⁷ By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Of all those who lived before the flood, only three were commended, the last being Noah. While we know little of Abel and Enoch, much is revealed about Noah. God warned him of a coming worldwide flood and told Noah to prepare a large boat to save his family. We don’t know how God revealed this to Noah, whether through a dream, an apparition, or what, but Noah got the message and he believed it. By any calculation his faith was great on a number of counts.

First, he believed in the existence of God, whom he could not tangibly see. Second, he “reverenced God” (NASB; “in holy/godly fear” NIV/NKJV). This translates a Greek word from the same root word used to describe Jesus, who in His passionate prayer to His Father, “was heard because of His piety” (Heb 5:7). Thus it was with faith like that of the Lord Jesus that Noah built the ark. Third, Noah had little to nothing in his past life experience to rely on (at least from the written record) in determining whether it was reasonable to believe there could be a flood of that magnitude coming. Fourth, the time to build the ark, according to some commentators could have been upwards of 100 years (see Gen 5:32, 7:11), so his faith wasn’t a momentary, temporary faith, but one that endured considerable time, before he saw the flood with his own eyes.

Finally, Noah believed that this God in whom he believed was morally righteous; one might even say that Noah believed Him to be the Moral Law Giver. He apparently believed God had the moral right and prerogative to bring judgment on the earth. The Lord’s message to Noah was this, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth” (Gen 6:13).

In Noah, we find the first instance of faith being connected with righteousness. “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord … Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time…” (Gen 6:8–9a). He “walked with God,” the same as Enoch (Gen 6:9b, 5:22). Our passage today notes that he became an “heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” So we see that long before Abraham or Moses, men were justified by faith and not by keeping the law. This is a universal theme of God. Noah’s faith was real, not just words. It “worked,” as James would put it. It was a faith that produced righteousness!

Lord, like Noah, I believe in You and desire to obey Your Word for me in life. Help me have a faith like Noah’s.