That God saves some while submerging others demonstrates His ability to balance judgment with mercy...Noah, therefore, foreshadowed another judgment that will come upon the whole earth. This reckoning will be introduced at the return of Jesus Christ. At that time He will rescue believers from a planet that is once again utterly corrupt. However, instead of water, fire will consume the ungodly.
Today's scripture reading is Genesis 6:17-22.
1. Explain how God would judge the earth. Circle the words that describe the full extent of this destruction.
God declared that he would bring floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh...everything that is on the earth shall die.
2. By contrast, what were God's plans for Noah? Who else was included?
God made a covenant with Noah to go into the ark with his sons, his wife and his sons' wives. 2 of every sort of all living things should go with them into the ark--a male and a female of each animal.
3. Underline the word kind in the passage, and then list the kind of creatures that would also inhabit the ark.
All the birds of their kind, animals of their kind, and every creeping things of its kind, two of every kind should come into the ark.
4.a. How would Noah gather the animals?
The passage says that Noah should gather them. A sidenote in the study says that possibly God made all the animal pairs aware of when they needed to gather to make this easier.
b. What was his responsibility to them?
Noah was to keep them alive.
5. Besides building the ark, what further task was Noah assigned to ensure survival?
Noah was also to gather the food that he would need for the people and animals--of all food that is eaten.
6. If you were God, what kind of report card would you give Noah regarding his assignment and why?
I'd give him an A+ because he put forth his best effort to follow directions and do as God instructed!
7. God made a covenant with Noah and his sons. He also made a covenant with those who believe in His Son. Read Hebrews 9:13-28.
a. Contrast the blood of goats and calves with the precious blood of Christ (verses 13-14 and verses 19-28).
The goats and calves are sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean to sanctify them so they are outwardly clean. In contrast, Christ was sacrificed once and for all to take away the sins of many and will come again not as a sacrifice, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
b. Who are included in the new covenant and by what means (verse 15)?
Those that are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.
c. Describe what must occur for a testament to be "in force" (verses 16-18)?
If a will is in force, it can not take place while the person is living.
8. God caused the animals to cooperate with Noah as they gathered to the ark. Has God ever helped you do the impossible? Journal about a task He gave you to do and how He assisted in its fulfillment.
When I was working in a different job, I had to go for 2 weeks to Charlottesville for training. I was literally making NO money, so not only did I not have money to pay for the classes, I had no money to pay for housing and food. With God's help, I found someone to stay with by contacting a local Methodist church. It worked out beautifully!
9. We discovered that one of Noah's defining traits was complete obedience. Using the word OBEY as an acrostic, list some of the ways God is aking you to obey Him.
O: Observe His holy days, be Open to His will, fight against the Oppression of others, share His word and love with Others, keep my Options open so He can work through me
B: Be patient, Beautify His world, Behave in a way that He would find pleasing, Believe in His word, Bow in worship to Him regularly
E: give Him praise in Everything, Eat healthily to keep my body as His temple, Exercise for the same reason, Extol his great deeds, Enter His gates with thanksgiving
Y: teach his ways to Youth, Yearn to be in communion with Him, follow Him Year after Year, Yoke myself with others who believe in Him, say Yes when He calls
Just as Noah was a preacher of righteousness in his generation, we must evangelize the people of our time. Of course this is done through the way we live as well as the words we say....It's very likely that the only thing that comforted Noah as he witnessed his friends and neighbors drowning was the assurance that he had done everything he could to rescue them.
And with a quote by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the lesson closes:
Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God, trusts God; and he that trusts God, obeys God.
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