During Vacation Bible School Doug Reynolds taught two lessons on Noah.  These are those lessons edited for posting on the Church’s website.

Noah – Part I

Genesis 6: 1 – 13: Evil Everywhere, Judgment, Noah, and the Ark
In Chapter 6, we see the results of a world turned away from God.  We will meet Noah, perhaps the greatest example of faith in scripture.  And, we will discuss the preparation of the ark.  Please remember that the earth was a very different place at this time than it is today.

Verses 1 – 4:
Who are the sons of God?  As you ponder this, consider the following:

Many prominent scholars view the sons of God mentioned here as fallen angels.

There are many references to sons of God (or children of God) in scripture. These refer to men and women redeemed by the blood of Christ, and to angels.

Some scholars believe these sons of God to be men of the Godly line of Seth.  In this view, they married women from the line of men, of Cain.

Whoever the sons of God were, the results of the union(s) between them and the daughters of men were evil, and led to the judgment of God.

Note also that the sons of God were polygamists.  They took many wives as shown in verse 2.

Verse 3 is very interesting because of God’s statement.  God says that His Spirit shall not always strive with man.  What do you think God is saying here?  Could it be that God is withdrawing the working of the Holy Spirit because man is so far gone?

Consider the following:

Through the lives of Adam and Methuselah, whose lives spanned the time from the Garden to the Flood, Enoch, and Noah, God’s spirit worked through the preaching and the lives of these men.  However, evil men did not respond.  II Peter 2 – 5.

As some scholars feel is indicated in chapter 1, God may have destroyed the world once before because of the evil and sin in it, prior to the formation of the earth for inhabitance by man.

Lastly, remember that in Revelation, during the last half of the Tribulation especially, God chooses to let evil run unrestrained.

In verse 4 we have mention of giants.  There is much debate about these giants.  Are they the result of the union between the sons of God (also mentioned here again) and the daughters of men, or were they in existence before then?

Much has been misinterpreted about the 120 years declared by God in verse 3.  This not a universal shortening of all life spans to 120 years.  This is the amount of time from God’s decision to pass judgment upon the earth until the judgment (the Flood) occurred.  This is also the amount of time it took Noah to build the ark.  Nowhere in scripture is there set a definitive life span for any man.

The King James Version and other translations differ on this verse.  In some translations, the giants are called Nephilim.  The King James Version also separates the giants from the mighty men of old and of renown, who seem to have been born from the sons of God and the daughters of men.  Other translations (NIV, for example) link the two so as to say that the Nephilim were the result of this union.

Verse 5:
How evil was man at this time?

Verses 6 – 7:
How did the evil make God feel?  How did God react?

Verses 8 – 10:
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  What does this mean?  Why did Noah have this grace?

Simply put, Noah walked with God.  The Bible says that Noah was just and perfect.  Does this mean he was without sin?

No man is without sin.  Noah, in contrast to the evil around him, sought God, not his own pleasures.

Verses 11 – 13:
Again we see the corrupt condition of man, and what he had done to the earth and its creatures.  God informs Noah of the coming judgment.  Can you imagine how Noah must have felt to learn that God intended to destroy every living animal and man that walked upon the earth, as well as much of the formation of the earth as Noah knew it?