Noah's Faith

Vol 1 - No 5, January 31, 2004

Noah's faith in the Word of God.

The account of Noah and the days in which he lived are found in Genesis 5:2929 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

through 10:32. Since the purpose of this study is to investigate faith in the Word of God we won't go into all the details of this account. However, it is important to note Genesis 6:55 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

, 11 & 12 to understand the environment in which Noah lived. That passage speaks of the people living whose "every imagination of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually," "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth."

In the midst of all this was one man who had faith in Gods Word, as we learn from Genesis 6:8 & 98 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God" and from Hebrews 11:77 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.

"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."

We saw in study No 3 the account of Cain and Abel and that God required a blood sacrifice for sins and this requirement by God for the covering of sin/s continued from the time man was ejected from the Garden of Eden until the time of the flood. This was the age of conscience and, like faithful Abel and Enoch, Noah, by faith, would have had to offer such sacrifice/s to cover his sins. Also, we note from Genesis 6:99 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

that like Enoch, Noah "walked" with God. But God had a different and unique Word for Noah, he was to build an ark to save his family from a flood that would cover the world of that time and kill all who were not in the ark.

Here, in our examination of faith we must ask; what proof did Noah have that the earth would be covered by a flood of water? The earth had been watered by a mist each morning and it had never rained before so Noah did not know what this meant, much less what a flood was. He had never experienced rain or flood. What proof did Noah have that building such a structure as an arc and getting into it would save him from rain and flood? Never had such an ark been built? What evidence presented itself to Noah that everyone would be killed in the predicted rain and flood if they were not in the arc? The answer to both these questions, of course, is that Noah had only the Word of God, which to Noah, was the substance or title deed of his knowledge that the flood would occur, it was the evidence that getting into the arc would save him from death.

As evidenced by the fact that only Noah and his family built and boarded the ark, there was no one else on earth that believed it would rain or flood. The Word of God flew in the face of the evidence observed by everyone around Noah. Noah stood alone in believing God's Word that the destruction, which could not be seen was going to happen, and the only salvation to be hoped for was to build and board an ark.

We know this from Hebrews 11:11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

, which instructs as to faith: "Now faith is the substance (or title deed) of things hoped for, the evidence (or the proof) of things not seen."

As a postscript we must note from Genesis 9:1 - 71 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.

6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

that the economy of human government changed after the flood. Whereas before the flood men and animals were vegetarians, God ordained meat eating, as evidenced by verses 2 - 4: "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." Before the flood, man lived according to his conscience. After the flood God ordained human government, as we learn from verse 6: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." And, we see from Genesis 9:20 - 2420 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

the story of his drunkenness, Noah's personal conduct was less than perfect.