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Life Before the Flood

n Lesson One, you learned that therewere seven days in the Creation week.

But we have only covered six so far. Theseventh is an important day. We will learnthat God put special meaning and purposeinto it.

In this lesson, we will also learn aboutnearly one-third of man’s history. In thebook of Genesis, God inspired a summaryaccount of this exciting time. The lives ofthe people of that era are recorded in orderfor us to learn valuable lessons. You willalso discover what happens when people nolonger follow the way of God.

We will also learn more about the firstpeople on earth—Adam and Eve—and thechance Adam had to become king of theentire planet!

Remember to have a Bible nearby, andlook up the scriptures we cover. (All scrip-tures are quoted from the New King Jamesversion.) Once you have a pen or pencil inhand, we are ready to begin.

A Day Set Apart

After God finished recreating the earth, andalso creating plants, animals and man, Herested. But God does not need to rest

(Isaiah 40:28). He chose to rest (Genesis2:2). In resting, He set an example formankind to follow. The seventh day iscalled the Sabbath day, and it is a day whenwe rest and think about God and His way oflife.

This day is so important that God sancti-fied it. Look up the word “sanctified” in adictionary and write the definition here:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Notice what the Bible records about theSabbath day in Exodus 31:16-17:“Therefore the children of Israel shall keepthe Sabbath, to observe the Sabbaththroughout their generations as a_________________...for in six days theLORD made the heavens and the earth, andon the __________ He ________ and wasrefreshed.”

Look up the word “perpetual” in a dic-tionary and write the definition here: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

God considers the Sabbath to be veryimportant! In fact, people are designed byGod to need rest every week. If you do notkeep the Sabbath, your body will weardown and get tired. But if you do, you willfeel rested and refreshed.

But there is more to the Sabbath thansimply resting.

I

Life Before the Flood

1 CHILDREN’S BIBLE LESSON

ABOUT OUR COVER:

The human race began with just two people—one manand one woman—Adam and Eve. God created themand placed them in the garden of Eden, giving them theresponsibility of taking care of it.

Illustrations by Paula Rondeau

A Time to Learn

God created the Sabbath as a time for you tolearn about Him and the world He created.When Adam and Eve were in the Garden ofEden, God taught them how to live and howto worship God. That is the same purposefor you today. When you listen to your par-ents or a minister at Sabbath services, it isthe same as when Adam and Eve listened toGod.

By listening on the Sabbath, you willlearn what is good and what is bad. Youwill learn how to avoid trouble and prob-lems. You will learn how to experiencehappiness and love. You will learn aboutGod’s plan for mankind and His laws. Thisis why it is so important to pay attention inSabbath services. Adam and Eve did not doa good job of practicing what God taughtthem and this created many, many prob-lems!

Two Special Trees

In the Garden of Eden, God created twospecial trees to test Adam and Eve. Godwanted to see if they were listening to whatHe taught them, and if they would practiceit. Notice how the trees were described inGenesis 2:9: “And out of the ground theLORD God made every tree grow that ispleasant to the sight and good for food. The______________ was also in the midst ofthe garden, and the___________________________________________________.”

These two trees—the Tree of Life andthe tree of the knowledge of good andevil—were created to symbolize that happi-ness comes only from following God andnever deciding right from wrong yourself.God’s Way was symbolized by the Tree ofLife. The way of Satan was symbolized bythe tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Adam and Eve would soon face a choicesimilar to choices we have to make today.Will we follow God’s way to happiness, orwill we follow Satan’s way to sadness? Youwant to make sure that you stay close toGod. You should talk and listen to himevery day. You can talk to God by praying,and listen to God by reading and studyingHis Word, the Bible.

A Test for Adam and Eve

While the Bible does not say how soonAdam and Eve came in contact with Satan,it appears that he may have approachedthem on the day after their first Sabbath.Even though they were adults in appear-ance, they were still very young in experi-ence. Satan thought that this would be theperfect time to confuse Adam and Eve andget them to follow his way!

This was a critical time for Adam. Godwas testing him and Eve to see if theywould follow His way. If Adam had chosento follow God, he could have become rulerof the earth! God was preparing Adam totake the place of Satan on earth and rule for-ever. This is the same purpose you and Ihave today. If you follow God’s Way, youwill one day play a role in ruling the earth!

But Satan tries to make us follow his evilways. And he did this with the first humanbeings on earth!

In the sneakiest possible approach, hedecided to visit Eve when she was alone.Notice Genesis 3:1-6: “Now the serpent[Satan] was more cunning [sneaky] than anybeast of the field which the LORD God hadmade. And he said to the woman, ‘Has Godindeed said, “You shall not eat of every treeof the garden”?’ And the woman said to theserpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees ofthe garden; but of the fruit of the tree whichis in the __________________ ______, Godhas said, “You shall _______ it, nor shall

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you ______ it, lest you ____.”’ Then the ser-pent said to the woman, ‘You will not surelydie. For God knows that in the day you eatof it your eyes will be opened, and you willbe like God, _______________________.’So when the woman saw that the tree was_______________________, that it was______________________, and a treedesirable to ___________, she took of itsfruit and ate. She also gave to her husbandwith her, and he ate.”

Notice that Adam just followed Eve. Evewas tricked into believing she was doingright, but Adam chose to do wrong. Adamshould have known better.

Even though God had worked directlywith them, Adam and Eve both ignored thethings God taught them. This is very muchlike people today. Your friends will notunderstand why you keep the Sabbath andthe Feast of Tabernacles, or why you do noteat pork or keep Christmas. Like Eve, theyhave been tricked by Satan into believingthat what they do is right. But God hasgiven you a special blessing to know thetruth. Therefore, you must listen to yourparents and to God and do what they say—even if you feel tempted to do otherwise.

Test Your Memory:

1) How do you listen and talk to God?_____________________________________________________________________2) What did Adam have a chance tobecome?___________________________3) What did God say would happen if theyate from the forbidden tree?______________________________________________

Satan’s Nature

Like a radio station, Satan can send signalsinto your mind. But he does not send

music—he sends emotions and attitudes.When you feel jealous about what otherpeople have, or when you do not obey yourparents, you are listening to and followingSatan’s broadcast. Everyone has to be verycareful not to listen to these messages!

After eating from the wrong tree, every-thing changed for Adam and Eve. Theystarted listening to Satan’s messages that heput into their minds, and something in themstarted to change. They took on Satan’s atti-tudes and nature.

Notice how the Genesis 3 account con-tinues in verse 7: “Then the ________ ofboth of them were _________, and theyknew that they were naked; and they sewedfig leaves together and made themselvescoverings.”

Adam and Eve suddenly lost their inno-cence. They realized that they were naked.Guilt caused them to feel ashamed, so theycovered themselves. They decided forthemselves that they should feel ashamed,rather than relying on God.

But soon God was looking for them inthe garden: “And they heard the sound ofthe LORD God walking in the garden in thecool of the day, and Adam and his wife_______________ from the presence of theLORD God among the trees of the garden.Then the LORD God called to Adam and saidto him, ‘Where are you?’” (verses 8-9).

So Adam replied, “‘I heard Your voice inthe garden, and ________________because I was naked; and I hid myself.’And[God] said, ‘Who told you that you werenaked? Have you eaten from the tree ofwhich I commanded you that _____________________?’” (verse 10-11).

Of course, God knew what had hap-pened. Nothing you do or think is hiddenfrom God. He watches over you all the time.He wants to keep you safe. Because He isGod, He also knows what you are feeling

and thinking. In thiscase, God wanted totest Adam and Eve tosee if they would admitthey did somethingwrong.

No one is perfect.We all make mistakes.But it is important thatwe admit when we havedone something wrongand ask for forgiveness.But is this what Adamand Eve did?

The “Blame Game”

Adam and Eve had achance to admit theirmistake and ask God toforgive them. But thatis not what they did.

Since Adam was theman, God sought ananswer from him first.Notice what Adamsaid: “‘The womanwhom You gave to bewith me, _____________________________________, and Iate’” (verse 12).Instead of takingresponsibility for hisactions, Adam blamedhis wife, Eve. This ter-ribly upset God.

Then God gave Evea chance: “The womansaid, ‘The ________________________, and Iate’” (verse 13). Insteadof confessing her mis-take to God and asking

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to be forgiven, she shifted the blame toSatan.

We all must take responsibility for ourown actions. You cannot blame others forthe mistakes you make. If Adam and Evewould have admitted to God that they hadmade a mistake, He would have forgiventhem. But they did not! Instead, they playedthe “blame game.”

Have you ever tried to blame yourbrothers, sisters or friends for somethingyou did? It is Satan who wants you to playthe blame game and be dishonest. Whenyou make a mistake, you should learn fromit. If you lie or try and hide what you did,you are only going to make the problemworse and upset both your parents andGod!

Test Your Memory:

1) What nature did Adam and Eve take on?__________________________________2) What game did Adam and Eve play?_________________________________3) What happened when Adam and Eve atefrom the forbidden tree? _____________________________________________________________________________4) Instead of blaming others, what shouldAdam and Eve have done? _____________________________________________________________________________

Barred From the Garden of Eden

God was very upset with Adam and Eve fornot taking responsibility for what they did.He knew that they could no longer stay inthe Garden of Eden. If they were allowed tostay, they would have still had access to theTree of Life.

If Adam and Eve would have eaten fromthe Tree of Life, they would have lived for-

ever. God knew that they could only behappy if they lived His Way. Instead ofwatching them live for eternity in unhappi-ness, God barred them from the Garden ofEden and from the Tree of Life.

When a person sins, there are bad results.For example, if you lie to your parents orsteal, you will face punishment. Obviously,the more you try to hide your actions, themore severe your punishment will be.

Adam and Eve not only rebelled againstwhat God told them, they also tried to shiftthe blame to others. In doing so, they com-mitted multiple sins directly against God.Because He loved them, God had no choicebut to punish them.

Not only did God remove Adam andEve from the garden, He also caused Eve—and women for all time—to experiencemuch pain during childbirth. If Eve hadobeyed God, she would not have experi-enced such intense pain.

God declared that Adam would have tospend most of his time working the fields tofeed his family. He would have to struggleto provide food for his family. His dayswould be spent working and struggling tosurvive.

God wanted Adam and Eve, and peopletoday, to understand that if you go againstHis Way, you will struggle and not experi-ence a happy and fulfilling life.

As Adam and Eve left the Garden ofEden, God put angels with a sword of fireat the entrance to keep people away fromthe Tree of Life. From that moment for-ward, mankind was never allowed backinto the beautiful garden.

The world outside the garden was verydifferent. There were many dangerous,wild animals. The weather was much moreintense. Adam had to quickly prepare aplace for him and his wife to live.Otherwise, they would be killed by the wild

animals. As you can imagine, their new lifewas going to be very difficult.

Life Outside the Garden

In only a couple chapters in the book ofGenesis, nearly 1,600 years of history isrecorded. It details the story of Adam andEve and those born to them.

When they left the garden, God toldthem to “be fruitful and multiply.” Hewanted them to build a family and begin topopulate the earth. (Isn’t it amazing tothink that everyone on earth today wasborn from Adam and Eve?)

Shortly after Adam and Eve left the gar-den, they had their first child. They had aboy, and named him Cain, which means“acquired” or “gotten.” They named himthis because they felt that God had giventhem this child.

They soon had a second child, also ason, whom they named Abel. Over theyears, these new parents tried to teach theirchildren the best they could. But becauseAdam and Eve were cut off from God, theywere not able to fully know how to reartheir children. Their choice of the tree ofthe knowledge of good and evil wasalready starting to show its effects.

Their two children grew up very differ-ently, even choosing different jobs. Cainbecame a farmer, and Abel became a shep-herd. Abel tried very hard to follow God’sWay and listen to his parents in all things.He wanted to live God’s Way and be trulyhappy and fulfilled. On the other hand, Cainwas not as obedient. He allowed Satan’s atti-tudes and ideas to enter his mind.

Test Your Memory:

1) Why were Adam and Eve sent from thegarden? ___________________________

2) What did God put at the gate of the gar-den to protect it? _______________________________________________________3) What were the names of Adam and Eve’sfirst two sons? ______________________4) What were their sons’ jobs? ____________________________________________

An Offering to God

Even though Adam and Eve were removedfrom the garden, they still tried to teachtheir children what they were taught aboutGod’s way of life. One aspect of this teach-ing was in regard to special offerings.

This was done to show respect to Godand to thank Himfor the blessingsthey had. Godstill cared for Hischildren and didnot want to seethem sad. So Hewould have beenpleased at theirattempts to fol-low His Way.

At one particu-lar time, Cain andAbel were giving offerings to God. Abelwas very careful to pick the best of hisflock. He made sure that it was the verybest! He then prepared the offering with

great care. God sawAbel’s effort andblessed him for it.

But Cain did notput such care andconcern into hisoffering. He tookwhatever he hadavailable for hisoffering. And heonly gave his offer-ing because God

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told him to. He did not put all his effortinto it.

When your parents ask you to do chores,do you just do the minimum to get by?—ordo you put great effort and care into whatyou do? The next time they want you to dosomething, ask yourself if you are going toperform the task the way Abel would or asCain would.

God cares about our attitude and howmuch effort we put into following Hisinstructions. God did not care so muchabout Cain’s actual physical offering. Cainhad the wrong attitude, so God rejected hisoffering.

This angered Cain, and he began to feelthat God was being unfair. God asked Cain,"Why are you _____? And why has your________________? If you do well, willyou not be accepted? And if you do not dowell, _____ lies at the door. ____________________________________, but youshould rule over it." (Genesis 4:6-7).

God was warning Cain that he wasallowing an attitude of rebellion to enter hismind. If Cain did not put out such thoughts,he would slowly give his mind over toSatan. But Cain did not put out thosethoughts and a terrible thing happened.

The First Murder

Overcome by evil thoughts, Cain saw onlyone solution. When he and Abel were alonein the field one day, Cain killed his youngerbrother!

Of course, God saw what had happenedin the field and He approached Cain: “Thenthe LORD said to Cain, ‘_________________________?’ He said, ‘_____________.Am I my __________________?’”(Genesis 4:9).

Not only did Cain kill his brother, but healso lied to God about what had happened.Satan must have been very happy with

events on earth so far. The only person whohad followed God was now dead!

Cain sinned and God had to punish him.Like your parents, God punishes out oflove. He wants to see us become betterpeople and properly obey Him. When yourparents punish you for doing somethingwrong, it is not because they are angrywith you, but because they love you. Theywant to teach you to resist the wrong wayof life.

That said, God declared His punish-ment on Cain: “And He said, ‘What haveyou done? The voice of your_______________ cries out to Me fromthe ground. So now you are____________________, which hasopened its mouth to receive your to receiveyour brother’s blood from your hand.When you till the ground, it shall no longer______ ____________to you. A_________ and a ___________ you shallbe on the earth.’ And Cain said to theLORD, ‘My _____________ ___________than I can bear! Surely You have driven meout this day from the face of the ground; Ishall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a_________ and a __________ on the earth,and it will happen that anyone who findsme ____________.’ And the LORD said tohim, ‘Therefore, whoever kills Cain,__________ shall be taken on him seven-fold.’ And the LORD set a ____________,lest anyone finding him should kill him.”

Cain was sentenced to wander the earth,never living in fertile lands. But even thoughGod had to punish Cain for his sins, He stillcared for him. God put a mark on Cain thatwould keep people from killing him.

Test Your Memory:

1) Why did God accept Abel’s offerings?_____________________________________________________________________

2) Why did God reject Cain’s offering?___________________________________3) What did Cain do to Abel? ___________________________________________

Another Son is Born

After Abel’s death, God blessed Adam andEve with another son. Because he replacedAbel, they named him Seth, which means“appointed” or “put.” Seth also followedGod’s way, and fathered several genera-tions of righteous men.

The line of Seth was more importantthan he could have known. God was goingto use one of his descendants—1,650 yearslater—to save mankind from a great flood.The chart below shows the generations ofSeth through the time of Noah.

Unlike the world around them, Seth andsome of his descendants followed God’sWay.

Growing Evil World

With each generation, man began to relymore and more upon himself. People caredless and less about how God wanted them tolive. In fact, the world had gotten so bad

that God was beginning to regret havingever created people.

God had to find a solution to the grow-ing evil on earth. People never had anygood, positive thoughts—only evil ones!

Because of this, God decided, “I will_____________ whom I have created fromthe face of the earth, ________________,creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am____________ that I have ________them”(Genesis 6:7).

The world had gotten so evil, God hadno choice but to destroy the entire world:“And behold, I Myself am __________________________on the earth, to _________from under heaven all flesh in which is thebreath of life; _______________________________________________________________________________” (Genesis 6:17).

God had a plan. He never does anythingwithout a purpose. He knew that if Heflooded the entire earth, human beingswould not survive. He also knew that allthe amazing creatures that He had madewould not survive, and He wanted to pre-serve them.

But God saw hope for mankind in theheart of one man. He saw that He could startover with the family of that man.

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Adam 930 years

Seth 912 years

Enos 905 years

Cainan 910 years

Mahaleleel 895 years

Jared 962 years

Methuselah 969 years

Enoch 365 years

Lamech 777 years

Noah 950 years

PRE-FLOOD WORLD POST-FLOOD WORLD


Noah and the Ark

Amazingly, there was only one man on theentire planet who still respected and livedGod’s Way. Even though the entire worldwas following Satan and thinking only evilthoughts, Noah loved, trusted and “walkedwith” God.

God talkeddirectly to Noah andtold him of His planto flood the earth.He also instructedhim to build a hugeboat—called an ark.This enormous shipwould be 450 feetlong, 75 feet wideand have threefloors. The entireboat was made froma special type ofw o o d — c a l l e dgopher wood—which would becovered in tar tokeep the arkwaterproof.

Next, Godexplained to Noahthat once the ark wascompleted, he wouldhave to load everytype of animal ontoit. He would take amale and female ofevery kind so theycould reproduceonce the Flood hadsubsided.

God had Noahload more than justone pair of some ani-mals onto the ark.

God created some animals to be eaten, whileothers should not be eaten. Animals that weshould eat are called “clean,” while ones thatwe should not eat are called “unclean.” If weonly eat the animals God tells us to eat, theywill keep us healthy. This is why God toldNoah to bring several pairs of clean animalsonto the ark. This would ensure that Noahand his family would have plenty to eat.

Noah had three sons. Two were marriedto women of different races. God usedthem to preserve all the races.

Noah spent the next 120 years buildingthe ark and warning mankind of what wasabout to happen. Although people couldsee him building the ark, they mocked andridiculed him. In the same way, peopletoday ignore God when things are goingwell. But those who honor God will dowhat He says all the time.

Noah eventually finished the ark andloaded all the food, animals and suppliesinto it. God then closed the door of the ark.All the people outside the ark continued tomake fun of Noah and his family. They

insulted Noah and his family, teasing themabout their large boat, built on dry land,with no body of water nearby.

But the people’s attitudes began to changewhen the first drops of water began to fall...

Test Your Memory:

1) What was the name of Adam and Eve’sthird son? __________________________2) Who built the ark? _________________3) How big was the ark? ___________________________________________________________________________________

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BIBLE MEMORY: Books of the New Testament

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Published by The Restored Church of God.Printed in the USA; All Rights ReservedCopyright © 2004

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E H W N _________O K T O _________F O _____V E E ________L V E I ____________U E R A T N___________M A D A ________D N A ________

N O _____T E A _______T A A S N S __________N D A _______F O ______H E T ________R E E T ________O D G O ________

F O _____H E T ________Y H T E ________O G E K N L W E D________________

W H E N

W H E N

E V E

A N D

A N DE V E

T H E

T H E

O F

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G O O D

G O O D

ANSWER:When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they took on Satan's nature.

Directions: Following the examples already finished, unscramble the words below. Then, rearrangethe words and fill in the blanks to find out what happened to Adam and Eve.

WORD PUZZLE

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WORD BANK

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