God Gaining Noah to Walk with Him 
and to Prepare the Ark for the Salvation 
of Him and His Whole Family

God went on to gain another person named Noah (6:9-22). Noah was a great-grandson of Enoch. Enoch begot Methuselah, Methuselah begot Lamech, and Lamech begot Noah. Noah’s great-grandfather walked with God, and Noah followed him to also walk with God. God gained Noah not only to walk with Him but also to prepare the ark for the salvation of him and his whole family from the corrupted age through the deluge. It was Noah who made the ark, but it was God who motivated him. It was God who charged Noah to do this. This was again something of God’s work, of God’s move among men on the earth as a part of the history of God.

God Being Pleased with the Satisfying Fragrance 
of Noah’s Burnt Offerings

God was pleased with the satisfying fragrance of Noah’s burnt offerings to keep the earth with its systems and to covenant with Noah and his descendants and with all the living creatures that they all would not be destroyed anymore by a flood but would be multiplied and replenish the earth (8:20—9:17). This was all God’s doing.

God Prophesying through Noah 
concerning His Three Sons

God also prophesied through Noah concerning his three sons (vv. 18-27). Noah was a godly man, but he became loose. When we become successful and happy, it is easy for us to become loose. Noah planted a vineyard, drank of the wine, became drunk, and was uncovered within his tent. One of his three sons exposed his failure, but the others covered the nakedness of their father. When Noah awoke, God prophesied through him.

First, God cursed the son of the one who exposed his father’s failure. Canaan, Ham’s son, was cursed to be a servant to Shem and Japheth (v. 25). Ham is also the father of Cush (10:6) and Cush is the forefather of the Ethiopians. Cush later begot Nimrod (v. 8), who built up both Assyria with Nineveh as its capital and Babylon with Babel as its capital (vv. 8-11; Micah 5:6). Assyria and Babylon became the primary nations opposing God’s people. The first nation that invaded Israel was Assyria, and that nation was built up by Nimrod.

Canaan, the son of Ham, was cursed, but Shem and Japheth received the blessing (Gen. 9:26-27). Japheth is the forefather of the Europeans. God gave him the blessing of being enlarged. The Europeans, especially in the last five centuries since the time of Columbus, have been enlarged, spreading throughout the whole world. But regardless of how much Japheth has been enlarged, God said that he would dwell in the tents of Shem. A tent is a place where people may dwell, rest, and have peace and enjoyment. Japheth’s tent is with his brother Shem.

All the Jews are of Shem. Shem received the blessing of having God. God became his blessing, and this God is the rest to man, the peace to man, the enjoyment to man, and the salvation to man. All the Europeans today are strong and enlarged, but they must dwell in the tents of Shem. If they are going to worship God, they must believe in the God of the Jews, receiving rest, peace, enjoyment, and salvation in the Jewish tent.

The Old Testament was written by the Jews. The New Testament was also written by the Jews except for one Gentile, Luke. But Luke got all the teachings from the Jews. Eventually, the New Jerusalem bears the names of the twelve tribes and of the twelve apostles, all of whom were Jews (Rev. 21:12-14). Thus, the New Jerusalem bears the names of the Jews. Furthermore, all the Gentile and Jewish believers in Christ, as the new creation, are the real Israel of God (Gal. 6:16).

Today we are in the tent of Shem. The Lord Jesus, one of Shem’s descendants, was the tabernacle, a tent (John 1:14). Eventually, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate tent of Shem, the tabernacle of God with men for eternity (Rev. 21:3). What a great blessing it is to be in the tent of Shem! All the Europeans, regardless of how strong they are, have to take the Jewish God. They have to enjoy their salvation in the Jewish tent, the tent of Shem.

This prophecy concerning Shem and Japheth is part of God’s marvelous work. Today we have gone to Russia to bring the descendants of Japheth into the tent of Shem. They are homeless, but we are bringing them into the tent of the Jews, the tent of Shem. Now many of them are in this tent, and they are happy and restfully enjoying God in Christ. Thus, we can see that God prophesied through Noah concerning his three sons that Ham’s son Canaan would be a servant to Shem and Japheth, that Shem would have God as his God, and that Japheth would be enlarged by God and dwell in the tents of Shem. This is also a part of God’s history. (I would encourage us to read Message 33 of the Life-study of Genesis, for a more thorough view of this part of God’s history.)