Genesis
Foundation Book of the Bible
Effects of the Great Flood
Teaching Strategy
The focus of this lesson is to review the effects of the great flood on the earth and human existence. Of special note in this lesson is God’s renewed covenant with Noah.
Student Learning Outcomes
- Know: Understand the love God has for His creation as shown through His faithfulness to His promise of a redeemer.
- Feel: Appreciate God’s faithfulness.
- Do: Use the information of God’s faithfulness to build faithfulness in our lives.
Body of the Lesson
Discussion Questions
Below are suggested questions to use during the guided discussion portion of the lesson. There are also suggested responses to questions to help students grasp the various concepts. These are provided to assist the discussion and are not considered as "right or wrong" responses.
- God shifts His focus from the destruction of the earth to Noah and the others in the Ark.
- God stops the waters from the earth and sky and begins to dry up the land.
- The water recedes over a 150-day period.
- The Ark rests on Mount Ararat.
- Noah sends out a raven and dove to determine the condition of the earth.
- The dove finally does not return letting Noah know that the earth is now dry enough to be habitable.
- After a year in the Ark, Noah removes its cover and sees dry land.
- The continents were formed along with the oceans.
- The land was reshaped to form mountains, valleys, major rivers and bodies of water.
- The earth's crust now held fossil records of life before the flood.
- The atmosphere and ecological patterns were changed.
The intent of this question is to show that God remains faithful to His promise.
God commands Noah and the others to go out of the Ark and inhabit the new world. Noah does so and makes an offering of clean animals to God. God then extends His covenant with Noah promising never to destroy the earth by water again. He also implements the seasons and their effects to sustain the new life. God further implements the beginnings of law by placing a prohibition and punishment for the taking of life.
Major implications are that today we live under a system of government and law designed to regulate society, protect the innocent and punish those guilty of violations. God would later provide details for His people through the law given to Moses. Many of our laws today are drawn from this initial prohibition of murder and the punishment required for this crime. We must also be good stewards of our world. Instead of having dominion over creation, we are now co-inhabitants and must be good stewards of our environment.
Genesis records that God "remembered" Noah and those in the Ark. It isn't that God forgot them for a period. Rather, He brought His focus back to them.
In similar ways, we are promised that, as children of God and in Christ, God remembers our sins no more (Isaiah 43:25; II Corinthians 5:19, among many other references). It isn't that God develops amnesia, it means that He will not hold us accountable for them. He does this because He placed the accountability for our sins on Jesus. This is why Jesus had to die. He paid the price for sin imposed by God. Once the price had been paid (Jesus' perfect life given in exchange for the sins of mankind), God now no longer holds those in Christ guilty and thus subject to condemnation and eternal death (Romans 5:1-11).