CONSCIENCE—HUMAN GOVERNMENT
Noah was the great grand-son of Enoch. Noah means “rest” or “quiet.” “And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.” Genesis 5:29. “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Genesis 6:8. “Noah walked with God.” – Genesis 6:9.
Some one has given to the dispensation in which Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch and Noah lived before the flood the name “Conscience.” A better name might be found; but whatever the name might be there was a definite dispensation which began with the expulsion from the garden and closed with the destruction of the earth by the flood. A sinner could find grace in the eyes of the Lord and be declared righteous by the faith during that dispensation.
Noah lived for six hundred years, before the flood, under the dispensation of “Conscience.” Genesis 7:6. Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. Genesis 9:28.
What Noah did by faith before the flood is recorded in Hebrews 11:7 and II Peter 2:5. After Noah came out of the ark, in the year 1656 A.H. (year of man), God entered into a new covenant with the new earth and its inhabitants and set His bow in the clouds as a constant reminder. There were new terms, new promises, new responsibilities. Read carefully Genesis 8:20 to 22. Seed time and harvest and seasons of the year guaranteed by the gracious God. “And I will remember my covenant, which is between Me and you, and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.” Genesis 9:15. “And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature, etc.” Genesis 9:16 and 17. Now to any student of the Word of God, it is obvious that this covenant is a different covenant from that which God made with the human race at the time of Adam’s transgression, and yet both of these covenants contain promises which we enjoy at this time. Some have called the new dispensation under which Noah live after the flood, “Authority.” Others have called it “Human Government.” Either name is fitting, if we feel that we must have a name for it. We must recognize the new dispensation, whether or not we name it. God placed responsibility for government upon the shoulder of man. Genesis 9:4 to 7. Capital punishment is therein established; not in the Old Testament, for Noah lived and died as a sinner saved by grace centuries before God entered into the Old Covenant with the House of Israel. Noah was not an Old Testament character. He lived in two dispensations, under two different covenants, with somewhat different ministries.
GENESIS 11:1 TO 9:
“AND THE WHOLE EARTH WAS OF ONE LANGUAGE, AND OF ONE SPEECH AND IT CAME TO PASS AS THEY JOURNEYED FROM THE EAST, THAT THEY FOUND A PLAIN IN THE LAND OF SHINAR; AND THEY DWELT THERE. AND THEY SAID ONE TO ANOTHER, GO TO, LET US MAKE BRICK, AND BURN THEM THOROUGHLY. AND THEY HAD BRICK FOR STONE, AND SLIME HAD THEY FOR MORTER.
AND THEY SAID, GO TO, LET US BUILD US A CITY AND A TOWER, WHOSE TOP MAY REACH UNTO THE HEAVEN; AND LET US MAKE US A NAME, LEST WE BE SCATTERED ABROAD UPON THE FACE OF THE WHOLE EARTH. AND THE LORD CAME DOWN TO SEE THE CITY AND THE TOWER, WHICH THE CHILDREN OF MEN BUILDED.
AND THE LORD SAID, BEHOLD, THE PEOPLE IS ONE, AND THEY HAVE ALL ONE LANGUAGE; AND THIS THEY BEGIN TO DO: AND NOW NOTHING WILL BE RESTRAINED FROM THEM, WHICH THEY HAVE IMAGINED TO DO.
GO TO, LET US GO DOWN, AND THERE CONFOUND THEIR LANGUAGE, THAT THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER’S SPEECH.
SO THE LORD SCATTERED THEM ABROAD FROM THENCE UPON THE FACE OF ALL THE EARTH; AND THEY LEFT OFF TO BUILD THE CITY.
THEREFORE IS THE NAME OF IT CALLED BABEL; BECAUSE THE LORD DID THERE CONFOUND THE LANGUAGE OF ALL THE EARTH: AND FROM THENCE DID THE LORD SCATTER THEM ABROAD UPON THE FACE OF ALL THE EARTH.”