Genesis 2:8-9 KJV And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (9) And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:16-17 KJV And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 9:1-6 KJV And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. (2) And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. (3) Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. (4) But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. (5) And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. (6) Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Adam and Noah were very very similar in their positions in the earth and experience with God. Both are told to multiply, replenish the earth and have dominion over everything.
But I want to concentrate upon a parallel between them both that really stresses a message to us.
Adam could not eat of fruit of the knowledge of Good and Evil.
Noah cannot eat blood of animals nor shed man's blood. And these two different commands are very much related to one another. Notice that both involve eating.
Noah could all sorts of meat, except one kind of meat.
As much as the fruit could not have the desire to make one wise inside it, the meat could not have blood in it. And notice that Adam's sin was associated with the very things that Adam was commanded in regards to sin.
Noah, on the other hand, did not make his mistake and sin in direct obvious disobedience to God's command to him regarding eating blood and shedding blood.
BLOOD in the Bible is associated with GRAPES and WINE. Genesis 9:20-25 KJV And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: (21) And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. (22) And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. (23) And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. (24) And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. (25) And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Noahs' sin was drunkenness.
Notice what the bible calls wine from the grape. Deuteronomy 32:14 KJV Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. Wine is called the BLOOD OF THE GRAPE. Jesus Christ spoke of His death on the cross using the symbols of bread and wine.
And this has a whole lot of spiritual significance to the picture, and reveals a startling truth that we must recognize in our lives for God.
Notice what Moses' law said: Leviticus 7:27 KJV Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. The soul would be CUT OFF from his people if he ate any manner of blood.
He was taken outside the camp during those times.
Furthermore, if man SHED MAN'S BLOOD, then by man must his blood be shed.
(But how many know that our laws are losing more and more justice all the time?
And Adam was told he would DIE the day he sinned.
Spiritually Adam died, and physically he was CUT OFF from the Garden of Eden. We can clearly see Adam's sin associated with the command from God.
Although Noah was not condemned for physically eating blood or shedding man's blood, USING THE SCRIPTURAL USE OF SYMBOLS, the act of getting drunk on wine represented SHEDDING BLOOD and EATING BLOOD.
I want to show how God has a message that we must not commit these things in a spiritual manner as well! Adam was already naked before he sinned, but he was not ashamed. Genesis 2:25 KJV And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. But after Adam sinned, the bible says he saw his nakedness and manufactured aprons, and then hid himself because he knew he was naked when God's Presence approached him.
You see, Adam may have been physically naked, but he had no sin in his flesh, nor the woman in her's, that would lead to sins, and were spiritually and wonderfully clothed in their hearts and souls with God's presence.
The devil told the woman she could help herself and improve upon herself by making herself wise.
Case in point -- you cannot improve yourself, but you need God's Life! And Noah's sin symbolizes the same problem!!! How many know that although Noah was told to not eat blood, Jesus said to spiritually drink His blood, represented by drinking the wine, to have eternal life.
John 6:53-54 KJV Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. (54) Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. You see, drinking Jesus blood represents the fact that in order to HAVE ETERNAL LIFE YOU NEED HIS DEATH AND NEED TO BELIEVE THAT IT IS YOUR SALVATION FROM SIN.
ANd the BLOOD is the LIFE OF THE FLESH.
We need Him so much that we cannot even walk without holding his hand.
God told Noah he would be cut off from His people should he eat blood.
And shedding blood of a man represents the thing that cause Adam's spiritual DEATH.
And we will SPIRITUALLY DIE the moment we think we can make it on our own.
Jesus explained it was not his physical blood he was talking about that they ought to drink.
If you BELIEVE THE GOSPEL and you know you NEED His death, burial and resurrection, then you feast on the bread and wine of Jesus. That is why Jesus saw their confusion over apparent cannibalism, and said: John 6:63 KJV It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. HIS TEACHINGS! HIS WORDS. THEY ARE LIFE! Peter knew what He meant, and so when many left Jesus as a result of those words, and the disciples remained, and He asked them if they would leave, too, watch: John 6:66-69 KJV From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. (67) Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? (68) Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. (69) And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. PETER BELIEVED!
And as the world continues to reject Jesus Christ's words about the cross and the only way to be saved being through that, and they try to be as best as THEY can be, and live by what THEY think is truth, and that man can help man well enough, spiritually, they are taking their own natural lives and eating sinful fallen blood of creatures, rather than Jesus' sinless blood that washes away sins.
The greatest sin is actually the ROOT OF ALL SIN.
There are many who KNOW they should feast on the word of God and let themselves loose and free in worship to God!
And those who trust in their OWN righteousness will one day be naked before God. Revelation 3:17 KJV Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: Revelation 16:15 KJV Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 2 Corinthians 5:3 KJV If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. Revelation 19:8 KJV And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. Righteousness is being GOOD ENOUGH for God.
Isaiah 64:6 KJV But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Romans 10:3 KJV For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. SUBMIT to his righteousness! |