‹‹  WEEK 12 — DAY 5  ›› 

Morning Nourishment

Gen. 9:6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image
of God He made man."

Heb. 12:28 "Therefore receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us have grace, through
which we may serve God well-pleasingly with piety and fear."

     The kingdom is one of the many truths that is sown as a seed in the book of Genesis, developed throughout the Bible, and reaped as a harvest in Revelation. We have already seen that, after the flood, Noah and his family lived a life in resurrection and that such a life was a shadow of the church. Now we shall see that this life in resurrection was also a shadow of the kingdom. The kingdom is a very great subject in the Bible. It is a most significant matter. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 467)

Today's Reading

     The kingdom is implied in Genesis 9:1-7. Verse 6...is a crucial verse in the book of Genesis. All Bible teachers agree that in this verse, a verse which indicates that God has given man authority over other men, we can see here the beginning of human government. Before that time, God had never given man authority over others. All men were directly under God. But, due to the fall, there is a rebellious nature in mankind. For this reason, God established a certain authority on earth to be His deputy to rule over man. From the beginning of the book of Genesis until the time of 9:6, there was no indication that, apart from the husband being the head over his wife (3:16), God had given man authority over others. However, after the flood, when in resurrection man lived on the earth in a new way, God established a deputy authority on earth....Noah was God's deputy authority after the flood. As the head of a new race, he was the deputy authority under God. Adam was not God's deputy authority over man. He was appointed to have authority over the creatures, not over man. If you read Genesis 1 carefully, you will see that Adam had authority over the fish, the fowl, the cattle, the creeping things, and “over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (vv. 26, 28). But there is not one word to indicate that Adam was given authority over other men. But after Noah became the head of a new race, God gave him authority not only over creatures other than man, but also over man....If you read Genesis 9 carefully, you will see a shadow of the kingdom. What is a kingdom? A kingdom is a rule, a reign....The ruling with God-given authority among men on the new earth signifies the reigning of God's kingdom in resurrection life. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 467-468)

     In the garden, before the fall, man was directly under the rule of God. After the fall, man was under the rule of his own conscience (Gen. 3:7-10). However, the rule of human conscience did not work well, and man fell further into wickedness (6:5, 11). Thus, after the flood, God authorized man to rule over other men, and human government began (Rom. 13:1 and footnotes 3 and 4)....This was a shadow of the kingdom of God, the reality of which is the church life in God's New Testament economy, and the manifestation of which will be the kingdom in the millennium (see footnotes 4 in Matt. 5:3 and 1 in Heb. 12:28). (Gen. 9:6, footnote 1)

     Noah was the father of the family and the leader of mankind. Everyone looked to him. He failed and was exposed. He could have been humble, confessed, and admitted that he had failed. However, since God had established him as the leader, he had to speak, not according to his convictions, but according to God's government.

Do not judge Noah according to the human concept. In God's government, Noah was a good example. Though he failed, he was still so strong to represent God in speaking governmentally. It was difficult for Noah to do that. Do not look at Noah from his side, from the side of his failure. You must look at the situation from the side of the government of God. Undoubtedly Noah was wrong. He was loose, careless, drunken, and naked. Nevertheless, we must look at Noah from the perspective of God's government. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 443)

Further Reading: Life-study of Genesis, msgs. 33-35; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs.
154-159, 240-242, 244