The Flood
 
                In this chapter we learn of God’s intention to carry forward his plan for salvation through Noah and his family.  The world had become so irredeemably corrupt that only Noah and his family retained the spiritual and genetic purity to carry forward the seed of Eve.  In order to destroy the great evil that had taken over the earth, God brought forth a global flood to cleanse the earth.  God provided protection for Noah, his family, and a selection of every kind of animal in a massive ark.  When the flood waters subside, those saved emerge from the ark to begin a new age on earth.  The chapter ends with God establishing a covenant with every living creature, whereby he vows to never again destroy the world with a flood.  When you have finished reading Genesis 6:8 through Genesis 9:17 you are ready to consider the three questions.
 
1.  What does it reveal about God?

• God will go to great lengths to carry out his plan.  God was willing to destroy nearly everything he had created on earth to secure his plan for redeeming it.  One can almost imagine the shock of Satan, who had come so close to completely corrupting all of creation only to see those efforts wiped away in one bold stroke.  The Flood essentially reset the war between the seed of the serpent and the seed of Eve.
• God has a serious desire to redeem us.  Just as God chose to salvage humanity through Adam and Eve rather than destroy them and start over, God again chose to salvage humanity through the family of Noah rather than completely starting over.  This desire is manifested in the form of Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice redeems all humans who believe in him.

 
2.  What does it reveal about us?

• We are capable of great faith.  It took Noah years to build the ark.  It is very likely that he was mocked by those who saw him carrying out his work.  Yet Noah followed God’s instructions completely and without question.  The same capacity for faith is in each and every one of us.  We only need to choose to act on it.  One such act of faith is believing in Jesus Christ.
• God thinks that we are worth saving.  Think of the lengths God has gone to in order to redeem you.  The Flood is not some cute Bible story about loading animals onto a big ship.  It is a story of God going to extreme lengths to secure your redemption.  He went to even greater lengths through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to complete that redemption.  You should reflect on the value of your life and how you lead it, because God has placed a great price on it.

 
3.  What does it reveal about God’s relationship with us?

• God cares about us on a personal level.  God identified Noah and his family and saved them.  He made sure to keep them safe during the worst disaster this world has ever seen.
• God makes promises to us.  These are called covenants.  God promised Noah and his descendants that he would never again destroy the entire world with a flood.  This is known as the Rainbow Covenant because God told Noah that the sign of a rainbow in the sky would serve as a reminder of his promise.

 
Key Passage

                “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.  And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.” – Genesis 9:6-8
 
                This verse reminds us of several key truths.  First, we are made in the image of God.  Second, God places great value on human life.  Third, God encourages human reproduction.  We see a disturbing trend in our modern world to erode these truths.
 
Other Notable Points

• Christian scientists have been building a compelling case that the Flood and its aftermath created the conditions that make a literal “young earth” interpretation of the Creation account possible.  This is explored in the movie “Is Genesis History?” (see Resources section of this website for a link to the movie).
• The use of rainbow symbology by the LGBT movement is concerning.  While I am sure many and perhaps most in the movement have adopted it as benign symbol of solidarity, it cannot be denied that it co-opts a symbol created by God and employs it for a purpose that is unquestionably against God’s will.  A less benign view of this situation is that Satan is mocking God, taking a symbol God pointed to immediately following the destruction of Satan’s attempted corruption of mankind and using it as the banner under which he is carrying out his renewed war of corruption.

Final Thoughts

• We see a cycle emerging: corruption, judgement, redemption.  Corruption entered Eden, God issued his judgement upon Adam and Eve, but then also announced his plan for their redemption.  Corruption entered the family of Adam in the form Cain, God issued his judgement on Cain, but then carried forward his plan of redemption through Seth.  Corruption consumed the world, God issued his judgement in the form of the Flood, but then saved the family of Noah to advance his plan of redemption.  We will see this cycle continue in the chapters to come.

The Fallen World

    The previous chapter revealed the darkest depths of human nature in the form of Abel’s death at the hands of his brother Cain.  This chapter deals with the war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.  God having proclaimed Satan’s demise at the hands of a future offspring of Eve, Satan began his conspiracy to destroy the genetic line of Eve.  Once you have read Genesis 5:1 through 6:7 you are ready to consider the three questions:
 
1.  What does it reveal about God?

• God has a plan.  Genesis 5 includes the first of what will be several genealogies listed in the Bible.  You might think these lists of names make for a boring read, but they serve a purpose.  They ultimately will trace the line of Eve to the savior promised by God.
• God is grieved by sin.  Genesis 1 and 2 reveal the glorious creation of God.  All that he created was good.  The actions of humans brought evil into the world and with it the corruption of sin.  In Genesis 6 the wickedness of humans has grown so great that God finds himself regretting his creation.
• God is all powerful.  God created this world and he has the power to destroy it.  Genesis 6:7 contains the chilling proclamation of God’s vow to destroy all living creatures, save for the select few we will discuss in the next chapter.
• God is just.  God’s proclamation is not arbitrary.  Wicked human behavior and the interference of angelic followers of Satan who sought to corrupt the line of Eve with the seed of the Serpent (as described in Genesis 6:2-4) compelled God to take action to salvage his creation and preserve the line of Eve.

 
2.  What does it reveal about us?

• As was stated in the previous chapter, we are capable of great evil.  The wickedness of humans had grown so great that God was left with no choice except to hit the reset button and start over.
• We do not have to conform to the world around us.  While we are capable of great evil, we can choose a different path.  Enoch serves as an example of one who remained true to God even as the world around him was falling into evil.

 
3.  What does it reveal about God’s relationship with us?

• God intended for us to have fellowship with him.  Despite the actions of Adam, Eve, and Cain, God did not give up on humans.  He had a relationship with Enoch, so much so that he took Enoch up to be with him in Heaven.
• There is a line that we can cross that makes reconciliation with God impossible.  There was something uniquely wicked about what humans were doing prior to the Flood that compelled God to destroy them.  It was beyond rebellion and murder, for we had already seen God deal mercifully with Adam, Eve, and Cain for those offenses.  The union of the “Sons of God” and the daughters of men hint at the line that was crossed and it ties in to the war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent.  The pre-flood society was engaging in actions that had corrupted the genetic code created by God.  They were no longer made in the image of God.  They had mingled with the seed of the Serpent and their offspring were created in his image, thus the thoughts of their hearts were to do evil continually.  Extra-Biblical Hebrew texts such as the books of Jasher and Jubiliees reveal that humans were engaged in all-manner of crossbreeding, thus corrupting all of creation.

    The second prominent mention of a line that is crossed beyond which reconciliation with God is impossible occurs in the final book of the Bible – Revelation.  In it, those who take the Mark of the Beast are described as condemned and beyond hope of salvation.  I believe this mark involves something that alters the human genetic code and corrupts it with the seed of the Serpent, much like what happened in the pre-Flood society.  Indeed Jesus told his disciples that the Last Days would be like the days of Noah.  This should give us pause as to how far science should go in manipulating genetics. 
 
Key Passage
 
                “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.”  Genesis 6:1-2
 
                As mentioned earlier, this passage reveals Satan’s attempt to corrupt the seed of Eve by carrying out a plot that saw angels loyal to him engaging in unions with mortal women to create unnatural offspring.  One cannot help but see imagery similar to pagan mythologies where “Gods” take human consorts who bear powerful demi-gods.  The result is a genetic corruption so prolific that only the lines of Noah and his wife and daughters-in-law remained purely human.  God could not allow the corrupted lines to endure and inevitably render the whole of the human race to be mingled with the seed of the Serpent.  This sets the stage for the calamitous Great Flood, to completely wipe out the seed of the Serpent and leave only the seed of Eve on earth.
 
Other Notable Points

• We see foreshadowing of the event called “The Rapture” in Genesis 5:24. The Rapture is the belief that many Christians hold that in the Last Days, living Christians will be taken up to Heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).  Enoch is not described as having died.  Instead we are told “he was not, for God took him”.

 
Final Thoughts

• Genesis 3:15 encapsulates the major theme of the Bible.  It is God’s proclamation of a savior from the “seed” of Eve and the ensuing war Satan will wage against humanity to break the line of Eve so as to prevent the savior who will defeat him from coming into existence.  In this chapter we have seen the march forward of Eve’s line in the genealogies as well as Satan’s attempt to corrupt the line through the incursion of fallen angels.  God responds by resolving to wipe out all living creatures, save for a single family who carries a pure genetic code.  As we will see in future chapters, this will not be Satan’s last attempt at stopping the line of the savior, nor will it be God’s last act to defend it.

Knowing Evil

     A desire to gain the knowledge of good and evil drove Eve to eat from the forbidden tree and Adam followed her lead.  They had known only good in Eden.  Now they had been thrust out into a cruel world where survival would only come through toil as all that was perfect begins its decay into corruption.  The first child born into this world becomes the personification of evil and much to their sorrow, Adam and Eve gain full knowledge of what evil means.  Once you have read Genesis 4:1 through 4:26 you are ready to consider the three questions:

1.  What does it reveal about God?

• God is forgiving.  Despite the expulsion from Eden, we see in this chapter God’s continued interaction with humans.  He did not abandon Adam and Eve.  He continued to visit them and their children.
• God cares for us.  God shows concern for Cain’s emotional disposition following the criticism of Cain’s offering.  He warns Cain of the perilous path upon which such emotions could carry him.
• God is just.  While we do not know exactly why God rejected Cain’s offering, we can perhaps draw some conclusions.  Abel brought the firstborn from his flock of sheep as his offering.  One imagines it must have been emotionally difficult for Abel to sacrifice the gentle creature he had raised since birth.  God could relate to the magnitude of this gift on two counts.  First, God sacrificed innocent creatures to provide skins to clothe Adam and Eve when they were ashamed and had only leaves to cover them.  It could be that Abel had heard the story of the sacrifice from his parents and was imitating God’s act of sacrifice by giving up something that was dear to him to honor God.  Second, one cannot fail to notice the imagery in Abel’s sacrifice as it relates to the plan God had already formed to one day sacrifice his son Jesus, the Lamb of God.

 
     Cain, on the other hand, offered “fruit of the ground”.  Keep in mind, that God had placed a curse on the ground due to Adam’s sin.  So Cain was offering God things that had sprung up from cursed ground.  Abel had offered something precious and unique – a firstborn living creature.  Cain had offered something cursed and common – an assortment of crops that he had harvested from cursed ground.  For God to have accepted Cain’s ill-conceived offering would not have been fair to Abel, who had made a true sacrifice for God.  It also would have failed to have set the proper pattern of foreshadowing of the plan that God had created for the redemption of mankind.
 
     Further evidence of the just nature of God is displayed in the punishment Cain faces for his act of murder.  God enforces consequences for the shedding of blood.  God drives Cain out from his presence.  This drives home the point that sin brings separation from God.

• God is merciful.  God did not strike Cain down for killing Abel.  God responded to the despair Cain expressed over his banishment by giving him a mark of protection.  While we do not know the quality of Cain’s life after his banishment, we see that he was able to raise a family and build a city.

 
2.  What does it reveal about us?

• We are capable of great evil.  The first human born outside of Eden killed his brother in a jealous rage.  It did not take generations of separation from the paradise of Eden to bring humanity to its lowest point.  It happened in the first post-Eden generation.  Anyone who believes in the inherent goodness of humanity should think long and hard on the story of Cain and Abel.
• Failure to control our emotions can lead to sin and possibly separation from God.  God himself warned Cain about the sin Cain was in danger of falling into and still Cain gave in to his jealousy and anger and committed the most heinous of acts.

 
3.  What does it reveal about God’s relationship with us?

• God desires a relationship with us.  Even after the rebellion in Eden, we see that God was still visiting and conversing with the family of Adam and Eve.
• God wants us to understand his will.  God was not being cruel to Cain by rejecting his offering.  God was teaching Cain to learn from the experience and do better next time.  It was an opportunity for Cain to better understand the will of God, but instead Cain could not see past his anger.  If you give someone a gift with the goal of pleasing them, is it not better to know what they really prefer as opposed to having them pretend that they like something that they really do not?

 
Key Passage
 
                “And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, ‘For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.’” – Genesis 4:25
 
              This is the key passage because it describes the unrelenting advancing of God’s plan for salvation.  The first two offspring of Adam and Eve were destroyed – one through a mortal death and the other through a spiritual death.  But God replaced Abel with Seth and through Seth the seed of Eve would begin its march through time to the Virgin birth of Jesus.
 
Other Notable Points

• One can see the descent of the Fallen world into violence right from the beginning.  First with Cain and then we learn that a few generations later Lamech killed a man for wounding him.
• You might be wondering where Cain’s wife came from.  As distasteful as it sounds, she was most likely a sister.  Since we are not told of the creation of any other humans beyond Adam and Eve, we are left to assume that the earliest generations were formed from the unions of brothers and sisters and then cousins.  The purity of human bloodlines that soon after Creation would have made such unions possible without the risk of genetic deformities.  There were also no established social prohibitions against such relationships.  It was not until the establishment of the Mosaic laws that God speaks out against such relationships.

 
Final Thoughts

• In this chapter we see the Fallen nature of humans on full display.  We are capable of great evil.  Failure to understand the will of God and control our emotions can lead to sin and separation.
• God’s mercy and forbearance knows no bounds.  We see God’s continued fellowship with humans even after the rebellion in Eden.  We see his continued mercy by banishing Cain instead of executing him.  God even gives Cain a protective mark to ease his mind.
• God’s plan for restoration will not be stopped.  Even after the death of Abel and the banishment of Cain, God blessed Adam and Eve with another son, Seth, to establish the bloodline through which the savior will be born.