Bible Study Course

Book of Genesis

Part 2

Welcome to Book 2 in the Through the Bible Series of the Liberty Bible Course.  This booklet continues on a verse-by-verse journey through the Book of Genesis.  To find the right answers, you will need a King James Version of the Bible.  Please get your Bible, and begin another exciting study in God’s Word, that just might change your life!

Chapter 1

Genesis 1:6-8

1. Genesis 1:6 says, “And God said, Let there be a __________________ in the midst of the waters, and let it ____________ the waters from the waters.” 

Note:  Because the word firmament contains the word firm in it, we may read this word and get the mistaken idea that it refers to something firm, like, solid ground.  That misconception causes us to have the wrong picture in our minds as to what is being described.

This firmament is NOT dividing the waters

horizontally by the use of “firm” ground; that is,

this is NOT referring to when God created the

continents of land to separate the oceans and the seas.

What is being referred to here is a VERTICAL separation,

so that there is water above and below the firmament.

2. Genesis 1:7 says, “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were __________ the firmament from the waters which were __________ the firmament: and it was so.”

Note:  What is this firmament?

3. Genesis 1:8 says, “And God called the firmament ____________. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”

Note:  The context will answer a lot of questions that you have about the Bible, and it should always be studied first.  After that, there are other Bible study helps that you can consider.

A good concordance, like Strong’s Concordance, will help you in your Bible study.  It lists every word in the Bible, and tells you the chapter and verse in which it is located.  It then numbers those words according to the Hebrew language in the Old Testament (the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew); and the Greek language for the New Testament (the New Testament was originally written in Greek); and then it gives the definitions for those words in the back of the concordance.

Many Bible computer programs now include Strong’s Concordance, and each word in the Bible is linked to the Greek or Hebrew word, and includes the Strong’s numbering system.

In this case, we are looking at a verse in the Old Testament, so in Strong’s Concordance, it is numbered as 7549, and can be found in the Hebrew section in the back of the book.  Here is how the word is defined there: “an expanse, i.e. the firmament or (apparently) visible ARCH of the SKY.”

For your Bible study it is also helpful to use a good English dictionary, such as Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, or a Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.  A word of caution is needed when using a dictionary, because several possible meanings will be listed for most words, so NOTHING can take the place of READING the CONTEXT of the verse.

In this case, Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists the meaning as, “the vault or ARCH of the SKY.”

Both of these books define the firmament as the “ARCH of the SKY.”

So the firmament  is what we would refer to today as the atmosphere.

This means that there was a body of water ABOVE the atmosphere,

and a body of water BELOW it.

The question then arises, “Where is all of that water today?”

In regard to the water below the atmosphere, the United States Geological Survey says that 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by water (http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html).

Under the ground are aquifers, “water-bearing stratum of permeable rock, sand, or gravel” (Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary), into which our wells are tapped for water.

That explains where all the water is that was below the atmosphere, but where is all the water that was above it?

4. Genesis 7:11-12 says, “In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the __________________ of the great ________ broken up, and the ______________ of ____________ were opened.  And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”

Note:  When people think of the flood, they often only think of the rain that was coming down from the sky—but water was also coming up from underground in huge fountains of gushing water from the great deep.  God caused the earth to break open, and the water, under pressure, came rushing upward in fountains.

The description of how the rain started is very important.

The Bible does not say, “And the sky filled with clouds,

and they became darker and darker; and the lightning

cracked, and the thunder rumbled louder and louder!”  That

is not the way that the rain started.  The scene is described

as this: “The WINDOWS of heaven were OPENED.”

Before the flood, the sun would have shone through that clear body of water above the atmosphere, just like it does through a window.  So when God opened the windows of heaven, it was a beautiful day with the sun shining.  Do you know what this means? 

This means that there was NO VISIBLE WARNING

that the flood was about to start.  The sun was shining,

(as it always did before the flood), through the “windows”

(that water layer above the atmosphere).

Remember, it had never rained upon the earth before the flood.  The earth was watered with a mist that came up from the ground, (which would have happened when the sun went down and the air temperature cooled).  So before the flood, every day was a beautiful sunny day.

5. Genesis 2:5-6 says, “And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had ______ caused it to ________ upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.  But there went up a ________ from the earth, and ______________ the whole face of the ground.”

Suddenly, the ground broke apart, and huge fountains

of water were gushing upward into the air, flooding the ground!

At the same moment, with the sun still shining, torrents of rain came falling down from the sky.

There was NO VISIBLE WARNING that day when the flood was going to start.

The Bible uses this as an illustration of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

6. Matthew 24:38-39 says, “For as in the days that were ____________ the __________ they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,  And knew ______ until the flood came, and ________ them all ________; SO SHALL ALSO THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN BE.”

Why does it say that the people “KNEW NOT until the flood came,

and took them all away...?”  How could they not “know,” when Noah

had been preaching about it for so many years, and had been building the ark?

7.  2 Peter 2:5 says, “And spared not the old world, but saved ________ the eighth person, a ________________ of righteousness,  bringing in the __________ upon the world of the ______________.” 

Note:  Noah was a preacher of righteousness, but the people were ungodly, and so they did not take his preaching seriously, nor pay attention to his warnings.

8. Genesis 6:5 says, “And GOD saw that the ____________________ of man was great in the earth, and that every ______________________ of the thoughts of his heart was only ________ continually.”

Note:  The people were intent on living wicked lives because of their wicked hearts and imaginations.  Noah was preaching that people needed to repent and turn to God and live righteous and holy lives.  People did not listen to his message, because they loved their sin.

9. Hebrews 4:2 says, “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word ________________ did not ____________ them, not being mixed with __________ in them that __________ it.”

Note:  In sharp contrast to those people, Noah did fear the Word of the Lord, and exercised faith and rose up and built the ark.

10. Hebrews 11:7 says, “By __________ Noah, being warned of God of things ______  ________ as yet, moved with fear, ________________ an ______ to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by __________.”

Question:  How about you?  Have you really listened to the preaching of God’s Word?  The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is going to happen suddenly and unexpectedly.  Are you ready? 

11. 1 Thessalonians 5:2 says, “For yourselves know perfectly that the ______ of the Lord so cometh as a __________ in the night.”

12. Matthew 24:44 says, “Therefore be ye also __________: for in such an ________ as ye think ______ the Son of man ____________.” 

Note:  The Lord’s sudden return has been preached for many years—but few are listening today, just like with Noah’s preaching about the coming flood.

The day that the flood came, there was NO VISIBLE WARNING before it started.

One day, suddenly, with no visible warning, God opened the windows of heaven, and it began to do something that it had never done before—it rained!  It rained hard, and it kept on raining for 40 days and 40 nights.

13. Genesis 7:12 says, “And the ________ was upon the earth __________ days and __________ nights.”

Before the flood, that body of water above the atmosphere would have created

a “greenhouse effect” everywhere upon earth, causing the entire earth to have a tropical climate.

That is why fossils of tropical plants and animals have been found around the entire earth,

including even in the Arctic, and the Antarctic.

Review:

1. Genesis 1:6 says, “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it ____________ the waters from the waters.”

2. Because the word firmament contains the word firm in it, we may read this word and get the mistaken idea that it refers to something firm, like, “solid ground.”  This firmament is NOT referring to when God created the ____________________ of land to separate the oceans and seas.

3. The firmament is what we would refer to today as the  ____________________ or sky around the earth.

4. Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists the meaning of firmament as, “the vault or ________ of the sky.”

5. Genesis 7:11-12 says, “In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the __________________ of the great deep broken up, and the ______________ of heaven were opened.  And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”

6. It is very interesting how God described the water coming down from the sky.  He did NOT say, “And the clouds became larger and larger, and darker and darker; and then suddenly the clouds burst, and the rain came pouring down!”  God described it this way, “The ______________ of heaven were opened.”  You can see through a window, but you cannot see through a big, dark, rain cloud.  Before the flood, the sun would have shone through that clear body of water above the atmosphere, just like it does through a window.

7. This means that there was no ______________ warning  that the flood was about to start.

8. This sudden, unexpected start to the flood, is used as an illustration of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Matthew 24:38-39 says, “For as in the days that were before the __________ they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,  And knew ______ until the flood came, and took them all ________; SO SHALL ALSO THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN BE.”

9. Matthew 24:44 says, “Therefore be ye also __________: for in such an ________ as ye think not the Son of man ____________.”

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