25 lesson plans for children, young people and their teacher
Lesson 4 God judges by the flood – Noah.
Bible reference – Genesis 6-9.
The human race chose to obey some of God’s will but not all of it:
They spread out the world over, Genesis 1:27,28; and 6:1.
But they did not keep sexually pure as God wanted them to be, “one man with one woman” (singular) in Genesis 2:18, 22, 24. Lamech married two women, 4:19. By 6:2 “they took the ones they liked”, or as another translation says, “they married any they chose”. (NIV).
Around 2,000 years passed. God the Creator was so sad with the bad choices people were making. People thought only to please themselves, not to please God. Genesis 6 verses 7 and 13 are solemn words. God decided to destroy almost all of the human race. He would send a flood. Water would cover the earth, even the highest mountains, verse 17. This was God’s judgement on people because of their sin. God had every right to do this to everything He had made because He was the Creator of everything! Stop and discuss (1) Three words describe the moral character of most people in Genesis 6:1-13. 1. What are those words? w ( ) e ( ) v ( ) Write (at the end of each word above) how many times you can find it in verses 1-13. Even if people ignore God, God does not ignore them. God saw the wicked actions and evil thoughts of people, 6:12. He also saw that one man, Noah, was different to the others, verse 8. God told Noah what He was going to do. Because Noah walked through life with God, God could easily talk to Him. God’s plan was to save Noah and his family from the flood. God made the first of several ‘covenants’, verse 18. (The Good News Bible word list, page 364, defines ‘covenant’ as “an agreement between God and a person, or group of people”). Noah and his family would be saved from God’s judgement by obeying God’s command. The command was to build a boat, verses 13,14.
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The boat must be made strong enough to float. It had to be made big enough to house Noah’s family plus a male and female of every kind of animal and bird, verses 19,20. God also reminded them to take enough food for all of them to eat and to live for a long time. Stop and discuss (2) Here is a sum for you to do!
The answers are all in Genesis chapters 6 and 7. Divide into groups of four people and work out the answers, before adding up the sum. 1. How many metres long was the boat to be built? 6:15 2. How many decks(floor levels) were there on the boat? 6:16 3. How many days and nights would God make rain fall on the earth with no stopping? 7:4 4. How many years old was Noah when the flood came? 7:6 5. On which day of the second month did the water start to fall and to flood? 7:11 6. About how many metres above the mountain tops did the flood rise to? 7:20 7. For how many days did the water cover the earth before it started to go down? 7:24 Now, add the numbers in this list. What is your total? God did exactly what He said He would do, Genesis 6:7,13; and 7:21. Sin and wickedness are so serious in God’s sight. God will always judge sin, but He may not do so very quickly. God often delays judgement because He really wants everybody to be saved. He gives people the chance to change their ways.
Stop and discuss (3) We learn three very important things about God in this story of Noah. What are they? 1. 6 verses 5-7 2. 6 verse 13 3. 6 verses 18-22 One whole year and ten days passed before the earth was dry again, Genesis 7 verse 11 and 8 verse 14. God gave humanity a new start, with Noah and his family, 8:15-17. God put the coloured rainbow into the sky whenever there is sunshine and rain clouds, to remind people of His promise. He promised never to destroy the whole world with a flood again, Genesis 9:12-17. This bow is seen today as a sign of God’s promise to the world. Even in a time of God’s judgement, God still enjoys receiving the personal worship of those who will offer it to Him, 8 verses 20,21. God’s plan for humans is still to save all those
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who will “do everything just as God commanded”, 6 verse 22. God’s word must always be our guide in life.
Answers to Stop and discuss.
1. wicked (1) means “morally wrong, wrongly behaved” (Dictionary page 840)
evil (4) means “very bad” (Dictionary page 254)
violent (2) means“physically damaging, causing real harm” (Dictionary page 819)
2. The sum: 1. 133 Genesis 6:15
2. 3 6:16
3. 40 7:4
4. 600 7:6
5. 17 7:11
6. 7 7:20
7. 150 7:24
Total 950
3. 1. Sin makes God sad, Genesis6:5-7
2. God will judge and destroy sinners, Genesis 6:13
3. God opens a way to save those He is pleased with, those who are different from
the rest, Genesis 6:18-22.
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