The
Book of Genesis
Lesson Verse: Mt 24:37
A. In part one of this chapter we study about the growth and spread of evil over the world. The evil became so bad, that God decided to destroy the world and the entire human race save eight souls. The second part of the chapter deals with Noah of whom found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It is in this last section that Noah was instructed to build an ark.
B. It is in this chapter that we find a man by the name of Noah. He is a man that represents two types of people. (1) He is a type of the Christian in that he preached about something that no one had ever seen: rain. As Christian we preach about an event that is going to take place called the rapture. (2) Noah is also a type of the nation of Israel for he rides out the judgment of God in the ark and comes through the other side in a body of flesh.
II.
Lesson –
The Call of Noah (Genesis 6:1-22)
A. The Growth And Spread Of Sin, Gen. 6:1-5.
1. It was during this period of time that sin ran rampant over the entire world. Man did everything evil that he imagined.
2. The Sons Of Man Began To Multiply.
a. People lived to be very old during this age. The theory behind this is the earth was surrounded by a canopy of ice that protected the population from the harmful rays of the sun. This canopy was used to flood the earth during the approaching flood. It is believed that great chunks of ice fell from the firmament when the windows of heaven opened.
b. Daughters were born to them. It was a good thing that daughters were born to the men, else the race would have been extinct many years ago. This is not a “normal” statement – something is going on here that God wants us to beware of!
c. The sons of God saw that they were fair and took them as wives.
1) Just who these sons of God are we are not explicitly told. There are some theories of where they came from and who they are. Here are two theories with pro and con views. Take your pick or make up your own theory.
2) Theory #1: Possibly the sons of God were from the godly line of Seth. The daughters of men were from the lineage of Cain.
a) This is a good thought. However, it has some flaws for the sons of Seth were men and the daughters of men were daughters. That is they were flesh and blood. Both lines have Adam and Eve as parents. If the sons of God were from the line of Seth, what happened that caused the off spring of these sons of God (Seth) and the daughters of men to become giants, men of renown, or mighty men? The Bible does not say.
b) More interestingly is the fact that these giants show up again after the flood and the flood was used by God to destroy them. Even though the line of Seth continued through Noah these giants surface again in Num 13:33, Josh. 15:14, Judges 1:20. Good King David is credited with killing one of the giants about 400 years after Israel entered the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, 1 Sam. 17. Also, Goliath had four sons, 2 Sam. 21:15-22, and these giants fought Israel during the days of King David, a man after God’s own heart.
3) Theory #2: The sons of God were fallen angels.
a) This is most likely the cause for the off springs of the sons of God and the daughters of men to become giants, mighty men, men of renown.
b) The Bible says some angels left their first estate, Jude 6-7, and because they left their first estate and co-habitated with the daughters of men, God spared them not but delivered them into chains of darkness, 2 Pet. 2:4-9.
c) Furthermore, these particular angels mentioned in Jude and Peter are not demons under the control of Satan. His demons are free to do all the dirty work they want to do. Jesus cast many of them out of people during His earthly ministry.
d) For the use of the Old Testament term “sons of God” see:
(i) Job 1:6; 2:1 - angels
(ii) Job 38:5-7 – angels present at creation
e) Another argument to support this theory is these off-springs between these unions produced a race of people that were mighty. There is one line of thought that says these mighty men of renown were the Greek and Roman gods of mythology. “The Two Babylons” by Hislop.
f) The objection to this theory is found in Luke 20:27-36. This is the passage of scripture used by the Sadducees to tempt Jesus about marriage. What Jesus told the Sadducees was that in the resurrection they neither married nor were given in marriage but were equal to angels and they never died, referring to those who obtained the resurrection. The angels do not have to marry in order for there to be more angels. What people have done in order to explain something they can not understand, sons of God in Gen. 6, is force angels to be sexless. All angels are MALE.
g) This passage in Luke says that there are no marriages in heaven, it does not imply that the angels are sexless and that angels could not mate with humans. If we who obtain eternal life are sexless, equal to angels, then when we get to heaven we will not know each other.
3. The Lord Said That Since Man Is Also Flesh, His Spirit Shall Not Always Strive, Struggle with Man (6:3)
a. The two parts of man were originally in happy adjustment. Since the fall, the flesh had gained the upper hand and the spirit is in bondage. Because of this the Lord declares that mankind will perish in 120 years.
b. Here are some basic instructions for us. We also must realize that we can test the patience of God even though we are born again. We are also warned of committing the sin unto death.
c. Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
4. Wickedness Was Great.
a. God saw that wickedness was great and the heart of man was corrupt, Luke 17:26-27. Once again by looking at the past, we have a type (picture) of what will be going on when the Lord returns.
b. As it was in the days of Lot also
B. God Pronounces Sentence, Gen 6:5-7, 11-13.
1. The evil of the world
a. Continual
b. Great in the earth – the world was saturated with sinful acts
c. Every imagination of people’s mind and heart was only evil – sinful, wicked
d. Corrupt – ruined in God’s sight – probably, most people were so used to the sins going on that they believed they weren’t doing anything wrong. People had ruined their flesh
1) With disease
2) With VD, AIDS, with smoking, drinking
3) With sex with fallen angels
e. The whole earth was FILLED with violence
f. Those are the news reports we read and watch everyday on our TVs
2. Did God Repent?
a. He was grieved in His heart that He had made man.
b. He was very sorry
c. He wished that He had not created mankind
d. He changed his mind about having mankind as it was around
e. He repented
f. Notice what repentance is:
1) A change of heart
2) A Change of Mind
3) A decision to do something so that everything does not just continue on as before!
3. The Prophecy Of The LORD.
a. I will destroy man and beast whom I have created.
b. God testifies to the veracity of this event in several other places:
1) Isa 54:9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
2) Eze 14:14 Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.
3) Eze 14:20 Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
4) Mt 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
5) Mt 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
6) Mt 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
7) Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
8) 1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
9) 2Pe 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
4. Noah Found Grace In The Eyes Of The Lord (6:8)
a. The race was so contaminated that God saw that it must be destroyed. However, there was one family that found grace in His eyes. That man and his family were the only ones worthy of saving.
b. Noah and his family are the only exceptions to the destruction. Grace found a way to preserve Noah. The grace of God is revealed to its greatest extent in the works and person of Christ, John 1:14
c. Luke 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: And the grace of God was upon him.
5. Finding Grace in God’s sight (6:8)
a. Either you will find wrath and judgment
b. Or you will find grace there
c. The grace is there only because of Jesus Christ, and what he did for you
d. To reject Jesus Christ, results in no grace for you!
e. Folks who found grace in God’s sight
1) Lot (Gen 19:19)
2) Moses (Ex 33:12,13)
3) All who live and walk uprightly, cleanly, godly (Ps 84:11; Pr 12:2
4) All whon love God (Ps 145:20)
5) Mary (Luke 1:30)
C. Noah, His Generations, And the World’s Corruption, Gen. 6:9-13.
1. Noah Is Just And Perfect.
a. What do just and perfect mean?
b. Just means that Noah was right in the way he lived his life
c. Perfect is tested in holiness and passed.
d. In his generations, means, Noah did not mess with angels, angelology, or astrology – nor did any of his family
1) The sons of God came from the stars
2) People had polluted the human race with demonic breeding
3) People still look to that stars for leadership, and for extraterrestrial life
2. My Three Sons.
a. Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. These three men will later populate the world.
b. From them will come all the races of people.
1) Shem settled around the Persian Gulf and his children travelled eastward.
2) Ham settled in Africa and the southern parts of the Mediterranean Sea (Ps 105:23,27; 106:22).
3) Japheth settle in Eurasia and the Black Sea. This guys descendants end up taking over the world – Europeans!
D. The Ark, Gen 6:14-16.
1. The ark was made out of gopher wood with rooms for the various animals. It was coated with pitch inside and out. God gave Noah exact dimensions for the rooms. The ark was coated to protect it from water damage.
2. Dimensions Of The Ark.
a. Length: 300 cubits. width: 50 cubits. height: 30 cubits.
b. The cubit was the measure from the end of the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. The approximate length to be 1.5 feet. Thus we come to understand that the length of the ark was 450 feet, its width was 75 feet, and the height was 45 feet. At these dimensions the ark would have about 1.4 million cubic feet and would hold about 522 railroad box cars.
c. Probably, people were much larger at that time, and the cubit was about 2 feet. If so, it would have been 600 x 100 by 60 feet
d. It had three stories and one side door and one window of about one cubit high located around the roof. This was for light and ventilation.
E. The Covenant With Noah, Gen. 6 17-22.
1. The Flood is the ending of the dispensation of Conscience and the beginning of an other called The Dispensation of Human Government.
2. The method given for the destruction is a flood. Noah, his wife, sons, and their wives will be allowed on the ark. Noah is instructed to bring two of every creature, one male and one female. He is also to bring food for his family and the animals. He has 120 years to complete the task.
3. God names all who could come onto the ark
4. Notice the way God preserves life
a. Human life is preserved through 8 people
b. Land and air animal life would be preserved through at least 2 of every KIND
1) Of unclean animals, only a pair (mail and female) would be preserved
2) Of clean, healthy animals, seven would be preserved (Gen 7:2)
c. Why 7?
1) The clean animals would be offered at the end of the flood
2) With out a better head-start, the unclean animals would wipe out the clean – this is how God balanced nature
d. How did Noah know what was clean and unclean before the Levitical Law?
1) The Levitical Law was already known since Adam
2) People knew a lamb was a clean, wholesome, healthy animal
3) The Levitical Law was active before the Old Testament was written
5. Notice that all the animals came to Noah – he didn’t have to go out and find them
6. Noah had to go and gather enough food for all the animals – lots of planning, and effort to obey the Lord!
III.
Conclusion, and Applications
IV.
Study Questions for Chapter 6