The New Adam & a City Called Confusion
April 30, 202022
Larry R. Evans
Introduction
We began our study of Genesis a few weeks ago by suggesting that the first two chapters provide a lens by which we can see and understand more fully the rise and fall of nations, and the blessings and sufferings presented in the rest of Scripture. Genesis 1 and 2 provide the rationale for us to have trust and confidence in God even when things all around us look chaotic.
Genesis 1 portrays God as the Mighty One who brought all of creation into existence. Genesis 2 reveals God as the relational and personal Creator who loves and cares for all of creation. This obviously included Adam and Eve who were created in His image. A picture of God without Genesis 1 or 2 is incomplete.
A perfect home for Adam and Eve was created for them and called Eden. Sin disrupted God’s plan (Genesis 3) but the book of Revelation shows Eden restored to the place where there is found “the healing of the nations” and where there “will no longer be any curse” (Rev. 22:2,3). A climax of the restored Eden is promised in Genesis 3:15, but described in Revelation 22 with these words, “The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city” and His servants “will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” and “There will be no more night” (Rev. 22:2,3,4,5). It has taken thousands of years to get to this point but we have the assurance the time is near.
The book, The Great Controversy, summarizes well this transition from Genesis 1 to the last chapter of Revelation.
The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love. –The Great Controversy, p.678.
QUESTION: What brought the harmony and perfect joy stated above?
Our previous studies showed how Adam and Eve’s sin developed a fear for the very One who created, loved, and cared for them. It is then that we began to learn about the consequences of harmful choices. We saw created man moving into the center and edging God more and more to the sideline. Worship is distorted and a brother killed his brother doing so in the context of worship. That should not be read over lightly.
A strange element had invaded a perfect world. Last week Dave shared with us the terrible impact of sin upon humans. It had become so bad that the world needed a “restart” which a universal flood provided. No local or regional flood would be sufficient to answer even theologically the enormity of the sin problem. The flood in Genesis is presented as a merciful act by our Creator to begin once again to implement His original plan albeit within the context of Satan’s deceptive scheming. This brings us to today’s study which we will narrow to two important subjects covered in this week’s study: The New Adam and a City Called Confusion.
QUESTION: How can the flood be seen as being merciful?
The New Adam
By the time we get to Genesis 6, we have moved from an individual focus to that of a community with wickedness so widespread that God’s heart was greatly troubled. (6:6).
The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.
Prior to the flood, God found Noah to be “a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time” (6:10). After the flood God confirms with a rainbow a covenant “between me and all life on the earth.” (9:17). All seems to be going well but we are then immediately introduced to a very strange story. It is found in Genesis 9:18 – 27.
QUESTION: What is the purpose for the following story being told?
The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.
Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.
When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said,
“Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers. ”
He also said,
“Praise be to the LORD, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
May God extend Japheth’s territory;
may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”
In this passage, there is an intentional shift of focus from Noah to his sons. The attention is now redirected to the future of human history. From these sons of Noah the whole earth was to be repopulated (9:19). The very mention of Ham as father of Canaan, anticipates the blessing of Abraham (10:15, 15 and 12:3). As God tells the story we see the link from the plan for Adam and Eve and their fall linked with future generations.
Noah’s first act out of the ark, planting a vineyard (9:20), connects him to Adam. The parallel from there reveals God’s plan would not be derailed although it would be delayed. In the “new world” after the flood we find Noah likened to a “new Adam.”
Adam-A new creation, a new beginning | Noah—A “new creation” after the flood, a new beginning |
1. Adam to care for the garden (2:8,15) | 1. Noah, “a man of the soil” (9:20) |
2. Eats of the fruit & becomes aware of his nakedness. (3:6,7) | 2. Eats of fruit becomes aware of nakedness. (9:22,24) |
3. Covering provided (3:7, 21) | 3. Covering provided (9:23) |
4. Ends with a curse and a blessing (3:14, 17) | 4. Ends with a curse and a blessing (9:24-27) |
5. The acts of the past affect the future—Cain and Able. (3:16-20) | 5. The acts of the past affect the future—the future descendants of Canaan. (9:24-27) |
Two weeks ago, we entitled our study, “Choices Have Consequences.” The lesson Adam and Noah both faced was those choices and the subsequent decisions did have consequences. Unfortunately, it is a lesson not remembered very well. Hence God does give us reminders.
QUESTION: How is the rainbow a promise? Isn’t a rainbow a natural phenomenon?
The covenant’s God made were to be reminders. In Genesis 9:12-13, the Hebrew word sometimes translated as “rainbow” is the same word used for warrior’s bow in the OT. The next time you look at a rainbow ask yourself why did God use a rainbow to communicate His promise of forgiveness and His presence? If you see the rainbow as an archer’s bow, in what direction is it pointing—towards the earth or towards heaven? Could it be communicating that this is God’s offer of peace and that He is willing to bear the cost Himself? It is the promise of His presence—greater than any other blessing that could be given.
His Presence, in the midst of difficulties, He acts as our Defender:
Hear the word of the LORD,
you who tremble at his word:
“Your own people who hate you,
and exclude you because of my name, have said,
‘Let the LORD be glorified,
that we may see your joy!’
Yet they will be put to shame. (Jeremiah 66:5)
I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. (Ezekiel 1:28)
QUESTION
And why is it important for us to know long Noah lived after the flood?
After the flood Noah lived 350 years. Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died. (Genesis 9:28,29)
One likely reason is that these numbers are meant to inspire trust in God after all that has happened with the flood. Furthermore, the generations after the flood can have confidence as they place their trust in Him for the days ahead. Such reminders, however, did not erase the ingrained attitudes of independence.
A City Called Confusion
We see it today. It is not a new phenomenon. To be autonomous, independent from God, is the aspiration of many. Freedom is perceived to be “coming out” from under God’s rule, His counsel, His direction. The search for meaning becomes finding ourselves by looking within ourselves. One’s own experience becomes the criterion for what is right.
QUESTION: Why can’t meaning or purpose be found by looking inside ourselves?
Fredrick Moore Vinson (1890-1953) former Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court stated it this way,
‘Nothing is more certain in modern society than the principle that there are no absolutes.’
Today, as then, all is relative; all is founded on experience. It seems that the only absolute is the absolute insistence that there is no absolute.
Why mention this? Much is said today about fragmentation and the need to unify. While unity can be good, without some absolutes there will be no foundation by which unity will be sustained. In Genesis 11:1-11 we find the story of the Tower of Babel and the dispersion of humanity. It is a description of two diametrically opposed movements. There is:
(1) Humanity’s desire to reach heaven on their own(11:4),
(2) God’s response coming down in response (11:5).
They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”(Genesis 11:3,)
QUESTION: Do you believe that that the central issue behind building the city of Babylon was disbelieving God?
God had spoken through Noah for those living after the flood to “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth” ( Gen. 9:1) The builders, on the other hand, sought to make a name for themselves. To be under the banner of God’s name meant they were to scatter and “fill the earth.” They did not want that. To avoid doing that and the possibility of another flood, a tower was built. During the process God “came down,” confused the language and a scattering became a necessity.
Later the Tower of Babel would become the site on which the city of Babylon was built. The attitude of Babylon carried over and was echoed by Nebuchadnezzar when he proclaimed,
“Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”(Daniel 4:30)
To this day, spiritual Babylon represents a religion based on human teachings, established on human ideas, and supported by human traditions. The lesson yet to be learned was made clear in Patriarchs and Prophets, p.123,
The schemes of the Babel builders ended in shame and defeat. The monument to their pride became the memorial of their folly. Yet men are continually pursuing the same course—depending upon self, and rejecting God's law. It is the principle that Satan tried to carry out in heaven; the same that governed Cain in presenting his offering.
Conclusion
Indeed, God has been merciful. We’ve been created with meaning and purpose. Genesis 1 and 2 portray how carefully God prepared for our arrival. Every need and desire was anticipated. The Garden of Eden was much more than a pretty place. Before sin entered, God’s sanctuary in heaven was called “Eden, the garden of God” (Ezek. 28:13). It was the place where the inhabitants of the universe “assembled” as a congregation to worship and praise their Maker (Ezek. 28:13-14; Jer. 17:12). Once sin entered, God’s Presence became feared, ignored, and ultimately shunned.
The process of rejecting God often is gradual. The 23rd Psalm could be rephrased to show the degradation this way:
They began—I am my shepherd
Then—Sheep are my shepherd
Then—Everything is my shepherd
Finally—Nothing is my shepherd
(Franky Shepherd quoted in How Should We Then Live? By Francis A. Schaeffer, p.126.)
And how has God responded to the scattering and multiple languages caused by the self-centeredness of the Babylonian mindset? Abandonment of His people? Hardly!
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:1-4, 44)
And for us,
There is nothing that Satan fears so much as that the people of God shall clear the way by removing every hindrance, so that the Lord can pour out His Spirit upon a languishing church and an impenitent congregation. —Ellen White in Prayer, p.120
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