Noah was a man who stood alone in a godless culture, a man whom God chose to be the father of the “new world,” a man who found favor in God’s sight, a man who walked with God. By faith, he stood alone in obedience to God and refused to listen to the world.
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Noah is in the tenth generation from Adam in the line of Seth His father Lamech gave him the name Noah (נֹחַ, which is associated with “rest”. Noah lived in a day in which man is graphically described as “wicked” and when “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. However, there is a contrast between Noah and the wicked people of his generation. Perhaps the most significant thing we are told about Noah is that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is why Noah is characterized as a righteous man, blameless in his generation, someone who walked with God, just as Enoch did. In a day of unrestrained evil, Noah, who had a right relationship with God, stands out.
There are two steps of faith that Noah did. He was moved with fear or reverence of God. He was warned of God, and believed the word that God gave him about things that would happen in the future. He then acted on his faith, by preparing the ark. There were two results of his action of faith. First he condemned the world because they would not believe and secondly, Noah became an heir of righteousness because of his faith..
We are going to look into the steps of faith first.
Heb:11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith pistis {pis’-tis} from peitho {pi’-tho} a primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); ; persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself:–assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.
Noah was seeing things in the future, and as a result he was moved with reverence. The greek word here is eulabeomai {yoo-lab-eh’-om-ahee}; to be circumspect, i.e. (by implication) to be apprehensive; religiously, to reverence:–(moved with) fear. This is not to be afraid, but to respect. Noah respected what God said to him. When you respect someone you listen to and heed his word. Noah did this with God. It was a hard thing for him because all the people around him
What things was he seeing. Let’s look to Genesis to find out further.
Genesis 6:9-22 9: These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. 10: And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11: The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12: And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 13: And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14: Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15: And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16: A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17: And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18: But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. 19: And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20: Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. 21: And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. 22: Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
The two things about Noah are also mentioned here. First it tells us in verse 9, he respected God, the term he walked with God is used. Remember in the study on Enoch, we found how important it is to walk with God. Hebrews said Noah was moved with fear or reverence with God. In other words, he walked with God. The second thing mentioned here is in verse 22, which is that he did according to God’s command. In other words, he prepared an ark. He acted on God’s word. This lesson we can apply to our lives. We must have respect of what God says in his word, and act on it. This is how faith works. James tells us that faith without works is dead. We have to act out our faith in order for it to be living. Noah acted his faith by building an ark. He had never seen rain before. The first mention of rain in the Bible is here. He was a long way from the ocean, but he still built the ark. Noah did something that other people ridiculed him for. He obeyed God even though it looked like a stupid thing to do. But as a result, he and his family were saved. Sometimes God will tell you to do something that looks ridiculous, but be obedient, because God knows the future.
Jesus tells us what all the other people were doing. They were having a big party.
Matthew 24:37-39 37: But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38: For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39: And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Luke17:26-27 26: And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27: They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
There are two results of Noah’s obedience to God’s word. First he condemned the world.
1Pe:3:20: Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
2 Peter 2:5,9 5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
God was long suffering. He waited for years, while Noah built the ark to execute judgment upon the earth. Notice all that time Noah was preaching righteousness. He was asking the people to come in faith and repent. But only eight were saved, because only eight believed. In fact it says God gave them 120 years to repent.
Genesis 6:1-2 1: And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2: That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3: And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
But because the people of the earth would not believe they were condemned already.
John:3:18: He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
2Th:2:10: And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th:2:12: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The second thing that was a result of Noah’s faith was that he was made righteous. Let’s read in Genesis again about this.
Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Ge:6:18: But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
Ge:9:8-17 8: And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9: And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10: And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. 11: And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12: And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14: And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16: And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17: And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
Isa:54:8-10 8: In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. 9: For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 10: For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
These verses give the fact that God made a covenant with Noah because of his obedience. God also makes a covenant with every believer through the work of the cross. Isaiah tells again about this covenant.
Isaiah:54:8-10 8: In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. 9: For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 10: For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
Noah, like Abel, had a righteous heart. Like Enoch, he walked with God. Noah was a man who was not influenced by the pull of the world, but listened to God’s voice instead of man’s voice. Even though he was not perfect, God still considered Noah a man of faith, worthy to be included in the chapter of faith in Hebrews. He obeyed God in the midst of a disobedient society, and he never wavered in his obedience to God’s instructions. He is a great example to us of someone who stood alone for God. He is mentioned along with Daniel and Job as men of righteousness by Ezekiel. God was able to save each of these three men because of their righteousness even though they all lived in a perverse generation. God can do the same for us if we will listen to his word and his Spirit.
Eze:14:12-16,20 12: The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, 13: Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: 14: Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD. 15: If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: 16: Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. 20: Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
As we look at Noah’s life we come to the realization of how important it is to heed God’s word and act on it despite what is going on around us. We know that God is able to keep us from the corruption of the world. We must do as Paul instructed Timothy.
1Timothy:4:15-16 15: Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 16: Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
1Tm:6:11: But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
2Tm:2:22: Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Ph’p:3:9: And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
1Pe:2:24: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
We know that we cannot save the world, but we can save ourselves from the wrath to come, as well as those who will hear us. Noah preached righteousness to thousands, but only got eight souls saved. We need to take Noah’s example. We need to show forth Jesus in our lives on a daily basis. We will never know how many people we have influenced to either follow God, or reject him, all on the basis of our actions.
Goode Christian: learning how to be a good Christian in today's world. 