Noah
By Johnpaul Humphrey
Noah is one of the most important people in history, if for no other reason then that you wouldn't be reading about him had he not lived by faith. The world that Noah came into was drastically different than the world Adam was created in. After Adam sinned, mankind increased in sinfulness. Genesis 6:5-8 says:
"And the Lord God, having seen that the wicked actions of men were multiplied upon the earth, and that every one in his heart was intently brooding over evil continually, then God laid it to heart that he had made man upon the earth, and he pondered it deeply. And God said, I will blot out man whom I have made from the face of the earth, even man with cattle, and reptiles with flying creatures of the sky, for I am grieved that I have made them. But Noah found grace before the Lord God. (LXX2012)
God is not a respecter of persons. Noah found favor in the eyes of God because he lived differently than everyone else. He lived by faith.
Second Peter 2:5 tells us that Noah preached righteousness. God saw that everyone was evil, but Noah was different. Noah found favor in God's eyes. God directed Noah to build a giant wooden box (ark) and gave him specific directions for how to build and waterproof it.
While Noah was building the ark, everyone else wasn't paying much attention. They did not listen to Noah's preaching. Instead they went on with their regular lives.1
100 years later, after Noah finished building the ark. God sent animals from all over the world to Noah. Noah took two of every unclean animal, and seven of every clean animal so they would have extra for sacrifices 2. After this, Noah and his wife boarded the ark as well as Shem, Ham, Japeth, and their wives. After they got on, God shut the door. Then God sent rain. Water came from above and below. Everyone outside the ark perished, but God kept everyone inside safe. The Ark is like the Church. Just like you had to be on the ark to be saved, you must be part of God’s Church to be saved. Just as Noah was saved because he lived by faith, so God saves us because we live by faith.
We have trouble comprehending how bad sin is. The flood gives us a glimpse into this. Sin drove mankind out of Paradise, and sin continued to corrupt the earth until it was so bad that God sent a flood. As a consequence of sin, man has been separated from the tree of life. Sin disqualifies us from heaven.
The good news is that God takes care of his Church like he took care of the ark.
The flood lasted about a year, and the Ark came to rest on the “mountains of Ararat”. Noah stayed in the ark till God told him to go out. Then he left the ark and built an altar. After this God made a covenant with Noah and told him that he would never again send a global flood. The rainbow is a sign of this covenant.
After this, Noah took up life as a farmer. Not much is known about his life after the flood. He lived to be nine-hundred and fifty years.
Noah wasn’t perfect, and his family wasn’t perfect either. Genesis
9:20 gives the first record of a sin after the flood.
As a result of that sin, a curse was placed on Ham’s descendant
Canaan.
Noah’s Children, or at least his grandchildren, moved to other
countries, but everybody spoke the same language and they didn't
mind working together. They decided to build a big tower. They
chose the plains of Shinar as the construction site.
God decided that man needed limits on his power, and so God
decided to confuse their languages. The tower was abandoned, and
everyone went different directions. We don't know what became of
the tower.
The Genesis record does not give us much of the history of this time.
This is because it's primary purpose is to give the lineage of the
Messiah. We know that idolatry emerged, and the true religion
appears to have dwindled. After the flood the people gradually
corrupted religion, and the earth reverted back towards a pre-flood
state.3
In the midst of this, God called one of his true worshipers, Abraham.
Footnotes:
1. Matthew 24:37-38
2. Some will note that the law of Moses had not been given yet, so
how did they know what was clean and unclean? Remember
that Abel offered God a better sacrifice by faith, (Hebrews 11:4)
and that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God (Romans 10:17). Evidently, God had given Adam
instructions.
3. This is evident because many societies that were separated
from the Bible lands (like the Incas) have accounts of creation
(in Inca epics, creation by the spoken word), accounts of the
flood, and the tower of Babel. This demonstrates that there was
a common set of religious beliefs that became corrupted.
Romans 1:21-25 says,
“Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify
him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their
reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools, and traded the glory of
the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible
man, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things.
Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to
uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among
themselves; who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and
worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is
blessed forever. Amen.” (WEB)