Prelude to the Flood

Read Genesis 6:1-9

1. Read verses 1-2. What’s happening on earth? As time passed the godly descendants of Seth (sons of God) intermarried with the ungodly descendants of Cain (daughters of men.) Why did the sons of God marry the daughters of men? They chose only by the eye: They saw that they were fair - Which was all they looked at. The sons of God based their choice on the how the daughters of men looked on the outside. They were not concerned with the beauty or ugliness of their hearts. What was the result of this unholy union - The godly descendants of Seth became corrupted by the sinful lifestyle of the descendants of Cain. Humanity did as they pleased. No longer respected God. No longer obeyed God. Wickedness ran rampant in the world.

2. Read verse 3. What decision did God make? God said that He will not abide with man forever. Why? For man is flesh. The Hebrew word refers to not only physical flesh but also to man’s predisposition to sin … to be disobedient … to make mistakes. God was unhappy with the sinful condition of humanity. It covered the earth. God made a pronouncement. Man’s days shall be 120 years. There are two interpretations concerning this statement. A) God said man’s life span will be no longer than 120 years. No more living to be 900 years old. B) God is saying “I’m going to give humanity 120 years to get their act together. I could wipe them off the planet now, but I am going to give them ample time to repent … turn away from their sin and back to Me. After 120 years, humanity continues to ignore me and my ways and follow after all that is evil, I will turn from them … I will separate myself from them … I will bring my wrath down upon them.” I lean towards interpretation B. Why? a) If you look at the life spans of people after the flood, they live longer than 120 years. b) It is so God to show mercy and grace before He pours out his wrath. Prime example - The Book of Jonah. God sent Jonah to speak against the wicked city of Nineveh. “Forty days and you will be overthrown.” Why did God give the city 40 days? He could have gone ahead and destroyed the city. God was giving the Ninevites the opportunity to repent. The Ninevites got the message and repented. God showed grace and mercy and spared the city. God doing the same thing here in Genesis.

vs. 4-6: Nephilim refers to giants. People who were very tall and bulky. 7-9 feet tall. During this time, men of renown and fame lived. Nothing more said about them. Despite the might and fame of individuals, the humanity continued their plunge into evil and wickedness. 120 years pass and God evaluates the spiritual condition of humanity.

3. What conclusion does God reach concerning the spiritual condition of humanity? The wickedness of man was great. Every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. What does that mean?

4. vs. 6. What is God’s reaction to what he sees? God was sorry that he had ever made humanity. Wow!!! Let that sink in for a moment. God’s heart was broken by humanity’s state of evil. What He was seeing caused him pain. Why? Going back to creation of Adam and Eve, God’s relationship with humanity was unique in all of creation. He shared an unexplainable bond with humanity. His relationship with humanity was different from what He shared with anything else in Creation including angelic beings. God gave humanity all of Creation to rule over and take care of. What does humanity now give God in return? Evil, wickedness, disrespect, selfishness, pride. We don’t need you God. We don’t want you. Illustration: parent-child relationship

5. What does God pronounce in verse 7? I am going to wipe out (illustrate with eraser)/destroy/exterminate every living thing that walks or flies on the earth. It will be as if they never existed. The earth will be as it was on Day 4 of Creation.

6. What does verse 8 say? God was ready to rain down destruction upon all living things on the earth. Before He did, one individual got his attention. A man named Noah. God said “I like this guy.”

7. vs. 9 Why did Noah find favor with God? a) Righteous man – did what is right. b) blameless in his generation – he was a man of strong moral character, a man of integrity unlike other people his age. No fault could be found in Noah. No skeletons in his closet. Noah was no hypocrite. c) Noah walked with God. Walked - Hebrew word is halak - translation - to walk as a lifestyle, pattern of conduct. Noah made it a priority to develop a relationship with God. When everyone else on the planet was walking away from God, Noah walked with God. Why? For the same reason his great-grandfather Enoch did. See last Sunday’s lesson.

Read Genesis 6:10-22

Once again we are told the spiritual condition of humanity in Noah’s days. Jesus described it this way in Luke 17:26-27: “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” People lived their lives however they wanted. They lived as if tomorrow was a given. They lived with no respect for God.

8. What did God tell Noah? a) I’m going to destroy every living thing because they are violence – cruelty/injustice. b) I want you to build a very big boat because I’m going to destroy the world by a flood of waters. 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Cubit – ancient measurement; equal to the length from a man’s elbow to fingertips. Here are the instructions. c) The reason for building the big boat – to save Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. And a whole bunch of animals.

9. What was Noah’s response? He did everything God told him to do. What would have been your response? Many commentators point out that it had never rained water on the earth. See Genesis chapter 2. A mist from the ground watered the plants. Also Noah is up there in age. Not a spring chicken. How do you think Noah’s neighbors reacted to Noah building a huge boat?