The Promise of the Rainbow

"I do set my Bow in the Cloud." Genesis 9:13

 When Eve had listened to the evil spirit in the garden, sin entered the world. As the people multiplied in the world, the sin grew worse. God brought a great flood over the earth and the wicked people all drowned in the flood. But God saved Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives. They were in the Ark for a whole year. They watched the rain come until they  couldn't see anything but water. Now the water had gone down and they left the Ark, along with all the animals God had saved with them, and stepped onto the fresh green grass. 

God spoke to them. He made a promise to Noah.  He promised that he would never drown the world again. He world would go on, year after year and season after season, until he would burn it with fire. He promised this so that Noah and all of us after him would feel sure that God, in his mercy, will go on preserving us day and night. He gave us something to look at as a sign of his promise. He ordered the rays of light so that when they shine upon drops of water in the air they make beautiful colors in the shape of a bow. 

So when the sun shines on a cloud as it rains, the bright rainbow is seen as a pledge to us of God's mercy, love and care for us. 

There is a rainbow around the Throne of God in Heaven. The lovely rainbows we see when the sun shines and the rain stops are to remind us we are safe in His care because of His promise to Noah and his family, who then multiplied and spread over the whole earth. 

We are the children of his sons - Ham, Shem and Japhet, and all that was promised to them belongs to us also. 

We should remember and put our trust in Him, and be thankful when we see the beautiful arch that the Hands of Almighty God bended, looking out from the dark, watery clouds.  

      QUESTIONS

1. What beautiful sight do we sometimes see after a rain shower ?

2. What is a rainbow like ?

3. Who put the rainbow in the cloud?

4. Who was the man to whom God showed the rainbow ?

5. What promise did God make Noah?

6. What had God just done to the wicked people ?

7. Whom had He saved?

8. What did He say should always go on?

9. What did God put in the sky to show that He will not send another flood ?

10. What are we to think of when we see a rainbow?

11. Who takes care of us?

12. Where is there a rainbow in Heaven above?                

The Ark Rests

"So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth."    Genesis 8:2

Noah, his wife and their sons must have been very sad as the rain continued, the water grew deeper and deeper, and everybody and everything was drowned. There came a time when nothing could be seen but water. Everywhere they looked was sky and water. 

But when the rain ended, the sky was blue again. The sun shone during the day, the stars shone at night, and they must have been very glad.  

Finally the water lowered until the Ark wasn't floating but was stopped. It rested on the peak of a very high mountain. Soon the family could see the tops of other mountains around them. 

Noah opened the window of the Ark and let out a raven. He never saw the raven again. He waited a week, then let out  a dove. Doves like trees to rest in and they eat grains and seeds. The dove couldn't find a place to rest, so it returned to the Ark. 

Noah waited another week and let her go again. She few away but came back later with a spring of a an olive branch in her beak. 

It was the first green thing that Noah had seen for a year! Because of this sign, the olive branch has meant peace and good news ever since.  

Now Noah knew that the waters had gone down and that trees must have leaves again. Once more, after another week, he let out the dove, and she did not come back. She'd found a tree to make a home, and seeds to eat. 

Noah knew the sad time of the flood was over and the earth had been washed from all her stains. 

QUESTIONS

1. What was the Flood?

2. What was the Ark?

3. Who was in it ?

4. What had Noah with him in the Ark ?

5. What became of everyone else ?

6. Why ?

7. Why was Noah saved?

8. How long did the Flood last?

9. What birds did Noah send out of the Ark?

10. Which came back?

11. Why did not the raven come back?

12. What did the dove bring?

13. What was Noah sure of then ?

14. What had the earth been washed from?                      

The Great Flood

"And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth."    Genesis 6:17

After Adam and Eve disobeyed God and left the Garden, they had children. Some were good and some were bad. As time went on the bad ones were worse and the good ones were tempted, so many of the good children became bad too. When God looked at the world, he only saw evil. He said He would destroy the wicked people and clean the earth by a great flood.     

But there was one good man named Noah, and God said He would save him. He told Noah build an Ark - a great ship all made of wood. It took a long time to build and all that time people laughed at Noah. They didn't believe anything was going to happen. 

Noah obeyed God and built the Ark. He stored food and God sent him a pair of all sorts of animals that were in the world. He put them into pens in the Ark. Then Noah and his wife, and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, and their wives, went into the Ark, and God closed the door.    

It began to rain. It rained for forty days and forty nights without stopping. The rivers flooded their banks, the ocean came upon the land, and the ground was covered up. Even the tops of the highest hills were hidden, and everybody and every creature was drowned - all but Noah and his family with him. The Ark floated safe safe on the water. The storm could not upset it and the sea couldn't make it sink because God took care of it and everyone that was in it.   

The reason Noah was saved was because, first, he tried to be good, and not do like the bad people around him and next, because he believed what God said to him and built the ark, even when he didn't see any danger. If we wish God to save us, then we must do what is right and not just what seems fun and good right now. 

       

QUESTIONS

1. Do you know why Adam and Eve were driven out of the happy garden ?

2. How did people go on after that ?

3. How had sin come into the world?

4. What did God say He must do to the world ?

5. Why ?

6. Who was to be saved?

7. What was Noah to make?

8. What was the Ark like ?

9. What were put into it ?

10. Why were two of all creatures put into the Ark?

11. What men and women were in it?

12. What were the names of Noah's sons?

13. What happened when Noah was in the Ark?

14. How long did it rain?

15. What was covered up?

16. What became of all the people ?

17. Who were safe?

18. Where was the Ark ?

19. Who took care of the Ark ?

20. Why was Noah saved?