By Faith We Claim The Promises To Noah

We're looking at the Hebrews letter's list of men and women of faith. The purpose is to teach us that it is only by faith, that person to person trust, that we are able to please God. Today we come to Noah. 

By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.—Hebrews 11:7 NRSV

"Warned by God about events as yet unseen . . ." What do you make of that phrase? The phrase reminds us that history is His story and that He is intimately involved in all that happens to us and to our world. When Paul was invited to address the Greek philosophers of Athens he emphasized the point that God made the world and continues to direct all that goes on within it.

“Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.  The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands,  nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.  From one ancestor[i] he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God[j] and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us.  For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ Acts 17:23-28—NRSV

Paul teaches us that we are like fish swimming in the ocean. For them saltwater is their natural habitat. In turn, on a much higher level, the Lord of heaven and earth continually gives all of us life and breath and all things. He is our natural habitat. Moreover He guides the destiny of nations, allotting each its period in history and the boundaries of the land in which they live. In Him we live. In Him we move. In Him we have our being.

But the Lord did not merely make the world and all in it for Himself. He longs to share it with us and to bring peace, joy and happiness to us who are created in His image (Gen. 1:26-30). He wants us to thank and praise Him in return. This is why He put us in charge of all that He has made. This blessing brings great joy to us both.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. —Gen. 1:28-30 NRSV

But what had happened in Noah's day? The whole world had gone after other gods. They worshipped themselves and the things that God had made instead of Him. They no longer walked in faith. This was the reason for the judgment of the flood.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord. —Gen. 6:5-8 NRSV

Only Noah and his family found favor, because they walked in faith. In that faith Noah built the ark and waited patiently for the Lord's plans. What a significant encouragement for us all. Give yourself to the task assigned to you. In due time God's judgment will come upon the wicked unbelievers. We know not the day and hour. Nor did Noah. But for a hundred years he labored on. He did all that God commanded him. In the end he and his family were preserved. The promises given to them are ours to claim as well.

The Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.

As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

summer and winter, day and night,

shall not cease.” —Gen. 8:21-22 NRSV