Noah’s Ark

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. moved...: Or, being wary - 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.” Hebrews 11:7

    Long ago Martin Luther wrote, “If you want to interpret (the Word of God) well and confidently, set Christ before you, for he is the man to whom it all applies, every bit of it.” Edmund Clowney said much the same thing in recent times: “We do not find Christ in the Old Testament by spotting accidental references or similarities here and there. He is the center, the structure of the whole history of the Old Testament.”

    “By faith Noah” – God the Holy Spirit is showing us how that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” He is showing us how that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” The example he selects and holds before us in this seventh verse is Noah.

    The Basis of Faith

    The basis of Noah’s faith was the Word of God. – “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet.” Faith must have a foundation. And the foundation of all true, saving faith is the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Noah believed, because God spoke. And he believed what God spoke, though it was contrary to all reason, experience, and science. God warned him of things not seen as yet: —The Universal Flood, Though It Had Never Rained. —The Building Of An Ark, Though No Ship Had Ever Been Built. —The Saving Of Himself And All Creatures In The Ark. —The Destruction Of All Who Were Not In The Ark.

    The Evidence of Faith

    The evidence of Noah’s faith +was his reverence for and obedience to the Lord God. -- “Moved with fear, (He) prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” Noah feared God, because he believed God. He had an awesome sense of God’s holiness, justice, and truth. And he was overwhelmed with the sense of God’s goodness. His reverence for the Lord God caused him to obey his Word. Immediately, without delay, before the first raindrop fell, Noah began preparing an ark exactly according to the pattern God had given him. His object in doing so was that he and his family might be saved from wrath, according to the promise of God. Like James, Noah showed his faith by his works. Faith believes the Word of God and acts upon it. Show me a man who believes God, and I will show you a man who reverences God and obeys God.

    The Fruit of Faith

    The fruit of Noah’s faith was justification. By his faith in and obedience to the Word of God, “he condemned the world.” As a preacher of righteousness, he declared the certain condemnation of all who would not believe. And by his actions, he both reproved the unbelieving and aggravated their guilt. At the same time, Noah himself “became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Neither his faith nor his obedience made him righteous. But by faith he received the righteousness of God in Christ, which is justification and eternal life.

    Will you, or will you not, believe God? There is a storm of wrath approaching. God will punish sin. But he has made a way for sinners to escape his wrath (John 3:14-16). By his obedience to God as the sinner’s Substitute, by his life of righteousness and by his sin-atoning death, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has become the Ark of deliverance for God’s elect. I hold before you the Ark of God, Christ Jesus. Will you enter in? Will you trust the Son of God and be saved?

    Historic Facts

    The ark of Noah and the flood are facts of history, plainly revealed in the Word of God. The ark is not a myth. It is a fact. The flood is not a piece of fiction. It is a fact. Let the critics, the infidels, and the scoffers say what they will. We look upon them with disdain, as fools and liars. The Word of God is true. We rest our souls upon the validity and veracity of Holy Scripture.

    The Cause of Divine Judgment

    The Cause of God’s judgment upon the earth was the sin and depravity of the human race. Only 1,000 years after the fall, man had become so degenerate that “the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). Generation after generation, man became more and more vile, until at last “it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” God did not change. But he was so grieved by man’s sin that he turned against the human race in wrath and justice. Man had rejected the counsel of God and despised the longsuffering of God. So the Lord God came against him in his holy wrath.

    Grace Granted

    “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8). The cause of Noah’s salvation was God’s sovereign grace. The Scripture does not say, “The Lord found grace in the eyes of Noah.” The Scripture says, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Because God from eternity set the eye of his grace upon Noah, the Lord God found a way to be gracious to Noah. God found a way to save Noah. The ark was devised by God, not Noah. Noah alone was chosen as the object of God’s grace. Because he was chosen of God, Noah was effectually delivered from the wrath of God. The Lord God established his covenant, preserved his seed, and accomplished his purpose with Noah.

    The Means of Salvation

    The means of salvation was an ark. Noah and his family were saved in the flood by a ship, an ark, which God commanded him to build. It saved those who were in it from the violent wrath and vengeance of an angry God. As there was but one ark in the days of Noah, there is but one way of salvation. The whole world was drowned under the flood of God’s wrath, except for those eight happy souls in the ark. Christ alone is the Savior of men. “There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” If you would be saved you must be robed in Christ’s righteousness and washed in his blood. You must come to the Ark, Christ Jesus.