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READ FOR THIS WEEK’S STUDY: Genesis 9–11.

MEMORY VERSE:“First of all, here is what you must understand. In the lastdays people will make fun of the truth.They will laugh at it.They will followtheir own evil longings [desires]. They will say, ‘Where is this “return” he[Jesus] promised? Everything goes on in the same way it has since ourpeople of long ago died. In fact, it has continued that way since God firstcreated everything’ ” (2 Peter 3:3, 4, NIrV).

MANY YEARS AGO, A BRITISH PHILOSOPHER (THINKER) NAMEDBERTRAND RUSSELL WAS A STRONG SUPPORTER OF EVOLUTION.1 Hejoked about man as the “great” end of evolution: “If I were given great power andmillions of years to experiment, I should not think too much of man to boastabout as the final result of my work.”—Adapted from Dan Falk, quoted inUniverse on a T-Shirt (Toronto: Penguin Books, 2002), p. 203.

Let us forget Bertrand Russell’s mistaken idea about our beginnings. But wecan understand his negative attitude2 toward humans. This negative attitudebecomes easier to understand when we think about the Flood and afterward. Wewould think that after a flood, which wiped out the entire earth, people wouldhave better understood the message about God’s attitude toward sin and rebel-lion. But clearly they did not. The stories that the Holy Spirit inspired Moses towrite do not paint a pretty picture. Clearly, humans did not learn much. Thingsstarted to get worse quickly after the Flood.

This week, we will take a look at the early days after the Flood, at the changesthat came, and at the results of these changes. But, after all this killing and rebel-lion, we still can see the working of a God who loves sinful people. He workedhard to save people from themselves. He still is working hard today.

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SABBATH—NOVEMBER 4

The Earth After the Flood

1evolution—the idea that we became humans by slowly changing from a lower form of life to a higher form of life.2attitude—how we feel or think about something or someone.

Lesson 6 The Earth After the Flood

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NOAH AND THE NEW EARTH(Genesis 9:1-3, NIrV)

There is no doubt that Noah andhis family stepped off the ark into anew world. This world was very differ-ent from what they had known before.It is hard to imagine what must havegone through their minds. In a way,they must have been very scaredwhen they saw the wrecked earth.Today, after thousands of years, wesee proof of the Flood. But we areused to it. It is all we have everknown. Plus, nature probably hasbeen able to adjust and heal after thefirst shock of destruction. But, forNoah and those with him, it musthave been a heart-breaking and fear-ful experience.

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What hope and encouragementdid Noah and his family receivefrom God after the terrible Flood?Genesis 9:1-3.

Contrast3 Genesis 9:1-3 withGod’s words to Adam and Eve inGenesis 1:28-30. What is differentbetween the two stories? Why arethey different? What great changetook place over people’s relation-ship to animal life?

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The greatest change came with theintroduction of meat eating. Eatingmeat was not allowed before theFlood. Many of the beasts that beforewere their friends now were tobecome their meals. Something won-derful was lost to sin. For example,the Bible verses show that humans atfirst were not meat eaters. The ani-mals did not eat meat either. In theGarden of Eden, humans and ani-mals were different (Genesis 1:26,27). But, they also were connected inmany ways. God created them all. Allhad life. And they were to sharealmost the same kind of diet. Perhapsthis was God’s way of showing

SUNDAY—NOVEMBER 5

3contrast—show how things are different.

How would you have felt if you had beenNoah or one of his family?

After the Flood, animals became afraid ofpeople.

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humans that they needed to respectthose creatures (living things) undertheir control.

List some of the wreckage yousee in your own life because of sin.What steps can you take towardshealing and renewal?

BLOOD AND LIFE (Genesis 9:4-6)

What do you believe Genesis9:4-6 is saying to Christians to-day?

In Genesis 9:4-6, we see again theresults of sin. We hear God sayingwhat life will be like for human beingsin a sinful world. It is very interestingbecause the command against eatingblood comes before the Jews wereinvolved with the laws of Leviticusabout cleanliness and uncleanliness.Many hundreds of years later, theGentile (non-Jewish) believers werewarned to not drink blood (Acts 15:20,29). This very clearly points to whatwas happening in Genesis 9:4-6 (alsoread Leviticus 17:11; 1 Peter 1:19).

What reason does God give forthe strict law against the taking ofanother human life?

There has been much debate overmany hundreds of years about howthese verses are to be interpreted andused. In every case of someone killing

another person, should that person bekilled, no matter what happened?Many Old Testament laws were put inplace to deal with special conditions.Read, for example, Numbers 35:11.We have many Bible verses about for-giveness, turning the cheek, and notjudging. There are the stories in theOld Testament about the Israeliteswho, at God’s command, wiped outentire cities. But one point is still with-out argument: Human life is sacred,and we must recognize it as sacred.God will surely have His day of judg-ment for those who do not treat humanlife as sacred (1 Corinthians 5:10).

AFTER THE FLOOD (Genesis 9:18-29)

God has offered peace, safety, andprosperity (success). He has givenwarnings of judgment, destruction,and death. But people just do notseem to understand. Of course, wedo not need Bible stories to prove thatpoint. After all, we have our ownselves. What more proof do we need?

Read Genesis 9. After the Flood,God established a covenant4 withevery living thing. He promisednever to destroy the world againwith a flood. He even used thebeauty of a rainbow as a sign ofHis promise. What happened afterHe promised never to destroy theearth with a flood again? Genesis

MONDAY—NOVEMBER 6

TUESDAY—NOVEMBER 7

4covenant—a promise or agreement between God and His people.

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9:18-29. What can this story teachus? What does it tell us that right-eous (holy) Noah (Genesis 7:1)should be so heavily involved inthis sad story?

Noah’s words about his childrenwere not forever sealing the futureend of his family. Rather, the event5

seemed to show character traits6

already there and how these traitswould be passed down from childrento children. “The sin of Ham was not aplanned sin. He may have seen hisfather’s shameful condition by acci-dent. Instead of being filled with sor-row over his father’s foolishness, herejoiced in what he saw and founddelight in publicizing it. . . . Ham’s twoolder brothers did not share hiswrong feelings. Adam also had hadtwo well-disciplined sons (Abel andSeth) and one child of sin (Cain). Allthree sons had received the sameparental love and training. But sinshowed up much more in Cain than inthe others. The same spirit of sinappeared in one of Noah’s children.But the older sons were raised in thesame home and under the same con-ditions as Ham. They show a noblespirit of clean living and self-control.The evil spirit of criminal Cain wascontinued in his children. Ham’s sinfulnature showed itself in his chil-dren.”—Adapted from The SDA BibleCommentary, vol. 1, p. 266.

So often we care very muchabout our sins being forgiven. Thisis very important (Romans 4:7;Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 2:3;1 John 1:9; 1 John 2:12). But whatlesson should Genesis 9:18-29teach us about the influence thatour actions can have on others?Why is this lesson especiallyimportant for people who are inpositions of power and influence?Think about a big decision youhave to make. How will your deci-sion influence others?

SCOFFERS7—PAST ANDPRESENT (2 Peter 3:1-11)

In 2 Peter 2, we read about falseteachers who were once faithful toGod. Now read 2 Peter 3:1-11, andanswer these questions:

1. To what authority (power) doesPeter point the false teachers andscoffers? Why is that so important?

2. What is the real reason for thescoffing?8 How do we see the sameprinciples9 shown today?

3.What point is Peter making by point-ing to the Flood? (Read 2 Peter 2:5.)

Peter’s words are very interesting,

WEDNESDAY—NOVEMBER 8

5event—thing that happened.6character traits—qualities of character such as being honest and faithful or dishonest and unfaithful.7scoffers—mockers; people who make fun of truth.8scoffing—laughing at and making fun of truth.9principles—basic rules of life upon which other rules and laws are based.

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because he makes a point about thescoffers saying that all things have“continued that way since God firstcreated everything” (2 Peter 3:4,NIrV). Second Peter 2:1-11 points toa powerful fulfillment of prophecy thathas been shown in the past 150years. During those years, sciencehas taught that life changed slowlyover long periods of time. Many sci-entists believe this slow changeexplains the reason for the surfacecondition of the earth. They claim thatthings just keep on as they havebefore. They believe many of thelarge canyons and rock build-ups didnot come by some sudden happeningsuch as the Flood. Instead, theybelieve they were the result of thingscontinuing to change slowly from thebeginning of creation, from event toevent over a long period of time.

This idea also is the basis of evolu-tion. Evolution is supposed to be asteady process (growth) of thingsslowly changing from what they werein the beginning of time. Evolutiondoes not teach a sudden six-day cre-ation of life on earth, as the Bibleteaches. It is interesting to see thatlong ago Peter pointed to these twoareas as the subject of argument inthe last days. The fulfillment of Peter’sprophecy is a strong sign that we areliving in a time when we must choosebetween evolution or creation.

Read again 2 Peter 3:1-11. Doyou see yourself in these verses—some doubts, some questioning,some scoffing? What must you do in order to get back on the

narrow path? (Matthew 7:14).

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THE TOWER OF BABEL(Genesis 11:1-10)

Genesis 10 goes on to explain howthe number of people grew after theFlood. People were born. Nationswere formed. And the large crowds ofpeople spread out into kingdoms thatappear later in the Bible.

What example do you see of thegrowth of science and what thepeople planned to do with this sci-ence?

Why did the people want a towerthat went into heaven?

THURSDAY—NOVEMBER 9

Would you have doubted Noah?

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What reason does the Lord givefor wanting to stop them? Alsoread Genesis 3:22; Genesis 6:5.

“The people living on the plain ofShinar did not believe in God’scovenant that He would not againcompletely flood the earth. Many ofthem denied that God was real. Theybelieved nature was really respon-sible for the Flood. Others did believein a God. They believed it was Hewho had destroyed the world with theFlood. The same as Cain’s, theirhearts rose up in rebellion againstHim. Their goal for building the towerwas to keep them safe from anotherflood. By building the tower to a muchhigher level then a flood could everreach, they thought they could putthemselves out of danger. And asthey could reach the clouds, theyhoped to find the cause of the Flood.The whole project was designed tomake the builders proud of their work.It also would turn the minds of futurepeople away from God and lead theminto idol worship.”—Adapted from EllenG. White, Patriarchs and Prophets,p. 119.

Perhaps the most interesting versein the story of Babel is Genesis 11:6.God sees that these people, by work-ing together, are going to get muchknowledge and technical skill. Onewould think that would be good. Lookat how much good technology hasdone for us today. But God here clear-ly sees this as bad. So He stops it byconfusing their language. In this way,He spreads them out and makes it

difficult for them to share their knowl-edge and skills to their plans. Whywould He do that?

What lesson is here for us? Whatkind of knowledge are we lookingfor? What are we doing with thatknowledge? What important les-sons could this story have for eachone of us? Also read 2 Timothy 3:7.

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ADDITIONAL STUDY: Read Ellen G.White, “After the Flood,” Patriarchsand Prophets, pp. 105–110.

“The prophecy God gave to Noahwas not God’s way of showing Hisanger or favor. It did not make sure thecharacter and future of Noah’s sons.But it showed what would be the resultof the kind of life they had chosen andthe character they had developed. Itshowed God’s purpose toward themand their children through their own

FRIDAY—NOVEMBER 10

Are you always learning? Do you know the truth?

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Lesson 6 The Earth After the Flood

character and actions. Childrenreceive the character and habits oftheir parents, and copy their parents’example. So, the sins of the parentsare practiced by the children, grand-children, great-grandchildren, et cet-era. In the same way, the sins of Hamwere repeated throughout his family.This brought a curse upon them formany generations.10 ‘One sinnerdestroys a lot of good.’ (Ecclesiastes9:18, NIrV.)”—Adapted from Ellen G.White, Patriarchs and Prophets,p. 118.

“Geologists11 claim to find proof fromthe earth itself that it is very mucholder than Moses’ record teaches. . . .

“But without Bible history, geology12

can prove nothing. Those who havefaith in geology’s discoveries reallyhave no understanding of the size ofpeople, animals, and trees before theFlood. They do not understand thegreat changes which then took place.Things found in the earth do give proofof conditions that are different from

those of the present. But the time ofthese conditions can be learned onlyfrom the Bible. In the history of theFlood, the Bible has explained thatwhich geology alone could not dis-cover or understand.”—Adapted fromEllen G.White, Patriarchs and Proph-ets, p. 112.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

• How does science try to create amodern Tower of Babel? The sameas the old Tower of Babel, why is themodern Tower also doomed to fail-ure?

• As a class, go over the question atthe end of Thursday’s lesson. Shareyour answers with each other.

• We can do nothing about ourgenes13 or our character traits.14 Whatpart does the gospel have in thisimportant work? How does the ideaof the new birth15 fit in with this impor-tant idea of character development?

10generations—future children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, et cetera.11geologists—people who study the earth’s rocks and rock formations.12geology—the science of studying the earth’s rocks and rock formations.13genes—the “cells” we are born with. Genes determine what color our hair and eyes are. Genes also deter-

mine things such as what size we are.14character traits—qualities of character such as being honest and faithful or dishonest and unfaithful.15the new birth—receiving forgiveness and having the Holy Spirit live in your life to guide you; when God

takes your life of sin, forgives your sins, then helps you not to sin.

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