Noah's Ark

God looks after and protects all good children.

Bible Text:

Genesis chapters 6 to 9.

Age Group:

Preschool to Grade 2.

Many thousands of years ago there lived a man named Noah who had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth.  Noah was a very good man, but the other people in the world were very wicked.  They fought wars with each other, did evil things and didn't worship God.  When God saw the way they behaved, He was very angry.

And so when Noah's sons had grown up, God spoke to Noah and said that He was going to send a great flood to destroy all the wicked people on the earth.  God then told Noah to build an ark.  This was like a huge ship and had to be large enough to house his whole family, as well as pairs of all living creatures and food to last for a long time.

The Flood:

Noah and his sons worked hard for many years building the ark.  When it was finished they gathered food and seven of each of the animals used for food, and two of every other kind of living creatures.  They put them all in the ark as God had commanded.  Noah was 600 years old when he went into ark and closed the doors.  And then rain began to fall, and it rained and rained.  All you could hear inside the ark was the sound of the terrible downpour.

The rain continued to pour down for forty long days and nights.  The waters covered the land, and the trees, and eventually even the mountains.  The ark however, floated up with the waters and all were safe inside.  After the forty days, God ended the rains, but the flood continued for another hundred and fifty days.

The Waters Drain Away:

Whereever they looked, Noah and his family could see nothing but water.  At the end of one hundred and fifty days, the waters began to go down and the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.  On the first day of the tenth month, the waters began draining away from the tops of the mountains.

Noah waited another forty days, and then sent out a raven.  But the raven could only fly back and forwards.  Then Noah sent out a dove, but the dove came right back to the ark, because she could find no dry place to rest.  Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again, and this time she came back carrying an olive leaf in her beak.  Now Noah knew that the waters were going down.  After another seven days, Noah sent the dove out again, but this time she did not return to him.

The Rainbow:

Although Noah and his family could see land around them, they did not leave the ark, but waited for a sign from God.  When they had been in the ark a full year, the Lord finally told them they could leave it and make a new home for themselves.  God blessed Noah and told him to have many children, so that the earth would have new tribes and nations.

Joyfully, Noah and his family and the animals left the ark and went out onto dry land.  And Noah did as the Lord commanded and lived for three hundred and fifty years after the great flood, and his family grew and grew.  Noah died at the age of nine hundred and fifty years (that's very old isn't it?).  He told the story of the terrible flood to his grandchildren and great grandchildren, and they told it to their children, so that everyone would know how God punished the wicked people, but saved the good people and the animals.

God Protects Us:

God blessed Noah and told him that the rainbow we see each time it rains is a sign, that God will never send such a terrible flood on the earth again.  God wants to bless us as well and so He wants us to be good.  He sent Jesus to to teach us about God.  Let's ask Jesus to make us good, so that we can go to Heaven one day, and live there for ever.  I want to go there.  Do you?

And God wants to look after us and protect us, just like he protected Naoh and his family from the flood.  When you go to bed tonight, ask Jesus to watch over you and protect you all night long.

God bless!

Copyright © 2007 Sharon Children's Ministries