e-Ministries   
   by Jon Justvig   
   January 29, 2013   
          
   Issue #: 13   
      
   Open your Bible and lets look at Genesis Chapter 8.   
      
   Gen 8:1  And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle   
   that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and   
   the waters asswaged;    
   Gen 8:2  The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were   
   stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;  Gen 8:3  And the waters   
   returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and   
   fifty days the waters were abated.    
      
   Noah, all of his people and every living thing are in the Ark.  One hundred   
   and fifty days of water on Earth has been reduced.  Next time it rains and   
   rains hard, I will think of this storm and be thankful that this kind of storm   
   will not happen, although, in our recent past, it's been a tragedy to a lot of   
   people that have been flooded away and that cities have to be rebuilt.  I   
   wonder if we should spend time and money on things that nature can come and   
   destroy in one day or night.  As it seems, we should not.   
      
   Gen 8:4  And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of   
   the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.    
      
   Now after the seventeenth day of the month, the Ark has come to rest and we   
   will see what happens in the next few verses.  Read on.   
      
   Gen 8:5  And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the   
   tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains   
   seen.    
   Gen 8:6  And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the   
   window of the ark which he had made:  Gen 8:7  And he sent forth a raven,   
   which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the   
   earth.    
      
   The rain has stopped, the Ark was rested on a mountain and Noah has opened up   
   a window of the ark to release a raven.  What you might ask is this raven   
   supposed to do?  It was to go and return until the floods had stopped and the   
   ground was dry.   
      
   Gen 8:8  Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated   
   from off the face of the ground;    
      
   This is the answer, in hopes of finding dry land and that the Earth has   
   absorbed the rain and that the water has returned to heaven.  It had rained   
   for fourty days and fourty nights.  My my, that is one big storm.  I can only   
   imagine how frightening it could have been for the people and living beings on   
   the Ark, although, I am sure Noah had faith and reassured his family   
   everything will be okay.  Now he has sent a dove out of the ark.   
      
   Gen 8:9  But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned   
   unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth:   
   then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the   
   ark.    
      
   Yet, this dove has to return to Noah because it had not found dry land.   
      
   Gen 8:10  And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove   
   out of the ark;    
      
   Again we read, Noah sends out the dove again.  Will it return?   
      
   Gen 8:11  And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth   
   was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from   
   off the earth.    
      
   Ah hah!  The dove has found a leaf, assuring Noah that the land was not   
   completely covered and that the waters are continuing to be absorbed in the   
   Earth.  What a relief!   
      
   Gen 8:12  And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which   
   returned not again unto him any more.    
      
   Again, he sends out this dove and it has not returned.  The dove found a home   
   and now it's getting closer for Noah and his family to find a home as well.   
      
   Gen 8:13  And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the   
   first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the   
   earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the   
   face of the ground was dry.    
      
   Finally!  The ground is dry, free from the flood.   
      
   Gen 8:14  And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the   
   month, was the earth dried.    
   Gen 8:15  And God spake unto Noah, saying,  Gen 8:16  Go forth of the ark,   
   thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.    
   Gen 8:17  Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all   
   flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth   
   upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful,   
   and multiply upon the earth.    
      
   Now, God has commanded Noah to replenish the Earth; to fill the land   
   abundantly and in full, multiplying in population.   
      
   Gen 8:18  And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives   
   with him:    
   Gen 8:19  Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever   
   creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.    
      
   Before the Ark was filled with animals, creatures and Noah's family and now   
   they have departed the Ark.  Noah was greatly in God's favor and he was truly   
   blessed to be able to begin fresh like Adam and Eve when there was nobody but   
   their own.   
      
   Gen 8:20  And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean   
   beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.    
      
   In respect, there was an altar, a place for Noah to burn an offering to God.    
   It was a sacrifice to God that Noah and his family and the animals and   
   creatures from the Ark were spared.   
      
   Gen 8:21  And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart,   
   I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination   
   of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more   
   every thing living, as I have done.    
      
   This offering, this payment to God was ackowledged by Him and He agreed to man   
   that He will never flood the Earth again like he had.  The Lord knows that the   
   heart of man was evil from the beginning and that he will not punish man like   
   this, as intense as this was again.  Do you think we are punished for our sins?   
    We know the Lord's wrath come through a storm and yet we are blessed when we   
   acknowledge Him!   
      
   Gen 8:22  While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat,   
   and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.   
      
   According to this verse, as long as the Earth is in existance, reeping and   
   sowing, weather, seasons and day and night will remain.  I'm leary to think   
   that God will someday destroy the Earth and that will be that.  Remaineth to   
   me is to suspect that there will come a time when it will no longer exist.   
      
   ***   
      
   If you've enjoyed our meeting, remember to ask your SysOp to carry MINISTER,   
   an echo with FidoNet if he/she doesn't already.  Remember also to keep your   
   head up high.  May God bless you and keep you!   
          
   *** This conclude this issue of e-Ministries provided by Jon Justvig.   
      
   --- BBBS/LiI v4.10 Dada-1   
    * Origin: Nightfall Ordain (1:298/5)