The Noahic Age
(From the Flood to the Tower of Babel — Genesis 8:20-11:32)
This the third dispensation is called “The dispensation of human government” because it is the age in which man was first privileged to govern himself. From the days of Noah on down through the ages, and extending on to the yet future second advent of our Lord, man must live under “Human Government.”
With the closing of each dispensation and the beginning of the new one, we should closely observe three things. First, we should note the one man which God singles out to represent Him during the transition, between the passing dispensation and the incoming one. Second, we should observe certain orders or commandments of the passing dispensation that are brought over into the new. And third, we should carefully list the new things introduced with the new dispensation.
“God Spake Unto Noah,
saying, go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. 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” (Genesis 8:15-17).
Noah went forth from the ark into a purged earth. His wife, his three sons, and their wives, and every other living creature that was in the ark went forth with him. Just as Adam was the “Key man” between the dispensations of Innocence and Conscience, so Noah was the “Key man” between the dispensations of Conscience and Human Government. He lived in the age of Conscience, when the human race became so corrupt as to provoke the just judgment of the flood. He also passed through the judgment and lived in the opening days of the dispensation of Human Government. The dark shadows, brought about by the sins of humanity before the flood, were brushed away by the grace of God. Therefore, Noah and his family enjoyed a completely new beginning, in a new earth, with new and unlimited opportunities, but with great responsibilities. All human life from Adam to the flood, except their own lives, was swept away by the judgment of the flood and the unborn race was before them. It was up to Noah and his sons to re-establish the proper relationship between man and God. Obedience and fidelity were essential to happiness and usefulness in the new world.
The New Program and the New World
At least three things were brought over from the dispensation of Conscience into the new age of Human Government.
The foundation of worship continued to be a blood sacrifice as a “Burnt-offering on the altar.” This was instituted in Genesis 3:21 and 4:4 and was carried on not only through the dispensation of Innocence, but to the cross of Calvary, where the supreme and “Once for all” sacrifice was made. Thus we see the altar and the burnt-offering established in the new dispensation immediately after the flood. Genesis 8:21 proves that God was pleased to have communion with Noah and his family around the sacrificial altar in the new world. Just as He had respected the offering of Abel in Genesis 4:4, so He smelled the “sweet savour” of Noah’s offering in Genesis 8:21.
The order of nature continued the same in the new Human Government dispensation as it had in the age of Conscience. Genesis 8:22 gives us God’s declaration that this same order shall be carried on as long as “The earth remaineth.” “Seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” as long as the earth remaineth; and we know of no scriptural support for the old adage: “The time will come when we shall not know the summer from the winter except by the budding of the trees.”
The sinful nature of man was not changed with the new dispensation. Genesis 9:20-21 reveals the manifestation of the continuance of Adam’s sin. The same will continue to the end of the human race. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). At least five new things were introduced with this third generation.
Flesh was added to man’s diet. In addition to “Every green herb” and the fruit of the trees of the garden of Eden (Genesis 1:30 and 2:8-9), man was permitted to eat the flesh of “Every moving thing that liveth” (Genesis 9:3). At the same time, God put the fear of man and the dread of man “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” (Genesis 9:2). It is no wonder that the beast of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea are afraid of man. He has been living on their flesh for thousands of years.
Capital punishment was introduced in connection with Human Government. It was God who said, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man” (Genesis 9:6). This does not mean that the individual citizen should take the law into his own hands and kill a man because that man has killed someone else. We read in the book of Romans, chapter 13, verse 4 that the officer of the law is “The minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” The Mosaic law says, “Thou shalt not kill.” This command was given to the rank and file of the citizenship, and not to those who were in authority as officers of the government and ministers of God. The Lord Jesus made this fact plain in His testimony recorded by Matthew in chapter 5, verse 21. He said, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.” He was quoting from Exodus 20:13, a law which pertained to the individual citizen, and was in no wise changing God’s order for the governing forces of the land concerning capital punishment. Carefully read Romans 13:1-7 for God’s instruction to our present dispensation on this subject.
A triple prophecy found in Genesis 9:25-27 brings out a new fact which vitally concerns the children and descendants of each one of the three sons of Noah. Domination over the peoples of the earth was promised to Japheth. From his seven sons (Genesis 10:2) was to come the Gentiles (Genesis 10:5). To Shem was given the glory of being the progenitor of the Redeemer or the “Lord God” (Genesis 9:26). From him has come the Israelites (Genesis 11:10 to 12:3). Canaan, the son of Ham, was doomed to servitude (Genesis 9:25). From him has come the Ethiopian.
The Noahic covenant is recorded in Genesis 9:9-27. It was a covenant between God and “All flesh” that was upon the earth (Genesis 9:17); and secured the earth against another universal judgment by water (Genesis 9:11). The “Bow in the clouds” was given as a token of this covenant and God’s promise in connection with it.
Nimrod and his kingdom, Babel, came into prominence in the Noahic age (Genesis 10:8-11 with Genesis 11:1-4). This man foreshadowed the anti-Christ of Revelation 13, and the city of Babel, which he built, is a type of the wicked city of the last days described in Revelation, chapters 17 and 18.
Man’s Failure and God’s Grace
Noah and his family had a good beginning; the covenant was all right and the opportunity of man was great. Yet he still possessed a fallen nature. Even though he had the rich experience of riding upon the judgment waters of the flood, securely kept in God’s ark; even though he had seen the terrible results of sin and the wrath of God poured out in judgment, we find the reappearance of sin in this new dispensation even in the life of Noah himself. Just as soon as he could plant a vineyard, raise some grapes, and make some wine, he got drunk. After the reappearance of sin the heart of man was drawn further and further from the will of God until we find them in the eleventh chapter of Genesis saying “Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly, and they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And said they, go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
In this tower of Babel experience, man was doing the same thing that he does today. He was taking matters in his own hands. It is human nature for man to want to exalt himself. He received this nature from Lucifer, who fell from the highest created being to the lowest form of sin because of his pride. At the tower of Babel man said “Let us build us a city, let us build us a tower, let us make us a name.” They left God out of their plan and program. Even Christians are saying today let us get together, let us mass our man power and put over our program. The majority of the work done in the professing church today is done according to man-made plans and man-made programs. It seems hard for man to be able to stand by and let God work in him “Both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
Man could not substitute his brick for God’s stone and his slime for God’s mortar and engineer the work of building a city, a tower and a name without God’s knowledge. God even knew the innermost secrets of his heart and the motives back of his unscriptural efforts. So God said “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” Up to this time man had spoken one language, and the confusion of the language was God’s judgment, used to scatter the people abroad upon all the face of the earth and prohibit them from completing the tower and the work which they had started.
This confusion of the one language is the origin of the different languages which are spoken today by the people of the different nations and tribes. This judgment reminds us again that “God is not mocked,” and that He is going to work out all things for His own glory, regardless of the stubborn will of man. Our God is a God of love and peace and He wants to rule. We must remember, however, that if God cannot rule, He overrules. His plan cannot be overthrown by man.
Here on the plains of Shinar, God changed the one language of man to a babbling of many tongues and the same God, on the day of Pentecost, caused men to speak with one tongue which could be understood by men of all the different tongues. He has the power to do all things to all men in order to establish His eternal glory.
Man’s sin brought on this judgment from God. God could have been just in condemning the whole human race and thereby closing out His dealings with man at the tower of Babel. His grace, alone, mingled mercy with His judgment.
The dispensation closed with the confusion of tongues, the people leave off the building of the tower and scatter throughout the earth in groups or tribes. A new dispensation opened with the calling of Abram, and from that time on God has been dealing with a called out people.
