Today I was faithful in carrying out the second day of reading and entering the bible. I now have eight chapters of Genesis that I can search, as well as one chapter of Matthew from yesterday too.
My thoughts today are as follows - all from Genesis chapters 5 - 8.
1. With regard to the genealogy recorded in Chapter 5 - Wouldn't it be nice to live for 777 years? (I picked the person who died the earliest as the example.) Just think of all the things that you could accomplish in 700 plus years on earth.
2. There is always questions about what the Nephilim are (from chapter 6) and I have heard some say that they are descendants of men and angels mixed, or something to that effect. I wonder how that would work, especially since (as I understand it) angels are not sexed. It must be referring to something else. But what is interesting is that it states that these Nephilim were on the earth "in those days - and also afterward - ..." After what? The flood?? How could they have survived? I don't have the answer to this, just the question.
3. It is interesting how God characterizes the people of earth at this time. It says that every inclination of the thoughts of the heart of man was only evil all the time. It mentions this in verse 5, and again says something to this effect in verses 11 and 12. It states "...for the earth is filled with violence because of them..." Ever watched the evening news? Did the flood help? Has anything really changed from that time until now? We put Jesus to death, and we murdered all the prophets, and we continue to be a people full of violence, corruption, and evil. So I ask, "What has changed?"
4. It is something - how the bible describes God's feeling toward mankind - "...and his heart was filled with pain..." I do not want to be one of those who causes God's heart to be filled with pain. Rather, I want to be like Noah, who is described as righteous and blameless. This is shown even more clearly by the last verse of chapter 6, where it says "Noah did everything just as God commanded him." That is what I want to have said about me.
About the day today:
Ever notice how hard the day after a long weekend is harder than the usual Monday? Although the week between Christmas and New Year's does not count, since it is practically a holiday week, I still noticed that it is harder to get motivated since so many people are out of the office and on vacation. And if it were a regular business day after a long weekend, it would be impossibly stressful and busy.
2 comments:
I was wondering about Noah's situation were he's described as a God fearing man and blameless. Since Jesus had yet to come to earth at that time, it meant that in order to meet those conditions he would of had to lead a perfect or at least a near perfect life.
Are we to assume in the entire world not a single man other than Noah was obeying God? But when Jesus came he died for the sins of mankind. Including past, present, and future. If that holds true then I suppose Noah could still be accepted in the eyes of God because Jesus is shielding his sins. Of course that's assuming Noah wasn't perfect.
William,
Hey dude, I hope all is going well! Good to hear from you!
I am going to cheat and jump ahead into the new testament for the answer, or at least what I believe is probably the answer.
According to Ecclesiastes 7:20 and Romans 3:10, Noah could not have been perfect due to not doing anything wrong. (Although the passage that we are given does not indicate any sins that he committed.)
He was considered blameless (righteous) because of his faith (belief) in God. Apparently no one else living at the time believed in God, or at least believed enough to follow. See Hebrews 11:6-7 for the explanation.
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