Lord’s Day, Vol. 9 No. 35
Lessons from Noah’s Life
Hebrews 11:7 (KJV) 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.
The world certainly does not know or realise the impending judgment upon planet earth! Life goes on as usual — eat, drink and be merry, we have much goods laid up for the future. The world feels very secure with its make-believe sense of prosperity. Dear friends, this is the deception today as it was then in Noah’s time just before God brought on a global flood that destroyed the whole world.
- Our Privilege
7 Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, …
Our first thought is the privilege accorded to Noah. The Bible says he was “being warned of God of things not seen as yet”.
Here we see how God visited Noah with His sovereign grace. It was God who came to Noah. Note that Noah was a passive party in his encounter with his Creator God. What amazing grace! The living and true God, the Creator of heaven and earth, condescended Himself to reveal Himself to Noah. By choosing Noah and by making His plans known to him, God was gracious to Noah. Among the countless men living on planet earth in the pre-flood world, he was special in the eyes of God, he had found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
To him, God made known the future. He was going to send a tsunami of such great proportions that it would destroy the known world at that time. All the fountains of the great deep would be broken up, and the windows of heaven would open. In these few words — “Noah being warned of God” — we see how God accorded Noah with the privilege of His visitation as well as the receipt of His warning.
Was Noah any different from the people living in his world that God should reveal the future to him? Noah too inherited the sinful nature from the fall of his forefather Adam. But the Bible says Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD (Genesis 6:8). How can man find grace in the sight of God? Is it by his determined effort or his merits that he finds God? Noah “being warned of God” is a significant statement here that underscores Noah’s privilege because he was a sinner like the rest of the world, lost and undone, save that God was gracious to him. God’s mercy came upon him, and God worked in his heart. Noah was saved the way we are saved through the Gospel. Through it all, God was the main actor in this encounter.
As we consider God’s encounter with Noah And the great privilege of Noah, we must thank God for the same privilege He has given us. Like Noah, we too have been chosen by Him to be His people and, like Noah, we too have been given knowledge of the things to come. Are we not privileged that God has similarly visited us with His salvation, and has worked His work of salvation in our hearts to heed His warning of an impending judgment and take refuge in His Ark of Jesus Christ?
(2) Our Response
7 … moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house;
What was Noah’s response? Noah believed God. This was a man who had encountered God and knew that God meant every word He said and said what He meant. The Bible says he was moved with fear. The fear of God was in his heart. God moved Noah’s heart to respond to His warning by putting His fear in Noah’s heart. Fear was not a negative emotion that God gave to Noah. It was a wake-up call! It was like a bell or a gong going off in his heart and mind, stirring him into life to flee into the safety of God at the first approach of danger. It was a signal to provoke his soul to watchfulness and sobriety, to lifelong action! Noah was moved with fear because he saw wickedness in the world all around him. Every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man was only evil continually. God revealed this to Noah so that he realised the depraved state of mankind for the earth was filled with violence.
Noah was moved with fear. The truth of God’s coming judgment was effectual in his heart. By faith, he took action to prepare for the coming global destruction. Noah put his house in order. He got ready. God gave him instructions to prepare himself for this disaster. He was to build an ark. It was so massive an endeavour that he devoted all his attention to its preparation. In this task, Noah fully followed God’s instruction. Genesis 6:22 states his humble, complete obedience to God, “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” Noah did not question God why he should make only one window, why it had to be three storeys and not four. Noah exercised resolute obedience to the task of building the ark by simple faith. Remember, everything was calm and normal. Business was as usual.
See how Noah gave a godly response to the great privilege God had given him. By the fear of God, he worked and prepared while the world around him was complacent and oblivious to God’s coming judgment. Thus Noah prepared an ark to the saving of his house.
Dear reader, do you not see how similar our position is to Noah’s? God has visited us with His gracious offer. God has warned us through His Word of the “things not seen as yet”. But is our next step similar to Noah’s? Do we move with fear and make preparations?
The Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest prophecy yet unfulfilled in the Bible and it is also a sorely neglected doctrine in the church today. Not that Christ’s Second Coming has not been preached, but that there seems to be a lack of the fear of God in the hearts of church members today that should rouse them into a Noah-like reaction. As we watch disasters unfolding before our very eyes, do they not cause us to fear the wrath of God and realise that His return is nigh?
(3) Our Blessings
… by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Salvation – The word “condemned” means “to judge against” or “to judge worthy of punishment”. Noah by his submission to God set himself as an example against the evil and the wicked in his generation who refused God’s truth. His very obedience to God in building the ark and preparing his family was a judgment against the mockers and scoffers who by their unbelief perished when God sent the flood. By his walk, Noah was a witness against the world. This was his responsible response to the privilege God had bestowed upon him when He chose him to be His witness against the world. God condemned the world through Noah’s preparation — he built the ark, he prepared his family, he preached to the world. That God had deemed it fit to choose him to be the recipient of such a blessing was a great honour to Noah. Hence there was a determination in his heart to live a life of cleaving to God, a bending of his own will in submission to God and to obey Him. It distinguished him from the people in his generation.
He lived a life of righteousness. Not of sinlessness but of constant submission to God. Noah lived a surrendered life. He surrendered his ambition to God, and in turn, made his life goal the complete, no- questions-asked execution of God’s will. He focused his efforts on what really mattered in the light of God’s revelation to him. Dear friends, the world today continues to focus its efforts on building yet bigger barns and taller buildings. What will save us from the coming judgment of God? Only faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will save us and our family. Dear reader, is there a holy submission to God and His Word in your life?
Rewards of Godly Life – Noah received a righteous man’s reward by (according to or by way of) faith. Noah passed from the old world to a new world. Noah received a righteous man’s reward by (according to or by way of) faith. Noah passed from the old world to a new world. He inherited the new world together with his family. All who believed did not perish in the global cleansing God meted out upon all mankind. But there is more to come. Be warned there is yet another global “flood” of God’s judgment that is coming. This time it shall be by fire (2 Peter 2:10-13). Dear friends, let us be awakened to the signs of the times. May the truth of God’s Word convict and convince us that His way is the best. It may give us that strength to re-order our life goals by the fear of God, live a surrendered life on this earth and receive at the end a righteous man’s reward which is eternal life and the opportunity of great rewards that all who follow Him will receive at His return. May the Lord prepare our hearts to give an account of our stewardship of the Gospel that He has entrusted to us. Amen.
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee