In my last discussion I talked about the fall of Adam and the 'curse' of sin on humanity,now we will look at the fruits of that sin and God's plan of salvation.
From Adam to Noah there are 10 generations;the bad seed can be traced back to Cain who killed his younger brother Abel and said "am I my brother's keeper?''.At the end of the ten generations God sends his judgement on the world in the form of a flood.Gen.6:1-2 says ''When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose''. Who are the sons of God? they are from the good seed of Seth, Adam's youngest son, who were the first to ''call on the name of the Lord''.Gen.4:26.But the daughters of men were of the bad seed of Cain and were 'beautiful' which led the sons of God into temptation and notice 'they married any of them as they chose' which went against God's first Covenant between One woman and One man; see matt.19:4-6.But worst of all the daughters of men began bearing children, these children grew up an became even more violent and wicked than Cain, and are described as....''mighty men that were of old,the men of renown'' Gen.6:4 and in Gen.6:5 it says .....''the wickedness of man was great in the earth,and that every thought of his heart was only evil continually.'' Continually? can you imagine what kind of world this must of been? God had no choice but to 'wipe them out', except for Noah and his family.
In the flood God drowns out the bad seed of Cain but preserves the good seed of Seth through Noah whom God had found 'favour'.Gen.6:8 The story of the flood reads like a new creation story.Like Adam God gives Noah authority over the animals ,He commands him to be fruitful and multiply and he makes a Covenant with him like he did with Adam. Now God uses Covenants to make us his family.A Covenant is a binding promise sealed with a sign it cannot be broken, it,s a sacred bond like marriage.With Adam God made a Covenant and the seventh day was the sign that sealed the Covenant and Adam and his wife became part of His family ''it was the first step in the forging of covenant of the one God and his people'' CCC. With Noah God renews his Covenant with his creation. Gen.9:9-13 says ''I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you....and this is the sign of the Covenant I am making between me and you....I have set my rainbow in the clouds...'' The sign of the first Covenant was the sabbath day and the sign of the second Covenant was the rainbow (both symbolic of creation).
And how does the Covenant with Noah point us to Jesus? Noah built an Ark which was a symbol of God's mercy; just as Jesus built a Church which is the 'Ark of Salvation', in which is also a symbol of God's mercy; Noah was ''a preacher of righteousness'' 2 pete2:5; Jesus was ''a prophet ,powerful in word and in deed'' Luk.24:19 The flood points us to the sacrament of baptism ...''this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also...'' 1 pete 3:21 and when Jesus was baptized.....''a spirit came down from heaven as a dove and remained on him.'' John 1:32 and in Gen.8:10-11 Noah sends out a dove every seven days until it returns an olive branch. Amen, in my next post I will discuss Jesus and Isaac. God bless!
From Adam to Noah there are 10 generations;the bad seed can be traced back to Cain who killed his younger brother Abel and said "am I my brother's keeper?''.At the end of the ten generations God sends his judgement on the world in the form of a flood.Gen.6:1-2 says ''When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose''. Who are the sons of God? they are from the good seed of Seth, Adam's youngest son, who were the first to ''call on the name of the Lord''.Gen.4:26.But the daughters of men were of the bad seed of Cain and were 'beautiful' which led the sons of God into temptation and notice 'they married any of them as they chose' which went against God's first Covenant between One woman and One man; see matt.19:4-6.But worst of all the daughters of men began bearing children, these children grew up an became even more violent and wicked than Cain, and are described as....''mighty men that were of old,the men of renown'' Gen.6:4 and in Gen.6:5 it says .....''the wickedness of man was great in the earth,and that every thought of his heart was only evil continually.'' Continually? can you imagine what kind of world this must of been? God had no choice but to 'wipe them out', except for Noah and his family.
In the flood God drowns out the bad seed of Cain but preserves the good seed of Seth through Noah whom God had found 'favour'.Gen.6:8 The story of the flood reads like a new creation story.Like Adam God gives Noah authority over the animals ,He commands him to be fruitful and multiply and he makes a Covenant with him like he did with Adam. Now God uses Covenants to make us his family.A Covenant is a binding promise sealed with a sign it cannot be broken, it,s a sacred bond like marriage.With Adam God made a Covenant and the seventh day was the sign that sealed the Covenant and Adam and his wife became part of His family ''it was the first step in the forging of covenant of the one God and his people'' CCC. With Noah God renews his Covenant with his creation. Gen.9:9-13 says ''I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you....and this is the sign of the Covenant I am making between me and you....I have set my rainbow in the clouds...'' The sign of the first Covenant was the sabbath day and the sign of the second Covenant was the rainbow (both symbolic of creation).
And how does the Covenant with Noah point us to Jesus? Noah built an Ark which was a symbol of God's mercy; just as Jesus built a Church which is the 'Ark of Salvation', in which is also a symbol of God's mercy; Noah was ''a preacher of righteousness'' 2 pete2:5; Jesus was ''a prophet ,powerful in word and in deed'' Luk.24:19 The flood points us to the sacrament of baptism ...''this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also...'' 1 pete 3:21 and when Jesus was baptized.....''a spirit came down from heaven as a dove and remained on him.'' John 1:32 and in Gen.8:10-11 Noah sends out a dove every seven days until it returns an olive branch. Amen, in my next post I will discuss Jesus and Isaac. God bless!
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