The Great Flood

Open the Bible Question Form to send your own question.

Printable Version

Introduction: Even in the midst of destruction, God provides a way for the salvation of those who will trust in Him. The emphasis of this lesson is not one of judgment but of God’s mercy for His own. Notice also that God delivers His people out of the way of His wrath. He does not make them go through it. In like manner, God’s people in the age of grace will be raptured from the earth before the falling of God’s wrath upon it (Rom.5:9; 1Thes.1:9-10; 5:9).

I.           THE COMMANDS OF GOD OBEYED (7:1-9)

A.    The Command to Build the Ark (6:14-16, 22)

B.    The Command to Load the Animals (v.1-6)

C.    The Command to Get on Board (v.7-9)

II.          THE COVERING BY THE WATERS (7:10-24)

A.    Forty Days and Nights of Rain (v.10-12)

B.    Shut in the Ark by the Lord (v.13-16)

C.    Mountains Covered by the Waters (v.17-20)

D.    All Breathing Creatures Died (v.21-24)

III.         THE CLEARING OF THE DRY LAND (8:1-14)

A.    The Waters Returned From Off the Earth (v.1-3)

B.    The Ark Rested on Mount Ararat (v.4-5)

C.    The Birds Sent Out to Check the Land (v.6-12)

D.    The Earth Dried of the Waters (v.13-14)

IV.        THE CALL TO LEAVE THE ARK (8:15-22)

A.    The Leaving of the Ark (v.15-22)

B.    The Offering of a Sacrifice (v.20)

C.    The Promise of the Lord (v.21-22)

V.         THE COMMISSION GIVEN TO NOAH (9:1-7)

A.    Be Fruitful and Multiply (v.1, 7)

B.    All Animals for Meat (v.2-3)

C.    No Eating of Blood (v.4)

D.    Execution of Murderers (v.5-6)

VI.        THE COVENANT MADE WITH NOAH (9:8-17)

A.    The Promise of No Universal Flood (v.8-11)

B.  The Token of the Rainbow (v.12-17)

VII.        THE CURSE PLACED ON CANAAN (9:18-29)

-this section is not really part of this lesson. It is placed here to show how it fits into the whole story.

Conclusion: God is our Deliverer. He always keeps His promises. Are you trusting in Him? Are you confident that He will see you through the storms of life? Make sure you are in the ark of the Lord and make sure that He has shut the door. Use your one window to look up to heaven and do the work He has called you to do until he calls you home to be with him. There is safety and deliverance in the ark.

COMMENTARY:

7:2-3 – The clean beasts were taken by sevens, not by twos, because they could be sacrificed (8:20).

7:4-6 – A chronology of the flood helps to understand the events surrounding it.

1.    120 years before the flood, God declares man’s time to be numbered (6:3)

2.    Seven days before the flood, God tells Noah to get in the ark (7:4, 10)

3.    The flood comes in the 600^th year of Noah (7:6)

4.    The rain began on the 17^th day of the 2^nd month and continued for 40 days and nights (7:11-12)

5.    The ark rests on one of the mountains of Ararat on the 17^th day of the 7^th month, 150 days after the beginning of the flood (7:24; 8:3-4)

6.    The tops of the mountains were seen on the 1^st day of the 10^th month (8:5)

7.    The raven and the dove were sent out during this time (8:6-12)

8.    The ground is dry on the 1^st day of the 1^st month of the 601^st year of Noah (8:13)

9.    Noah and his family leave the ark on the 27^th day of the 2^nd month (8:14-19). This is one year and ten days after the rain began coming down.

7:11 – The “great deep” probably refers to subterranean water gushing to the surface of the earth. (Some think they refer to water above the atmosphere.) The “windows of heaven” probably refers to waters from above the atmosphere as well as rain from the clouds. If the geography of the earth was similar to what it is today (that is, if there were mountain peaks approaching the height of Mt Everest), then the floodwaters would had to have raised about 750 per day. Rain could not have been the only source of water for the flood and the text says it was not (see also 8:2).

7:12 – Forty is a number of trial and testing in the Bible.

1.   The rain of Noah’s flood came for 40 days and nights (Genesis 7:12)

2.   It took Isaac 40 years to find the wife God had for him (Genesis 25:20)

3.   Moses wandered for 40 years on the backside of the desert (Acts 7:30)

4.   Moses met with God in Mt. Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights (Exodus 24:18); two times (Exodus 34:28)

5.   The 12 spies searched out the promised land for 40 days (Numbers 13:25)

6.   The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years (Numbers 14:33-34)

7.   A man cannot be beaten with more than 40 stripes (Deuteronomy 25:2-3)

8.   In the days of Othniel (Jdg.3:11), Deborah (Judges 5:8) and Gideon (Judges 8:28), God gave Israel rest for 40 year. Yet, in each case, Israel turned to other gods and brought judgment on themselves.

9.   God delivered Israel into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years (Judges 13:1)

10. Eli judged Israel for 40 years (1Samuel 4:18)

11. Saul reigned for 40 years (Acts 13:21)

12. Goliath presented himself before the camp of Israel 40 days (1Samuel 17:16)

13. David reigned for 40 years (2Samuel 5:4)

14. Solomon reigned for 40 years (1Kings 11:42)

15. Jonah preached that Ninevah would be destroyed in 40 days (Jonah 3:4)

16. Christ was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days (Mark1:13; Lk.4:2)

17. Christ showed Himself alive after His resurrection for 40 days (Acts 1:3)

7:16 – The “LORD shut him in.” God saves us and He preserves us.

9:5-6 – Capital punishment is established for murderers and is to be the foundation of civil government. Some say that execution of murderers, though allowed under the Old Testament, is wrong for today. Two examples should answer this. First, Paul, when brought to judgment, said, “For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die” (Acts 25:11). That means that he believed there were things that were “worthy of death”—an Old Testament phrase with particular meaning (see Deuteronomy 17:6; 21:22). Second, Paul speaks to the Romans about the higher powers of government as being ordained of God. Paul testifies that “he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil” (Romans 13:4). A sword in for killing and he refers here to evil doers being executed.

9:8-17 – The covenant is God’s promise to never destroy the entire earth with a flood again. The token or sign of the covenant is the rainbow (v.12). Compare this to the covenant with Abraham. The covenant is the set of promises that make of Abraham God’s special people with guarantees of a seed, a land and a nation. The token of the covenant is the circumcision of the male descendents of Abraham (Genesis 17:11).

MEMORY VERSES:

1.         2 Samuel 22:2

2.         Genesis 9:1

3.         Genesis 9:6