Today, I want to continue our study on Old Testament Personalities. We’re going to focus on Noah today. Before we start, though let’s review last week’s lesson. I would encourage you to take notes so you can remember what you learned. You can also go to http://ssbiblestudies.blogspot.com to review them, because they’ll be posted there!
Review of the Last Lesson
Review of Seth:
Adam was created in the image of God, but Seth was begotten
by Adam in his own (Adam’s image) image and likeness, what was the
difference between God’s image and likeness, and Adam’s? There was the
taint of Adam’s sin in the Garden. He
was no longer in the blameless and sinless likeness of God! Sinfulness is
passed down through natural generations, (father to son). Holiness and grace can only come from whom? God, through Jesus! What does the name Seth mean? “Appointed”.
Why was He called that? Because he was appointed to be the seed of the
lineage of Jesus.
Review of Enoch:
The Bible says, “Enoch walked with God and he was not for
God took him.” What is this a picture
of for us? Rapture! What does it mean to walk with God? He had a deep relationship with Gofd, much
like Adam’s relationship with God in the Garden prior to Adam’s sin!
Noah
Noah Found Favor with God
Noah is a famous character, so famous that even many
non-Christians know him and his story.
So, lets start with the “Timeline of History” mention of Moses and build
from there.
Genesis 5:28-30 NKJV
Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. And he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed." After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters.
If you remember the "Timeline of History" then you know that Noah’s name means
rest or peace. I showed you the prophecy
of Jesus that comes from the meaning of the first 10 names in the lineage of
Jesus. “Mankind, appointed mortal
sorrow, the blessed God comes down teaching, His death will bring the
Despairing REST (peace or comfort).”
In this prophecy built on the first ten names in Genesis, Noah
is a picture for us off redemption, but I want to look at Noah in more
depth:
Genesis 6:5 NKJV
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:7-8 NKJV
So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Men had become wicked; we talked about this a bit in last
week’s study. There is a separation that
sprung up between the lineage of Seth (which is the lineage of Jesus), and the
lineage of Cain. The wickedness had sprung
up through the lineage of Cain, but Noah who was in the lineage of Seth found
favor in God’s sight. This is where that
separation is important, God sought to destroy the wickedness of man, but he
preserved the lineage of Seth through Noah.
Hebrews 11:7 NKJV
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
The heir of the righteous which is according to Faith. It’s the same righteousness that was
accounted to Abel:
Hebrews 11:4 NKJV
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
And Enoch:
Hebrews 11:5-6 NKJV
By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, "AND WAS NOT FOUND, BECAUSE GOD HAD TAKEN HIM"; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Righteousness was accounted to them for their faith! In the Old Testament righteousness came by
faith, in the same way it does in the New Testament. Faith in Jesus. These men did not see Jesus in the flesh, but
saw the promise afar off and believed it.
Hebrews 11:13 NKJV
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
What that verse means is that they saw Jesus as redeemer,
savior in the future and even though they didn’t see Him personally walking the
earth, they believed.
Genesis 15:5-6 NKJV
Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
This verse is speaking of Abraham, but this is why I believe
that Noah found favor in God’s eyes. He
was a righteous man because of his faith and:
2 Peter 2:5 NKJV
and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
He was a preacher of “righteousness” and from what we have
seen righteousness comes from faith. Not
just faith in God, but in faith of the promise of redemption to come. We might even be able to go so far as to say,
“Noah was a preacher of Jesus, in a way.”
We find God’s favor through our faith in Jesus, just as Noah did!
God Preserves the Righteous
Genesis 6:13-14 NKJV
And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.
So, God had decided to destroy all living things through a
flood. He warned Noah, that this would
happen and gave him instructions on how to build the ark. God wanted to rid the
world of the wickedness that existed, but God does not destroy the righteous
with the wicked. We can look ahead and
see this in God’s judgment of Sodom.
Genesis 18:22-23 NKJV
Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. And Abraham came near and said, "Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
God has told Abram (Abraham) that he was going to destroy
Sodom and we can see that Abram asks, “What about the righteous?”
He asks God if there are fifty righteous men will you still
destroy it? God vows to preserve it for
fifty men. Abram counts it down, “What
about forty?” “What about thirty?” “What about ten?” Each time God says he will preserve the city
if that many righteous can be found. Only one man is found that is righteous.
Only Lot:
2 Peter 2:6-8 NKJV
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—
God preserved Noah, because he will not destroy the
righteous with the wicked. Only Noah was
found to be righteous in all the world.
The Flood
God commanded Noah to build an ark. And the Bible says that Noah did all that was
commanded him by God.
Genesis 6:22 NKJV
Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
He prepared for the call of God. Sometimes, we have a calling on our lives,
but we think, “If this is God’s calling, then God will make it happen.” We think we don’t need to do anything and God
will just make sure it comes to pass.
But many times God’s calling requires preparation on our part. We need
to be ready to complete the task that God calls on us to perform. Noah builds the ark following what God told
him to do. God directed his steps, but
Noah had to prepare.
After all that was done, God spoke to Noah again:
Genesis 7:1 NKJV
Then the LORD said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.
God calls him into the ark in order to preserve him and his
family. Noah’s sons participated in the
construction of the ark, demonstrating their faith as well. Here is something
that’s interesting to note: Noah built the ark and prepared for the rain and
flood on the earth. Some commentators
(Jamieson Fausset and Brown) believe that the construction of the ark took one
hundred-twenty years. It was completed
when Moses was 600 years old. His son
Shem was 98 years old. If this is the
case, although the Bible doesn’t specifically tell us how long it took the God
gave mankind 120 years to repent, as Noah preached righteousness to them. God
will always give us space to repent:
Revelation 2:20-21 NKJV
Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.
This is a biblical pattern; God gave Jezebel the opportunity
to repent as he gave the people of Noah’s time the time to repent. Remember Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday, today and forever.
He does not change.
We’ll stop here for today, and we’ll pick up the rest of the
story in the next one.
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