JC Blog

“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” ( Hebrews 11:7 )

It takes faith to build an ark. Only one man has ever needed this kind of faith. Even though Noah had never heard of or experienced rain, let alone the flooding that exists with earth covering amounts of water, he obeyed God when instructed to build the ark. He had only God’s word to counter everything he knew and had previously experienced.

Noah was six hundred years old when the ark was finished and probably endured endless harassment by society during construction. Yet he did not waver in faith but carried out every detail as instructed. This is faith in action. Noah is a text book case of the definition of faith, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” ( Hebrews 11:1 ). He believed God when all indicators of reality pointed another direction.

Backing up to the beginning of this account we see that Noah had found favor in the eyes of the Lord, “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God” ( Genesis 6:5-9 ).

Noah was righteous and blameless and had a long history of fellowshipping with God. His track record of seeing God true to His word was all the reassurance he needed year after year while building the ark. With each board put in place Noah condemned the world of its wickedness choosing to believe God. Because of this he saved his family, livestock, animal species and future generations while obtaining the righteousness that comes through faith.

Now we have a wonderful reminder of Noah and the covenant that God made with him and future generations that He would never again flood the earth. A rainbow in the sky speaks of this one man’s faith ( Genesis 9:8-17 ). He overcame every obstacle, public humiliation and believed God, condemned the world of its wickedness and inherited the righteousness that comes by faith. What an amazing example to encourage us in our journey!