Hebrews 11:7

By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

By faith Noah, these words introduced the man who built the ark (Genesis 5 through Genesis 10). Noah was in the tenth generation from Adam, descending from Seth through his father Lamech. His name means "rest"; and the scriptures give a favorable account of his life, bearing witness that he was just and upright, and that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God revealed to Noah his purpose of destroying mankind, except for a remnant, and gave detailed instructions for the building of the ark and the preservation of Noah and his family, along with specimens of lower orders of life in the animal kingdom. The faith of Noah was truly great in his acceptance of God's word "concerning things not seen as yet." It was a new and utterly different thing that God would do in the flood, no precedent for such a thing ever having been heard of; because, up to that time, no rain at all, much less a flood, had ever fallen upon the earth, all vegetable life being watered by a mist rising from the ground (Genesis 2:5,6).

Moved with godly fear indicates that part of Noah's motivation was fear; and because it is called here "godly fear," the validity of that type of response to God's word is indicated. All human motivation classifies, generally, under three headings of love, hope of reward, and fear; and, significantly, ALL THREE are summoned in the sacred scriptures to urge and persuade people to obey the Lord. True, the apostles spoke of perfect love casting out fear (1 John 4:18), but "godly fear," as in this verse is a totally different thing. Man's first duty is to fear God (Ecclesiastes 12:13); and Christ taught the same thing, saying, "But I will warn you whom ye shall fear: fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him" (Luke 12:5). Precious and wonderful as motivation through love alone must be, man also needs his love reinforced and buttressed by the powerful collateral motives of hope and fear. Man's concept of love can never be more than fragmentary, anyway; and his love of God should be expanded to include the vision of a God who is angry with the wicked every day (Psalms 7:11), whose wrath is revealed from heaven "against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men" (Romans 1:18), and who will "by no means clear the guilty"! (Exodus 34:7).

Noah prepared an ark ... This shows that Noah was not saved by faith alone, but that he worked out his own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). Saved "by faith" is Biblical and true; "saved by faith alone" is anti-Biblical and untrue.

To the saving of his house focuses attention on the family saved with Noah in the ark, including Shem, Ham and Japheth, and their respective wives, along with Noah and his wife, making eight souls in all.

Through which he condemned the world ... Noah condemned the world preaching the truth to an unbelieving generation; for the truth will either save or condemn them that hear it, the same being true of the gospel itself. Paul called attention to this thus,

For we are a sweet savor of Christ unto God, in them that are saved, and in them that perish; to the one a savor from death unto death; to the other a savor from life unto life (2 Corinthians 2:15,16).

Noah's condemnation of the world, therefore, was no presumptuous usurpation of the prerogatives of judgment upon his contemporaries, no heartless denunciation of wretched and sinful men; but it was the result of his preaching a true message which they scornfully rejected (2 Peter 2:5).

And became the heir of the righteousness which is according to faith means that even godly Noah was not sufficiently good to be saved by his own works or merit. His faithful obedience pleased God who made him an heir of the righteousness yet to be revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ who, in the fullness of time, would appear and indeed fulfill all righteousness." Noah was the very first man in the Bible to be designated "righteous"; and even then, it was not a righteousness from within himself but from above. As Westcott noted,

The righteousness was something which came to him as having its source without, and yet according to a certain law. It was his by an unquestionable right: it corresponded with the position of a son; and this position Noah showed by his conduct to be his.[15]

NOAH'S SALVATION; A TYPE OF OUR SALVATION

It is not proper to leave this study of the patriarch Noah without exploring a most remarkable reference to him in the New Testament, as follows:

When the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is eight souls were saved through water: which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Christ (1 Peter 3:20,21).

(See article, "Concerning the Conscience" under Hebrews 9:14.) In this place the object of study is to discern the type and the antitype, Noah and his salvation being the type, and the redemption of Christians being the antitype: (1) Noah and his family were delivered from an old world to a new one; in the antitype, Christians are delivered out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God's love (Colossians 1:12). (2) In both cases, the deliverance must be seen as contingent upon the faith and obedience of them that were saved. (3) Noah's salvation was accomplished "through water," a reference to the fact that it was the water that bore up the ark and made it safe. The Christian's salvation is also "through water" in that the new birth includes baptism in water. (4) The same water that saved Noah and his house destroyed the disobedient world without the ark, thus fulfilling another Biblical analogy. The same Red Sea which delivered the children of Israel overwhelmed the Egyptians with destruction. Moreover, the great commission (Mark 16:15,16) makes baptism to be the line of demarcation between the saved and the unsaved. (5) It was Noah's "water" experience that passed him from an old way of life to a new one; and, in the antitype, the Christian's "water" experience (baptism) moves him from the old ways into "newness of life" (Romans 6:4). (6) After passing through the flood, Noah lived under a new covenant, that of the rainbow (Genesis 9:13). In the antitype, Christians, after their baptism, live under the new covenant. (7) After the flood, Noah built the first recorded altar (Genesis 8:20) and worshipped God; this corresponds to the Christians' worshipping in a new way after their baptism. (8) Although delivered to a new world with all its privileges, Noah and his family were yet on probation, as certain of their sins quickly demonstrated; similarly, Christians, though redeemed through God's unspeakable gift, are nevertheless still in the days of their probation.

THE ARK OF SAFETY

The church is often called the "ark of safety," and a number of analogies support such a comparison: (1) Both were built according to specifications provided by God himself. (2) God closed and opened the door of the ark; and God alone opens or closes the door of his church, there being only one in each case (Revelation 3:7). (3) Both clean and unclean were in the ark; and alas, both wheat and tares grow in the same field (Matthew 13:26). (4) Safety was in the ark alone; and so it is with the church. (5) The faithful within the ark were delivered from the ruin of the ancient world; the faithful within the church shall be delivered from the final destruction of the world. (6) The ark had one window, one source of light; the church has one source of spiritual illumination, the word of God only. (7) God providentially guided the ark to its destination; and, in the great antitype, the church is providentially guided in the same way, as promised by Christ who promised to be with his disciples "always, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:18-20).