This lesson is compatible with the "Enoch, Noah, and Babel" Flash-A-Cards from Abeka Books.  

Scripture References: Genesis 6:1-22; Hebrews 11:7, 1 Peter 3:20, 2 Peter 2:5

 “Dad how are we going to get all of these animals to come to the ark?!  And once we get them here, where will we put them all?”  I’m sure at least one of Noah’s three sons asked him this question.  God created many animals in the beginning.  Some of there were tiny, and some were gigantic! 

God had it all in control.  He told Noah exactly how big to make the ark.  That was one BIG boat!  In fact, the dimensions of the ark were the same as the dimensions of our modern cargo ships! (Visual: Extra 1)

The ark was all built and made water-proof for the waters that God was going to send.  Now it was time to put the animals on the ark.

Noah answered his son’s question.  “God will bring the animals nearby, and we will take two of each kind of unclean animal.  Two pigs, two elephants, two dinosaurs, etc.  We will take 7 of all of the clean animals.  Those are the animals we can make sacrifices with.  Seven sheep, goats, oxen, doves, etc.”

So, Noah, his wife, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives began the long process of putting the animals on the ark.

They had already built the ark, and that meant that they had finished the animal cages on each of the three floors of the ark.  They built wooden cages to keep the animals in order, and to help keep the ark clean of animal dung.  It also helped them get the right food to the right animals!

“Dad, how are we going to fit all of the different types of elephants on the ark?  There are several different kinds!  Some are hair, some are bald, and some are smaller than the others” asked Ham.

“Son, God told us to put two of each KIND of animal, not two of each one!”  That meant that God wanted Noah to put ONLY two elephants on the ark.  Those two elephants had the DNA inside of them for all of the other styles of elephants we see today.  From those two elephants came all of our modern elephants, like the African Elephant and the Asian Elephant.  The Wooly Mammoth also came from them!  Noah didn’t have to have two African Elephants, two Asian Elephants, and two Wooly Mammoths.  He only had to have two elephants, and all of their children would become the many types of elephants today.  God put all of the DNA in the animals of creation to make the different kinds of species we have today.  The dogs God created at the beginning had all of the DNA to make Labrador Retrievers, Pit Bulls, and Chihuahuas!  So how many dogs did Noah and his family have to put on the ark?  ONLY TWO! 

Noah and his family filled the ark with all of the unclean animals first.  I’m sure they chose the young animals, especially for the big ones like dinosaurs, elephants, and giraffes.  That way they wouldn’t take up as much space.  Then they added the clean animals.  Seven cows and seven sheep.  Why do you think God wanted them to take seven?  (Allow answers.)

God told them to take seven of them so that they could continue to make sacrifices for their sins.  If they only had two cows, they would have had to wait a year for them to have babies.  If they sacrificed a cow before they could have babies, there would be no more cows!

Finally, the day came that the ark was all done, and filled with the animals and food.  They had their lists of food for the animals and had double-checked to make sure there was enough for everybody.  Their kitchen was stocked with their own food, and the water troughs were waiting to be filled.  They knew God was going to send plenty of rain, so all they had to do was wait.

Noah had preached and preached about God, but still no one on earth seemed interested.

“Crazy old Noah is STILL at it!  Someone should lock him up in the crazy bin already!”

The day came, though, when God spoke to Noah once again.  “Noah, you and your family can enter the ark.  I will close the door and seal it tight.  I promise you that you will be saved from the flood that will destroy everyone else.  God showed grace to Noah.  Not because Noah deserved it as a sinner.  But Noah put his faith in God and was saved from the coming flood.

Was Noah right to trust in God’s promise?  Does God ever lie?  No!  Numbers 23: 19 says “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

Noah trusted in the promise of God to Adam and Eve, that he would send someone to die for our sins.  He had never met Jesus and didn’t know if he ever would while he was living on earth, but he trusted God.  We can trust God also!  We know who Jesus is, even though Noah never knew his name (but still trusted God’s promise).  We today can believe also, as it says in Titus 1:2 “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”

God promised Jesus would die for us even before he made the world!  ISN’T THAT WONDERFUL?!  Noah and his family would see that wonderful love of God soon, also, when God closed and sealed the door.

When Noah, Mrs. Noah, and their three sons and three daughters-in-law entered the ark, God shut the door behind him.  Now they just had to wait. “Go in the ark, and after seven more days I will send the waters to flood the earth” God had said.  So, Noah and his family settled in, and got comfortable.  I imagine that they had fixed their rooms up with comfortable pillows and nice scarves and blankets to hand on the walls.  They weren’t exactly sure how long they would be in the ark after the rain came, and they wanted their new home to be nice.  Perhaps they even brought some live plants with them in small pots.  Maybe roses and lavender to help make their rooms smell nice. 
Outside, they heard the people from the nearby town.  “Noaaah…crazy Noah!  He went in his boat to play!  Let us in!  We want to visit the loony bin boat!”  “Hurry and open the door before the water falls from the sky!”  They laughed at Noah and his family.  They still refused to put their trust in God.  They wanted to live the way that made them happy.  They wanted to have fun.  They didn’t want to take their time to think about God.

On the eight day, though, God sent storm clouds.  That morning, as the townspeople looked up to the sky and saw the dark sight.  There were gray clouds coming towards them.  And as the clouds got nearer, they got darker.  The heard a rumbling and crash!  It was so loud it hurt their ears!  Thunder!!!   Panic began to set in.  If it had ever rained before, it wasn’t ever like THIS!  The rain came rushing down, soaking everyone within the first few minutes.  They all ran for cover.  Today was not going to be a nice day, they thought.  Next week, we will find out exactly how bad it was!

Let’s pray now, and thank God for keeping His promises, especially His promise to send Jesus to pay for our sins.