NOAH BUILDS AN ALTAR
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
GENESIS 8 : 13-22 9:11-13
Key Verse
“I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall serve as a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth”.
Genesis 9: 13
INTRODUCTION
God had appointed a special place for human beings to meet Him. They could talk to Him there apart from their personal prayer times. They would offer sacrifices there for their sins, presenting a lamb in burnt offering that had been slain and offered to God as a substitute for them so that they would not die for their sins. Adam and Eve had to offer sacrifices to God after they committed their gross sin of disobedience in the Garden of Eden. They and their children did just that. They sacrificed frequently.
But the disobedience to God became worse and worse and it became so bad God said He would wipe out human beings except for one family. This one family would have to start humanity all over again.
So the Great Flood came and everything including all human beings, animals, birds, and reptiles, all life forms were destroyed. Only Noah, his family, and the animals God had sent into the Ark, this huge box that was built to float was saved from certain death. The people and those in the Ark were there for over a year. But finally the rains stopped and God made the waters dry up a lot of the waters. Only the waters we call oceans and seas remained.
Noah and his family and the animals were glad to get out of the Ark. The space must have been cramped, and it was good that the animals could go into hibernation and so they did not have to move around. The first thing Noah and his family did was to build an altar, a place of worship, and there they thanked God for saving them and arranging things so that humanity could be rebuilt. Noah took some of the “clean animals” those that God had appointed as fit for use in offering sacrifices, and offered them on the altar to God. God smelled the sweet offering and He was pleased. God then made a Covenant or a special agreement with Noah not to again destroy the earth with a Flood.
God blessed Noah and set up the rainbow as a sign of the covenant God had made with Noah and his family. Note that Noah had been faithful to God. He believed in every word of God. He had listened to the warning from God about the wickedness on the earth. Noah had preached about this, warning the people of God’s intention to destroy them if they did not change. Noah preached for 120 years while he continued to build the Ark. But the people did not change their ways and became worse and worse, sinning every day after day. It must have been hard and stressful for Noah and his family to live among these disobedient people on the earth.
But note Noah was different. He behaved and lived the way that God wanted. He loved people and tried to help them in every way he could to save their lives. So we know we must follow his example. We have been warned that one day the world will become just like it was in Noah’s day and God will act to judge the world and its people and destroy it.
But you do not have to fear. Once you are children of God He will protect you and take you into His Kingdom. Now you do not have to build a physical altar to meet God for when you become a child of God, the Holy Spirit, who is God, comes to live inside you. You therefore have God with you and you can worship Him wherever you go.