Jesus rose from the dead!”
1 The serpent of Genesis 3 was laid hold of by the devil, Satan; Revelation 20:2.
2 Archbishop James Ussher proposed day 9 or 10 as the occasion of the first sin, based on Yom Kippur, the Hebrew “Day of Atonement,” which presumably represents the first sacrifice.
3 Genesis 3:14–4:2
4 Genesis 3:2–3 and 3:6
5 1 Timothy 2:14; Romans 5:12
6 Romans 5:12 “. . . through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin . . . .”
7 Acts 3:19–21
8 Genesis 3:15
9 The animal skins had to come from dead animals, so these animals were the first recorded death of anything in Scripture. They were killed as a direct result of mans’ sin.
10 Genesis 3:23–24 (and Romans 5:12) emphasize that the blame was laid squarely on Adam, not Eve. It was Adam that God banished from the Garden (“him,” v. 23) and it was Adam that God drove out (“the man,” v. 24). Both the man and his wife sinned (1 Tim. 2:14) and lived the rest of their lives with the impact of eating the forbidden fruit, but Adam was the one whom God held responsible.
11 Genesis 3:21–24. In addition to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil — from which Adam and Eve ate in disobedience to God — there was also the Tree of Life. The first couple could no longer have access to and eat from the Tree of Life, which had not previously been forsaken to them.
12 Genesis 3:17–18
13 Genesis 4:1.
14 Genesis 5:4.
15 Adam and Eve’s original gene pool was perfect. They had no defects. By God’s design, brothers and sisters and cousins married, and their children were free of genetic deformities. It was not until the time of Moses, some 2,500 years after creation and 850 years after the Flood in about 1500 B.C., that God prohibited marriage between close relatives. (Also see “Cain’s Wife — Who Was She?” by Ken Ham, at www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/who-was-cains-wife.)
16 Genesis 4:4–5. Abel’s offering modeled what God did in the Garden of Eden as a covering for sin, but Cain’s did not. See also, “Why Didn’t God Respect Cain’s Offering?” by Peter Galling, and the sidebar by Dr. Henry Morris at https://answersingenesis.org/bible-characters/cain/why-didnt-god-respect-cains-offering/
17 Acts 3:19–21 (restoration, NKJV & NAS / restore, NIV).
–4–
NOAH BUILDS THE ARK
(c. 2424–2349 B.C.)
The worldwide Flood brought a tragic end to the perfect beginning.
Family histories in Genesis reveal that the worldwide catastrophe known as Noah’s Flood was unleashed less than 2,000 years after creation.1 Although it is clear that there were many people living by that time,2 all humanity except one family followed the rebellion of Adam’s sin against God. Death, suffering, and hate filled the earth, and by the time of the Flood, the thoughts of men were evil, continually.
God loves righteousness, but He hates evil. He was not surprised when Adam sinned, or decades later when Cain killed his brother Abel.3 The Creator was ready for what would happen, and now it was time for a massive step in His plan for man’s salvation and creation’s restoration.4
Beginning when Noah was 500, this “preacher of righteousness” and his wife were blessed with three sons. The first, Japheth, was born 100 years before the Flood. Shem was born two years later, then Ham.5
As Noah and his wife trained their sons to obey and praise the Creator, the boys matured into manhood. God tells us in the Bible that Noah followed God’s ways, so it is reasonable to assume that he loved his wife and trained his children in righteousness. Japheth, Shem, and Ham must have respected their parents and followed their instructions with care.
Genesis chapters 6 through 9 document that God told Noah to build a massive ship, called an ark, and instructed him to build it 300 cubits by 50 cubits by 30 cubits, with three levels. That’s roughly 510 feet long by 85 feet wide by 51 feet high.6 God told Noah to build it out of a specific type of wood and to coat it inside and out with pitch, which was probably based on the sap of trees in order to waterproof and preserve the wood extra well. It is likely that God gave Noah many other details, too.7
Because the world was exceedingly wicked, Noah and his family were surrounded by God-haters. Surely he was scoffed as a crazy man. But he stood firm and obeyed anyway.
Considering both the immense sinfulness of his culture and the magnitude of the task before him, Noah’s obedience is perhaps the greatest example of persistent faith in all of Scripture.
It took many years to complete the huge Ark. We don’t know how many were spent warning people, or harvesting timber, or actually building. But from the day when God declared that He would destroy man from the face of the earth until the Flood started, 120 years passed.8
Noah’s oldest son, Japheth was 100 when the Flood came.9 Still young among the men of that time, Noah’s three hard-working sons were undoubtedly strong. Although researchers are confident that Noah and his family could have built the Ark on their own, it is quite possible that Noah employed and continued to warn laborers and unbelieving relatives as well.10
We know from Genesis chapter 4 that even before the Flood, skilled tradesmen were making things out of metal. They were smart! In addition, the use of strong animals and labor-saving inventions such as pulleys, cranes, and wagons for the heavy lumber, are probable. After all, the mental and physical abilities of the people of Noah’s day were much closer to the original perfection of Adam and Eve than to the sin-corrupted minds and bodies of humans today.
Moreover, because people lived considerably longer before the Flood,11 they were
