Genesis 9:1 KJV
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Noah and his sons were unmistakably blessed of the Lord, though John Gill points out that the blessing is a temporal one and not a spiritual one, as can be seen from the incident with Ham.
There are some blessings that belong to mankind in general. But I have to see this text as having more specific application than that. God did, in faxt bless both Noah and his sons. Yet, despite this blessing:
• Noah becomes drunk
• Ham mocks his father's nakedness and
• The races of people they fathered would once again be chastened of the Lord
I see two things in all of this
First, there is the grace of God that He blesses those He knows will not live up to holy expectations. Neither Noah nor his sons performed righteously even after seeing the power of God in the Flood. Still God blessed them. What grace God bestows upon us that He blesses us knowing that we are so given to sin and dishonoring to His name!
Secondly, blessing does not mean that men will not sin. This is not to excuse sin nor give men an occasion to sin. It is merely to point out that God's work in a man is not finished even when God Himself has pronounced a blessing upon him. We will not attain unto perfect righteousness until we are in glory.
And it is that day for which I long.
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Noah and his sons were unmistakably blessed of the Lord, though John Gill points out that the blessing is a temporal one and not a spiritual one, as can be seen from the incident with Ham.
There are some blessings that belong to mankind in general. But I have to see this text as having more specific application than that. God did, in faxt bless both Noah and his sons. Yet, despite this blessing:
• Noah becomes drunk
• Ham mocks his father's nakedness and
• The races of people they fathered would once again be chastened of the Lord
I see two things in all of this
First, there is the grace of God that He blesses those He knows will not live up to holy expectations. Neither Noah nor his sons performed righteously even after seeing the power of God in the Flood. Still God blessed them. What grace God bestows upon us that He blesses us knowing that we are so given to sin and dishonoring to His name!
Secondly, blessing does not mean that men will not sin. This is not to excuse sin nor give men an occasion to sin. It is merely to point out that God's work in a man is not finished even when God Himself has pronounced a blessing upon him. We will not attain unto perfect righteousness until we are in glory.
And it is that day for which I long.
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