Noah, A Man of God

Genesis 6:5-13 ESV

 

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart…

 

“Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’”

 

So, God Called Noah

 

So, God called Noah to do something unusual. He called him to build a humongous boat (an ark), for God planned to flood the earth to destroy all flesh. Everything that was on the earth was to die. But God’s plan for the ark was to save Noah and his family and two of every living thing of all flesh (male and female).

 

When the ark was completed, the Lord told Noah to go into the ark with his family and with the earth creatures the Lord had designated for him to take into the ark with him. For the Lord planned to send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights. And every living thing that God had made he planned to blot out from the face of the ground. And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

 

The waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. Then God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. When the ground was dry, God told Noah to go out from the ark with his family and with all the living creatures which he had taken into the ark with him. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and made an offering to the Lord on the altar.

 

“And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.’

 

“And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth’” (Genesis 8:21-9:1).

 

Matthew 24:37-39 ESV

 

“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

 

Parallels to these Last Days

 

What God did in the days of Noah he promised he would never do again. He will never again destroy the earth and most all living creatures who are living on the earth with flood waters. Yet, there are biblical parallels between the days of Noah, and what God did then, and the days we are living in now, and what God has planned to do in these last days.

 

The wickedness of human beings is now great on the earth. The intentions of many hearts are only evil continually. Many people are corrupt and violence is great, and many people are deceived and are deceiving, and many liars are manipulating people’s minds to get them to follow them blindly.

 

And I am not speaking only of those who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but I am speaking of many who confess Jesus Christ as Lord with their lips but whose hearts are far from God, because they are continuing to make sin their practice and to not practice righteousness.

 

Many professers of faith in Jesus Christ do not genuinely believe in Jesus to be Lord (owner-master) and Savior (from bondage to sin). For they have not submitted to him as Lord, they are continuing to make sin their practice, and they do not believe God requires them to obey him, nor do they care.

 

So, it seems as though a large number of those professing faith in Jesus, at least here in America, are not much different in practice than the people who make no profession of faith in him. For, they do pretty much all the same things, watch all the same trash, play the same wicked games, and/or they live for themselves to please their flesh and not for God to please him.

 

And God is going to pass judgment on us all, for he is going to judge us by our works (our deeds). If we are living to please our flesh, and not God, and if we are making sin our practice, and not righteousness, and if we are not walking in obedience to our Lord, because we believe it is not required of us, then we will not inherit eternal life with God (Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8).

 

Hebrews 11:7 ESV

 

“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.”

 

So, God is calling out his “Noahs” of today who will do what he says, even if it is unusual or weird to some or most people, especially weird with regard to today’s “Christian culture.” He is not calling us to build a physical ark to save his people, though, but he is calling us to build a spiritual ark of sorts.

 

And what I mean by that is that we live in very troubled times similar to the days of Noah when God declared judgment on the earth. And, although he will not destroy the earth or the people of the earth with water, he is going to destroy the earth and the people of the earth with fire.

 

But many people today are buying into the lies of very clever and charming people who are telling them that God will not judge them, that they can live however they want, that they will not have to suffer, that only good things will happen to them, and that heaven is their destiny no matter what.

 

So, like in the days of Noah, they aren’t prepared for the Lord’s return. They aren’t prepared to face judgment, and so they will die in their sins. So, the Lord is calling his messengers of today to speak the truth in love to the people to let them know what is coming and to call them to repentance.

 

And what we are doing in obedience to our Lord is for the salvation of people’s lives from the fires of hell so that they can be delivered from their slavery to sin, so they can live as slaves of righteousness on this earth, and so that they will inherit eternal life with God if they remain in Him.

 

I can imagine that Noah must have met with much opposition and mocking and slanderous remarks when he was obeying the Lord in building that ark. And we will be treated and are being treated in like manner when we obey the Lord and we speak his words to the people so they will be saved.

 

But we must persevere in our walks of faith and in what God has called us to do for it means the salvation of lives, even if people think we are crazy or whatever else they may think about us that may not be true. For, we can’t be concerned about what people think about us.

 

And we must keep pressing forward in the strength of the Lord, like Noah, for one day we will see the fruit of that obedience if we keep pressing on and we don’t give up.

 

Here I Am, Lord

 

By Daniel L. Schutte

 

I, the Lord of snow and rain,

I have borne my people’s pain.

I have wept for love of them –

They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone,

Give them hearts for love alone.

I will speak my word to them.

Whom shall I send?

 

Here I am, Lord

Is it I, Lord?

I have heard You calling in the night

I will go, Lord

If You lead me

I will hold Your people in my heart

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t6mz8yoocY

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