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TOPIC: NOAH | TEXT: GENESIS 6-9 | WEDNESDAY 24TH JANUARY 2024 

MEMORY VERSES: “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (Heb 11:7NIV)

BACKGROUND
As we see in the bible itself, all the things we have in it have been written down to teach us the will of God for us, to show us the benefits of embracing His will and to also warn us of the consequences of rejecting His will (Rom 15:4; 1Cor 10:11). We will do well, therefore, to settle down to learn all that we can from His word and to give heed to what it is saying to us. And among the things it is saying to us is that it is possible for one to start out his journey with God in faith and to then abandon his faith in Him at some point and put his confidence in the flesh. Paul, as we see in our memory verse, shows us that the Galatians started out their Christian journey by relying in faith on the working of the Spirit of God in their lives and among them. But by the time he was writing his letter to them, they had abandoned faith in God and were already seeking to be perfected in their walk with Him through their own effort and energy. And will this work? No! The whole letter of Paul to these brethren was written to show them that confidence in the flesh never works. The only thing that works is faith in God. And faith in Him has to be from start to finish. Otherwise, it is no faith at all.

KING ASA OF JUDAH
Now there is a bible story that illustrates this for us. It is the story of King Asa of Judah. And it clearly shows us how one can start walking with God by faith and yet end that walk in pride, in confidence in his wisdom, riches or influence among men. This story also shows us something of the danger that may be associated with that. And my prayer is that as we consider the story in this study, God will use it to restore us wherever we are missing it and to also establish us firmly in the faith. Amen.

Asa the man of faith
Who, then, was Asa? As we see in the bible, he was the son of King Abijah of Judah that succeeded him on the throne. But our focus in this study is not on his human genealogy but on what he was known for as recorded in the bible. And what was he known for? First, he was known as a man of faith. Look at what is said about him: “And Abijah rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. Asa his son succeeded him as king, and in his days the country was at peace for ten years. Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.” (2Chron 14:1-2NIV) Did you see that? Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord. In other words, Asa pleased God.

Now how do people please God? It is by faith. The word of God says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” And what does it mean to have faith in God? It means to take Him seriously. So, the only reason Asa was able to please God, doing what was right and good in His sight, was that he took Him seriously. Taking God seriously, however, is something that must be proved – it goes beyond words of mouth. What I mean is that if we take God seriously, we will show it by our actions. We will not just be talking it; we will be acting it. Otherwise, whatever form of faith we claim to have in Him does not exist; it is dead, just as James says in his epistle. (Cf. Heb 11:6; James 2:17&26)

Asa took God seriously. And he proved it in the following ways:

In his devotion to purging the land: As we see in the account given in the bible about this man, the moment he became king, he began to purge the land of idolatry and wickedness. Look at some of the things said about him:

“He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to obey his laws and commands. He removed the high places and incense altars in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him.” (2Chron 14:3-6NIV)

“King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. Asa cut the pole down, broke it up and burned it in the Kidron Valley. Although he did not remove the high places from Israel, Asa’s heart was fully committed [to the LORD] all his life. He brought into the temple of God the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.” (2Chro 15:16-18NIV)

Did you see how Asa proved that he took God seriously? He devoted himself to cleansing the land of idolatry. And in doing that, he had to depose his own grandmother from her position as queen mother. If he was, then, willing to depose his own grandmother from her position as queen because of her idolatry, who in the land would he not be willing to deal with for engaging in idolatry? None!

In like manner, if we too take God seriously, we will purge our lives and homes of all forms of ungodliness and impurity. We may not be able to purge our society or country of wickedness, if we do not have some measure of authority. But if we truly take God seriously, wherever we have authority, we will use it to purge the place of wickedness. Eli was condemned by God because he would not use his authority as the leading priest in Israel to remove his children from their positions as priests in the land, even though it was obvious that they had become children of the devil. So, if we claim to take God seriously, He will not only be looking out for our devotion to purity but also to how we handle those that we love that are living in unrighteousness. (Cf. 1Sam 2-3)

In his reliance on God for victory over his enemies: Apart from giving ourselves to living a life of purity and taking a clear stand against evil where we are, if we take God seriously, we will also trust Him for victory in handling our daily trials and challenges. The word of God shows us that there is nothing we can accomplish in life without God. And we have to show that we understand and accept this as our reality in every situation. Otherwise, our so-called faith in God is not real. (Cf. Ps 127:1-2; John 15:5)

Asa demonstrated his confidence in God when he was confronted with a mighty enemy army instead of trusting in his intelligence, strength of his army or righteousness. Look at what is said about that in the bible:

“Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah, equipped with large shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin, armed with small shields and with bows. All these were brave fighting men. Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with a vast army and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. Asa went out to meet him, and they took up battle positions in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you.” The LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the LORD and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder.” (2Chron 14:8-13NIV)

Did you see that Asa actually had brave fighting men? But did he put his trust in them when he was confronted by the armies of the Cushites? No! Instead, he put his trust in God and cried out to Him for help. Also, observe that even though Asa was a man that was devoted to doing what was right in God’s eyes, he did not count on his righteousness or goodness when approaching God for salvation from his enemies. Instead, he considered himself as powerless without God and so humbled himself before Him and asked for His help and intervention. And did God answer him or not? He answered him and crushed his enemies before him.

If we too will learn to call upon God concerning every matter of our lives, realising that there is nothing we can do without His enablement and support, our daily walk will always be that of victory. But if we are relying on our intelligence, strength and bravery, certain people that we know or our righteousness, there is no way failure will not be our portion when and where we least expect it.

Now the bible tells us that God always rewards faith in Him. The bible says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Heb 11:6NIV) Did you see that? God rewards those who take Him seriously and earnestly seek Him. And we see this happen in the case of Asa. Because he took God seriously and sought him wholeheartedly, He rewarded him.

How did God reward Asa? First, it was by giving him rest on every side and throughout the land. Look at what is said about that:

“He built up the fortified cities of Judah, since the land was at peace. No one was at war with him during those years, for the LORD gave him rest.” (2Chron 14:6NIV)

“All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the LORD gave them rest on every side.” (2Chron 15:15NIV)

“There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.” (2Chron 15:19NIV)

Did you see that? God is the giver of rest. So, it is only those that He gives rest to that will have it. And thankfully, He has promised those who come to Him with their burdens and worries rest (Matt 11:28-30). If we will turn to Him, then, for rest in our lives, He will make it ours. Asa and his people sought him wholeheartedly. So, He gave them rest all around them for many years. That means they had nothing to fear and were able to conduct all their affairs in peace. But it all began with one man that was willing to take God seriously and please Him with his life. And we too can expect God to treat us in like manner, if we will take Him seriously. We can expect Him to give us rest from the activities of all the wicked people around us and in our world.

Then God gave Asa and his people prosperity because of his faith in Him. That, of course, was a product of the rest He had given them. It is when people are at rest that they can flourish where they are. If people had to continually look over their shoulders because of the fear of what might happen to them, if people had to run for their lives from town to town or place to place in fear, it would be hard, if not impossible, for them to prosper.

So, the prosperity that Asa and his people had was a function of the peace, God’s peace, that they were enjoying in their land. Look at his own testimony concerning this:

““Let us build up these towns,” he said to Judah, “and put walls around them, with towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the LORD our God; we sought him and he has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.” (2Chro 14:7NIV)

Did you see that? Asa acknowledged to the people that God had given them rest. And what were they supposed to do with those years of rest? They were supposed to use them to build and prosper. And that was exactly what they did. They all gave themselves to building their land and businesses. So, God prospered them.

We too can prosper where we are when God gives us rest. But we also have to be willing to utilise our moments and years of rest to build our lives, our homes, our businesses and our society. Yes, we have to learn to utilise the moments of rest God is giving us to strengthen ourselves in His righteousness and in prosperity. Then we will be ready to utilise what He has given us to do His will, if challenges should at any time arise against us.

Now because people could see that God had given Asa and his people rest and prosperity, they began to move over to his side (2Chro 15:9). This is showing us when we are living as God wants us to live, we cannot be ignored. When we are shining as the light that God has made us, people must surely come to our light. So, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father that is in heaven (Matt 5:16).

Asa the man of the flesh
But then, as I pointed out before, the bible story of Asa does not end with his being a man of faith; rather, it ends with his being a man of the flesh. What I mean is that even though Asa started out in faith, he did not continue his journey to the end in faith. At some point, he turned towards confidence in the flesh and missed God’s help. Look at what is said about it:

“In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah. Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the LORD’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. “Let there be a treaty between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.” (2Chro 16:1-3NIV)

What we do see here? We see the same Asa, who had always been living a life of trust in God, turning to a pagan king for help when King Baasha of Israel came against him with his army. But why? The reason was that he had become really prosperous. And prosperity has ways of making somebody overlook the need for unwavering confidence in God. Becoming influential also has ways of making someone overlook confidence in God. So, we need to continually watch our hearts in order that we will not be misled into replacing confidence in God with confidence in riches, influence or human wisdom.

Asa, on that occasion, felt there was no need to pray to God about someone like Baasha, when he could handle the matter diplomatically. “Why am I wealthy, if I cannot use my wealth to solve this kind of problem,” he must have thought. But who gave him that wealth? It was God. So, it was not his to use as he pleased. We also must always keep this in mind: everything we have has been given to us by God. Therefore, it is not for us to use as we please. And it will be foolish of us to begin to put our confidence in what God has given to us instead of putting it in God who gave it to us.

Well, because Asa, unconsciously abandoned God for a pagan king that had no real power to help him, He sent a word of rebuke to him. And here is it:

“At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.” Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.” (2Chron 16:7-10NIV)

How did God judge Asa’s confidence in the flesh? He judged it as foolishness. And He went on to tell him two consequences of his action. The first is that he would no longer be able to subdue the king of Aram that he went to for help. That means God’s original plan was to hand over the king of Aram to him. But since he went to him for the help he should have sought from God, that would no longer happen

The second consequence of his action was that he would from that moment on lose his peace and rest – he would continue to be at war. God had been responsible for his peace for about twenty-six years after his battle against the Cushites. But since he chose to seek help from man instead of from God, he would no longer be able to enjoy the peace of God.

What is this telling us? It is telling us that we cannot solve our problems by ourselves. We may think we can or that we are actually solving them. But we cannot solve any problem God does not solve for us. And if we attempt to solve any problem without Him, it won’t be long before we realise that we have made a bad situation worse for ourselves, as it was with Asa.

God, as He told Asa, is always looking out for those who hearts are fully committed to Him, so that He may take care of them. That means as long as our hearts are fixed on God for all that we need, we will never lack His enablement, provision and protection.

Now how did Asa receive God’s rebuke and judgment? He received it with anger. This man, who had always been a lover of God, suddenly began to see himself as something, as someone that could do without God’s help. That means pride had entered his heart at the time. So, instead of humbling himself before God and asking Him for mercy and forgiveness, he became insolent and decided to ignore Him totally. That means he felt that God went too far by rebuking him. At least, he had used all his life to serve Him and do His will. Why then would He talk to him like that? Did He really think that he had no brains at all and was unfit to manage the kingdom himself?

So, he went on to oppress the man of God that brought the word of rebuke to him and some other people in the land. And shortly after that, when he got sick in his feet, he would not turn to God or trust Him for his healing. Instead, he again put his confidence in his doctors. So, he died in his sickness and never recovered. What a sad end! (Cf. 2Chro 16:11-14)

What is this showing us? It is showing us that confidence in the flesh never pays – it will only cut us off God’s grace, regardless of how many years we have put into walking with Him and living for Him. But if we are not careful, if we are not continually watching our hearts so that they will never turn away from God, when we find ourselves at ease and in prosperity or in a position in which people are praising us for being so good and righteous, we may unconsciously replace faith in God with faith in ourselves or faith in some men or institutions. And that, of course, will be our undoing. Then we too, like Asa, may end up getting mad at God for no longer recognising our good works and faithful services rendered for Him and turning totally away from Him.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is often easy for those who have nothing and who are nothing to take God seriously in their moments of lowliness and lack. But what will show whether their faith in God is genuine or not? First, how they relate to Him when life becomes easy for them and everyone begins to praise them will show it. Second, how long they keep trusting in Him will show it. Is their trust in Him only for a while or is it from start to finish? It is only those who keep trusting God from start to finish and in all situations, regardless of where they are and what they are, that have true faith in Him and that will enter His eternal rest.

QUESTIONS
– What do you think motivated Asa to give himself fully to God at the beginning of his reign as king over Judah?
– What made it easy for Asa to remain unrepentant after receiving God’s rebuke?

By Johnson O. Lawal

Copyright © 2023 Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07025105978)

One of the things the word of God has made abundantly clear to us is that this world, as we know it, is passing away – it will not be forever. What, then, will be the fate of those in it? It all depends on how seriously they take God and His word. He has already told us that the current heavens and the current earth are reserved for fire. And He has also told us that He is going to establish a new order of things and how we can be a part of it. How we, then, respond to what He says is what will determine whether we eventually become a part of the new order of things He is soon going to establish or not. (Cf. 2Peter 3)

In any case, to show us how important it is for us to take Him seriously, we are given in the bible the story of Noah. And we will do well to learn all that we can from it. In fact, our Lord Jesus, once while teaching the people about what will become of this world at the end, said this: “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:26-27NIV) That means our Lord Jesus took seriously the things said in Scriptures when He was here on earth. It also means Noah was an important historical figure to learn from. He was a real man that lived at a real time and in a real place. He was not a myth or legend. Learning about his life, then, is not a waste of time. Rather, it is something that will be of tremendous help to anyone that takes the lessons of his life seriously and apply them wisely.

NOAH’S BACKGROUND
Now who was Noah? Noah as we are told in the bible was one of the sons of a man called Lamech. Look at how his ancestry is traced for us in the bible:

“When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. And after he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died. When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.” After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died. After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.” (Gen 5:25-32NIV)

From what we see here, Noah was a grandson of Methuselah. Methuselah, of course, is also an important historical figure. But all that is known about him is that he was the oldest man that ever lived – he lived 969 years. And there is every tendency that it was during the flood of Noah’s day that he died, though that is subject to debate.

Well, Methuselah’s first son was Lamech. And this Lamech, different from a descendant of Cain by the same name, was the father of Noah. Now we are told why he named his son Noah. And why was that? It was because he believed God would use him to comfort the world and to heal the ground that had been cursed. And he was right. God did use Noah to comfort and renew the world, as we will later see in this study. So, Noah’s name, which means rest, was prophetic. And he lived up to it.

Then, as we also see in the text, Noah was a married man and with three children. And this is important for us to note because there are people who think the reason they are not pleasing God is that they are married and with kids. Noah was married and with kids. Yet he not only pleased God but also led his family to do the same. If we too will operate with the mindset with which he operated in the vile and corrupt world in which he lived, we will be able to get the kind of results he got in his walk with God and in handling his family.

THE WORLD OF NOAH
Now one of the things that made Noah stand out as a historical figure that is worthy of emulation was his relationship with the world of his days. Look at what the bible says about the world in which this man first lived:

“When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days — and also afterward — when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth — men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air — for I am grieved that I have made them.”” (Gen 6:1-7NIV)

From what is said here, it is clear that the world in which Noah lived was one dominated by evil. It was a world that its evil so filled the heart of God with pain that He told himself that He was going to end it. And why was the world such a bad and dangerous place to live in at that time? It was because the wickedness in men was further strengthened by the undue interaction of certain angels of God with humanity.

Yes, there are bible teachers who think the phrase ‘Sons of God’ does not refer to angels but to the descendants of Seth who went to have sexual relations with descendants of Cain. But to start with, there is only one human race. God did not create two. So, whether we are talking about descendants of Seth or the descendants of Cain, we are talking about human beings. In other words, the descendants of Cain were not less human than the descendants of Seth. That being the case, there was absolutely nothing wrong with any form of marriage among the descendants of these two people. And if there was a marriage between any two of their descendants, the product of it would be a full human being and not monster or a Nephilim, an unusual human being.

So, when the word of God speaks of ‘the sons of God’ in Genesis 6, he is not referring to human beings but to angelic beings. And we see that twice this same phrase is used in the book of Job and it does not refer to human beings there but to heavenly beings (Job 1:6 & 2:1). It was these heavenly beings that had sexual relations with daughters of men and had children through them, thereby polluting the human race.

Now both Peter and Jude speak in their letters of certain angels that sinned and that God imprisoned to await judgment (1Peter 3:18-19; 2Peter 2:4; Jude 6). And we know that they are not referring to Satan and his demons, for these ones are not at the moment being held in any prison. That being the case, we can safely assume that the angels they are referring to are the ones who had sexual relations with humans in the day of Noah.

In any case, even though these unholy sexual relations were not the reason man fell and became wicked, it further enhanced his wickedness. And that was because the people that were born as a result of it were unusual human beings. They were not monsters. But they had features that made them more than men in many ways. That is why the bible says they were heroes, men of renown, men who did things that were beyond what humans could do, men who did things that could make others think of them as gods.

What we are saying, then, is that since man had already fallen and become evil in his heart, empowering him with angelic abilities was bound to make him worse. And that was exactly the situation in Noah’s days. Men were not only filled with evil desires continually, they also had super abilities to carry them out. So, the world of Noah’s days was unsafe for those living in it. Man had totally lost his way, showing that he was no longer capable of realising God’s purpose for creating him. No wonder God had no other choice but to destroy mankind from the face of the earth.

SEPARATE FROM THE WORLD
Yet in the midst of that horrible, corrupt and unsafe world, there was a man that God was able to single out as His own. That man was Noah. And the bible says this of him: “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.” (Gen 6:8-11NIV) Did you see that? Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord. In other words, God was pleased with this man; God was delighted in him. How did that happen? How did he succeed in pleasing God while living in the midst of a crooked and corrupt generation, a generation that was doomed to destruction? It was by faith. While addressing us along this line, the writer of the book of Hebrews says this to us:

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (Heb 11:6-7NIV)

Look at that. Without faith it is impossible to please God. So, the reason Noah was able to please God and find favour in His eyes was that he related to Him by faith. In others words, he believed in God’s existence and in the fact that the power to judge and reward all beings for their works is in His hands. And he demonstrated this faith by living differently in the world.

Noah saw all the evils being done in his day. Yet he did not join the rest of the people of the world in doing them. He did not participate in their immorality and idolatry. He did not get involved in cheating, robbery, swindling, murder and all the other evils going on in his day. Instead, as Peter tells us in his epistle, he preached against it (2Pet 2:5). Why? He believed what God said about the wrongness of the way of life of the men of his time. So, he lived differently. And it was by living differently and preaching against the evil of his day that he won members of his household to the Lord’s side. So, he found favour in His eyes.

If we too have faith in God, if we believe in His existence and take everything He says to us about how to live and please Him seriously, we will live differently in the world and also tell others to do likewise. And look at some of the things He says to us:

“Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2Cor 6:17-18NIV)

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19NIV)

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.” (2Cor 10:3NIV)

From what God says to us in these Scriptures, it is clear that anyone that wants His praise and approval must separate himself from the world, even though he is living in the world. And that is exactly what Noah did. Noah separated himself from the world. We would not know the population of the world at that time. But whatever it was, it is clear that the main battle going on in the world then was between Noah and his household and the world. It was Noah against the world. It was the minority against the majority.

Noah and his household were in the minority and the rest of the world was in the majority. Yet this man stood his ground, even though that must have exposed him and members of his household to some degree of hostility. And in the long run, it was not the majority that carried the day but the minority. It was the minority that condemned the world of his time to destruction (Hebrews 11:7).

So, if you are the only one living differently where you are, it is not a new thing. If you are the only one that will not steal, cheat or be involved in adultery where you are, it is not a new thing. Noah also had to live like that. In fact, in all the world at that time, he and members of his family were the only ones different. Yet they, not those of the world, were the ones that found favour in God’s sight. So, don’t get involved in anything just because many people or everyone in the world is doing it. Instead, do things only on the basis of what God says. Then you will continually experience His favour.

HOW TO BE SAVED
Now because Noah found favour in God’s sight, he was the only one that God spoke to about His plans to wipe humanity out of the face of the earth and the way of escape. Look at what the bible says about that:

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.” (Gen 6:11-14NIV)

Did you see that? The earth was corrupt in God’s sight and full of violence. It may not have been corrupt in the sight of men. But it was corrupt in the sight of God. And it was corrupt enough for God to want to destroy it. But God is a God of justice. So, it is not in His character to destroy the righteous along with the wicked. That was why He spoke to Noah about what He was going to do and what he must do to be saved (Ps 25:14).

Evidently, God was the only one that could save Noah and his family. But Noah also had steps God wanted him to take to receive His salvation. And what must he do? He must build an Ark for himself and those with him. That was what God told him. If he, then, believed God, he must act accordingly. And he did act accordingly, for we are told, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” (Gen 6:22NIV)

What this is telling us is that if want to experience God’s salvation from sin or any kind of problem, we must do whatever He tells us to do. Jesus’ mother once said this to certain people that wanted to be saved from some imminent disgrace: “Do whatever He tells you.” That is the only way to receive whatever we want or need from God. We must do whatever He tells us. (Cf. John 2:5)

Sadly, many who want to be saved from the corruption and destruction of this world think they can save themselves by following their own ideas or methods of doing things. But God has already shown us how to be saved. He has already shown us how to live with Him eternally in all His goodness. He says it is by believing what He says about His Son, Jesus Christ, and acting accordingly. And what does He say about Him? Paul puts it in these few words:

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Rom 10:9-11NIV)

Did you see that? The only way to be saved from this wicked and perverse generation, the only way to be rescued from the coming wrath of God is to accept Jesus as our personal Lord. He became our Lord by paying the price for our redemption from sin and eternal death with His own blood. And unless we receive Him wilfully as our Lord, there is no salvation for us.

We may be doing all kinds of good works, works that God loves and cherishes. But He has not said that our good works can save us or will save us. Rather, He has said that faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, is what will save us. And until we demonstrate faith in His Son, there will be no salvation for us. It is as simple as that.

Now we may argue with God about this and say that it is unfair of Him to tell us that Jesus is the only key to our salvation. It won’t change anything. Noah was a good man. But God did not say that his good works would save him. Instead, He told him to build himself an ark for his salvation and the salvation of those with him. And if he had not built that ark, he would not have been saved, even though he was a good and righteous man.

So, Noah did not just demonstrate his faith in God by separating himself from the corruption of the world of his time, he also demonstrated it by acting on what He told him about his salvation. God had told him that he must build an ark for himself, his family and all the animals and birds to be preserved in order to be saved from the destruction that was coming. And to show that he believed God, he built the ark. That must have cost him a lot of money and time. But he did it. He also had to provide enough food and water to be kept in the ark for as long as they would be inside it, even though he had no idea how long they would stay in the ark. That is how to demonstrate true faith in God. True faith in Him is never passive or dead; rather, it is always active. It always acts on the revelation of the will of God and not something else.

I am showing you these things because there are people who truly believe in the existence of God and have because of this separated themselves from the evil of this world. However, they will still end up perishing, if they will not believe what He says to them about how to be saved from His coming wrath. And those of us who are preaching Jesus must always seek to make this clear to anyone who cares to listen to us. Without faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no salvation from the coming wrath of God.

NOAH THE EVANGELIST
Now the bad news in Noah’s day was that God was going to destroy humans and all the living things with them from the face of the earth. And the good news is that God had prepared a way of salvation for Noah and anyone who would listen to him. That way of salvation was the Ark. But only Noah knew this. Only he had the revelation of what was coming upon the earth. And did he keep it to himself? No!

As we see in the bible, Noah did not keep what God told him about what was coming upon the world to himself. Instead, he went about preaching to those who cared to listen to him to repent and accept God’s plan of salvation for them, starting with his family members. Concerning that, Peter says this: “If he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others…” (2Peter 2:5NIV)

So, Noah actually did the work of an evangelist. He was not selfish about what God had revealed to him. On the contrary, he went around and shared it with others. Unfortunately, only his wife, his children and his daughters-in-law believed him and acted accordingly. Therefore, they were the only ones that were saved with him.

In like manner, we too who know what it means to fear the Lord, who know what is coming on mankind must warn men (2Corinthians 5:11). We need to let them know what God has revealed to us about this world and all that is being done in it and also what He has revealed to us about how to be saved. We must not be selfish about this, for God is counting on us. Instead, we must do whatever God enables us to do to save as many as possible, just as Paul says:

“Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1Cor 9:19-23NIV)

GOD’S WORD WILL COME TO PASS
Well, even though the people of Noah’s day would now believe his message about what was coming upon them, did God’s word come to pass or not? It came to pass, for the bible says:

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month — on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.” (Gen 7:11-16NIV)

Did you see that? What God said came to pass. And whatever He says will come to pass, regardless of how people respond to it. There are those who think what our Lord Jesus says about His return and the judgment of this world is nothing to take seriously. But a day is coming when they will see that heavens and earth may pass away but God’s word will never fail (Matt 24:35).

In fact, our Lord, while talking about His return and the coming judgment, used Noah’s story to drive His point home, saying, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:26-27NIV) Did you see that? The fact that the people of Noah’s day did not believe the message of the Lord he brought to them did not prevent it from coming to pass.
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So, whether people believe that Jesus will return again to take His own people with Him and also judge this world or not, He will surely return again. And it will be business as usual when He returns. There will be nothing to give people any intimation that all that have been prophesied about the end of this world will happen to them that day. They will wake up the way they have been waking up and go about their daily businesses as they have been doing.

But Paul says, “While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” (1Thess 5:3NIV) Therefore, take seriously the word of God that is coming to you about how to live and be ready for the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you will not perish with this world. (Cf. 2Peter 3)

NOAH AFTER THE FLOOD
The bible story of Noah does not end with the worldwide flood but also continues after it. That is because the man and his family survived the flood. God remembered them and brought them out of the ark safely to the dry ground. But surviving the flood is one thing; starting all over again in a new world is another thing. Indeed, these people survived the flood. But the earth was no longer what it used to be when they stepped back on it. All men were gone along with their civilisation. And there was nobody or government to rely on to develop the earth and make it beautiful to stay in. But that did not change the fact that God’s provisions for man’s survival here on earth were still there for Noah and the seven people with him to utilise. (Cf. Gen 8:9-17)

In any case, how did Noah and those that came out of the ark with him face the new earth that they just stepped on? First, they faced it with a heart of thanksgiving to God. The bible says:

“So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds — everything that moves on the earth — came out of the ark, one kind after another. Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”” (Gen 8:18-22NIV)

Did you see that? The first thing Noah did when he, his wife, his children and his sons’ wives came out of the ark safely was not to complain about the empty and messed up state of the earth. Rather, the first thing he did was to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. And that is teaching us something very vital, which is that regardless of the circumstances we are faced with in life, as long as there is breath in us, we should always give thanks to God. Are we giving thanks to Him because of the messed-up situations of our lives? No! Rather, we are giving thanks to Him because of what He is to us, what He has done for us and what He is able to do with those ugly situations of our lives.

Now because Noah offered thanksgiving sacrifices to God when he came out of the ark, God was pleased and moved to release words of blessings on the earth. God said that He would no longer curse the ground again because of man. That means man could now cultivate the ground and expect it to bring forth abundant crops and fruit for him and not thorns and thistles (Gen 3:17-19). Also, He said that He would no longer destroy all living creatures with flood waters again, all because Noah gave Him thanks for the salvation he and his household had received.

And remember that when Noah was born, his father called him that name because he sensed in his spirit that God would use him to comfort the earth. His actual words were: “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.” (Gen 5:29NIV) And about six hundred years later this prophecy was fulfilled. How? Through the thanksgiving of Noah. If we too will learn to wholeheartedly give thanks to God for all that He is doing in our lives, we will witness a fulfilment of all His good promises to us, even the aged long ones.

Then, apart from removing the curse that God had placed on the ground, as new representatives of humanity, God also blessed Noah and his household, so that they would be fruitful here on earth, just as He had blessed Adam and Eve in the beginning (Gen 9:1-3). And everything we now see and enjoy here on earth is as a result of God’s blessings of fruitfulness given to Noah and his household. So, if we will learn to give thanks to God, even if what our ancestors had on their heads were curses, God’s blessings will overrule them in our lives and set our feet in the path of prosperity and fruitfulness.

By the way, those of us who are believers in Christ Jesus have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in the Lord (Eph 1:3). So, it is not our giving of thanks that will cause God to bless us – He has already blessed us because of our faith in the Lord Jesus. However, if these blessings will fully find expression in our lives, we must be full of thanksgiving to God all the time.

Now it is one thing for us to be inheritors of the blessings of God. It is another thing to put these blessings to work. I already said one way to cause God’s blessings to find expression in our lives is to continually acknowledge them with thanksgiving. Another to make them work is to pray for their manifestation in our lives. But that is not enough. We must also put our hands to some legitimate labour. Otherwise, there are blessings of God in our lives that will have no way to express themselves.

God indeed blessed Noah and his household after the flood. He proclaimed the blessings of fruitfulness and prosperity on them. He also blessed the ground because of them. But if they would not use their heads to think and also their hands to work and begin to rebuild and develop the earth, the blessings they have received will not find expression. God’s blessings are spiritual. But we can make them tangible by putting our minds and our hands to work. And that was what Noah and his children did after the flood.

Yes, these people met the earth empty of people, development and order. But because they knew that God had blessed them to conquer and develop it, they set to work immediately and began to build and develop it. For example, we are told this about Noah, the new head of the human race at that time:

“Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.” (Gen 9:20-23NIV)

What did Noah do after the flood? He planted a vineyard. This man was already a little above six hundred years old at the time. Yet he did not give up on life or take the lazy way out. Instead, he got busy and went into the most reasonable job anyone would go into at the time, farming. And in the process, he planted a vineyard and even proceeded to make some wine from the fruit of his vineyard. That was a progressive man. Yes, this man got drunk the first time he drank some of the wine he had made. But that was an accident and couldn’t change the fact that this man was progressive and not static.

We too must be progressive in life and not static. Yes, we may be faced with circumstances that can be seen as a setback. But we must always remember that we are carriers of God’s blessings. Therefore, if we will put our minds and hands to work, His blessings will flow through us to those circumstances and we will soon enough begin to have milk, honey and sweet wine to take.

CONCLUSION
The bible story of Noah is replete with all kinds of wonderful lessons for God’s people to learn about how to live in this world and be free from its corruption and at the same time be fruitful and productive. And we will do well to pay attention to these lessons and also meditate on them, so that we can act on them.

QUESTIONS
– What are the main lessons from the life of Noah before the flood?
– What are the main lessons from the life of Noah after the flood?

By Johnson O. Lawal

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