The Flood and God’s Promise

Scripture Reference:
Genesis 7:11-9:17

Suggested Theme: God keeps His promises. We can trust what He says and be trustworthy people.

Memory Verse: “The Lord will keep his promises. With love, he takes care of all he has made.” Psalm 145:13b

Story Overview:

When Noah, his family, and the animals entered the ark, the rains began and continued for forty days. The whole earth was covered in water, and even after the rains stopped, the ark continued to float for a total of 150 days until it was grounded on top of Mt. Ararat. While the water receded, Noah sent a raven and a dove out from the ark to see if they could find dry land. God told Noah and his family to come out of the ark when the water had receded enough. The first thing that Noah did was to build an altar and offer some of the animals and birds as a sacrifice to God in thanks for keeping all of them safe. At that time, God caused a rainbow to appear in the sky. God said that this was a symbol of His promise to never destroy the world again by water.

Background Study:

Noah, his wife, and his three sons and their wives were completely dependent upon God during the Flood. No means of power was used to direct or guide the ark. Noah and his family were not in charge. God was the only navigator. Read more about Noah in the story Noah Builds the Ark and Loads the Animals.

After 150 days, the ark landed on Mount Ararat, one of the highest peaks of mountain ranges in Armenia. It was months later before the earth was dry enough for Noah and his family to come out. On the second month and twenty-seventh day of Noah’s 601st year, Noah, his family, and all the animals left the ark. This was one year and ten days after the Flood started.

Noah’s first act on dry land showed that obeying God was still his first priority. He built an altar and took one of every “clean” animal and bird to sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord (8:20). “Clean” animals referred to those animals acceptable for sacrifice.

Noah offered this sacrifice because he was very thankful. It was an act of sincere worship of God, who had sustained Noah, his family, and the earth. God responded to Noah’s sacrifice by promising never to destroy humanity with such a great flood again. He further decreed that as long as the earth remained, He would allow planting and harvesting, seasons of the year, and day and night.

As a sign of the new covenant with Noah and all people, God placed a rainbow in the sky. Now, thousands of years later, we can still point to the rainbow as a beautiful reminder of God’s love and protection.

Way to Introduce the Story:

Talk about times when it has rained. Ask the children how they felt when they had to stay in the house day after day without being able to go out to play. Ask each one how long they could stand it. “In today’s story, we are going to find out how Noah and his family spent a very long time inside the Ark, waiting for the rain to stop. Can you imagine watching it rain for over a month? That’s what Noah did. Even when it stopped raining, did you know that Noah was still not allowed to go outside for a long time? Let’s learn what the bible says.”
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The Story:

Noah was a man who followed God. He tried to be a good person, and this made God happy.

But Noah was the ONLY one who followed God. In fact, he was the only one in the whole world. In the Bible, we read that everyone else was bad. Everyone around Noah only ever did bad things and thought bad thoughts. People wanted to hurt each other and even kill each other. If this continued, then the world would soon be destroyed.

But God had a plan. Since Noah was the last good person, God would use him to save the world. God told Noah to build a huge boat.

This must have seemed strange to Noah, but Noah did exactly as God asked. God told him the design plans, the exact measurements and even what kind of wood to use. Noah followed all of the instructions God gave him.

Eight people were to go into this ark. They were Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives. But why was the ark so big? Eventually, Noah learned that the ark needed to be big because some other passengers would join him and his family in the ark.

And the other passengers were animals. God sent a male and female of every kind of animal to Noah. He even sent seven pairs of some kinds of animals. Now Noah knew why the ark needed to be so big!

Noah loaded his family, food and all of these animals into the ark just as God told him to. And then God closed the door.

After God closed the door, the rain started. Springs of water began to come up from under the earth as well. The rain came down for forty days and forty nights, and the flood waters rose. Only Noah and his family and the animals inside the ark were safe.

Finally, after forty days, the rain stopped. Water covered the entire earth, and no land was visible.

The ark continued to float with everyone inside. Then, one day, the people and animals on the ark would have felt a bump. The bottom of the ark had settled on the top of a mountain!

Still, it took many weeks for all of the flood water to recede and the tops of that and other mountains to appear above the water.

Noah waited over a month, then opened the window and sent a bird called a raven out to fly around. The raven flew here and there, but the land had not dried up yet.

Next, Noah sent a dove out. The dove flew around but then came back to Noah.

Seven days later, Noah sent the dove back again. This time, when the dove came back to Noah, it had a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Noah and his family must have been excited. The olive leaf meant that plants were beginning to grow again.

Noah sent the dove out a third time seven days later. The final time, the dove did not come back. Perhaps it had found a new home. Soon, the earth would be ready for people, too.

Over a year had passed since everyone had boarded the ark. God told Noah it was time for everyone to come out. The animals would go and have babies, and the earth would be full of animals again.

Noah built an altar and worshipped God. He was thankful that God had brought them through this terrible flood safely.

And God had something to say to Noah, too. Noah and his family would grow bigger and bigger, and God wanted to make an agreement with them. The agreement would be between God and all the earth. God agreed never to send a flood like this again.

At that time, a rainbow appeared in the sky. God said to Noah, “That rainbow is a sign. It is the sign of the agreement that I made with all living things on earth.” The rainbow is a reminder that God will keep His agreement and never flood the earth again.

Have you ever seen a rainbow? The next time you see a rainbow, you can remember that God always keeps his agreements.

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Ways to Tell the Story:

This story can be told using a variety of methods. Always remain true to the facts found in the Bible but help children connect to its meaning by using drama, visual aids, voice inflection or other group participation.
Click here for visual aids and story-telling methods.

Click here to download the slideshow, or click here to download the pictures to print.
Each teacher is unique, so only use the illustrations that best relate to how YOU tell the story in THIS lesson. Too many illustrations can be confusing, so eliminate any that cover other stories or details you do not wish to emphasise in this lesson.

Review and Reflection Questions:

Review questions help children remember and know the facts of a story, while reflection questions encourage them to internalise its meaning and implications for their lives. Asking at least one of each type of question can help strengthen a child’s spiritual development and help them connect to God. Click here to learn more about review and reflection questions.

Review:

1. How long did the rain last during the time of the flood? (40 days and nights)
2. What mountain did the Ark come to rest on? (Mount Ararat)
3. What two birds did Noah send out to see if the land was drying up? (A raven and a dove)
4. What was the total amount of time, including the flood and waiting for the land to dry, that Noah, his family, and the animals were on the ark? (One year and ten days)
5. What was the first thing that Noah did when he got off of the ark? (He offered a sacrifice to God)
6. What was the rainbow a sign of? (God’s promise was that He would never destroy the world by flood again)
7. How did God hope the world would change now that Noah and his family had left the ark and arrived on dry land? (people would be faithful to God, not violent, etc.)
8. What do we learn about God from this story?

Reflection:

1. What do you think was fun about being in the ark for over a year? What do you think was hard?
2. How do you think Noah, his family, and the animals felt when they got to leave the ark and go on dry land? How would you feel?
3. What do you think the world looked like after the flood?
4. What question would you ask God about this story?
5. What are some promises that God makes to us today?
6. When you see a rainbow in the sky, what will you remember about this story or about God?

Prayer:

It is important to guide children in learning how to pray. In prayer, children can connect with God and learn that He hears and answers them. God can become a lifelong friend who is with them every moment of their lives. Try using a variety of prayer methods from time to time so that the children can learn to connect with God in different ways. Note that you can pray at any time throughout your lesson. A variety of prayer methods are found here.

Song Suggestions:

• God Told Noah Song
• Rise and Shine Song
• My God is So Big Song
• Refer to the Song Page on this website for more options.

Activities and Crafts:

(How to choose the best learning activities for my teaching situation)

Activities:

• Discuss promises people make (appointments, bank loans, returning borrowed items, marriage vows, etc.). Compare the way people keep their promises with the way God keeps His.
• Find the location of where the ark landed on a world map (Armenia)
• Look at a rainbow of colours through a prism.
• Blow soap bubbles and look at the colours in the bubbles.
• Invite the children to respond to this story using the adaptable “God’s Story” printable reflection page. Free printables for this story.

Crafts:

• Before today’s session, dye uncooked macaroni by placing it in a shallow mixture of water and food colouring. When it is dyed, take it out and let it dry. Provide an outline of a rainbow for each child. Let them glue dyed macaroni to each strip of the rainbow.
• Draw a large rainbow on a footpath.
• Print bookmarks, trading cards or timelines (printable pages).
• Visit the Teaching Ideas page for additional activities and crafts.

Other Online Resources:

• Colouring page with text (Ministry Spark)
• Colouring page The Rainbow-God’s Promise (Christian Answers)
• Crafts and activities about Noah’s Ark (Church House Collection)
• Worksheets and Puzzles (Sunday School Resources)
• Worksheet Wordsearch puzzle (Christian Answers)
• Other: Article: “What causes a rainbow” (Christian Answers)
• Other: “Did Noah take dinosaurs on the Ark?” article (Christian Answers)
• Other: Audio files for sound effects (Christian Answers)

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