I. From Creation Through the Flood
Creation
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created light, the sky, the land, the seas, vegetation, the sun, moon, and stars, and every kind of living creature.
Then God created mankind in His own image.
Genesis 1:26–27
God said that He would make mankind in His image and likeness and give them dominion over the creatures of the earth. So God created mankind in His own image; male and female He created them.
God blessed the man and woman and commanded them to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and exercise dominion over it.
Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and told them to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over every living creature.
God saw everything He had made, and it was very good.
Genesis 1:31
God looked upon everything He had made, and it was very good.
Adam and Eve in the Garden
God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life.
Genesis 2:7
The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into him, and man became a living being.
God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden and gave him a command.
Genesis 2:16–17
God told Adam that he could freely eat from every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he ate from that tree, he would surely die.
God then made Eve to be Adam’s wife.
Genesis 2:18, 22–24
God said it was not good for the man to be alone. He made a woman and brought her to Adam. The man and woman were joined together as husband and wife and became one flesh.
Adam & Eve Sin
The serpent deceived Eve, and she ate from the forbidden tree. Adam also ate.
Genesis 3:6
The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. She ate its fruit and gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate also.
Through their disobedience, sin entered human experience, bringing shame, separation, suffering, and death.
God pronounced judgment upon the serpent, the woman, and the man.
Yet even in judgment, God gave the first indication that the serpent would ultimately be defeated.
Genesis 3:15
God declared that there would be hostility between the serpent and the woman and between their offspring, and that the woman’s offspring would ultimately crush the serpent’s head, though the serpent would strike his heel.
Adam and Eve were then expelled from the Garden of Eden so they could not eat from the tree of life and live forever in their fallen condition.
Cain and Abel
Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel.
Abel was a keeper of sheep, while Cain worked the ground.
Both brought offerings to God, but God regarded Abel and his offering favorably while Cain’s offering was not accepted.
Cain became angry.
God warned him that sin was crouching at the door and desired to control him, but he must rule over it.
Instead, Cain killed his brother Abel.
Genesis 4:8
Cain spoke with Abel his brother, and while they were in the field, Cain attacked Abel and killed him.
Human sin was already spreading from disobedience toward God to violence against fellow human beings.
The Growth of Humanity
Adam and Eve later had another son named Seth.
Through Seth’s descendants came a line that eventually led to Noah.
Genesis 4:26
In the days of Seth’s son Enosh, people began to call upon the name of the LORD.
Genesis 5 records the generations from Adam through Seth and eventually to Noah.
Again and again the record says that each person lived and then died, showing the continuing consequence of sin and death.
Noah Is Born: Lamech fathered a son and named him Noah.
Genesis 5:28–29
Lamech named his son Noah, saying that he would bring comfort concerning their work and the painful toil of their hands because of the ground the LORD had cursed.
Noah became the central figure in the generation in which God judged the world by the Flood.
As the human population increased, wickedness became widespread.
Genesis 6:5
The LORD saw that human wickedness had become great upon the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was continually evil.
The earth became corrupt and filled with violence.
Genesis 6:11–12
The earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence. God looked upon the earth and saw that humanity had corrupted its way.
But Noah was different.
Genesis 6:8–9
Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his generation, and Noah walked with God.
God Warns Noah of the Flood
God told Noah that He was going to judge the earth because it had become filled with violence.
He commanded Noah to build an ark.
Genesis 6:13–14
God told Noah that He had determined to bring an end to humanity because the earth was filled with violence through them. He instructed Noah to make an ark.
God gave Noah detailed instructions for constructing the ark and told him that a flood would destroy living creatures from the earth.
But God also promised to establish His covenant with Noah.
Genesis 6:17–18
God said He would bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature having the breath of life, but He would establish His covenant with Noah. Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives would enter the ark.
Noah obeyed.
Genesis 6:22
Noah did everything exactly as God commanded him.
Noah Enters the Ark
God instructed Noah and his household to enter the ark.
Noah was six hundred years old when the Flood came.
Noah, his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives entered the ark along with the animals God had commanded him to bring.
Then God shut him in.
Genesis 7:16
The animals entered as God had commanded Noah, and then the LORD shut him inside.
The Flood
The fountains of the great deep burst open, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Rain fell for forty days and forty nights.
The waters increased until even the high mountains were covered.
Genesis 7:19–20
The waters rose greatly upon the earth until all the high mountains under the heavens were covered.
Every land creature outside the ark that breathed died.
Genesis 7:21–23
Every living creature upon the land perished. Humanity and the animals outside the ark were destroyed. Only Noah and those with him in the ark remained alive.
The waters prevailed upon the earth for one hundred fifty days.
God Remembers Noah: God did not abandon Noah.
Genesis 8:1
God remembered Noah and every living creature with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters began to decrease.
Eventually the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat.
The waters continued receding.
Noah sent out birds to determine whether the land had dried.
Eventually a dove returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf, showing that the waters had decreased.
Later the dove did not return.
Noah Leaves the Ark: God told Noah to come out of the ark with his family and the animals.
Genesis 8:15–17
God told Noah to leave the ark with his wife, his sons, and their wives and to bring out every living creature so that they could multiply upon the earth.
Noah obeyed.
Noah Builds an Altar
The first recorded thing Noah did after leaving the ark was worship God.
Genesis 8:20
Noah built an altar to the LORD and offered sacrifices from the clean animals and birds.
God declared that He would never again destroy every living creature as He had done.
Genesis 8:21–22
God declared that although the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth, He would never again strike every living creature as He had done. As long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night would continue.
God’s Covenant with Noah
After the Flood, God blessed Noah and his sons.
Genesis 9:1
God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.
God then formally established His covenant with Noah, his descendants, and every living creature.
Genesis 9:8–11
God told Noah and his sons that He was establishing His covenant with them, with their descendants, and with every living creature. Never again would all flesh be destroyed by the waters of a flood, and never again would a flood destroy the earth.
The Promise
Never again would He destroy all flesh with a worldwide flood.
The Rainbow: The Sign of the Covenant
God gave the rainbow as the sign of His covenant.
Genesis 9:12–13
God said that the sign of the covenant between Himself, humanity, and every living creature for all generations would be the rainbow that He placed in the clouds.
Whenever the rainbow appeared in the clouds, it would serve as the visible sign of God’s covenant.
Genesis 9:15–16
God said He would remember His covenant between Himself and every living creature, and the waters would never again become a flood that destroyed all flesh.
Summary: From Creation through the Flood, Scripture shows a clear progression
Creation → Man made in God’s image → God’s command → Man’s disobedience → Sin and death → Increasing wickedness → Worldwide violence → God’s judgment → Noah’s faith and obedience → The Flood → Deliverance through the ark → God’s covenant with Noah
God’s covenant with Noah established His promise to Noah, Noah’s descendants, and every living creature that He would never again destroy all flesh by the waters of a flood.
The sign of the covenant: the rainbow.
Genesis 9:13
God placed His rainbow in the clouds as the sign of His covenant between Himself and the earth.