GOD'S JUDGEMENT AND SALVATION
Genesis 6-7 Lesson 5a
Key Verse: 6:9
"This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man,
blameless among the people of his time, and he walked
with God."
* THE SPREAD OF SIN (6:1-7)
1. Read 6:1-3. From the context of this chapter, who seem to be the
sons of God, and who seem to be the daughters of men?
2. What was the basis of marriage in the times of Noah? How did God
express his displeasure? (3) What does verse 3 mean? In what
way did the fruit of these marriages seem good by human
standards? (4) Why was God displeased? (Compare Ge 2:22-24)
3. What did God see that grieved him and filled his heart with pain?
What was so evil about the inclinations of men's hearts? (see Lk
17:27)
4. How did the evil inclinations of men's hearts erupt into evil
actions and evil lives? (11,12) Describe the times of Noah.
5. What did God decide to do? (7,13) What can we learn here about the
way sin spreads? What can we learn about God?
* GOD'S COVENANT WITH NOAH (6:8-22)
6. What does it mean that Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord?
(6:8) How is Noah described in 6:9 and 7:1? In what respect is
he different from the people of his times? What does it mean
that Noah was righteous?
7. What did God tell Noah about his plans for the world? What did God
tell Noah to do? What is the concrete evidence of Noah's faith?
(22) [See Heb 11:7] Why might it have been difficult to build
the ark? What practical lessons of faith could Noah learn from
building it?
8. What was the content of the covenant God made with Noah? (6:18-22)
What characterizes Noah's faith (6:22; 7:5,9,16) What can we
learn here about the importance of one man of faith?
* JUDGMENT AND SALVATION (7:1-24)
9. Describe Noah's entry into the ark. (6:16-22; 7:1-10; 7:13-16) How
did the animals get into the ark? (15,16)
10. How old was Noah when the flood began? 7:11) How long did the rain
fall (12,17)? How long did the waters flood the earth? (24)
11. What can we learn from this event about sin? About God?
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GOD'S JUDGMENT AND SALVATION
Genesis 6-7 Lesson 5a
Key Verse: 6:9
"This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man,
blameless among the people of his time, and he walked
with God."
As world population increased, sin grew and spread. In the times of
Noah corruption and violence reached a climax and the righteous God
revealed his wrath in a mighty act of judgment. He destroyed the earth
with a flood. He also revealed his love and mercy by saving one man of
faith. Because of one man's faith, the human race was preserved. The
times of Noah and our times are not so different. Jesus compared his
times to the times of Noah in Luke 17:26,27: People were eating,
drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah
entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. In this
lesson we want to think about how sin spreads, about the importance of
one man of faith and the nature of his faith, and about God who judges
and saves.
1. The spread of sin (6:1-7)
Adam's disobedience of God's command in chapter 3 erupted in murder in
chapter 4. Cain killed his brother Abel. The disease of sin spread like
cancer. The godless culture which sprang from Cain's descendants was a
technologically advanced culture, but it was morally corrupt. We can
see the one thin line of spiritual life in the words at the end of
chapter 4, "At that time, men began to call on the name of the Lord."
These were the men of Seth's line. Among them was Enoch, who walked
with God. And there was Noah. But these men were like small candles
burning in a very black night. As people increased on the earth, sin
increased and spread.
Chapter 6:1,2 say, "When men began to increase in number on the
earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the
daughters of men were beautiful and they married any of them they
chose." The writer begins the story of the corruption of the world by
talking about marriage. Marriage was instituted by God in the Garden
before the Fall. God himself created the high and holy union between
man and woman and established the family. He saw that it was not good
for man to be alone, and he created the family for man's happiness. But
this was not all. He created the family for mission, to love and obey
him and do his work in the world. But the marriages described in 6:1-5
were godless. We cannot be positive about who the sons of God and the
daughters of men in verse 2 are, but in the context of the Genesis
story, it seems reasonable to say that they are the men of Seth's line
who bore Adam's and God's image and women who were the godless
descendants of Cain. Verse 2 says, "The sons of God saw that the
daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they
chose." One thing is clear: corruption began when men of God began to
leave God out of marriage. Instead of marrying women who pleased God,
they married women who pleased themselves. Physical appearance, sexual
attraction, romantic love seem to have been their primary criteria in
choosing marriage partners. The results of these marriages, from a
human point of view, seemed to be good. According to verse 4, the
children born of these marriages were strong and handsome and
beautiful. The Nephilim (giants) were on the earth in those days--and
also afterward--when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and
had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
But verse 3 tells us that God was not pleased by these marriages.
Then the Lord said, 'My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for
he is mortal (The NAS and the RSV say, flesh); his days will be a
hundred and twenty years.' (The 120 years may refer to the time left
before the flood, or it may refer to a general shortening of the life
span of each man. If the latter, it happened gradually, and did not
become really evident until after the time of Abraham.) Although we
don't know the exact meaning of this verse, it is clear that God was
not happy that man was following his flesh desires rather than
following God's Spirit. People were living a first dimensional
life--living life on the physical level, ignoring the spiritual side of
life completely. Eating and drinking, and marrying are not wrong--they
are all joyful human activities; but if people only think about their
flesh lives and leave God out, this displeases God very much. It is
practical atheism.
The Nephilim were indeed beautiful people, but God sees more than
the outward appearance. He sees men's hearts. So verse 5 continues,
"The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become and
that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all
the time." The cancer of sin grows first in the heart. It is the heart
that is corrupt. Jeremiah said that the heart is deceitful above all
things and beyond cure (17:9). Jesus also said, "What comes out of a
man is what makes him unclean. For from within, out of men's hearts,
come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed,
malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these
evils come from inside and make a man `unclean'." (Mk 7:20-23) So God
was grieved with what he saw, and his heart was filled with pain. He
was sorry that he had created man. God was so hurt. He loved the people
he had created, but his love was rejected. The way they were going was
the way of destruction.
The cancer of sin had spread so much that radical surgery was
needed. The small beginning of disobedience in a seemingly unimportant
matter had grown until all mankind was in danger of destruction. Verse
11 says, "Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of
violence." The small sins that had been hidden in the heart erupted in
action. Corruption and violence filled the earth. Sin is like this. It
starts in the heart; it grows with a small act of disobedience, and
continues to grow until a person becomes a slave of sin, and it
destroys him like cancer. So verse 6 says, "God was grieved that he had
made man on the earth, so he decided to wipe mankind, whom he had
created, from the face of the earth. It was his right as Creator. He
gave life; he could take it away. But God's grief was comforted by one
man, Noah. Noah's name means comfort. He was a comfort to his own
father, and he was a comfort to God. Verse 9a says, "But Noah found
favor in the eyes of the Lord." This means that God extended his grace
to Noah.
2. God's covenant with Noah (8-22)
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time.
(6:9b) In Chapter 7, God said, "I have found you righteous in this
generation." Noah was righteous, not because he was sinless. He was
righteous because he believed in God. First, he walked with God. this
means that he did not just live life on a physical plane (Although he
ate and drank and married and had three sons). He had a spiritual life.
He spent time with God. Second, his righteousness was the righteousness
that comes from faith. When God told him that he would destroy the
earth, Noah believed God. And his faith was expressed in obedience to
God's word. God trained Noah in faith. He told him to make an ark;
then, he told him exactly how to build it; and "Noah did everything
just as God had commanded him."(22)
Obedience to God's word was the key to Noah's faith (7:5,9,16). Many
people of his time must have thought that Noah was a fool. They must
have teased and persecuted him for building such big boat so far away
from the ocean. He must have been lonely sometimes. But he did not
yield to peer pressure or to his own logic. Rather, his faith grew as
he accepted God's training and obeyed his word in great detail. He had
a sense of God's mission and tried to warn the people of his time, for
Peter calls him a preacher of righteousness (2Pet 2:5). His own family,
the people who knew him best, respected him and obeyed him and could be
saved with him.
God made a covenant with Noah. This was God's favor. It was a
covenant which became God's means of grace not only to Noah and his
family, but to all life on the earth. He told Noah to enter the ark,
with his family (8 persons) and pairs of all the animals on earth,
domestic and wild. Noah, by his obedience, accepted God's gracious
covenant. He continued to obey God's word: He stored food in the ark;
he called the animals and they came to him, and they entered the ark of
salvation with Noah and his family.
God's covenant with Noah was established when he built the ark and
entered it. God promised to save him and his family and God did. God's
covenant with us is established in Jesus Christ. When I repent of my
sin and accept God's forgiveness through Jesus' blood, I am set free
from sin and guilt and saved from the destruction of the final
judgment.
Because of the faith of one man, Noah, God made a life-line to save
the human race and the animal kingdom. In the midst of the destruction,
one man's life was preserved and because of him, life did not perish
from the earth. God still uses men of faith to bring his redemption and
salvation to the world.
May the Lord help us to overcome the tyranny of the times--the
materialism that seems to offer an easier, more comfortable life; the
worldly pleasures that seem to promise happiness; the small invitations
to find excitement in travel or in doing all kinds of activities that
promise freedom from boredom and offer temporary relief from
meaninglessness. May he raise up a few men who have the faith of Noah,
men through whom he can bring his salvation to the world.
3. Judgment and salvation (7:1-24)
This was God's way of salvation. There was no other way. God saved
Noah and his family and animal life on the earth by his grace alone. He
blessed Noah's obedience. Noah obeyed God; the animals obeyed Noah, and
life on the earth was spared. God's one way of salvation in our time is
through faith in Jesus.
God is a God of judgment. The flood looks forward to the final
judgment. God will surely judge all men. He will judge the earth. "We
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may
receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether
good or bad." (2Co 5:17) Both the Old and New Testaments speak of the
"Day of the Lord", the day when the Lord will execute his judgment on
the earth. (2Pet 3:8-13)
God's word to us is also very clear. The world and the things of the
world will perish. Only the spiritual treasures in heaven will never
fade, spoil or perish. Only what is done for God will last. God calls
us to live by faith, in obedience to his word. To do so is like
building an ark in the backyard, while everyone else is watching TV or
having "fun." Many people live in fear of a nuclear holocaust or of an
AIDS epidemic. But God's people must live by faith, knowing that the
world is in God's hands. When the time comes for the final judgment, it
will come. It will not be an accident. Those who belong to God, who
have entered into covenant with him will be saved and will have eternal
life.
But God is also a God of salvation. He does not want anyone to
perish, but everyone to come to repentance. So he continually extends
his hand to a sinful and rebellious people. (2Pe 3:9; Ezk 18:32) He is
ready to save anyone who takes his hand in faith.