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 ____________.”
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Final Test Bible Course Directory