Session 6

Judgment Announced (Genesis 6:13-17)

language that indicates God’s coming judgment.

13 Then God said to Noah,
“I have decided to put an end to every creature,
for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them;
therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.
14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.
Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside.
15 This is how you are to make it:
The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
16 You are to make a roof, finishing the sides of the ark to within eighteen inches of the roof.
You are to put a door in the side of the ark.
Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.
17 Understand that I am bringing a flood -
floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it.
Everything on earth will perish.”

Discuss:

highlight key characteristics of the ark.

• Ark: Boat, basket, chest, coffin.
• Purpose: to stay afloat, and keep passengers alive.
• Gopher wood: no one knows what it was. The Hebrew word is similar to the word for pitch. It may have helped in the waterproofing of the ark.
• Dimensions: 450 x 75 x 45. Roughly 569 railroad boxcars and volume.
• Window: likely for ventilation, and letting light enter the ark.
• Door: a door that God shut.
• Decks: an upper, middle and lower. Scholars suggest animals on the upper, with the two lower decks as food storage.

review verses 14-16

• Make an ark
  • gopher wood.
  • Make rooms
  • cover it with pitch inside and outside.
  • 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
  • make a roof,
  • finishing the sides of the ark to within eighteen inches of the roof.
  • put a door in the side of the ark.
  • Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.

Share:

God had created the earth perfectly, but sin had grown exponentially after the fall.
God’s judgment was just and that the ark was His gracious provision for a righteous man and his family.

Ask:

• What are the dangers of ignoring sin? (p. 55)

Transition:

Once the ark was built,
God instructed Noah to take his family and all the animals inside.
Then, they had to wait.