CHAPTER TEN

Noah's Family in the

Dispensation for
Restoration

God's Dispensation for Restoration centered on Adam's fam il y

was not rea lized because Cain murdered Abel. However, God's
Will to fulfill the Purpose of the Creation is predestined as
absolute; so on the basis of Abel's heart and loyalty to heaven ,
God "gave" Seth to take his p lace (Gen 4 :25). Then , from
among Seth's descendants God chose Noah and his fami ly to
s tand in p lace of Adam a nd his fam ily, a nd God began the
Dispensation for Restoration centered on Noah 's family.
Genesis 6: 13 says that " . .. God said to Noah, 'I have
determined to make a n end of a ll flesh; for the earth is filled
with violence through the m; beh old, I w ill destroy them with
the earth .'" This clearly s hows that God intended to bring
about the Last Days a t tha t time. Using Noah 's fami ly as the
foundation, God intended to fulfi ll the Purpose of the Creation
by sending the Messiah after the Flood Judgment. Therefore,
the dispensation in Noah's family was the d ispensation to
establish the Foundation for the Messia h .

I. FOUNDATION OF FAITH

A. The Central Person for Restoring the Foundation of Faith

In the dispensation centered on Noah's family, Noah was the
centra l person chosen to restore the Foundation of Faith. God
found him ten generations a nd sixteen hund red years after
Adam. God blessed Noah as he had blessed Adam earlier,
directing Noah to "'... be fruitful a nd multiply .. .'" (Gen
9:7). In the eyes of God, Noah was a righteous man (Gen
6:9),who was therefore qua lified to be the centra l person for
the foundation of Faith.

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 124 OA H 'S FAMILY

B. The Offering Required in Restoring the

Founda tion of Faith
The o ffering which oah had to make to res tore the Founda-
tion of Faith wa the ark . What was the meaning of this ark in
terms of God's dispensation? Noah was c hosen by God to
symbolicall y res tore the cosmos, wh ich h ad been handed over
to Satan by Ada m ' fall. Con equent ly, oah had to make an
offering which wou ld symbolize a new cosmos, and be accept-
ab le to God. The ark was this o ffering. After God gave his
ins tructions, Noah pent o ne hu ndred twen ty years building
the ark, enduring al l types of ridicule from t he evil a nd s inful
worl d because of his absolute obed ience to God.
The three-deck ark sy mbo liLed the cosmos which was
crl!a ted throug h the three growing s tages. The eight members
o f oah's fam i ly who entered the a rk were to restore a nd
indemnify the failures of the eight me mbers of Adam 's fam il y.
S ince the ark represented the cosmos, Noah, as the master of
Noah's family<S>== Adam's family(8) the ark, rl!presentcd God; the members of his fam ily repn.:-
se nted a ll ma nk ind ; and the anima ls in th e ark represented
the entire Creation. When the a rk ha d been completed. God
j udged mankind and destroyed the evil through a forty-day
flood. According to " The Princi p les of the Creation," man was
crcatl!d to se r ve on ly one m aster: so God cannot rela te as a
Family=Mank1nd second master to a fa llen person, who al ready has Satan as his
Animals= Creation mas te r. If this were to happen, the dispen ·a t ion wou ld become
a non-Princi ple one. Therefore, in order to establish an object
for his dispcn a t ion, throu gh whom he alone could work, God
broug ht abou t the n ood lo destroy a ll w ho remained under
Sa tan's dominion.
Wha t was the dispensational meaning o f the forty-da_v
period of the nood? God's ltleal fo r the Creation is ba ed on the
Four Position Foundat ion. However, the Four Po ition foun-
dat ion was los t to Satan; so God worked his dispensation to
restore the Four Position Foundat ion . Si nce the number te11 i
the number of return to unity, it symbol ize return to God.
Th us, by working to restore the Four Position Foundation in
(/) each or the ten generations from Ada m to oah, God was able
C
0 to estab lis h the conditio n for restoring the Four Position
~a, + 40day Foundation to his side. Thus, the period from Adam to oah
ma~· be een as the indemnity period for restoring the Four
C
(1)
0,
flood Positio n Founda tion to God. Thus, t he number forty (4 posi-
tions x 10 generations) came to represent the return of the
0
~ Four Posit ion Foundation to God .
Beca use o f the lus t and fai th lessness of the people of

t Adam
Noah's time, the inde mnity period of ten generations, w hich
was for the purpose of res toring the Four Posi ti on Founda tion,
was in vad ed by Satan . Consequently, centered on Noah's ark,
 NOAH 'S FAMILY 125

God set up the forty-day period of the Oood as the indemnity

period to restore the period from Ada m to Noah , which ha d
been invaded. It is based on this that the numbe r ' forty' be- No. 40 Periods of Separation from Satan
came necessary in la ter e fforts to se pa rate from Satan and
restore the Founda tion of Faith through indemnity. In the
Bible, we see m a ny instances of these indemni ty per iods for Noah 40 day flood
separa ti ng from Sa tan: the four-hundred-year per iod from
Noah to Ab raham ; the Is rae lites' fou r hundred yea rs of suffer- Abraham 400 years after Noah
ing in Egypt; the ir forty yea rs of wander ing in the wilderness;
Moses' two fo rty-day fas ts ; the fort y-day period of spying in Israelites 400 years 1n Egypt
Canaan ; the forty-year re igns of the kin gs Sau l, David , a nd 40 years 1n wilderness
So lom on ; E lijah 's forty-day fast ; Jona h 's pro phecy that
Nineveh would be destroyed after forty days; Jesus' fo rty-day Moses 40 day fasts
fas t a nd prayer ; and Jesus' forty-day period after resurrection.
By bui ldi ng the a rk in acco rda nce with God 's instruc tio ns
a nd fa ithfu lly obeying the Wil l of God throughout the fo rty-
day Oood, Noa h met the inde mnity cond i lion a nd restore d the
Founda tion of Fa ith . No. 40 Periods of Separation from Satan

II. FOUNDATION OF SUBSTANCE Saul,

David, 40 years each as king
Noah's fa mily now ha d to take this vert ical a ttitude o[ fa ith Solomon
which Noah ha d established toward God and apply it horizon-
Elijah 40 day fast
ta lly in their relationshi ps with each other, thus mee ting the
indemn ity condi tion for establis hing the Founda tion or Sub- Jonah 40 day prophecy concerning
s tance . Th is Indemnity Condition for Re moving the Fa llen Ninevah
Na ture ha d to be fulfi lled bv Noah 's second son , Ha m , a nd his
e ldest son, Shem . Jesus 40 day fast
In Adam's fa m ily, ins tead of Ada m , the second son , Abel, 40 day period following
ma de the offerin g which w a s accep ta b le to God , thus esta b- the resurrection
lis hing the vertical rela tionship with God , which is the Fou n-
da tion of Fa ith . Therefore, Abel naturall y qua lified as the
cen tra l person for the Founda tion of Substa nce.
In Noah 's fa mi ly, however, it was Noah w ho met t he
inde mni ty condi tion for estab lis hing the Founda tio n of Fa ith .
Therefore, the positio n of his second son, Ha m, was no t yet
equ iva lent to tha t of Abel a fter h is offering. In other words,
Ha m ha d not yet established a n a bsolute and substan tial
vertical rela tions hip of fai th a nd devotion wit h God . In orde r
for Ha m to be in the central position for esta blishing the
Founda tion of Substa nce, he firs t had to inherit the founda-
tion of Noah 's fa ith a nd obedie nce. For th is purpose, it was
essentia l tha t Ha m forge an unbreakab le re la tionship of hear t
with Noah , who had s uccessfu lly esta blished the Foundation
of Fa ith. In othe r words, Ham sho uld have become o ne in
heart with Noa h, obeying h im and consider ing h is will to be as
important as li re itse lf.
The Bible records the condi tions which God set up to Foundation for the Messiah
126 OAH 'S FAMILY

carry out his dispensation to unite Noah and Ham in heart

(Gen 9:20-25). However. when Ham saw Noah s leeping naked
in the tent, he was so ashamed a nd displeased that he stirred
up the same shame in his brothers, Shem and Japeth. Recoil-
ing at the thought of their father na ked, Shem a nd J apcth
walked backward and covered him w ith a garment. This was
such a crime that Noah cursed Ha m , saying," '... Cursed be
Canaan; a slave of slaves ha ll he be to his brothers'" (Gen
9:25).
Judging from Noah 's normal conduct , his deep piety, and
the record of his absolute faith, it is not likely that he was
given to intemperate drin kin g or to improper self-exposu re,
which might bring censure. It is natural to think tha t Noah's
lying na ked was a t least an improprie ty, yet the curse fell not
on Noah but on Ha m , who thought tha t Noah 's act was shame-
ful and instigated She m a nd Japeth's covering of Noah. The
reason is direct!~· rela ted to God's dis pensation.
Why was Ham cursed? This question can be answered by
understanding why Ham's actions were sinful. An ac t is inful
when it gives Satan a condition , or basis, to invade, creating
a n object for Satan to work through . Satan's power to act
de.pends upon Give a nd Take Action ,vith such an object.
Satan docs not have the power to act unless he fi nds an object
wi th which he has a basis for Give a nd Ta ke Act ion .
Then what did Ha m do that gave Satan a condition to
invade? immediately a fter the Fall , Adam and E\·e covered the
sexual part of the ir bodies, indicating their ha \'ing entered
into a blood relationship with Satan. Upon seeing his father's
na kedness, Ha m was simila rly ashamed and covered him up .
From the dispensational viewpoint , the fact that Ham !cit
asha med of his father 's nakedness and directed his brothers to
cover him was an admission that he had a blood relationship
with Satan, just a s Ada m 's fami ly had had . Satan, who had
been separated out by the Flood J udgment , was brnught back
by Ham's act , and Ham stood in a po::.ition to be one with him .
Thus. he was cursed .
ls it a sin to regard the naked human body with a sen e of
shame? No. However, Noah's [amity was chosen by God to
sta nd in place of Adam's family, a nd it therefore had the
mi sion to remove a ll the conditions by which Adam 's fam ily
ha d a llowed Sa tan to invade mankind-conditions which
onl y Noah's fami ly was in the position to remove. It was in
accordance with God's d ispensation that the righteous oah
became drunk and lay naked in his te nt. God had him do this
so that Ham. by showing trust, could become one in heart
wit h Noah, who had a lready established the Foundation of
Faith . Ever ything that Noah did was exactly in accordance
with God 's dispe nsation .
 NOAH'S FAMILY 127

Though externally Ham's mistake was only that he har-

bored shame and d ispleasure over his father's naked body,
dispensationally he was cursed for the mis take of maki ng a
base for the influence of Sa tan, who had been separated out by
the Flood Judgment. Therefore, Ham could not possibly s tand Foundation
as the victorious second son and be the center of the Founda- of Faith
tion of Subs tance. Thus, we find nothing recorded in the Bible Foundation
about Ham a nd She m workin g to meet the conditions for
(Vertical)
of Substance
removing the Fallen Nature or establishing a Foundation of
Substance. (Horizontal)
God cou ld not intervene in the indemnity condi tion that
Ham had to meet, because it was Ham 's responsibility. There-
fore God did not directly instruct Ha m to believe in his father
a nd become one with him no matter wh a t the circums tances.
Through Ham's experiences wi th the flood and Noah's build-
ing of the ark, it sho uld ha ve been quite clear tha t his fa ther
was a man representing God's Wi ll. Therefore, after the flood,
it was Ham's respons ibi lity to maintain absolute faith in Noah
and to obey him in all c ircumstances.