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Old Testament Events #3 The Great Flood - Genesis 6-9 Inductive Bible Study
The Flood – Genesis 6-9
Outline
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Humankind’s corruption (6:1-4)
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God’s plan of justice (6:5-8)
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Noah’s testimony in a dark world (6:9-12)
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God’s command to Noah (6:13-22)
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Noah, his family, and the animals enter the ark (7:1-9)
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The flood comes upon the earth (7:10-24)
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The receding waters (8:1-12)
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Exiting the ark (8:13-19)
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Noah offers a sacrifice to the Lord (8:20)
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God’s response to the sacrifice (8:21-22)
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God’s covenant to Noah (9:1-17)
Teaching
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Humans were reproducing and spreading throughout the earth. Fallen angels (see cross-references and point out the sin of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah who wished to have relations with the two visiting angels) twisted God’s natural design for men and women and had relations with human women. They were corrupting the human race. Their offspring were giants, mighty men, powerful. Humans were revolting against God. God decided that instead of striving against them He would wipe them out and declared 120 years until this event. Humans’ wickedness became so great it was a stench in God’s nostrils. How far humans had come from their perfect innocence in the garden of Eden. They made unholy alliances with demons, directly going against their Creator. These people lived close to the time of Creation. Many of them probably knew Adam or his close descendents. They had heard about their Creator. But they willfully chose to reject Him and pursue their own ways.
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Humans’ wickedness is very clear. Every intent of his heart was evil continually. This is the state of humans apart from God’s direct intervention. They are totally depraved. Their thoughts are bent on themselves. They have no desire to follow God. God hates sin and it sorrows Him (Ephesians 4:30). The words used “sorry” and “grieved” make it sound like God changed His mind, that He wished He didn’t create humans. But we know this can’t be the case. God never makes mistakes. He and His plans are perfect. His plan is everlasting and doesn’t change (Isaiah 46:9-10). When we put God’s thoughts into human language it cannot always represent perfectly what God was thinking for His thoughts are beyond us. His patience finally ran out and He promised a total destruction. God is just and He may not judge sin immediately, wanting to give humans time to repent, but eventually He will judge sin completely. He hates it and has no mercy on it. Later we will see that even though God is just, even when He exercises judgment He shows mercy at the same time.
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This is a great testimony of Noah. The world around him was a corrupt and extremely evil place. The rest of the world was extremely wicked and bent on doing evil. But Noah was “blameless”! Noah was truly a light. Hebrews 11:7. God did not forget him either. He showed the same reluctance to punish the righteous with the wicked as He did when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Noah indeed must have had great faith. There had never been any rain on the earth. He was probably far from any ocean. The boat would take 100 years to build. In the meantime he was probably criticized, mocked, and scoffed constantly by those around him. Yet he persisted for a CENTURY to follow God’s command. Look at the result!
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God planned to destroy humans for their gross sin. Even animals would be consumed in the judgment. Even in the midst of God’s justice and intolerance for sin, He had a plan for the preservation and salvation of the human race as well as the animal kingdom. He commanded Noah to build a monstrous boat, about the size of a soccer field. He was to fill it with a food supply and when it was finished take two of every kind of animal onto the ark with him. What a huge task! God also told Noah to put a window in the ark. Everything was planned for. He knew Noah would need the window the release the birds later on. God was the master designer. A boat of this size and shape would be extremely stable and impossible to capsize. It had the capacity of about 522 railroad boxcars. That is enough to hold 125,000 sheep, easily enough room to hold all the species of the world at that time.
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God says that Noah and his family could enter the ark because he was righteous. God spares the righteous His wrath. Noah was faithful and obeyed everything God commanded him to do. It is a miracle that all of these thousands of species gathered together and meekly followed Noah into the ark. God showed His power once again in that even the animals obey His commands.
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Noah and his family entered the door of the ark and God closed the door. There was only door. There was only one means of salvation for Noah and his family. If he wanted to be saved he had to go by the way that God commanded. Any effort of his own self would surely have failed. What’s more, God decided when it was too late to repent and that time did come. God gives abundant opportunity to repent. Those people knew for over a hundred years what God planned to do, but they didn’t believe it. They had no faith. God is merciful. He first tells people that judgment is coming. He shows them His power and might through Creation. He gives numerous opportunities, but there comes a time when His mercy reaches its limit. One can see from these verses that this was a torrential flood. The language of this chapter certainly supports a universal and not local flood. The “fountains of the great deep burst open”. This seems to support a breaking up of parts of the earth’s crust, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and the like. It must have been a frightening experience for those outside of the ark. Also this could have triggered the break up of the canopy. The “floodgates of the sky were opened”. Rain fell on the “earth” for forty days and nights. The mountains “everywhere under the heavens” were covered. God blotted out “every living thing on the face of the land”. This was a massive, cataclysmic, world-changing event and the language in this chapter supports that.
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The waters reached a point seven meters above the highest mountain in the world. This would allow the ark to float freely over the water. Then God caused the waters to start receding He didn’t forget Noah and his family inside the ark. Noah performed some very clever tests to see when food started growing again and the earth could once again support them. Good thing God told him to make a window! Ararat is about 17,000 feet tall, though it might have been that tall then.
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All in all Noah and his family were in the ark 378 days. He and his family were saved according to God’s plan along with the animal species which would repopulate the earth. God gave them the command to get in the ark. He also gave them the command to leave the ark. They put every step of their lives under God’s control. God’s plan was of course successful. Sin and the humans’ who practiced it had been punished. His justice had been proven. The horrible corruption caused by the fallen angels cohabiting with humans had been cleaned up and the human race kept pure for the eventual coming of the Messiah. Noah and His family had been saved. They had seen God’s faithfulness and experienced it firsthand. They knew the horrible consequences that sin would bring. They witnessed God’s awesome power.
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Noah showed his gratitude to God by an act of worship, sacrificing of every clean animal. This was actually quite a sacrifice. There were very few animals at that time and it would have been easy for Noah to rationalize and think that he needed to save them so that they could repopulate the earth. Yet he demonstrated faith in God. He wanted to worship this great God that he had come to know even better. He also didn’t seem to react negatively and blame God for judging the sinners. He would leave the ark and enter a much harsher world, one with much shorter longevity, extreme temperatures, new diseases, and natural disasters.
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God was pleased with the sacrifice and responded by making a promise. He promised never to curse or destroy the world again in the same way that He had already done (9:11) (though we know He will destroy the world again one day, this time by fire 2 Peter 3:3-10). God also showed His faithfulness by promising to reestablish the seasons after the catastrophe.
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Here God repeats some of the commands that He previously gave to Adam, but some are changed. Noah is to be fruitful and multiply just as Adam was. It was now he and his descendants who were to fill the earth. Also Noah is to exercise dominion over the animals and the earth as Adam was. It was all given to Noah and his descendants. Yet here there is a “terror” and a “fear” that was not present before sin came into the world. Before dominion would be an easy task as peace and harmony reigned. Now it would be much more difficult and there would not be the same harmony. Now freedom was given to eat meat, unlike before. But blood, which would be the covering sin and which represents life was forbidden. Capital punishment was instituted, a gross reminder of the consequences that sin would have and the fallen state of the world. The basis for capital punishment is the fact that humans were created in the image of God. Here we can see that life has inherent value. We are valuable because we are made in God’s image. God made a promise/covenant to Noah that He would not destroy the world by a flood of water again. He established the rainbow as a symbol and everlasting reminder of His promise. God can use natural forces and the laws of science (now changed after the new world conditions) that He created for His own purposes.
Main Points –
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Humans’ wickedness/depravity – Humans are totally depraved and rebellious against God. Every thought of their heart is evil continually.
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God’s justice – God will not allow sin to go unpunished. It grieves His heart. He will judge ever sin and those who practice it will be punished. When the judgment comes it is too late to repent.
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God’s provision – Even in the midst of pouring out His justice, God is merciful and makes a provision for the salvation of humans. He always provides a way of salvation for those who come to Him.
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Noah’s faithfulness – Noah is an outstanding example of faith, faithfulness, and perseverance. His task was arguable the most difficult given to anyone except for Jesus (the cross), but He persevered through it until the end and received the reward.
Questions –
What can we learn here about God’s view towards sin?
Who are the sons of God?
What is this sin that is taking place between them and the daughters of men?
What was human’s relationship with God at this point?
What stands out about Noah?
How big was the ark that Noah was to build?
Is that big enough to carry so many animals?
Why should there be seven “clean” animals compared with only two unclean?
How could Noah possibly capture all of these animals and get them into the ark?
What can we learn about God’s mercy and salvation?
Do you think there is any significance to the fact that there was only one door into the ark?
What is the significance of the fact that God closed the door to the ark?
Where were the sinful people of the world when the flood started coming?
Do you think they wanted to repent? Could they? Why or why not? What does this tell us today about people and their chances to repent? (Luke 17:26-28, Matthew 24:38-39, (2 Peter 3:5-9)
Was the flood local or universal? How do you know?
How long was the time period between the beginning of the flood and when Noah and his family left the ark?
What is the significance of Noah’s sacrifice?
What promises did God make to Noah?
Cross references-
Hebrews 11:7, 2 Peter 2:5, 2 Peter 3:5-9, Luke 17:26-28, Matthew 24:38-39
Sons of God debate (Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7; 2 Peter 2:4-9, Jude 6-7)
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