Gen. 9:28-29

Gen. 9:28-29

Here, we see Noah described just like those in Genesis 4 and 5, just living and dying like all flesh. God judged the world, yet the sinful ways of man kept going, for death passed unto all men, for that all have sinned. Romans 5:12

This leads to another important point concerning the fact he lived so long after the Flood.

He and his sons and their wives were the last connection to the pre-flood world. They could easily speak to what things were like, and how bad things had gotten because of the sin of the world. However, nobody listened to them.

Some have asked, if Noah and the others were around, why didn't people listen? The response is simple. There are people who do not listen to those with experience today, even after they see the exact result of which the experienced person speaks. A person will say, for instance, don't try to ride your skateboard on that hill, it's impossible. And, even if the person saying it has a broken arm from that very hill, there are people who will try to ride it anyway because they don't want to believe what the other person says. Indeed, they may try even if they saw the accident with their own eyes. 

And, here, there was a very different world from the one before the Flood.

This brings to mind the fact that those of us who have trusted Jesus Christ to forgive us and called on him to save us will rule and reign with Jesus in the Millennial Kingdom. Once one trusts Jesus Christ as Savior, He comes into their life and makes them new inside, and He can guide them. Without Jesus, we can't get to His perfect Heaven.

Even with Him, we must constantly be on our toes to be controlled by the Holy Spirit so we are not drawn away by the temptations of the flesh. After all, Moses' brother Aaron was drawn away to make that golden calf for the people of Israel while Moses was up on the mountain.

The point is that we will rule and reign with Christ in our resurrection bodies, so we won't be able to sin. It will be impossible. And, since the devil will be bound, he won't even be tempting those who are born and live in Jesus' kingdom.

However, they will still have their fleshly nature and need to trust Christ as Saviour to be made new inside. And, we will be able to share with them just what it was like in the really rough times when the devil was on the earth to throw so many obstacles into our paths. It might be just as hard for them to believe us.

We'll have advantages we don't have now, though.

Now, we find it hard to stay focused on God and follow his lead when witnessing. However, we will have resurrection bodies in the Millennial Kingdom. This means that we will be perfectly connected to what the Lord wants us to say. We will know how to reach each person individually. So, we will not struggle with what to say or how to say it.

There also will be rapid consequences to sim. People will not get off scot-free without punishment for wrongdoing. So, there will not be the people to ask why bad things happen to good people. Righteousness will reign. We will simply have a new set of problems, such as people who might not want to be nice. People's emotions will still get the best of them because they are human. And, as hard as we try, we know from revelation 20 that there will be people who rebelled against God's perfect justice at the end of the Millennium. One final time, just as has happened throughout history, mankind will try to be as God. And, people will fail, because only God is perfect love, goodness, mercy, justice, holiness, and so on.

Such an attempt to become equal to God happened soon after the Flood as well, as we shall see, an attempt which God quickly stopped.

Gen. 9:26-27

Another reason why this is likely a prophecy is that these next two verses clearly are. Noah gives a very clear prophecy concerning Canaan, that the descendants of Canaan would be servants of the descendants of Shem.

Notice that no mention is made of Ham, let alone his other sons. No, Noah is clearly talking about something which would befall only Canaan.

As for Canaan being a servant of Shem, it could have happened with the men themselves, but clearly happened with their descendants; as is usually the meaning with this kind of prophecy. Canaan's descendants fell into such horrible cruelty as sacrificing their children to false gods by making them pass through a fire. Their evil came up before the Lord and he judged them after giving them much time to repent; and, he did so by Israel marching through and conquering it.

Here is another interesting thought, though. Noah prophesizes that descendants of Canaan would be the servants of those of Shem. When God told them to destroy all the wickedness; so Noah is giving a prophecy that shows God knew that Israel wouldn't totally obey Him in driving the people out of the land god gave to Abraham and his descendants. God is merciful, but He is also just,a nd He must punish sin. Israel's refusal to deal witht he sinful sacrificing of other people and other evils came back to haunt them, as they, too, fell into such horrible acts.

And yet, God showed His mercy int hat He loved them even though He knew they would disobey Him to much. It is just as Jesus said, crying out on the cross, "Father, forgive them, they know now what they do!"(Luke 23:34) God is longsuffering toward us, not willing the any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.(2 Pet. 3:9)

Indeed, God takes no pleasure in the punishment of the wicked.(Ezek.33:11) This is something we should all remember - it's hard for me, too, seeing all the evil in the world, but while God will mete out His justice someday, He gives time to repent as well. We should then be forgiving toward others, just as God for Christ's sake forgave us.(Eph.4:32)

Canaanites would also be the servants of Japheth. Most of Japheth's descendants lived in Asia Minor (Turkey) and Europe, so this could have happened right away. It would explain more easily how Japheth would live in the tents of Shem, because while israel was a crown jewel for a while during David's and Solomon's reign, it never truly ruled any of the homes Europeans or those in Turkey would inhabit, and once the Jews were scattered, it was often the other way around in Europe.

Of course, we also have the possibility that other descendants of Shem fit this prophecy. Remember that we only read of the firstborn after a certain amount of time, and there were clearly others, sicne the longer life spans had only begun to slowly diminish; even int he time of Abraham 150-200 years wasn't unheard of; note that Job lived 210 years in total, and he lived around that time, possibly as late as the time of Jacob.