2022-Q2-L4: The Flood
Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 6:13-7:10, 2 Pet. 2:5-9, Genesis 7, Rom. 6:1-6, Ps. 106:4, Genesis 8, Gen. 9:1-17.
Memory Text: “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37, NKJV).
Scriptures:
- Genesis 6 - 9.
- 2 Peter 2:5-9: if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,
- Romans 6:1-6: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self [Greek man] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Notes (the scientific evidence)
- Worldwide. Everything outside the ark died. Covered the mountains up to 15 cubits.
- Geologic evidence. The surface of the earth is largely sedimentary--i.e. 70%. Geosynclines.
- Fossil evidence. Large fossil graveyards. Fossils on top of all major mountain ranges--i.e. the Himalayas, the Alps, the Rockies, the Andes. Dinosaurs are usually found in a heap.
- Coal and petroleum.
- Earth history is short.
- The Ark and its passengers. Genesis kinds.
Notes (literary structure)
Notes (commentary)
- Amos 3:7: For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.
- Partnership with man. God revealed His plans to Noah and Noah had to prepare.
- God ultimately preserved the Ark.
- Noah's faith was great. He never saw a flood. He never saw it rain. He had to prepare food for over a year for himself and the animals. God does not operate in a vacuum. Man must participate. It is a faith that works.
- Two messages. (1) The Flood is coming and (2) Get in the Ark! Our message should be both a message of Warning and a message of Salvation. A preacher of righteousness was both manifesting faith and action, of words and deeds.
- God drags His feet toward judgment. The Flood was not meant to destroy humans, but to save humanity. Had God allowed pre-Flood man to continue living, there would have been no righteous men left and the Promised Seed would not have been born, and mankind would have been lost. The Flood was then an intervention.
- The Antidiluvians lived between two bodies of water--the waters below and the waters above. In the Flood, these two waters met.
- In the Final Judgment, there will be fire that comes down from Heaven, but there will also be fire from beneath, since below the crust of the earth is molten rock.
- The miracle of the animals entering the Ark did not change the people's attitude. Signs and wonders do not change people.
- The Lord shut the door of the ark. No one could enter it and no one could get out--at least, not through the door.
- The ark of Moses. The ark of the Tabernacle. Each had a covering.
Patterns of the Arks (Noah's Ark and God's Ark). See AlephBeta.
- Similarities. One door. Covering. Provision. Destruction without; salvation within.
- Parallels between the Ark of Noah and the Ark of the Covenant. Genesis 6:14 (wood, pitch inside and outside). Gold is shiny (reflects light), odorless, smooth, bright, precious. Pitch is dark (absorbs light), pungent, sticky, worthless. There is a mirror image relationship. But there seems to be a relationship between the two, right? Exodus 25:11.
- "Cover it" only occurs in the story of the Flood and the covering of the Ark of the Covenant.
- Each of these help the one live in each other's world.
- The Ark of the Covenant was a "home" for God. "Make for me a holy place, and I will dwell among them." It facilitated an environment that would not be God's own environment. It's our world, the world of humans.
- Pre-Creation (Genesis 1:2) was like a Flood--a water world. In the Flood, the Creation was being undone.
- The place of man in God's world. The place of God in man's world.
- Physical dimensions. God is the designer. The window of God's Ark is the verbal 10 commandments.
- Gifts ("that which is lifted up"). Man's gifts of materials and labor. Exodus 25:2. Gifts were given from the heart.
- Time dimension. Moses enters the clouded mountain for 40 days and nights (Exodus 24:18). Noah's Flood rains for 40 days and nights (Genesis 7:12). Noah's Ark was lifted up by the waters.
- While men carried the Ark of God, it was really God carrying man. It was gifted ("lifted up") by man's gifits. This was made possible by the gifts of man, not only material but also spiritual.
- All was done according to the Pattern. Genesis 6:22; Exodus 39:32, 42; Exodus 40:16.
SUNDAY. Preparation for the Flood. Genesis 6:13 - 7:10. See also: Exodus 25:10-22.
From the lesson: Just as the ark of the Flood will permit the survival of humankind, so the ark of the covenant, a sign of God’s presence in the midst of His people (Exod. 25:22), points to God’s work of salvation for His people.
“God gave Noah the exact dimensions of the ark and explicit directions in regard to its construction in every particular. Human wisdom could not have devised a structure of so great strength and durability. God was the designer, and Noah the master builder.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 92.
Again, the parallel between the two “arks” reaffirms their common redemptive function. Noah’s obedience is thus described as a part of God’s plan of salvation. Noah was saved simply because he had that faith to do what God commanded him to do (see Heb. 11:7). He was an early example of a faith that manifests itself in obedience, the only kind of faith that matters (James 2:20). In short, though Noah “found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Gen. 6:8), it was in response to this grace, already given him, that Noah acted faithfully and obediently to God’s commands.
MONDAY. The Event of the Flood.
From the lesson: The verb ‘asah, “make,” which refers to Noah’s actions, is also a keyword in the Genesis Creation account (Gen. 1:7, 16, 25, 26, 31; Gen. 2:2). Noah’s acts of obedience to God are like God’s acts of creation. What we can take from this link is that the Flood is not just about God punishing humanity, but about God saving us, as well.
The Flood story reads, then, somewhat like the Creation story. These echoes of the Creation accounts help reveal that the God who creates is the same as the God who destroys (Deut. 32:39). But these echoes also convey a message of hope: the Flood is designed to be a new creation, out of the waters, which leads to a new existence.
The movement of waters shows that this event of creation is, in fact, reversing the act of Creation in Genesis 1. In contrast to Genesis 1, which describes a separation of the waters above from the waters below (Gen. 1:7), the Flood involves their reunification as they explode beyond their borders (Gen. 7:11). This process conveys a paradoxical message: God has to destroy what is before in order to allow for a new creation afterward. The creation of the new earth requires the destruction of the old one. The event of the Flood prefigures the future salvation of the world at the end of time: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Rev. 21:1, NKJV; compare with Isa. 65:17).
TUESDAY. The End of the Flood.
From the lesson: Genesis 7:22-24 describe the overwhelming and comprehensive effect of the waters, which “destroyed all living things” (Gen. 7:23, NKJV) and “prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days” (Gen. 7:24, NKJV). It is against this background of total annihilation and hopelessness that “God remembered” (Gen. 8:1). This phrase is situated in the center of the texts covering the Flood, an indication that this idea is the central message of the Flood story.
The verb zakhar, “remember,” means that God had not forgotten; it is more than just a mental exercise. In the biblical context the “God who remembers” means the fulfillment of His promise and often refers to salvation (see Gen. 19:29). In the context of the Flood, “God remembered” means that the waters “stopped” (Gen. 8:2) and that Noah will soon be able to leave the ark (Gen. 8:16).
And yet, Noah goes out only when God, finally, tells him to do so (Gen. 8:15-19). That is, even when he knows it’s safe to leave, Noah still relies on God and waits for God’s signal before going out of the ark. He waited patiently within the ark. “As he had entered at God’s command, he waited for special directions to depart … At last an angel descended from heaven, opened the massive door, and bade the patriarch and his household go forth upon the earth and take with them every living thing.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 105.
WEDNESDAY. The Covenant: Part One.
THURSDAY. The Covenant: Part Two.
From the lesson: The phrase “establish … covenant” is repeated three times (Gen. 9:9, 11, 17), marking the climax and fulfillment of God’s initial promise (Gen. 6:18). Following the preceding section, which parallels the sixth day of the Creation account, this section parallels the section covering the seventh day of the Creation account, the Sabbath. Inside the text the repetition, seven times, of the word “covenant” resonates with the Sabbath. Like the Sabbath, the rainbow is the sign of the covenant (Gen. 9:13, 14, 16; compare with Exod. 31:12-17). Also, like the Sabbath, the rainbow has a universal scope; it applies to the whole world. Just as the Sabbath, as a sign of Creation, is for everyone, everywhere, the promise that no other worldwide flood will come is for everyone, everywhere, as well.
FRIDAY. Further Thought: Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 101, 102.
