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Noah: God’s promise to save
Lesson aim ■■ To help students to appreciate that God can be trusted as both judge and rescuer of his people.
Lesson outcomes Students will learn that: ■■ God will judge evil and save his people from evil ■■ the story of Noah shows God’s love for his people and his world. Students will learn to: ■■ recognise that people choose to trust or ignore God’s word ■■ appreciate that God’s good plan and promise for his people can be trusted.
Memory verse All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Romans 3:23 (CEV)
» Bible background The story of Noah is a dramatic example of a cycle throughout the Old Testament: humankind sins, God justly punishes, but in mercy and love he sends a saviour to rescue those who respond in faith to his grace. After the fall, things went from bad to worse outside the garden. Chapter 6 describes how humanity had become so wicked that ‘every inclination of the thoughts of [his] heart was only evil all the time’ (Genesis 6:5, NIV). God was sorry he had ever made humans, and vowed to destroy all living things (Genesis 6:6-7).
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Genesis 6–9 Yet God’s judgement is always tempered with mercy. One man pleased God, and so God chose him to save a small sample of people and animals. Noah was of the godly line of Seth, Adam and Eve’s third son. Noah ‘walked with God’ (verse 9, NIV) and obeyed God when instructed to build an ark. Noah trusted God’s word that the flood was coming (Hebrews 11:7). God had promised that Noah and his family would be saved (Genesis 6:18), and Noah believed him. God was faithful to his word. Noah again acted in full expectation that the waters would recede. When the land was dry and Noah, his family and the animals left the boat, the first thing Noah did was to offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to the Lord. God carried out his promised judgement but nothing more. His covenant promise to Noah, that he would not destroy every living thing again in that way (Genesis 8:21), was sealed with the sign of the rainbow. God announced a new world order where humanity’s responsibility for the stewardship of creation was reaffirmed, where animals could now be used for food, and where Noah was made responsible for controlling lawlessness and revenge, and preserving human and animal life (Genesis 9:1–7). Humanity had been rescued from judgement through Noah’s faith, but sin had not been dealt with. God knew that ‘all [people] have evil thoughts from the time they are young’ (Genesis 8:21, CEV). Indeed, Noah went on to disgrace himself and his sons acted shamefully. Chapter 12 of Genesis introduces God’s plan of salvation, promised through Abraham and realised through Jesus. God always keeps his promises and we can have confidence in our salvation. Just as, in Noah’s day, salvation could only take place through one who was chosen by and obedient to God, people can only be saved from God’s final judgment by faith in God’s obedient and righteous son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16).
» You will need ✔✔ Visual aids on pages XX-XX of Newspaper headlines or current newspaper headlines or online reports (see Before you start...) ✔✔ Prepare three flash cards (see Before you start...) ✔✔ Blu-Tack ✔✔ Visual aids on pages XX-XX of Noah constructing the ark and Noah leaving the ark ✔✔ A CEV Bible marked at Genesis 6:5-18; 9:1 ✔✔ Activity books ✔✔ Noah (track 6): CEP Upper Primary CD ✔✔ CD player ✔✔ Noah constructing the ark, Noah leaving the ark, and Noah from the Coloured Visual aid pack ✔✔ Materials for Taking it further (optional).
Other resources If your lessons are longer than the standard, you may find the following resources useful.
■■ Caution: Some students may think God doesn’t care about what people do. Don’t react negatively to their opinion. Rather, be understanding. During the lesson, clearly explain God’s love and care for each person. ■■ Caution: Some students may express concern about those who perished in the flood. Be sensitive to this response. Explain how sad God was because of the evil that people constantly did. Because God loved the world and wanted people to enjoy the goodness of his creation, he did not destroy the world. Rather, he gave it a new start. We still see evil in our world today, but God promises that one day those who love him will live in a new creation where all evil will be removed.
» Teacher’s prayer Praise God who is both our judge and our rescuer.
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Thank God that he is trustworthy and faithful to his promises. Pray that the students will appreciate the need to trust the God who judges and rescues.
■■ Ze baddest sickness, track 4 of Colin Buchanan’s Super Saviour CD. ■■ The Lord is king, track 15 of Colin Buchanan’s 10, 9, 8... God is great CD or track 9 of Colin Buchanan’s Colin’s favourites CD. ■■ Time Life Bible Stories: Genesis DVD.
Before you start… ■■ Prepare the following three flashcards: God doesn’t care what people do! God does care what people do but can’t do anything about it!
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God does care what people do and works for the good of those who love him!
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» Way in
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Last week we considered that there is both good and bad in our world and in ourselves. Adam and Eve had lived in a world that was all good, but they chose to know about evil as well.
Distribute the Activity books and direct the Activity Books icon students to the first activity on page x. Explain that the students will need to identify Visualto Aid the best words fillicon in for each heading and write it in the appropriate space as the lesson progresses.
This was the start of people ignoring God’s good plans for his world. When people ignore God they may hurt other people or even damage the world that God created. We see that in lots of ways in the world today.
In Genesis, Chapter 1, everything God created is given a description.
Display the Visual aid on page XX of the Newspaper headlines or use headlines you may have collected from current newspapers. Optional: If you have a longer time frame, you may ask students to comment on the impact that some of these events have on people or the world. Sometimes we may wonder whether God is concerned about what happens in the world.
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» Bible focus
Display the three flash cards. Explain that these describe different opinions that people may have about God. God doesn’t care what people do! God does care what people do but can’t do anything about it! God does care what people do and works for the good of those who love him! Ask students to close their eyes and put their hand up to vote as to which phrase they think completes the sentence you are about to read to them. Explain to students that they just need to consider their response at this point and there will be an opportunity to discuss their opinion later.
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■■ How did God describe his creation? (Very good.)
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But over the last two lessons, we have seen how God’s fantastic creation Maths & Logic icon has been messed up, as people did not listen to God’s warning and did not trust his word. We have seen how Body icon this has damaged relationships – with God, between people and with the environment.
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■■ How did Adam and Eve show that they didn’tInterpersonal trust God? icon (They ate the fruit from the one tree that God told them not to eat from because it would kill Self icon them. They wanted to decide what was right and wrong for themselves.)
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■■ How did Cain show that he didn’t trust God? (He didn’t to God’sicon warning about his Biblelisten Exploration anger and killed his brother Abel.) After Cain murdered his brother Abel, things in the world kept getting worse. When we reach Genesis, Chapter 6, it tells us that instead of God looking at his creation and seeing that it was very good, he looked at his creation and saw that it was very ugly. Read Genesis 6:5 from a CEV Bible and Bible icon ask the students to follow along in their Activity books, and then identify the best Activity Books icon and write it in the missing word for the heading space provided.
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■■ When God looks at our damaged world, how do you think he responds?
■■ Why do you think the world was in this state? (Accept responses. People continued to ignore CDcontinued icon God and to choose evil.)
Read the three flash cards and acknowledge the different opinions as voted on by the students.
■■ What do you think is God’s response to this?
Today we’ll consider what the Bible teaches about God’s action in his world and we’ll also think about how people respond to God.
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Display the three flash cards again. This time invite students Word to consider icon the opinions mentioned in the Way in and discuss their responses further.
Maths & Logic God doesn’t care icon what people do! Body icon
God does care what people do but can’t &doVision anything Space iconabout it!
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God does care what people do and works for the good of those who love him! A good God could not just let evil keep growing. If God was not good or if God did not care about the world, he would do nothing. But it is a sign of God’s love that he did not let evil continue. God is good and cares too much to let evil destroy relationships and his world, so he chose to act.
■■ How might Noah have reacted to his neighbours? (Accept responses. He may have had doubts that he was doing the right thing; he may have doubted God’s word; he may have been hurt by their ridicule; he may have grown in confidence and trust in God.) Noah must have looked rather foolish to the people who lived around him. It is not always easy to trust God and follow him when people around you don’t believe God’s word.
God announced his judgement concerning this situation, and it was just as God had warned Adam and Eve.
But God’s warning about the flood and his promise to rescue proved true. Noah, his family and the animals in the ark were saved from the flood.
Invite a student to read Genesis 6:6-7 from Bible icon a CEV Bible as the students follow along and then ask them to identify the best Activity Books icon and write it in the missing word for the heading space provided.
It must have been quite a journey on the ark. But God kept them all safe.
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God’s judgement is always fair and merciful. He didn’t just wipe everything out. He acted to CD iconand make a fresh start. God still save his world loved his world and his people.
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God knew that one man called Noah had continued to follow his ways and so God Word decided to useicon Noah and his family to lead a rescue mission.
Maths & Logic icon Invite one or more students to read Bible icon Genesis 6:8–18 from a CEV Bible as the Body icon others follow in their books, and then ask Activity Books the iconbest missing word for the students to identify Space & Vision icon the heading and write it in the space provided. Visual Aid icon God toldInterpersonal Noah to build a huge boat or an ark icon that he was to fill with animals, birds and CD icon reptiles. This ark was going to save these Self icon animals, along with Noah and his family.
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Noah had to respond to God’s warning and Nature icon promise. Only if Noah obeyed God and built Word icon the ark would he and his family and the Bible Exploration icon animals be saved Bible iconfrom the flood. He had to Maths iconGod’s message. choose to trust&orLogic ignore
icon trusted God. The BibleActivity tells usBooks that Noah Body icon
Display the Visual aid on page XX or the Visual Aid icon coloured Noah constructing the ark. Space &poster Visionoficon ■■ How do you think Noah’s neighbours CD icon Interpersonal icon an ark? reacted to Noah building (Accept responses. They would have thought Music icon he was a fool; Self iconthey may have ridiculed or made fun of him.)
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■■ If you were Noah making a journal of your time in the ark, what do you think you’d mention? (Accept responses.)
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Display the Visual aid on page XX or the coloured poster of Noah leaving the ark. After the flood, Noah thanked God and God promised to never destroy the world by flood again. Invite a student to read God’s promise Bible icon from Genesis 9:11 from a CEV Bible. In the flood, GodBooks showed Activity iconhis love for his people and his world. God had judged the evil in the world and the same time rescued his Visual Aidaticon world. People had a new chance to trust God and follow his ways.
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» Connections Music icon Word icon
Today we’ve heard about how God feels the Maths Logic icon do. God wants pain of the evil &that people people to trust him and know the good he icon He calls people to be part intendedBody for them. of his plan, not because they are perfect but because Space he loves them.icon & Vision Like us, Noah was not perfect. The Bible includes Interpersonal icon stories of how, after this new beginning, Noah and others who trusted God did things that were wrong. However, when they heard God’s Self icon promises, they did trust God. They believed God and Nature acted on those promises. icon
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Maths & Logic icon Bible Exploration icon Body icon
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Bible icon Activity Books icon God made a promise to Noah and Noah trusted that God would keep his promise. God was pleased when Noah believed and trusted him. The Bible shows us that there are two ways that people can live. People can hear God’s promises, accept them with trust and try to live in a way that pleases God. On the other hand, people can hear God’s promises, not accept them with trust and choose to live their own way.
» Taking it further Visual Aid icon
Bible icon CD icon Activity Books icon Singing Music icon Visual Aid icon Noah (track 6): CEP Upper Primary CD. Word icon
Supplementary songs are also included in Other CD icon resourcesMaths at the&start the lesson. Logicoficon
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■■ Which Bible characters made the choice to ignore God? (Accept responses. Adam, Eve, Cain.) ■■ Which Bible characters made the choice to trust God? (Accept responses. Noah, David who wrote many of the Psalms.) Have you thought about how you are going to respond to God’s promises, which you hear in Scripture classes and when you read the Bible? God promises to help everyone who trusts him.
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■■ Why does everyone need God’s help? (Accept responses. If necessary, prompt students to remember the Memory verse. Revise Romans 3:23 at this point. People can’t solve the problem of sin.) We all need God’s help with the problem of sin. God doesn’t want to see the people he loves lose their way. And so he had a plan to judge evil and rescue people completely – we’ll be Bible icon hearing more about this next week. Encourage students to complete the other Activity Books icon activities on pages xx and xx. Discuss how Noah responded to God and encourage the Aid icon students Visual to write the story of Noah using the list of words in the book.
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Add the words ‘judgement’ and ‘rescue’ to the Word wall. Invite the students to explain what they Music icon think these words mean.
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» Concluding prayer Maths & Logic icon
Heavenly Father, thank you that you are a Body icon good God, and that because you love this world you will not allow evil to continue Space & Vision icon forever. Thank you that your word and your promises can be trusted. Help us to trust Interpersonal icon and follow you, even when other people reject you. Amen.
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Debate
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Stories like The lord of the rings, The lion, the witch Maths & Logic icon and the wardrobe and The Interpersonal iconmatrix tell of fantastic rescue missions. Each involves heroes who have to Bible icon Body icon destroy enemies in order to carry out their mission Self icon to save and restore theiricon world from evil. Activity Books
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Encourage students Nature iconto reflect on The lord of the Aid iconicon rings, TheVisual lion, the witch and the wardrobe or Interpersonal The matrix (or another relevant Bible Exploration iconstory) and have a icon debate onCD theicon topic: ‘It is right to destroy evil’. Or
Self icon Activity Books icon Bible icon Music Natureicon icon
Visual Aid icon journal Journey Activity Books icon
Word icon Bible Exploration icon CD icon Invite students to imagine they are Noah or a Visual iconicon Maths Aid & Logic
member of his family. Ask them to write a few Musicreflecting icon journal entries the different aspects of CD icon Body icon their days in the ark. Refer to Genesis 7:6-8:19.
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How big was the ark? Maths & Logic icon Interpersonal icon Word icon
Have students read Genesis 6:14–16 from a CEV Body icon Bible and Maths compare the size & Logic iconof the ark to a football Self icon field. If space allows, suggest that a few students Space & Vision icon use plastic cones to measure it out in the school Body icon Nature icon playground.
Interpersonal icon Bible Exploration icon Space & Vision icon
Under Self icon pressure Interpersonal icon Nature ask iconthe students to discuss In small groups, Self icon different ways of responding to peers who might Exploration icon in Jesus. Invite make funBible of people who believe Nature icon each group to role-play these different scenarios and discuss how it felt to be under pressure for Bible Exploration icon your beliefs.
Vision icon Maths &Space Logic&icon Music icon Interpersonal icon Body icon Word icon
The dove and
Space &Self Vision iconicon olive branch Maths & Logic icon Read Genesis 8:8–12 toicon the students from a CEV Interpersonal Nature icon Bible and explain that the dove with an olive branch is Body icon understood as a symbol of peace. For Noah it meant Bible Exploration icon Self icon that the world now ready Spacewas & Vision icon for a fresh start. Invite theNature students to reflect on why this is a icon Interpersonal icon then design their symbol of peace. They could own peace flagExploration featuring a icon dove and an olive Bible branch. Students could also research this symbol Self icon on the web.
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Noah in the New Bible Exploration icon Testament Read Hebrews 11:7 from a CEV Bible.
» Teacher reflections ■■ Did the students appreciate that God’s judgement on evil demonstrates his love and goodness? ■■ Were you able to keep the students focused on the main ideas of the lesson?
» For next lesson ■■ You will need to use some Visual aid posters. ■■ You may wish to use a prop for a microphone during the interview drama.
How is Noah described in this passage? What did Noah receive from God? Read Hebrews 11:1-3, 6. Why is faith still important today?
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In whom should we have faith? How does this faith help us?
Going deeper Read Matthew 24:36-44 from a CEV Bible. How is the story of Noah used as a warning about the time when Jesus will return? Now read 2 Peter 2:2-10 from a CEV Bible. How is the story of Noah used as a warning in these verses?
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© 2010 The purchaser of this manual is entitled to photocopy this page for classroom purposes.
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© 2010 The purchaser of this manual is entitled to photocopy this page for classroom purposes.
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