Saving faith throughout the Bible is never vague but is always an accurate response to God’s revelation of himself (Genesis 22:1-2; cf. Hebrews 11:17-19). Noah’s faith illustrates in the fact that, after being warned by God that a great flood would be coming, he made practical preparations for something he had “not yet seen.” But what motivated Noah to build the Ark? It was his “reverent fear” of God. Noah obeyed God not only because he knew God in a personal way but also because his faith was acting on His word no matter how foolish it may have seemed to the world around him.
The “things not yet seen” also bring out a dynamic of the Christian life in that we “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). The believer’s righteousness reflected in the world is testifying and witnessing to those unseen realities that are coming. As Christians, we should seek to live our lives in light of a coming judgment and a new heaven and earth. Condemned the world; it is the essence of sanity to take what God says seriously, whereas it is the insanity of sin to reject the Word of God. The account of Noah teaches us the reality of alienation from the world and the scoffing that will come for those who side with God (2 Peter 3:3-6).
The account of Noah also demonstrates both judgment and salvation for people alive today. God is a righteous judge who must punish sin, but most wonderfully, He is a God who has provided a way of escape from His judgment. He did this for Noah by way of the Ark. Today, however, Jesus Christ is God’s way of escape from His judgment; He is the “ark” of our salvation, the door by which humankind must enter in to be saved and the only one who can give us rest in a cursed world (Matthew 11:28-29). The Flood is a horrifying account of judgment but also one of glorifying redemption. Our lives will be characterized by either one of these. Either we will trust in Jesus and be redeemed, or we will face the judgment of God for our sin (Romans 3:21-26; Acts 17:31).
Those who are saved are seated with Him, trusting that the saving faith sustains us and influences others to believe in the one true living God.
Heir of the Righteousness Noah, and every other heir of righteousness, is so only by having been made one with Christ, the sole heir (Galatians 3:29). Because faith takes us into Christ, who is the heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2), we can only (Answersingenesis, 2019)inherit that righteousness by being united with Him. Think of what it took for Noah to be righteous in his generation. He constructed an ark for the saving of his household, and for years he endured a world consumed with wickedness, which required complete faith in God’s faithfulness because he knew God was going to destroy the world.
Therefore, we also, since so great a cloud of witnesses surrounds us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith. For the joy that set before Christ endured the cross, despising the shame, and has set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).
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