Session 4: Week 6 – Genesis 9:1-17
9 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
I want to look at this world “bless”. It actually means to bestow power for success, prosperity, fertility. It’s not just saying some empty religious prayer over someone or something. Think about that. It means to bestow power for success, prosperity and fertility. That’s powerful.
There are 495 mentions of the word bless in Scripture. 378 in the Old Testament and 117 in the new. Sometimes we read over the verses that include the promise to bless us without really knowing what the purpose of the blessing is for. Let’s remember that it means to bestow power on us for success, prosperity and fertility when reading the following verses.
Genesis 12:2
Exodus 23:25
Leviticus 9:23
Numbers 6:23-27
What new things do you realize about the act of being blessed?
Now lets look at some New Testament verses. Remember the meaning: to bestow power for success, prosperity, fertility.
Luke 6:28
Matthew 13:16
Matthew 25:34
Romans 12:14
What do you think God is really saying by telling us to bless our enemies, and those who persecute us?
In Yeshua’s sermon on the mount He tells us the qualities that we must possess in order to be blessed. Let’s look at those now:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
What thoughts come to mind regarding these character traits being a precursor to receiving power for success, prosperity, fertility?
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.
For all you animal lovers out there this is where it seems the relationship between man and beast became one of fear and distrust. Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
This is a very important commandment – God is telling us not to eat blood. This is not just important in the Old Testament. In Acts 15 when the Jerusalem Council met to determine what laws the Gentiles who were getting saved had to abide by – this was one of them. See Acts 15:19-20 Why do you think God commanded this?
5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
| ה וְאַךְ אֶת-דִּמְכֶם לְנַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם אֶדְרֹשׁ, מִיַּד כָּל-חַיָּה אֶדְרְשֶׁנּוּ; וּמִיַּד הָאָדָם, מִיַּד אִישׁ אָחִיו–אֶדְרֹשׁ, אֶת-נֶפֶשׁ הָאָדָם. | 5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it; and at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, will I require the life of man. |
7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.”
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I 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 go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall 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; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on 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.”
Just a reminder – we talked about this in week 3 of session 4 when God first talked about the rainbow. We must reclaim the true meaning of the rainbow and not let the LGBT community reframe it and use it for their own advantages, or symbolism. Sometimes I hear Christians repelled by the rainbow because of it’s use by the LGBT community as their flag. Let’s remember each time we see the rainbow symbol that we serve a God who makes and keeps covenants. What a miraculous God we serve that can create a rainbow of color in the sky when it rains.
This is for the science geeks among us: A rainbow occurs when raindrops and sunshine cross paths. Sunlight consists of all the colors of light, which add together to make white illumination. When sunlight enters water drops, it reflects off their inside surfaces. While passing through the droplets, the light also separates into its component colors, which is similar to the effect of a glass prism. Each falling water drop actually flashes its colors to the observer for just an instant, before another drop takes its place.
The bright, primary rainbow has red on the outer edge and blue within. Higher in the sky there is always another, dimmer rainbow with the order of colors reversed. This secondary rainbow results from additional reflection of sunlight through the raindrops. It is most visible when there are dark clouds behind it. Look for the second bow high in the sky the next time rainbow colors appear. Some observers have even reported seeing third and fourth rainbows above the first two.
What are your thoughts about the rainbow?
Let’s pray.
