The Flood (Gen 7:1-24)

The Ark and flood are examples of the salvation and security God provides to those who have faith. Bible quotes use New International Version (NIV)

The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons entered the ark. They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in. For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

1.      God chose to save Noah and his family. Noah was not perfect, but he feared God and he obeyed his commands. How are born-again Christians like Noah? (Heb 11:7)

2.      God extended his mercy by including Noah’s wife, his sons and their wives. Nothing is said about the righteousness of these people. How is this a picture of how God extends his mercy to family members who have born-again relatives?

3.      God chose and brought the animals to the ark. This would have been an impossible task for Noah and his family to complete. God gave Noah work to do but he provided for that which was beyond his ability. How is this like how God works in salvation and good works?

4.      The task of building the ark must have seemed impossible for Noah but he did it anyway. There is a saying that the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Has God asked you to do something that seemed impossible but then he provided a way for you to accomplish it?

5.      Once Noah and his family were inside the ark, God sealed the door. Noah responded to God’s calling and God was faithful to secure their lives. How is this a picture of our security through faith in Jesus?

6.      God saved Noah and his family. They passed through the waters of judgment upon wicked people and his creation. How is this like a picture of baptism?