Section 2 – Same Man — Chapter 1: Who was this man called Noah?
How crazy to think that God would use not only the remains of the same boat but the remains of the same man, to add major significance to the last warning message to humanity. Scripture calls Noah a man of righteousness (Heb.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”. To understand the man a bit further let’s break down this commentary from the author of Hebrews.
The last shall be first… Noah became heir of righteousness – he was only declared righteous because he developed a routine of doing-right. His doing right was based in his belief that Yahweh would follow through with His promise to bring evil and unrighteousness to an end, so his righteousness was faith based. However, what saved Noah was not all his right-doing (the building of the ship), even though Scripture mentions 3 times in Genesis that, “thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so he did” (Gen. 6:22). What God had provided early in the Scriptures, through the story of Noah and the Ark, was an illustration of the mechanics of salvation.
What we see is a realization of just how Noah’s faith was the cooperation God needed to save him (and his family). After the rebellion ten generations earlier with Adam, God immediately set His rescue plan into motion. Jeshua had stepped into the breach, with the promise to come and pay the price for the redemption of the human family. The first part of the mechanics to rescue mankind therefor was the creator’s willingness to save the lost race. Peter resounds the sentiment in his 2nd letter to the Christians in Asia Minor, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pe. 3:9). Willingness on God’s part to save is the 1st aspect in the mechanics of salvation.
The 2nd consideration involved Noah directly. His cooperation would be essential for the salvation of his own soul (plus any who would board the ship). He must cooperate with his maker to achieve the benefit God was offering. God laid out the plan and the blueprint, Noah must simple be willing to follow it. However, God would also ensure that Noah would not come to the conclusion that he saved himself through his own efforts. God achieved this through the construction blueprint of the boat. Noah constructed the life-saving vessel, without the possibility of closing the door. God alone would make the call concerning the closing of human probation, which was accomplished by closing the massive door of the Ark. God alone would add the final aspect in the mechanics of salvation, the 3rd consideration – sealing them in.
The mechanics of salvation are: #1 – a willingness to save (God so loved that He was willing to give of Himself)). #2 – human cooperation with His plan (we must be willing to give of ourselves-obedient to His word), #3 God’s action in sealing us for salvation. The Lord would decide when to close the door, when He knew that all had made their decision for or against His plan. Fortunately for us, Noah was faithful (and went inside the ship he constructed), Scripture records as a result, Noah “found grace”. Just think if Noah had not cooperated, there would have been no door for God to close!! “For so an entrance shall be ministered (given), unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2Pe. 1:11). Noah’s ship was a symbol of Christ and so Noah and his family went through that entrance to safety. What the story illustrates is that salvation is a combination of all three aspects to complete the victory.
This super-natural crisis for the planet would be inclusive of every living thing, animal, vegetable and of course human. God would turn nature itself against the living, to eliminate the perfect utopian environment He had blessed them with from the beginning. Noah’s belief was confirmed each and every day through the activities of the preparation and construction of the ship, every blow of the hammer was a testimony that he believed God. God had provided the plan for any or all to escape the promised destruction to come, yet too many were full of self-interest and engrossed in the daily corrupt activities.
Noah’s faith is the same faith God’s people today must display to a world that has become, “like it was in the days of Noah…” As God’s people mirror this faith, the world is challenged, it is confronted with truth and brought to a point of decision. Every act of kindness, like every hammer blow on the boat, testifies to the love and mercy of God.
Even though Noah’s mission was to confront the world, he was also obedient to God for the sake of his family. He believed God’s warning and foremost wanted to secure a place of safety for his immediate family, this reveals a love and devotion for his family.
Noah came from a long line of Patriarch’s, the 10th down from Adam (the 1st man), he obviously was privy to firsthand accounting of how God had worked on behalf of his predecessors. He grew up knowing the voice of God and deciding to follow in a path of obedience like his forefathers. He had developed the utmost respect for the creator as the sole authority on the planet.
Noah lived during a time of great anarchy and God was not silent concerning humanities vial condition. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him in His heart” (Gen. 6:5-6). God informed Noah that He was going to destroy mankind and every living creature, washing the planet clean from all the evil, but Noah He said, you have found grace. Due to your Godly perspective, you have found favor. Noah counted it a privilege, an honor, to prioritize his work around the Ark project, despite the fact that everything in nature seemed to counter God’s warning. I can just imagine the ridicule, the harassment, the danger Noah and his workers faced over the 120 years of the project. Due to the perfection of the environment, the blessing the creator loved to bestow on the planet’s inhabitance, virtually no one believed the eco-system could be altered. Men of renown, those in authority and well respected, added to the dialog their perspective, I can hear them now, nature is fixed, we have over a thousand years of reliable environmental records, the lakes have never overflowed their boundaries, the temperature has never varied more than 10 degrees, every day is like the one before. Noah is a fool if he believes things are going to change, even God Himself couldn’t change things.
Like today, those in authority were intent on moving society in the direction they wanted them to go, God wasn’t having any of it though, He had His man, and soon He would have His boat. It is just like God to play the same tune today, after-all it is just as it was in the days of Noah.