Foundations Bible Study, Session Eight: Genesis Chapter Seven – The Effects of the Flood

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This week’s class will focus on Genesis chapter seven. Here we will take a deeper look at God’s sovereignty over all that happened, the flood itself, and the evidence of its effects worldwide. In this class we will focus on what the Bible teaches, and then discuss how we see that play out in our world, and in humans, still today.

Defending our faith and developing a Biblical worldview based on our understanding of God’s Word takes time and practice, and must be part of a lifetime commitment we make to the LORD. It should form our purpose and identity in everyday life as we grow closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, modeling Him to our family, friends and neighbors. As Christians, it is more important than ever to know what we believe, and why we believe it, and then apply that to who we are on a consistent basis, and this can only be done if we know Jesus and what His Word teaches.

All class sessions include a time for prayer and reflection, a presentation, and a Bible study section. You will find the presentation overview and Bible study questions below, with basic answers for your review and, or to use as a leader’s guide.

Watch this week’s presentation on this topic:

Presentation

Foundations Bible Study, Session Eight: Genesis Chapter Seven – The Effects of the Flood

Review and Reflection

  1. Prayer cards: Take a minute and write your name on the index card provided, and add any special prayer request you might have. Exchange cards at the end of the class.
  2. Review from our last class:
  • How do I study the Bible? Study Bible, the Big Picture and Hermeneutics
  • Genesis 1: Creation – God’s perfection and order
  • Genesis 2: Human creation – The mandate for rulership
  • Genesis 3: The Fall – Evil and sin enter the world; God makes a promise
  • Genesis 4: Cain and Abel – Evil takes its hold with the first murder
  • Genesis 5: Adam’s genealogy – The Scarlet Thread begins
  • Genesis 6: The increase of wickedness and the building of the Ark – Judgment

FOCUS VERSE

Genesis 3:15 Promise
(begins the Scarlet Thread)

“And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall [d]bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (NASB)

From Genesis through Revelation, the Bible is all about Jesus!

SHARING THE GOSPEL:

THE SEED IS HE

– HE IS THE SEED!

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.””  Genesis 3:15

“So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”  John 8:28

“From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He.”  John 13:19

Bible Study

Each week, we are encouraging you to take some dedicated time and spend it in God’s Word. Always remember to pray before you study and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and lead you into the truth found in God’s Word – pray for protection from the evil one who will try to discourage, distract and deceive us when we commit to growing closer to the LORD.

Chapter Reading for Step #3: Context – What does it say?

Chapter Seven

  • 7:1-5
  • 7:6-10
  • 7:11-16
  • 17-24

Discuss (summarize) the chapter

Genesis Chapter Seven – Step #4: Interpretation Questions – What does it mean?

  1. Who closed the door of the Ark after they entered? Reflect and discuss: How does this speak to God’s sovereignty and “hesed” for those who follow Him?
  2. Based on your reading, how violent and catastrophic do you think this flood was? Consider some of the following: Where the water came from; How long the rain fell upon the Earth, and how long the water prevailed; How high the waters rose, and what was covered up; Who specifically perished?
  3. Discuss: Is there any observable evidence we see today that could be the left-over effects of a catastrophic worldwide flood?

Discussion answers:

  1. Who closed the door of the Ark after they entered? Reflect and discuss: How does this speak to God’s sovereignty and “hesed” for those who follow Him?

Genesis 7:16 (NLT) – A male and female of each kind entered, Just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.

  • God was and is in control of all things – this is a demonstration of God’s sovereignty – He guided the process from beginning to end
  • This was a supernatural event, not one that can be explained from materialistic and naturalistic views
  • This was a judgment God had made on the then known world, and would be a picture for future generations of His promise for those who believe and follow Him
    • We get a picture of salvation
    • We get a picture of baptism
    • We get a picture of Jesus, our savior (He is the door – John 10:9)
    • We get a picture of end times and the final judgment

Major Historical Event: The Flood  

Reflect:

Which paradigm offers the most reasonable conclusion to the evidence we see today?

1) Slow processes and long periods of time; or 2) Rapid events and a short period of time

  1. Based on your reading, how violent and catastrophic do you think this flood was? Consider some of the following: Where the water came from; How long the rain fell upon the Earth, and how long the water prevailed; How high the waters rose, and what was covered up; Who specifically perished?

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds.  So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him. Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.”  Genesis 7:11-24 (NASB)

  • The Flood came seven days after Noah and his family entered the Ark, in the 600th year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month.
  • The water came from the bursting open of the fountains of the great deep and the opening of the floodgates of the sky, and the rain fell for forty days and forty nights.
  • The waters rose above the earth so that all the high mountains (unknown heights in that era) everywhere under the heavens were covered and the waters prevailed fifteen cubits higher.
  • All flesh perished (this includes all mankind) – anything with “the breath of the spirit of life” perished.
  • The waters prevailed upon the earth 150 days.
  1. Discuss: Is there any observable evidence we see today that could be the left-over effects of a catastrophic worldwide flood?
  • Based on the language: “the fountains of the great deep” and the “floodgates of the sky” bursting open, indicate this had to be a catastrophic flood of high magnitude.
  • The very crust of the earth was moved and reshaped, and we see this in “plate tectonics” that evidence the continents, at one time, were one land mass.
    • Secular science says it happened slowly over time (millions-billions of years).
    • Creation science says it happened quickly in the great Biblical flood.
  • The lifting of what we see in mountain ranges today, and the depth of the valleys in the ocean floor, along with layers of sediment containing fossils, are evidence that screams there was a massive worldwide flood in earth’s history.

Water from above can cause massive flood damage, but it is the “bursting of the great deep,” which would have included volcanic activity, that would have resulted in complete destruction and reshaping of the top core of the earth: Pangea

Geological Formations and Fossils – What happened before, during and after the Flood?

A Biblical model for the phases of the Flood:

  1. Eruptive – 40 days
  2. Ascending – 50 days
  3. Zenithic – 60 days
  4. Abative – 110 days
  5. Dispersive – 110 days

Post Flood

  1. Residual – 500 years
  2. Modern – 3600 years

Some examples of flood effects still seen today:

  • Pangea – splitting of the continents
  • Many geological strata are tightly bent, not broken, only happens in a catastrophic flood
  • Limestone compressions
  • Bent sedimentary rock
  • Coal deposits
  • Lack of erosion between the layers

Erosion definition: The process of eroding caused by wind, water, or other natural agents that gradually wear away soil, rock, or land. Example seen in cliffs have been eroded by the sea. Sedimentary layers cover vast areas, worldwide, with little or no erosion within or between the layers. Erosion should be seen if there are millions of years between the layers, but it would not be seen if the layers were laid down rapidly, and this is what is found.

Layered mega-sequences are found across the globe with fossil deposition:

Lowest to highest:

  1. Sauk
  2. Tippecanoe
  3. Kaskaskia
  4. Abrasoka
  5. Zuni
  6. Tejas

Fossil deposition is not found in the order of the evolutionary proposed layers

Psalm 104 – A Flood Psalm

“He established the earth upon its foundations, so that it will not totter forever and ever. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters were standing above the mountains. At Your rebuke they fled, at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away. The mountains rose; the valleys sank down to the place which You established for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass over, so that they will not return to cover the earth.”  Psalm 104:5-9 (NASB)

DISCUSS

  • Step #5 Application for chapter 7: How do I use what I learned? Based on the context and interpretation of chapter 7, we can now discuss how to apply what we have read to our lives and the culture we live in today, including our witness to others.
  • The Shelf: Do you have any questions from your shelf?

Answers will vary…

(A place in your notebook or journal to write down questions that arise. This will help avoid rabbit trails or distractions, and you can return to them later on).

HOMEWORK

Hermeneutics Step 3: Context – What does it say?

Continue reviewing the “Flood” account in Genesis chapters 8-9.

Hermeneutics Step 4: Interpretation – What does it mean?

Continue working on the following questions…

Chapter 8:

  1. What does the Scripture say about how and when God stopped the flood? Going Deeper: How long was it between the start of the flood (go back to chapter 7) and when Noah left the Ark? Write out your timeline/calculations.
  2. What did God tell Noah when they exited the Ark; what did Noah do to honor God and how did God respond?

Chapter 9:

  1. What did God say to Noah as He blessed them? What are some things that are different as compared to before the flood?
  2. What Covenant did God establish after the flood? What was its sign and whom did He specifically establish it with?
  3. Who were the sons of Noah (9:18-19)? What did Noah’s Sons do when their father got drunk (9:20-23)? Discuss: Why do you think Ham’s behavior was unacceptable?
  4. Going Deeper: What was the curse Noah gave, who was it upon (look closely), and how did Noah bless his other two sons? Research: How does the curse and blessings play out prophetically later in the Old Testament?

Write down some application notes when you finish, to complete the hermeneutical method step 5.

Jot down any questions you have for the shelf…

Please continue to join us each week for Foundations Bible Study – the book of Genesis!

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You will not find this material in the public school curriculum even though it is based on solid evidence and grounded in research. It is ironic that following the evidence to where it leads stops at the door of our public schools as they will not let a “Divine footprint” in!  Join us as we examine evidence for Christianity and learn how to become a thoughtful defender and ambassador of your faith.

Click into the resource page of this website to view many of the top Christian thinkers and apologists along with some of their work; connecting to these types of resources is essential in your Christian growth.

Please let me know what you think: Give feedback, ask questions or send concerns in the comment section of the blog.

Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

1 Peter 3:15

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