Noah Before the Flood

TLDR: A guide for having a family discipleship time on Genesis 6 based on the ACT Bible Study Method.

Act 2: People DisobeyScene 4: Noah Before the FloodGenesis 6:1–22Analyze the PassageStep 1: Introduce the Passage

Genesis was written by Moses sometime between 1445–1405 BC to help the Israelites leaving Egypt understand their history with God. It’s one of the five books of the Law that Moses wrote, which we also call the Torah, or the Pentateuch, which means “five books.”

Today’s true story is a pretty well known one. It’s the beginning of the story about a man named Noah, a huge flood, and a very, very big boat. This is the fourth story of Act 2: People Disobey.

Step 2: Read the Passage

Genesis 6:1–22

Step 3: Summarize the Passage

As families continued to grow and spread out, they continued to sin against God, becoming more and more evil. People couldn’t do anything but rebel against God. God is patient, but he has his limits. He decided to wipe all people and animals off the face of the earth. He would bring this judgment in 120 years. But God chose to give grace to Noah (vv. 1–8).

Noah was godly. He wasn’t perfect, but he wanted to know God and follow him. God told Noah his plans to wipe out all the people and animals with a great flood. But he told Noah to build a large boat and gave him instructions for how to do that. Noah and his family were to enter that boat and take every kind of animal with them. God would spare all the people and animals on that boat. Then, God would make a covenant with Noah (vv. 9–21).

Noah obeyed God (v. 22).

Step 4: Interrogate the Passage

Questions you and your family ask might include:

Who were the sons of God and daughters of men and why was what they did wrong?Who were the Nephilim?What does it mean that God regretted making people?Why did God want to wipe out the animals too?What does it mean that Noah found favor?What does it mean that Noah was blameless? What does it mean to walk with God?Were animals sinful too? How?Why did God give such exact instructions for building the ark?What is a covenant? Step 5: Wonder about the Passage

Wonder statements you and your family make might include:

I wonder why God chose 120 years.I wonder if the Nephilim were giants.I wonder why evil was all people could do.I wonder how God felt seeing the world he made fall apart.I wonder how Noah managed to remain godly in such a crazy world.I wonder why God chose a flood.Connect the Passage to ChristStep 6: Find the World in Front of Text

Like the stories we have recently covered, this one shows us how the world is not supposed to be. It shows us how badly we can break things if we go our own way instead of following God’s way. The world God is after is one filled with Noahs—men, women, and children who love God and want to obey him. It’s a world where every thought and action isn’t evil, but rather delighting in God. It’s a world overflowing not with water, but God’s glory.

Like the family of Seth in the previous chapter, this story is another hard one, but there is hope in it to. God will bring judgment on sin because he is just. But he will also provide a way of salvation because he is loving. Noah didn’t deserve to be spared from the flood. He was a good man, but he was not perfect. He sinned too. It was nothing he did that saved him, it was all God’s choice and actions. God chose to spare Noah and then God told Noah exactly what to do to be saved—follow his plans of building the ark.

Step 7: Find the World of Jesus of the Text

As we will see in the next two parts of this story, Noah obeys God and is saved in the ark as it floated in the waters of God’s judgment. This is an important picture of how God brings salvation through judgment. We are saved not by God changing his mind to punish sins. God must punish sin. So, like Noah, we are saved through judgment. God used a wooden ark to save Noah; he used a wooden cross to save us. This all points to Jesus, who died on that cross and took our punishment.

This story is another one that shows us the importance of obedience. Noah obeyed God fully. In this, he was living like Jesus. Jesus obeyed the Father fully when he came to earth, did not sin even one time, and pleased God. He also obeyed the Father when he gave up his life on the cross to pay our punishment.

Translate It to Your ContextStep 8: Connect the World of Jesus of the Text to Your World

How can you obey God this week, in big ways and small ways, so that people might see Jesus in you? Think about all the places you will be this week and what you will do. How can you obey God and people he has placed in authority with joy?

NEXT: Act 2: People Disobey; Scene 5: Noah During the Flood (Genesis 7:1—8:19)

Learn more about this family discipleship method here.