Genesis 9v1-7
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. And you, be fruitful and multiply, teem on the earth and multiply in it.” The responsibility from God to cultivate and develop the culture of humanity and must be seen in the framework of a Biblical world and life view. (ESV)
We find instructions for engaging in cultural activities and stewardship (Gen 1:28-29; 2:15; 9:1-3) – our calling to cooperate with God
We see the Covenant with Noah and his descendants and the establishment of a new order between humans and animals.
We need to hand over a godly culture to our descendants, otherwise they may end up with an ungodly culture.
- Humanity’s Salvation by the Creator
It was a saved people, eight in number, who were being blessed by God. The rest of humanity perished in God’s Flood. Noah and his family saw the grace of God in the safety of the ark. Jesus spoke of this (Mat. 24:37-39. Luke 17:26), giving a serious warning regarding the coming judgement and His Second Coming. - Humanity’s Stewardship of Creation (v 2)
There was a change in the animals would now have a natural fear for mankind, who were to treat them with care and respect, recognizing our accountability and responsibility to God – reverence for His creation. - Humanity’s Sustenance through Creation
(i) The plenty – we may eat meat of all animals.
We need to be ethical in how we treat animals. Veganism is to abstain from all animal derived food products. But it has negative consequences regarding nutrition and cost. God nowhere in Scripture says that the current order will be restored to the pre Flood order. Beware of gluttony – we eat to live, we don’t live to eat.
(ii) The prohibition (v4) – not to eat flesh with its blood, which means to respect life. Thanking God before eating is recognizing that He provides our sustenance.
The sanctity of human life is given, graced and guarded by God. We live in a world in which human life has become cheap, criminals having more rights, and capital punishment has been largely abolished. God teaches us the importance of the sanctity of life that He gives, graces and guards in the Lord Jesus Christ.