Chapter 16

Middle Earth

Bible Synopsis: Genesis 8:14 - 9:13

Noah waited another 56 days before the Earth had finally dried enough to walk safely. By this time small shrubs and trees were growing up. Grass covered vast areas, but fruit and grain would still be sparse. Three hundred and seventy one days had passed since the rains first began to. fall. Three hundred and seventy eight if one includes the week prior when Noah began loading the animals. Now all the creatures had to be unloaded and let free to begin the task of replenishing the Earth. At first it was God who shut Noah in the Ark, then it was Noah who opened the door to let them out. If the antediluvian calendar year was 360 days, then Noah remained in the Ark for one year and eleven days. If the Earth's year lasted 365 days, then it was one year and six days. Either way, Noah remained in the Ark for over a year!

THANKSGIVING

The week before Noah loaded the animals into the Ark God told him to load seven of each clean animals. Obviously that meant 3 pairs of mates with an extra. Noah understood that the seventh was to be offered in thanksgiving to the Lord. He understood the promise of the Messiah that was first told to Adam and passed down his family line. It was understood by Adam that this would be a male (Satan would "bruise his heel" Gen. 3:15). Seven is the number of perfection, and these seventh clean males were healthy, perfect specimens. The sweet savor that God smelled from the burnt offering was an acceptance of Noah's understanding that his salvation from the Flood was not due to his good works, but his faith in Christ's future redemption. The animals were probably consumed by God's fire from heaven as was Elijah's. God knows that all men are evil from their youth up, including Noah, but faith in Christ is a sweet smelling savor that precludes the wrath of God again.

THE SEASONS

If the understanding of the canopy is correct, the antediluvians enjoyed an even, moderate temperature year round. Redwood trees grew in the arctic circle that today is the frozen tundra. Seasons existed in the antediluvian world, but the changes were moderate. God gives a new command that the seasons would be distinct. Seedtime and harvest would now be a Spring-Summer-Fall cycle. Extremes of cold and heat, summers and winters, with changes in lengths of days and nights would occur. Why? Because when the fountains of the deep broke open the canopy, the Earth was violently shaken on it's axis. Up until that time the pole star was Thuban in the constellation Draco. The shaking of the planet was so massive that it tilted 23 and a halfE off its center [1]. Eventually the new pole star became Polaris on the tail of Ursa Minor, or the Little Dipper. This change in the axis's angle causes the southern hemisphere to be in winter's shadow while the northern hemisphere is in the summer's sun. And vice versa: when the southern hemisphere is in the summer's sun, the northern hemisphere is in winter's shadow. The tilt causes contrasts in temperatures which set in motion a new climatic system of air movements carrying moisture, i.e., wind and rain.

Implied in the command of the seasons with its seedtime and harvest is a spiritual law of sowing and reaping. Sowing and reaping actions and behaviors with resultant consequences. Both good and bad. The wise man of the postdiluvian world will learn how to sow good into other people's lives, knowing that a harvest of good shall come to him. This decree as a spiritual law is a statement of hope for all of us. As Jeremiah said, "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of Yahweh's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness" (Lam. 3:21-23).

ANIMALS BECOME WILD

This news must have been disheartening to Noah who probably loved animals. All these creatures that came willingly to him to board the Ark would now be afraid of him. Why would God make such a decree? Because He knows the heart of man as He said in 8:21, "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." The Lord knows the cruelties that would be inflicted upon animals, the killing of creatures for sport with the wanton waste of their lives. The American Indians were shocked at the wasting of the buffaloes by white frontiers men who left the carcasses to rot in the sun. But more than this, God has said, "into your hand are they delivered" (verse 2). God is giving permission to kill the animals as is explained in the next verse.

The atheists who look to nature as the explanation of man's state see the situation backwards. Animals are wild today because man is wild. God created man to reflect Him, and animals to reflect man. When Adam believed Satan, mankind reflected Satan instead of God. The animals, conversely, reflect the fallen nature of man. God also uses the creatures of creation to reflect man's plight on Earth and his redemption. For example, predators attack other animals as a reflection of our own hostile behavior towards other people, and the worm (i.e., caterpillar) becomes a butterfly ("But I am a worm, and no man" [Psa. 22:6]), which shows the new birth available for mankind through the blood of Jesus. So, we don't learn from the animals how we evolved or what is natural, but rather, we learn through God's orchestration of the animals of our own fallen nature and God's grace.

MEN BECOME OMNIVOROUS

The animals have just cause for fear because their status with mankind has changed from companions of Earth to dinner and lunch! Why would God change man's. diet, who for 1500 years had been herbivorous (not vegetarian which is a religious diet)? For one thing the planet still was devastated by the Flood. Abundant crop growth was still in development. It was a practical need to eat some animals in the meantime. But that doesn't justify a permanent change in diet. It is more likely that the sun's harmful radiation which no longer was filtered by the canopy, would cause a rapid deterioration of life, and the animal protein derived from flesh would be beneficial for longer maintenance of life. And, too, the eating of meat, at this time, is still directly related to the sacrificial offering. Our redemption comes, not only by the death of Christ who takes our punishment, but by the indwelling of Christ who transforms our lives. So the eating of meat is a reminder of our communion with God by the life of God coming into us.

It should be noted at this time that no restriction is given as to clean and unclean foods that may or may not be eaten. Kosher diets are not introduced until the Mosaic dispensation. God gave permission to eat all living creatures. This became an issue in the Early Church when the Jewish believers in Jesus were resolving the conflict of the Judaizers of the gentile believers. The Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 concludes: "But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood" (v. 20). They recognized that the customs introduced by Moses was not intended by God as required for the gentiles. But, because of the next verse given to Noah, even gentiles are forbidden to drink blood.

THE LIFE IS IN THE BLOOD

As explained earlier, the life (the soul) is in the blood. Pagans who later followed Satan, made it a ritual practice to drink the blood of both their animal and human sacrifices as a willful defiance of God. Animists believed that the consumption of blood imparted the strength of the creature consumed. Whether there is any truth to this belief, only God knows for sure. What we do know, however, is that the blood throughout the Bible is a type of Christ's blood that would be shed for our sins. The Jews have very intricate kosher rituals to be sure to drain the blood from the animals that they eat. And, as stated above, the Early Church placed this one prohibition upon the gentile believers on the food they may eat, recognizing that kosher diets were given by God to the Jews and not the gentiles.

THE RIGHT OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: the Dispensation of Government

A theme of life is running throughout this discourse by God to Noah. From the seasons of harvest, to the encouragement to be fruitful in raising large families, to the new permission of eating animals to sustain life with the prohibition of consuming the blood which has the animal's life in it, to the taking of life in murder. It is often overlooked that the animals are warned by God not to kill human life when God says, "at the hand of every beast will I require it." Animals who would now be hunted for food, could not defend themselves by killing the hunter. No wonder the fear and dread of man would be upon them all! If the animal does so, then its life would be taken as well. Despite the seeming unfairness of this to animals, animal rights activists are wrong when trying to prevent the killing of, say, a rabid dog who bites a human.

More significantly for us, God has demanded the death of people who murder other people. It is God who requires capital punishment. And that punishment "by man shall his blood be shed." It is God who has given man, or government, the right to execute justice in the taking of the criminal's life. As Paul said,

When a society becomes liberal to the point of abolishing the death penalty for murder, then they, like the Pharisees of Jesus time, make void the Word of God by the commandment of men. That society better beware of the judgment of God upon that government. As Job said, "He [God] increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again" (Job 12:23). It is in the hand of the Lord to bring down the nation that forsakes the commands of God.

Apart from the ethical desire of wanting the same good done for oneself to be done unto others, both man and beast are held accountable to God for the murder of a man as an act of blasphemy. Why? Because "in the image of God made he man." To murder a man is to assault the image of God. Indeed, to hate a man is an imprecation against God. As the apostle John said, "If any man say, 'I love God,' and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, 'That he who loveth God love his brother also" (1 John 4:20 & 21). For a just God to bring the same punishment upon animals must mean that they, too, have some kind of understanding of the image of God in mankind, although not conscious, but rather instinctive. This brings more insight to the fear and dread of man upon animals.

The right to execute justice by one people group upon another in the form of capital punishment brings forth the third Dispensation of Government. Before the Fall of Man with Adam and Eve, they enjoyed the first Dispensation of Innocence which was a free and open relationship with God. But in their pristine state they had the freedom to disobey God which brought the judgment of God upon them, expelling them from the Garden of Eden. After their Fall, the people of the antediluvian world walked in the Dispensation of Conscience which gave them individual direction in right and wrong. Societies were governed by patriarchal order. But their conscience failed them as their hearts hardened, which brought the judgment of God upon them in the total destruction of that life through the Flood. Now that the Flood is over, and a new world begins, God gives a new authority to mankind in the third Dispensation of Government with the right of capital punishment. Man's conscience remains and continues to be used. Until the fourth dispensation comes from the Mosaic Law, conscience and patriarchal instruction will be the basis for community government. Unlike the antediluvian world, however, the right to take a life to maintain order is given. As populations grow, organizations would form to maintain those societies. New dispensations will be added as human history goes forth, but government's will not receive their ultimate judgment until Jesus returns at the end of the Great Tribulation.

If God has given the right take a human life for the murder of another human life, then when a society wages war upon another society, then logically the right of capital punishment extends to the right of just warfare. Not only does an attacked society have the right of self defense, but another society has the right to aid the victim nation and to bring just retribution upon the aggressor nation. The Bible frequently cites God's direction in moving upon one nation to bring judgment upon another nation. The Scriptures declare, "The king's heart is in the hand of Yahweh, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will" (Prov. 21:1). God used Nebuchadnezzar to bring the surrounding nations into servitude. "For thus saith Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel; 'I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also" (Jer. 28:14). There are many other examples that demonstrate God's use of war for societal judgment.

THE RAINBOW COVENANT

Rainbows are the result of water vapor refracting white light into its 3 primary colors (red, green, and blue), and it's 3 complementary colors (magenta, yellow, and cyan) when viewed from a 42 degree angle. Dennis Lindsey believes that the rainbow is proof that the canopy was a water vapor canopy that completely blocked the sun's and moon's visibility, reducing it to mere illumination [2]. He argues that small rainbows can be seen with any water spray, therefore this means the sun was completely hidden by the canopy until it fell as part of the Flood. I disagree because that would hide the stars, too, rendering them useless as a calendar of God as indicated in Genesis 1:14. Also, tradition (as recorded by Josephus) indicates that the sons of Seth were the founders of astronomy, which they couldn't be if the sky was blocked by a water vapor canopy. All of God's creation was finished on the sixth day and He has since been in His rest. That doesn't mean He hasn't been active, but all that occurs in creation now is a transformation of the finished work of God. In other words, the rainbows must have been seen with the mist that watered the Earth, but not until the canopy broke up and were replaced by clouds, rainbows were not seen in the sky. In Genesis 9:13 God specifically says, "I do set my bow in the cloud." In verse 14 He says, "when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud," which, again, emphasizes the cloud. The significance of the rainbow is not that they were never seen, but they were never seen in the sky.

It is noteworthy that God says, "my bow." In the book of Revelation, John describes his view of God on His throne surrounded by an emerald rainbow.

Clear stones reflect light which is a symbol of purity, and red is the symbol of animated life which makes a picture of the holiness of our Lord Jesus. Rainbows on Earth are multicolored, but around His throne it is green, a symbol of growth as in vegetation. Although the Bible says that it would remind God not to destroy every living creature again (v.16), it is more a reminder of God's mercy to us and the animals. The rainbow is a reminder that life will go on.

BAPTIZED IN WATER AND FIRE

Peter referred to the Flood as a baptism by water in reference to Noah's salvation as a type of Christ's salvation.

The ministry of John the baptist was one of repentance; "John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" (Mark 1:4), hence water baptism of the believer is an expression of repentance. Likewise, the Flood was an expression of repentance, or change, that flowed from God's judgment of the Earth. When we voluntarily undergo water baptism we judge our selves guilty of sin and express our desire for change. Water baptism becomes a symbol of our being judged guilty of sin and our joining Christ in his death. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" (Rom. 6:3). We are identified with Christ in his death and come into agreement with God's judgment. Jesus allowed himself to be baptized by John at the river Jordan, not because he judged himself guilty, but because he voluntarily identified with our sins to accept our judgment upon the cross.

Why water as a symbol of change? Because water is the substance of this life. "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon. the face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2). The dirt came forth out of the water (Gen. 1:9); we are born in the waters of amniotic fluids in the womb; our life is in our blood (Gen. 9:4 & Lev. 17:11); we will die of thirst without water; and in short, we are liquid beings. Only a few pounds of chemicals makeup our bodies, the rest being water. Many speculations have been made concerning Christ's statements to Nicodemus:

Some have said that water baptism is a requirement for salvation. It is an act of obedience, but it is not that which brings salvation. We are born of water because flesh is a liquid substance. It is the motility of water that enables us to be moving creatures. Out of water the Earth was created and by water was it judged and baptized into the new world that Noah landed upon.

Although God promised to never judge the world by water again (Gen. 9:15), that doesn't mean the world would never be judged again. Both the Old and New Testament prophets speak of another judgment upon the Earth: this time by fire. The destruction of Sodom and Gommorah was a type of this future judgment. The Psalmists said, "Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup" (Psa. 11:6). And, "The hills melt like wax at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth" (Psa. 97:5). Peter declared,

And John the Revelator saw "hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed" (Rev. 8:7-9). John continues to describe the burning of the Earth. Why the judgment of the Earth by fire during what is called, the Great Tribulation?

Fire is a symbol of the spirit. The psalmist said that Yahweh "maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire" (Psa. 104:4). Angels are symbolized by fire. Even God Himself in the same psalm is said to "coverest thyself with light as with a garment" (v. 2), and the writer of Hebrews said, "our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29). John the Baptist declared, concerning Jesus, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: be he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matt.3:11).

Returning to Jesus and Nicodemus, He said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh: and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). The baptism of the Holy Ghost, and with fire, is the rebirth of the human spirit. We become co-inhabitants of the liquid world of flesh and the fire world of the spirit. As Paul said, "There are also celestial bodies [stars, but by metaphor: spirit], and bodies terrestrial [planets, but by metaphor: flesh]" (1 Cor. 15:40). To the Romans he said, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection" (Rom. 6:4 & 5). We have a spiritual new birth that remains temporarily in this liquid flesh because "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not us" (2 Cor. 4:7), or for God to get the glory in our lives. But we are "new creatures" (2 Cor. 5:17) and the day will come when He "shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body" (Phil. 3:21). A body that "is sown in dishonor: it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body: (1 Cor. 15:43 & 44). The new creature will not be a disembodied spirit, but a transformed body that has metamorphized the earthly body into a new kind of spirit body, just as the caterpillar becomes the butterfly. We will no longer be liquid creatures but creatures of a new fire.

Fire is also a picture of judgment, and believers are given tribulation to prove us in removing dross and purifying the silver, but the wicked are removed completely by fire. So the Earth which was created from water and judged by water will be born anew with a baptism of fire. Will the Earth be gone? No, never. For God "laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed forever: (Psa. 104:5). "For thus saith Yahweh that created the heavens; God established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited" (Isa. 45:18). When John made his declaration: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea" (Rev. 21:1), he was not saying that the first Earth was utterly destroyed which God replaced with a new Earth that was freshly created. Rather, the first Earth was transformed into the new Earth, which will be the eternal abode of the righteous. Heaven is a temporary dwelling until the saints are given glorified bodies with Christ. Then the saints will return to live on Earth for a thousand years with Jesus, followed by the new Earth as the eternal abode.

THE CANOPY AND THE MILLENNIUM

Carl Baugh believes that when Jesus returns to restore His kingdom upon the Earth, that the Earth will be restored to the pre-flood state. He says,

Great credit needs to be given to Dr. Baugh in his work and all believers owe him their gratitude. However, it is not in the nature of God to return to former things nor is it supported by Scriptures. The nature of God is to move onward creating new things; "Behold, I make all things new" (Rev. 21:5); "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor. 5:17); "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Cor. 2:9); and son on. Not only is it the nature of God to move forward, but the prophecies concerning the millennium indicate that it will rain during Christ's rule on Earth. Consider what Zechariah says,

If the canopy were restored, then the Earth would have to be watered again by a mist as it was before the Flood. But here we have a millennial passage that says God will withhold rain to punish those who don't keep the feast of tabernacles. If there is no rain, then there would be nothing to withhold. Why should God punish the nations for not keeping a festival given to the Jews?

If we remember, it was a festival to commemorate the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness before entering the promised land. The Jews were required to build booths, or tabernacles, outside their homes and live in them for a week to remember the time of wandering before settling down in the promised land. That wandering is a picture of our own pilgrimage in this life as we abide in our temporary fleshly bodies. Peter used the expression "tabernacle" to refer to his body dying soon in this passage: "shortly I must put off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me" (2 Pet. 1:14). It is fitting that the feast of tabernacles should be observed by the nations (not the church for we will already be glorified) during Christ's millennial reign since that will be the last epoch before the new Earth is ushered in.

So the canopy, clearly will not be restored for the millennium. Christ will rule on this Earth as it is now after it recovers from its battle scars. But when the millennial reign ends, and the new heaven and Earth are ushered in, and "there was no more sea" (Rev. 21:1), the water base will be removed for a new spiritual substance for Earth and heaven. "No more sea" may also refer to a unity of mankind, since sea is often metaphorical for mankind.

NOAH IN MIDDLE EARTH

J.R.R. Tolkien, who was a genuine believer in our Lord Jesus, and had led the famous theologian C.S. Lewis to the Lord [4] , wrote a magnificent fantasy that was a Christian parable. This three volume series entitled, The Lord of the Rings, lived in an imaginary world called "Middle Earth." The first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring, was a metaphor for the disparate community of the Church. The second volume, The Two Towers, was a symbol of the two forces of evil in life: the flesh and demonic spirits. The third volume, The Return of the King, pictured the Lord Jesus returning to rule the Earth. Why did he call he call his fictitious world "Middle Earth?" In his story there was a world lost before Middle Earth and a place called the "Grey Havens" after Middle Earth. This follows the lost antediluvian world of Noah and the new heaven and Earth to come in our world.

Noah and his family were the new beginning for this new world we call now "history." A bleak and devastated landscape covered only with sparse vegetation and a new blue sky filled with clouds faced him. The story of our Middle Earth where Noah and his family repopulated it with the new nations of mankind: their dreams, their myths, their discoveries, and their struggles is the subject matter of the next volume.

Transformation is the way of the Lord. He saves and transform this life. Noah faced a new world that was transformed, yet he was still on the original Earth of God's creation. All the transformations are part of the completed work of the Lord, and He continues to remain in His rest. That world which was lost still remains with us today and touches us everywhere daily. The life of that world still impacts our lives, although transformed. Remember that all living creatures died in the Flood. Much of that life was transformed into fossil fuel. So coal that is burned to heat and warm us is the lost world affecting our lives. Oil and petroleum that fuels our cars is the life of that lost world. And most abundant in our American culture is the use of plastic. Plastic is made from fossil fuel, or petroleum distillates. Our credit cards, televisions, computers, soda bottles, counter tops, and so much more is made of plastic variations. All plastic is the antediluvian world transformed into this world's material.