Hall of Faith Inductee #3: Noah Hebrews 11:7

Last week we looked at a lesser-known character in the Hall of Faith preserved for us in Hebrews 11—Enoch. This week we turn the corner in our tour of this passage and are confronted with one of the most popular characters in all of the Scriptures—Noah. In fact, so famous is this story that many even outside the believing community know about his fateful ship and the flood that he and his family escaped. Many other world religions even have their own legends involving an international flood of cataclysmic proportions. However, there is only on account that we are interested in today--the authoritative account of Scripture.

When we approach the account of Noah’s life as referenced in Hebrews 11:7, we find ourselves confronted with details that are not always as celebrated as they should be when we read this story to our children or grandchildren. These details involve the incredible faith of Noah that illustrates the kind of faith we ought to possess as believers today. Fasten your seatbelts and just sit right back as I tell you the tale, the tale of a fateful ship.

NOAH RECEIVES A WARNING-11:7a-“…by faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen…”

So far in our expedition through the “Hall of Faith” we have learned that the kind of faith that pleases God comes from the heart (as witnessed in Abel) and walks with the Lord consistently (as seen in Enoch). However, today we are going to learn from another example that faith acts in accordance with God’s will—even when it doesn’t make sense. This example is introduced in Hebrews 11:7 when the preacher says, “by faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household." Here is how the story plays out in Genesis 6.

“⁵The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ⁷ So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.’ ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. This is the account of Noah and his family was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. ¹² God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. ¹³ So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. ¹⁴ So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.¹⁵ This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. ¹⁶ Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit^[c] high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. ¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.¹⁹ You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. ²⁰ Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹ You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.’”

To be sure, what God told Noah was something that had never before been conceived—a flood was coming. Not only that, but a message of impending doom was no doubt unpopular and utterly nonsensical in the world's eyes. 

Imagine for me if you will what that conversation would have been like when Noah went home to tell his wife what he was up to outside their home. It is one thing for an old man to have a hobby, but building a ship takes it to a whole other level. Not only that, but when asked why he was soon keen on building what would have been one of the largest construction projects on record at this point, it would have no doubt been difficult to hear “a lot of rain is coming.” I’m sure Noah’s wife would have been tempted to call a shrink after she inquired how much rain was anticipated and she heard “enough to flood the entire planet."  

When the Bible says “things not seen” it is euphemistically referring to what mankind might deem totally outrageous! However, as Hebrews says in 11:1, believing in what the world can’t seem to swallow is part of what faith is all of about, “Now faith is the assurance of things hopes for, the conviction of things not seen.” God’s calling on Noah’s life—involving a prediction of something never-before seen and not yet present—was therefore an opportunity for him to exercise faith. But not just any faith—faith that works.

NOAH ACTS ACCORDINGLY-11:7b-“…in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of His household…”

As we continue reading the story from the account in Genesis 6:22-7:5, we can see what faith motivated in Noah’s life:

“Noah did everything just as God commanded him. The Lord then said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. ² Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³ and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.’ ⁵And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.”

The second thing that Noah is said to have done (after receiving his instructions) is act according to his faith—faith that God’s weather prediction was 100% accurate—“in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of His household” (11:7c). He believed that this flood was as good as done and as a result did what was necessary to save his family.

In reading this we cannot afford to lose the sacrifice required of Noah to act on his faith in what God said. No doubt, as depicted in many retellings of this story, the people around him mocked him and few continued to take this man seriously. His building of the ark in reverent obedience to God was a defiant act witnessed by all who belonged to a wicked and idolatrous world around him. While they worshipped their idols to multiple other Gods, Noah built an ark in obedience to the one true God.

Noah’s active faith in God, witnessed in his obedience to build the ark, saved his family. Faith that obeys is saving faith.

The same was true for those first century believers to which this was originally written (and is true for today’s believers as well)—faith that believes in God (what is unseen) and is proven in obedience to Him (see James 1) results in salvation from the present flood of this world and a hope in a future free from eternal condemnation.

NOAH FULFILLS A PURPOSE-11:7c-d

In fact, this condemnation that believers escape today is intimated in this story in no uncertain terms in Genesis 7:12-24:

“For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. ²⁰ The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. ²¹ Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³ Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.²⁴The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.’”

This unapologetic account reveals that Noah was a vessel used for the greater purposes of God—to condemn a wicked world, “by which he condemned the world” (11:7c). “Condemned” is an unusual word inasmuch as it is most often used of God Himself. Louw & Nida defines this word as follows: “to judge someone as definitely guilty and this subject to punishment.” Typically, this falls within God’s purview alone. Therefore, Noah was God’s vessel through which He executed His wrath upon the earth (pardon the pun).  Noah’s story serves as perhaps the largest concrete illustration of God’s holiness and wrath against sin that this world has ever witnessed--so far.

However, things were not all lost. In fact, in the treacherous waters of the flood, we catch a glimpse of God’s incredible grace that IN FAITH leads away from wickedness and into abundant righteousness.

As Noah’s story ends in Genesis 8:13-19, the Bible says,

“By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.¹⁵ Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶ ‘Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. ¹⁷ Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.’ ¹⁸ So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹ All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.”

While God would have been totally justified in condemning the entire world, as His wrath burned over “ALL mankind,” God saw fit to spare the human race by selecting one man—a man who, when called, responded in faith—the kind of faith that acts in obedience to the Lord’s command, no matter how outrageous. Because of this, Noah’s and his family were spared. Not only that, but the Bible continues in Hebrews 11:7 and says, “and [Noah] became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith,” thereby forever cementing his rightful place in God’s hall of faith.

So What?

As we pass this latest installation in the Hall of Faith found in Hebrews 11 we are compelled to examine whether or not our faith is the kind that, as referenced earlier, is assured of things hoped for and convicted of things not seen. Such was the case with the faith of Noah when he was told and then believed that something unusual would happen—a cataclysmic flood. However, the kind of faith that is championed in Noah’s story is not just a believing faith, it is a behaving faith. Noah’s faith was so real that it informed his decisions and changed the course of his life. As a result, Noah was saved from the flood—he and his family. Faith that obeys God is saving faith. Can these criteria be observed in the faith you claim? Are you keen on believing what God has promised you, though it may seem outrageous? Does your faith really do anything?

However, we are not to leave Noah’s installation impressed by Noah. Instead, we are to be even more impressed by God who, while the world deserved to die, spared humanity through this humble man and his family. What a beautiful foreshadowing of Jesus Christ who, after God made many predictions of His coming, came to this world and built an entirely new ark—an ark of grace through faith, not in the shape of a boat, but in the shape of a cross. When the world deserved death, God made this ark available not just to one man in his family, but to all men and women who exercise faith in what they have not seen themselves and in response, live accordingly.