45. These and similar sayings of the prophets are based upon promises like we find here, that God commands man to multiply. Plainly he is more inclined to give life and to do good than to be angry and to kill. If it were otherwise, why should he forbid the taking of human life? Why should pestilence be of rare occurrence? Pestilence and general epidemics occur scarce once in ten years. Men are born, animals grow, and crops without end are growing continually.
46. All these facts go to show that God loves, not death, but life. He created man, not that he should die, but that he should live; "but through the envy of the devil did death enter the world," Sap 2, 24. But even after the fall, the blessings which remain are so guarded as to render the conclusion inevitable that God loves life rather than death.
It is well for us to ponder these matters very often; thus, as Solomon has truly said, Jehovah shall be to us a fountain of blessings. Prov 18, 22.
| B. | GOD'S COVENANT WITH NOAH [47-55]. | |
| * | Why the same thing is repeated [47]. | |
| 1. | Whether this covenant applies to man alone or also to the animals [48]. | |
| 2. | Whether this covenant applies to the men and animals of that day only [49]. | |
| * | God always connected signs with his promises [49]. | |
| * | The significance of these to our first parents [49-50]. | |
| 3. | Nature of this covenant [51]. | |
| * | Characteristics of a humble heart and God's dealings with it [52-54]. | |
| 4. | This covenant given for man's comfort and as a proof of God's love [53-54]. | |
| 5. | It is a comfort to us at present [55]. | |
B. GOD'S COVENANT WITH NOAH.
Vs. 8-11. And God spake unto Noah, and his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that go out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
47. Previously we at various times explained this massing of words. When the Holy Spirit is prolix, there is a cause for it. Let us therefore, consider what fear, dread and peril Noah and his family endured and it will be easily understood why it was necessary for God to say and to emphasize the same things with such frequency.