Genesis 9:1-7 (part 2)
A Provisional Peace

  1. God renews the command to be fruitful and multiply
    1. He had made that command to Adam and Eve at the beginning
    2. So he renews this command to Noah and sons
    3. And this is done in the hope of Christ
  2. He renews man's dominion, but with a dark twist
    1. Fear and dread of you on every living creature
    2. They'll be food for you
    3. But don't eat the blood
  3. He reestablishes the significance of human life
    1. Threefold repetition of "Require"
    2. Even the animals will pay a penalty
    3. And man as well for slaying his "brother"
      1. Reminds us of Cain's sin
        1. Just as Cain killed his brother
        2. So any man who kills another is guilty of the same crime, for they all will have one father in Noah.
      2. So, then, God sought to avenge Abel's blood, but not by requiring an eye for an eye from Cain.
      3. And even then, Cain felt the punishment too great to bear.
      4. But now, God says he will require the very life of the brother-slayer.
        1. So we see that God has a plan to keep the earth from becoming as evil as it was in the days of Noah.
        2. He will remove the worst evildoers from action - If a modern Cain slays his brother, his life will be forfeit.
        3. No more will the children of the devil rise up to murder the children of faith without fear or repercussion
        4. It won't get to the point where there's only one faithful man left and the sons of evil seek his life.
      5. This is comforting, but it is frightening as well
        1. On the one hand, we see that God is determined to bring forth the Seed of the woman
        2. On the other, we see more clearly that he is committed to the judgment of sin
        3. The attribute of God most clearly portrayed in this passage is judgment.
          1. Threefold repetition of "require"
          2. We are reminded that God is mightily displeased with sin and will not pass over it lightly
      6. As interesting, for our present purpose though, is how God will execute this judgment - through men themselves.
  4. He hands over even judicial dominion to man
    1. Man will execute God's judgment against murderers
      1. Whoever shed's the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.
      2. For the animals, God said he would require a man's lifeblood from them.
      3. But for man, he says the power of judicial execution will be given into his hands.
      4. We think back again to the story of Cain
        1. Cain worried that everyone who saw him would seek his life
        2. But God assure him that he himself would protect Cain and avenge his death
        3. It was clear at that time that anyone who tried to take Cain's life would be guilty of Cain's crime - murder, the murder of a brother.
        4. And we recall with horror Lamech, the 7th generation from Cain, who boasted "I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. 24 If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold."
          1. I.e. he was his own avenger; he had no need of God
          2. And his vengeance was more deadly than God's
        5. Is God changing his mind all of a sudden? Is he thinking, "You know, I should have let Cain's brothers kill him"?
        6. Why is man suddenly being given a right to put murderers to death?
        7. He is being given the power of God himself, a power over life and death
    2. Because man is in God's image
      1. We usually miss the thrust of this argument.
      2. We read this to say, "I'm instituting capital punishment because murder is a heinous crime. To murder is to destroy the image of God."
        1. There is truth to this line of reasoning.
        2. After all, James makes a similar argument in the NT: "With [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God."
        3. And certainly in this passage we're being taught that man retains the image of God, that he has not wholly lost his created identity and become like the animals.
        4. But that's not specifically what's going on here.
      3. Rather, God is explaining why it is by man that man's blood will be shed
        1. Remember the contrast: He himself will avenge man's blood against the animals.
        2. But whatever man sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed.
        3. Why? Because man is in the image of God - i.e. he was made to exercise dominion
      4. this aspect of the image of God is brought out in Genesis 1
        1. God creates man in his image and says "fill the earth and subdue it."
        2. And that dominion of the earth is restored in dark form in vv. 2,3.
      5. So here man is given dominion even over his fellow men
        1. He is given the power of life and death
        2. He is called to execute the judgment of God against those who kill their brothers
        3. It would be unthinkable to give this power to an animal.
        4. But man is in God's image and therefore may execute a picture of God's judgment.
    3. Thus, civil government is established
      1. This is what's behind it all. God is commending into the hands of men the power to rule over one another for the sake of peace.
      2. Implicit in this is the right of lesser rule
        1. If a king or governor or magistrate may exercise the power of life and death…
        2. he may certainly impose lesser sanctions as well.
        3. That is, he may require thieves to repay double what they stole; he may have a man whipped who assaults his neighbor.
        4. He wields the sword in its ultimate capacity of taking life for life, he may also then take eye for eye and tooth for tooth.
      3. Again, think back to Cain
        1. He built a city and named it "Enoch" after his son
          1. Enoch means "dedication"
          2. Dedicated to whom? Why to Cain, of course!
        2. And Lamech, 7 generations later abused to the fullest the authority he had been granted in this city.
      4. But God takes this earthly institution and gives it a heavenly purpose
        1. Cain thought the city was dedicated to him
        2. God takes it and dedicates it to himself.
        3. By this institution - the city and the civil government - peace will be preserved.
        4. Men who would ordinarily kill their brothers will be restrained for fear of judgment by the state
        5. God told Noah to build the ark because the earth was "filled with violence" (6:13). Now that violence will be held in check.
      5. This institution of civil government will have no redemptive capability
        1. Men may be restrained from outward evil for fear of the consequences
        2. But inwardly they will remain cesspools of violence and hatred, corruption and murder.
        3. And God does not look on the outward appearance but on the heart.
        4. So this outward restraint will protect no one from the judgment of God. The state is useless for that purpose.
        5. Men still need a redeemer who can bear the judgment of God in their place and credit a perfect righteousness to their account.
      6. Yet the civil government does serve a redemptive purpose
        1. Not by redeeming anyone itself
        2. But God uses it to provide civil peace so that the Redeemer may be born
        3. For how can he be born if 10 generations later the whole earth is filled with violence again and the one man of faith hides in fear for his life?
  5. And he repeats, "Be fruitful and multiply."
    1. Like a bookend to this passage, God begins and ends with that blessing.
      1. He is commanding Noah and sons to be the opposite of those murderers just mentioned who will be judged
      2. Rather, Noah and sons should produce life.
      3. And as we say before, they must do so in hope knowing that they do not bear their children to futility - merely to live and die in a cursed world and bear children to the same curse.
      4. But they bear children in hope, in faith, believing that God will indeed establish the necessary peace and bring in the seed of the woman to redeem his people from their sins.
    2. So Noah and his children will bring forth their children in faith, waiting for The Child to come, knowing that he will be descended from one of them.
  6. The significance for the people of God
    1. The nature and limits of civil government
      1. Its power is ordained by God
        1. Romans 13:1ff. "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. 6For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."
        2. And what a startling thing for Paul to say about the Roman government which persecuted the Christians or at least turned a deaf ear to their pleas for protection from persecution.
        3. Yet Paul acknowledges this authority to be from God.
        4. Here, in Genesis 9:6, we see where Paul gets this idea.
        5. We see that God uses even wicked and unbelieving men to accomplish his goals.
        6. Because of this Paul advocates not civil disobedience, but prayer: 1 Timothy 2:1ff. "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence."
      2. It rules over believer and unbeliever without distinction
      3. It has no power, right, or duty to enforce true religion
        1. Note the power given to the state - to restrain and avenge outward crimes of man against man.
        2. The state has no authority to punish crimes of the heart, such as hatred.
          1. Those sins, God will judge.
          2. And any state that attempts to judge them oversteps its bounds, violates its charter, and is, with respect to that point, not ruling with the authority of God.
        3. And the state has not authority to punish crimes against God
          1. I.e. crimes strictly against God.
          2. It is true that all crimes, in one sense, are against God.
          3. But some of those are also outward crimes against one's neighbor. The state may avenge these and only these.
        4. The state may not avenge blasphemy or idolatry. It may not through external sanctions enforce the true religion
        5. True religion is a matter of the heart and cannot be compelled or required by the state.
        6. Let us be specific
          1. The state may not establish a church, any church
            • The citizens of Geneva in John Calvin's day were wrong when they set up a theocracy in Geneva and required the state to enforce sound doctrine by the power of the sword.
              • the punishment didn't fit the crime
              • And God had not given such power to civil government.
            • The Westminster Divines were wrong to allow British Parliament to convene them to write a confession of faith
              • And the document reflects that wrong understanding in the powers it gives to the civil magistrate.
              • And British Parliament was wrong to take that duty to themselves.
          2. The state may not make laws against idolatry or blasphemy
          3. The state may not make Sabbath laws.
            • Many church people sigh for the days of 19th century America and the so-called "blue laws."
            • then the state forced businesses to shut down on the Lord's Day so that this day would be a day of rest.
            • Now, I'm all for non-essential businesses shutting down on Sunday; and I'm all for church attendance and resting on that day.
            • But the state has no authority to enforce this.
            • It would be like us going to the mall today and forcibly shutting down the merchants:
              • We might be right that they shouldn't be operating on this day
              • But that doesn't mean we have the authority to shut them down
              • And for us to do so would be anarchy
              • And for the state to do so would be tyrrany - an attempt to enforce a spiritul goal through material means.
        7. This does not mean that God loves idolatry or blasphemy or Sabbath-breaking
          1. He hates all such things
          2. But he has not given the state (which may be run by unbelievers) authority to execute his judgment in these things
          3. Rather, he gives that authority to the church
          4. And the punishment fits the crime.
      4. It is not the Christian Hope
        1. Put no confidence in Princes
        2. Recognize that it is temporary until all the elect are called in, then every authority shall bow the knee to Christ when he is revealed.
    2. The superiority of the Kingdom of Christ
      1. The King is perfect
        1. He is perfectly wise and just
        2. His judgments are always right
        3. He is always on guard on behalf of his citizens
      2. The King is powerful
        1. He can and will protect you always
        2. You may put your confidence in this Prince of Peace
      3. Christ establishes an abiding peace
        1. this is what Noah's father hoped for Noah
        2. but a peace enforced by threat of the sword is hardly a true peace
        3. Christ has vanquished all his enemies and rules from heaven
        4. He will reign until all his enemies are made a footstool for his feet
        5. He will come again in judgment and destroy all his enemies
        6. And then there will be nothing but the Redeemed, whose hearts have been purified, who have no hatred for one another, who will not hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain.
      4. Your citizenship is in heaven
        1. Obey ruling authorities here, as powers ordained by God.

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