Preface: This was written for my Bible Essentials class when I was a student of Bible & Ministry and submitted October 1, 2000.
What it took to be like Noah
Noah, in my opinion, was the chosen one in comparison to some other major characters in and of the Bible. Imagine having the Lord tell you “Go into the ark, you and your whole family.” (Gen 7:1a) I believe that there is almost no chance nowadays that someone would listen to God in such an obedient and trusting way like Noah did. What a strong test of faith! What if Noah wouldn’t have done it? Where would we be now? The thing to think about rather is the fact that Noah did it. Do we, I, have even a minutia of Noah’s trust and love for God? May not but why not?
To attempt to understand why Noah was chosen, you must first understand the purpose of the flood through Dispensational lenses. The Flood was actually a punishment during the 2nd Dispensation, the Dispensation of Conscience. In Genesis 6 the judgment for this oikonomia (Gk. Dispensation) began;
“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."
From this God chose to pick one man worthy enough to save one male and female of every living thing on Earth so as to create a fresh start. Why was Noah the chosen one to help wipe out and be responsible to re-populate the Earth?
The Lord told Noah “because I have found you righteous in this generation.” (Gen 7:1b) How did he find him righteous? Genesis 6:8-9 explains it; “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.” (Gen 7:6) Noah had an obvious direct involvement and an obviously very strong impact on the Lord, as he was chosen as the man to help close the 2nd dispensation. Not to mention he was 600 years old and probably had a proven track record in obediently serving the Lord. What more of a reward than to be the father of the nations, as the Lord said to him and his children “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth”? (Gen 9:1b). Genesis 10:1 and 32 say, “Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah…unto them were sons born after the flood,” and “These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.” The effect Noah and his family had on culture was that of an implemented fear other than the simple fact that they created all the following generations. “And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth…into your hand are they delivered.” (Gen 9:2)
After waiting for seven days in the ark the flood started and lasted for forty days and forty nights. The finalization of the flood ended the 2nd and started the 3rd oikonomia, the dispensation of Human Government. At this time “Noah built an altar unto the Lord” (Gen 8:20) and “God spoke unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you…I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth. ” (Gen 9:8-11) What does this covenant mean and what does it affect? A covenant is plainly stated as an agreement. There are many covenants in the Bible, and this one is the agreement between God and man (Noah and family) to leave the condition of the earth as it is and no longer destroy it upon disgust with the inhabitants of it. This covenant is called the Noahic covenant. It consisted of 4 elements: the relation of man to the earth under the Adamic covenant is confirmed, the order of nature is confirmed, Human government (3rd dispensation) is established, and earth is secured against another universal judgment by water. The thing that strikes me though, is why does God initiate this kind of agreement? I suspect maybe to give proof that he keeps His word through an open-ended agreement. Noah was also very notable in history because of this, as he is spoken of in Ezekiel 14:14; “Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God.” Noah ended up dying at the age of 950 years old (Gen 9:29), 350 years after the flood had occurred. This brought about the conclusion of the Noahic covenant.
So, I ask a simple question. What shall we learn from Noah’s example? I suggest everything! I have not found something that is not positive about Noah. Firstly, he openly saw the Grace in God, irrelevant of the circumstances on the land and with the people. Secondly, he listened to and obeyed God so faithfully that it is almost hard to imagine. Noah was probably ridiculed for building this huge ark in the middle of the desert because “The Lord told him to.” He kept going and succeeded. It’s like saying that we have never heard people say that in present time and not think that they were high on something. Thirdly, this whole process did not happen overnight. It was a commitment that Noah up held with God. Can you imagine making a commitment to help someone, anyone, but not knowing the commitment time? I don’t think I would do it, taking into consideration though, that it is God the one that we are dealing with, which might change my mind. Fourthly, Noah was in fellowship, probably constantly, with God as it says in Genesis 6:9b, “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” Most importantly, we should learn that God will reward those who seek and obey him for in “seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love” (1Pet 1:22) and “whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.” (Luke 17:33)
1 - All Bible verse references from: The Scofield(R) Study Bible Most current Copyright© 1945 by Oxford University Press, Inc. previously published as The Scofield Reference Bible.
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© 2000 Shannon Yáñez
