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THE
BIBLE
THE LORD JESUS
AND YOU
by
John Roberts
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The
Bible
Chapter 3
I
RECALL as a small boy standing on the bridge over the river
in the village where I was born. It was a fairly new bridge.
The previous one had been washed away.
It seemed impossible to me that any amount of water could
wash away a bridge. Thick stone pillars firmly planted in
the river bed carried the road and footpath. A high parapet
prevented curious little boys, like me, from falling over.
It was hard to believe that all this had been swept away in
a flood. But it had, along with a shop, vehicles, chicken
huts and a great deal more.
Noah and the Ark
The cause of that particular flood was a reservoir that burst.
A torrent of water swept down the valley causing tremendous
damage and some loss of life. The flood of Noah's day was
quite different. That was no accident. It was an act of God.
When insurance companies use that expression, "an act
of God", they do so to describe an event beyond man's
control. It does not reflect any belief in God. Yet the flood
was an act of God. It was an act of judgment on a depraved
world. Fifteen hundred years of history have passed between
Genesis chapters 3 and 6. In that time, society had got worse
and worse. Eventually the only remedy was its complete destruction.
Noah was saved before he became overwhelmed by the wickedness.
But it was God who provided the means of his salvation. He
told him what to do and how to do it.
The value of accounts like these is not confined to the Sunday
School. Noah was a man who showed obedience. He no doubt also
displayed an uncommon faith in what God had said despite scorn
from his friends. But the New Testament draws other lessons
from these events for us.
Jesus points to the preoccupation with everyday things that
characterised Noah's generation. He warns of the danger of
leaving God out of our lives. He speaks too of his second
coming being unexpected. It will be as when the flood overtook
the unprepared world of Noah's day.
Peter the disciple sees the flood as being like baptism. Noah's
experience was a pointer to our own. Baptism, being fully
immersed in water, is the vehicle of our salvation. Noah left
behind an evil world, and passed through the waters to a new
world. God calls us to leave sin behind, be baptised and make
a new start.
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God
made a covenant with Noah. This is the first use of this word covenant
in the Bible. As we have previously said, it is a mark of God's
mercy. God promised Noah that he would not again destroy the earth
by a flood.
Noah's family grew. They were spread far and wide. Within a very
short time sin was again a massive problem. God confounded the language.
Families who had already drifted far from God in their thinking
now drifted away from each other.
Abraham and a New Nation
Moving house was a regular thing in my childhood. We did it so often
it became quite a joke with relatives and friends. By the time I
reached my twenties, I had notched up over a dozen different addresses.
Sometimes it was fun for a child. We had no car and would often
travel with the furniture van. We would be sat on the sofa looking
out over the tailboard as we journeyed.
It would not have been such fun if there had not been a known destination.
It was the looking forward that made it exciting. We always knew
exactly where we were going.
In Abraham, God found a man who pleased Him. He was an inhabitant
of a prosperous city called Ur, a city in Chaldea. God made a covenant
with Abraham too. He made him important promises.
God also made heavy demands on the man's faith. Abraham was told
to pluck up his roots and move. But his destination was not disclosed.
He was to go to a land that God would show him and set off without
knowing where. From a human point of view there was nothing to look
forward to. Only his confidence in God and what God promised drove
him to respond.
The promises had to do with ownership of land and blessings for
many nations. They concerned Abraham and future generations of his
family. They had far reaching effects. Through them Abraham understood
about the work of Jesus Christ. He lived 2000 years before Jesus
was born. Yet the Gospel was preached to Abraham.
Through Abraham's son Isaac and Isaac's son Jacob, God pursued His
plan. He repeated the promises He had made to Abraham for these
men. There seemed to be no immediate fulfilment of them. Jacob even
had to leave the land which God had promised them. Famine drove
him into Egypt. Yet he also had confidence in God's covenant. His
name was changed to Israel as a sign of God's mercy to him. In Egypt
Jacob's twelve sons grew to become a nation. They were the children
of Israel.
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THE BIBLE
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