

I wonder if Haran was his firstborn?
I thought I had once read
that Abram heard God’s voice
tell him to leave Ur - to go to the land
that God would show him.
But in this passage,
it appears Terah was leading, not Abram.

It says Haran died in the land he was born,
and Terah cared for Lot, Haran’s son.

It says Abram’s wife, Sarai, was barren
when Terah took all of them out of Ur,
to go to land of Canaan.

But on the way to Canaan,
they came to a land named Haran and dwelt there.
I’m guessing that Terah came to a land
and named it after the son he once had.

Genesis 11
should not be overlooked -
especially at a time
when the world is going back.
Genesis 11
is about the Tower of Babel -
a structure that was built
by a unified people
who thought they were God.

“Now the whole earth
had one language and one speech.
And it came to pass,
as they journeyed from the east,
that they found a plain
in the land of Shinar,
and they dwelt there.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭11:1-2‬

Today, the land of Shinar
is called Babylon
which is located in Iraq.
It’s interesting to me that it says
the people journeyed east.
This means the people had to come
from East of Babylon.
I wonder, did they come from present-day Iran?
And how does that even make sense
if Noah’s ark landed on Mount Ararat
in the land of Javan -
which now borders
Turkey and Armania?

The people must have come from the north,
and then traveled east building their kingdoms.
I really don’t know?  Do you?

The people in Babylon,
under the direction of Nimrod,
(the greatest Hunter to ever live)
said to one another,
“Come, let us make bricks
and bake them thoroughly.
They had brick for stone,
and they had asphalt for mortar.
And they said, “Come,
let us build ourselves a city,
and a tower whose top
is in the heavens;
let us make a name for ourselves,
lest we be scattered abroad
over the face of the whole earth.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭11:1-4‬

You would think
the Lord would appreciate
the collaborative unity,
a united nation working as one.

But the scripture says,
“But the Lord came down
to see the city and the tower
which the sons of men had built.
And the Lord said,
“Indeed the people are one
and they all have one language,
and this is what they begin to do;
now nothing that they propose to do
will be withheld from them.
Come, let Us go down
and there confuse their language,
that they may not understand
one another’s speech.”

It appears from scripture
that the Lord (and others)
descended from the heavenly realms
to stop mankind from working as one.
It appears the United Nations are a 
conglomerate of people
wanting to control their own destiny -
their own outcome.

The Lord purposely chose
to confuse their speech
so that humanity
would not be able to act like God.

Can you imagine
if a United Nations was rebirthed? 
What would God think of a  group of leaders,
acting together to perfect humanity?

Would they not build towers
to dedicate to themselves,
or shrines and make people bow down?

Would they not seek world peace
and try to create unity
through a false god and a false religion?
They would probably encourage
a one World religion -
where a universal God is the centrality.

They would probably want to work together
to build a one world economy.

A United Nations
would bring forth the beast -
a beast that would be created
from a United people on earth.
And the number of the beast would be 666 -
representing the completion of man.

During the days of Nimrod, in Babylon,
“the Lord scattered them abroad
over the face of all the earth,
and they ceased building the city.
Therefore its name is called Babel,
because there the Lord
confused the language
of all the earth;
and from there the Lord
scattered them abroad
over the face of all the earth.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭11:5-9‬

Why do you think
the Most Holy God
did not want people working together?

Was it because he did not love them?
Or was it because
God knows the heart of man -
and He knows
the unified heart of humanity
wants to be like Him?

What have we become?

We are not only a humanity
that does not know how to steward
what God created,
but we are a humanity
that thinks we can control everything.

God help us.
God Forgive us
for taking you out of everything.
I pray that we would
return to our first love.

This morning I’m going to learn
about the table of nations that were dispersed
throughout the whole earth.

After the Great Flood,
Noah and his sons (and their wives),
got off the boat and made a new life.

Japheth was the oldest,
and he had 7 sons -
Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan,
Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

These boys started the generations
that became the nations
that cover the northern regions
of Russia, Turkey and Greece.

“The sons of Gomer (Russia)
were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.”
“The sons of Javan (Turkey and Greece)
were Elishah, Tarshish,
Kittim, and Dodanim.
From these, 
the coastland peoples of the Gentiles
were separated into their lands,
everyone according to his language,
according to their families,
into their nations.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭10:2-5‬

Ham was the youngest of Noah’s sons.
He had 4 sons -
Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.”

​Remember-
Canaan was the son of Ham,
who Noah had cursed
because of what Ham had done.
Instead of cursing Ham,
he cursed Ham's youngest son.
Noah was angry that Ham had seen him naked.
He was angry that Ham told his older brothers,
Japheth and Shem

Isn’t it interesting, and encouraging,
that God took the land of Canaan back?!?!

Cush is known as the region of Ethiopia,
and Mizraim is known as present-day Egypt.
Put is the land of Libya and Canaan is known
as the southern Levant -
the land that makes up present-day Israel,
the West Bank and Gaza, 
Jordan and the southern portions
of Syria and Lebanon.

“The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah,
Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah;
and the sons of Raamah 
were Sheba and Dedan.”

Sheba makes up southwestern Arabia -
a place we know today as Yemen.
And Dedan filled a small region
by the Red Sea in northern Arabia.

“Cush begot Nimrod;
he began to be a mighty one on the earth.
He was a mighty hunter
before the Lord; therefore it is said,
“Like Nimrod the mighty hunter
before the Lord.”

"And the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom
was Babel,Erech, Accad, and Calneh,
in the land of Shinar.”

Pay attention
to the kingdom of Babel -
it’s going to be a place
where men come together
and try to be like God.
It’s the place where
the Word of God would come 
and make the statue fall down.

“From that land
Nimrod went to Assyria
and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir,
Calah, and Resen
between Nineveh and Calah.”
Mizraim, another son of Ham,
“begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim,
Naphtuhim,Pathrusim, and Casluhim -
from whom the Philistines
and Caphtorim would come."

Do your remember Goliath -
the Philistinism giant
who David, as a boy, took down -
all by himself, and with the help of God?
It's a great reminder that God is sovereign
and can take down and wipe out
any man, tribe or kingdom He wants! 

“Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn,
and Heth; the Jebusite,
the Amorite, and the Girgashite;
the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite;
the Arvadite, the Zemarite,
and the Hamathite.”
“Afterward the families of the Canaanites
were dispersed.
And the border of the Canaanites
was from Sidon (Lebanon)
as you go toward Gerar
(a city and region in the Negev
in which Abraham and Isaac dwelt)
as far as Gaza
(territory by the Mediterranean Sea)."

“Then as you go toward
Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim,
as far as Lasha”
(a plain under the Dead Sea)
“These were the sons of Ham,
according to their families,
according to their languages,
in their lands and in their nations.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭10:6-20‬

Then there’s the children
who were born to Shem,
Noah’s middle born son -
“the father of all the children of Eber,
the brother of Japheth the elder.”
The sons of Shem were Elam,
Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

This area appears to make up
much of the Fertile Crescent,
from the top of the Persian Gulf
to Assyria, which is northern Iraq
and southwestern Turkey.

“The sons of Aram were Uz,
Hul, Gether, and Mash.
Arphaxad begot Salah,
and Salah begot Eber.”
To Eber were born two sons:
the name of one was Peleg,
for in his days the earth was divided;
and his brother’s name was Joktan.”
Joktan begot Almodad,
Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal,
Abimael, Sheba, Ophir,
Havilah, and Jobab.
All these were the sons of Joktan.
And their dwelling place
was from Mesha (modern day Jordan)
as you go toward Sephar
(modern day Dhamar)
the mountain of the east.”
These were the sons of Shem,
according to their families,
according to their languages,
in their lands,
according to their nations.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭10:21-31‬

It’s interesting to note
that scripture says,
“The earth was divided
in the days of Peleg.”

What do you think Moses meant?
Is this the time
when the land was actually split?
Is this the time
when the land became seven continents?
Or is this the time
when patriarchy divided the world,
into warring tribes and enemy nations?

Since God split the nations
in response to Babylon -
a group of nations coming together to act like God -
do you believe the United Nations 
is really what He wants?

God made great promises to Noah
after He destroyed the earth
with the flood.
For one, God said
He would never destroy life again,
by water.
But as some know,
God will destroy life again by fire.

Jesus said,
“I came to send fire on the earth,
and how I wish it were already kindled!
But I have a baptism
to be baptized with,
and how distressed I am until
it is accomplished!”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭12:49-50‬

God also promised Noah
that he and his sons,
(and their wives who were considered
to be one with them),
that they would be fruitful and multiply
and fill the whole earth.

God also said the animals
would walk in fear and dread,
because man would now
see them as food.
“Every moving thing that lives
shall be food for you.
I have given you all things,
even as the green herbs.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭9:3‬

But there is one thing
man could not do -
God said,
“You must not eat meat
that has its lifeblood still in it.”

God created man in his image,
male and female he created them,
and life was in the blood.

This reminds me
of the Passover Lamb
as told in Exodus 12.
“Do not eat it raw,
nor boiled at all with water,
but roasted in fire -
its head with its legs and its entrails.
You shall let none of it remain
until morning, and what remains of it
until morning you shall burn with fire.
And thus you shall eat it:
with a belt on your waist,
your sandals on your feet,
and your staff in your hand.
So you shall eat it in haste.
It is the Lord’s Passover.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭12:9-11‬

The Lord also said,
“And for your lifeblood
I will surely demand an accounting.
I will demand an accounting
from every animal.
And from each human being too,
I will demand an accounting
for the life of another human being.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭9:4-5‬

According to the covenant,
God gave to Noah,
Man was not to kill another man-
under no circumstances,
not even himself.

For a man is held accountable
for taking his, or another man’s life.

And if a man killed an animal,
he would also be held accountable for it.
Everything with life will give an account.
Now notice, this passage is not about
capital punishment -
at least not the way
that our society defines it.

There is no where
in the Noah covenant,
that says that a person can serve
as a judge and jury
to determine if life or death
is worthy of a person.

No - that is not what this says at all!

We have twisted the meaning
of social justice -
We believe a person
not only gets to judge
what is right and just,
but we gets to choose
whether a person gets to live or die.

You see, in the promise to Noah,
God gave men tons of power
and the ability to rule and reign
all over the earth
(which by the way
is the same power given to Satan).

He even allowed men to see
all animals as sources of food.

He said the animals
would now fear men,
and that men would have to give
an account for them.

He promised Noah and his sons,
they would be fruitful and multiply
and fill the earth.
From a remnant of eight,
four pairs of men and women,
God would repopulate the earth
with human life.

But there was still one thing
God wanted humans to know -
God is sovereign and ruler of all,
and man will be held accountable
to God alone!

Did you know it took 150 days,
after the Great Flood,
for the waters to go down?
“And on the 17th day of the 7th month
the ark came to rest
on the mountains of Ararat.”

Google says,
“Mount Ararat is located
in the far eastern part of Turkey,
in Armenia, near the border of Iran.
It is the mythical resting place
of Noah's Ark, as mentioned
in the Book of Genesis.”
Today, the Ararat Mountain
is an inactive volcano,
and has 2 ancient volcanic peaks,
located in eastern Turkey,
in the province of Agri."

Mount Ararat stands 16,854 feet tall,
and borders present-day Turkey
to Iran, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.
And it’s known by both
Christian and Muslim religions,
to be the boat’s landing place after the flood.

Can you imagine?
After it rained from Heaven,
and the flood waters opened up on the earth,
It took 2 1/2 months
for the waters to go down,
just so Noah could see
the tops of the mountains.
That’s about 43 days
for land to become seen!

So here’s a question-
Just because land could not be seen,
does it mean land did not exist?

Scripture says,
“The waters continued to recede
until the 10th month,
and on the 1st day of the 10th month
the tops of the mountains
became ‬visible.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭8:3-5

“Then after 40 days,
Noah opened a window
he had made in the ark
and sent out a raven,
and it kept flying back and forth
until the water had dried up
from the earth.”
“Then Noah sent out a dove
to see if the water had receded
from the surface of the ground.
But the dove could find nowhere
to perch because there was water
over all the surface of the earth;
so it returned to Noah in the ark.”
“Noah reached out his hand,
took the dove and brought it back
to himself in the ark.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭8:6-9‬

“Noah waited 7 more days
and again sent out the dove from the ark.”
“When the dove returned to him
in the evening, there in its beak
was a freshly plucked olive leaf!
Then Noah knew the water had receded
from the earth.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭8:10-11‬

Can you imagine how great
Noah must have felt?

After all the chaos, and all the despair,
a small olive leaf meant
there had to be a small olive tree.
The earth and the remnant -
had been spared!

“Noah waited 7 more days
and sent the dove out again,
but this time it did not return back to him.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭8:12‬

I wonder why not?

“By the 1st day of the 1st month
of Noah’s 601 year,
the water had dried up from the earth.”
That’s a whole year that Noah
(and his wife, his sons and their wives)
was on the boat!
“Noah then removed
the covering from the ark
and saw that the surface
of the ground was dry.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭8:13‬

Has God ever removed
the covering from your eyes?
Imagine how glorious it will be
when He removes the the covering of the sky!

“By the 27th day of the 2nd month
the earth was completely dry.
“Then God said to Noah,”
Come out of the ark, you and your wife
and your sons and their wives.
Bring out every kind of living creature
that is with you -
the birds, the animals, and all the creatures
that move along the ground -
so they can multiply on the earth
and be fruitful
and increase in number on it.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭8:14-17‬ ‭

Genesis 7:11-13 says
Noah entered the ark
in the 600th year of his life,
on the 17th day of the 2nd month

Genesis 8:14-15 says
Noah left the ark
on the 27th day of the 2nd month -
a little over one year later.

So Noah came out, together with his sons
(Shem, Ham and Japheth)
and his wife and the wives of his sons.

Assuming that each man only had one wife,
that would make 8 people 
who became the remnant.

“All the animals and all the creatures
that move along the ground
and all the birds -
everything that moves on land -
came out of the ark,  one kind after another.”

According to Genesis 6 and 7,
7 pairs of each kind of clean animal -
animals that would be
acceptable for a blood sacrifice;
and 1 pair of each kind
of other animals that were taken on the ark.”

“Then Noah built an altar
to the Lord and, taking some of
all the clean animals and clean birds,
he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.”
“The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma
and said in his heart:
Never again will I curse the ground
because of humans,
even though every inclination
of the human heart
is evil from childhood.
And never again
will I destroy all living creatures,
as I have done.
“As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night will never cease.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭8:18-22

Can you imagine being the earth?
The place that has to endure
the consequence of it all!
It’s no wonder Jesus said,
Even the rocks cry out!

Some day, at God’s appointed time,
everything we see
will be burned up by fire.

When Jesus returns, for the second time,
he will come as a Lion, not as a meek lamb.

The water baptism is just a precursor
of what is to come.
Fire Baptism - now, that is the One!

The old will pass away,
and finally there will be
a new earth and new Heaven -
and together the Children of God will stand.

Noah
“was a righteous man,
blameless among the people of his time,
who walked faithfully with God.”
Genesis 6:9

Noah, in my opinion, sounds much like Job.

“In the land of Uz there lived a man
whose name was Job.
This man was blameless and upright;
he feared God and stayed away from evil.”
‭‭Job‬ ‭1:1‬

Noah and Job -
two righteous men who were described
as blameless in the eyes of God.

Noah and Job -
two righteous men who feared God
and did what was right
in the eyes of the Lord.

According to scripture, righteousness is -
a behavior that is just
under the governance of God;
a character of a person
who is cleansed and justified.

It’s interesting to me that even though
these two men were just,
one was led to create a boat
and one was attacked.

Let me explain.
Noah was given the command,
by God himself, to make a boat -
a boat that would save him,
his three sons, and their wives.

God had decided Noah
and his family would live through His wrath.

“The Lord saw how great
the wickedness of the human race
had become on the earth,
and that every inclination of the thoughts
of the human heart
was only evil all the time.
The Lord regretted
that he had made human beings
on the earth,
and his heart was deeply troubled.
So the Lord said,
“I will wipe from the face of the earth
the human race I have created
and with them the animals,
the birds and the creatures
that move along the ground
for I regret that I have made them.”
But Noah found favor
in the eyes of the Lord.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭6:5-8‬

“So God said to Noah,
“I am going to put an end to all people,
for the earth is filled with violence
because of them.
I am surely going to destroy
both them and the earth.
So make yourself an ark of cypress wood;
make rooms in it and coat it
with pitch inside and out.
This is how you are to build it:
The ark is to be three hundred cubits long,
fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.
Make a roof for it,
leaving below the roof an opening
one cubit high all around.
Put a door in the side of the ark
and make lower, middle and upper decks.
I am going to bring floodwaters
on the earth to destroy
all life under the heavens,
every creature that has
the breath of life in it.
Everything on earth will perish.
But I will establish my covenant with you,
and you will enter the ark
you and your sons and your wife
and your sons’ wives with you.
You are to bring into the ark
two of all living creatures, male and female,
to keep them alive with you.
Two of every kind of bird,
of every kind of animal
and of every kind of creature
that moves along the ground
will come to you to be kept alive.
You are to take every kind of food
that is to be eaten and store it away
as food for you and for them.”
Noah did everything
just as God commanded him.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭6:13-22‬

Job, on the other hand,
was given over into the hands of Satan.

Satan was permitted
to take Job’s home, his servants,
his livelihood, his health and his children,
but Satan was not allowed to kill him.

“Does Job fear God for nothing?”
Satan replied.

“Have you not put a hedge around him
and his household and everything he has?
You have blessed the work of his hands,
so that his flocks and herds
are spread throughout the land.
But now stretch out your hand
and strike everything he has,
and he will surely curse you to your face.”
‭‭Job‬ ‭1:9-11‬

“The Lord said to Satan,
“Very well, then,
everything he has is in your power,
but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out
from the presence of the Lord.”
‭‭Job‬ ‭1:12‬

Job’s wife said to him,
“Are you still maintaining your integrity?
Curse God and die!”
He replied, “You are talking
like a foolish woman.
Shall we accept good from God,
and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”
‭‭Job‬ ‭2:9-10‬

And while both men
shared similar characteristics,
the circumstances of their lives
were very different.
God had a different plan for each of them.
In the end, both were saved.
In the end, God gave them
a double portion for their pain.

So as I sit here and ponder
how mysterious God is,
I wonder at the power of His name.
Righteousness, in scripture, is described as
the opposite of wicked.
Righteousness is described as walking with God.

Righteousness is having a healthy
fear of the Lord, and trusting in Him
no matter what the condition.

Righteousness is choosing to submit,
to the Most High God,
even if it means giving up what you want.

Righteousness, according to scripture,
is choosing to follow the rules
of the Kingdom of God,
rather than following what popular culture says.

Righteousness describes
what is justified, in the eyes of God.
And it may look completely different
from what the wicked world says.

So as you read this,
let this message sink into your head,
“God causes everything to work together
for the good of those who love God
and are called according to his purpose for them.
Romans 8:28