Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. (Genesis 7:1)

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For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground. And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. (Genesis 7: 4-5)

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By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (Hebrews 11:7)

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A bad storm was coming. God told Noah he was going to need to build a really big boat. God promised the storm would bring a flood that would destroy every living thing on the ground.

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Noah, who had lived a life devoted to God, obediently built that boat. He worked despite the absence of any rain clouds because his long relationship with God gave him good reason to believe what God said. This is what it means to have faith; believing something for good reason. Therefore, his faith was counted as righteous in the sight of God. And because of Noah's faith, he and his household were the only ones saved from God's devastating judgment. No others survived.

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Millennia later, Jesus walked the earth. Like Noah, He knew God's judgment was coming. Like Noah, He had been given a task to do, one much more difficult than Noah's. And like Noah, His obedience would result in saving from judgment those who had faith.

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However, unlike Noah, Jesus was not born under the curse of sin. Jesus could do what no one else could do. He lived a perfect, sinless life.  He perfectly obeyed His Father and proved Himself to be the perfect sacrifice for sin. Jesus, the perfect man and perfect God, provided the perfect salvation. Where Noah could save only his own household, Jesus saves multitudes.

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In Genesis 7:5, we read that Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. Noah did not have a blind faith.  He had good reason to believe God, based upon his long relationship with Him. Christians are not asked to have blind faith. We are given good reasons, the Bible being chief among them, to believe Jesus is who He says He is.

 

Questions to Ponder: Most Christians will not be asked to do anything on the scale of building an ark, but we do get prompted by His Spirit in our daily lives. Think on your own measure of faith. Have you practiced the spiritual disciplines that develop a relationship with God and foster such faith as Noah? How do you respond to those small nudges from the Holy Spirit?

 

Prayer: Father God, thank You for sending Jesus to save me. Thank You that salvation has always been Your idea and Your work, not mine. I ask that You fill me with Your Spirit and let me know You more each day. Grow in me a faith like Noah's.