Hebrews 11:7 says that “7 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.”
We know quite a bit of Noah from Genesis 6-9 but we have a few references in the New Testament and among them is this quote from Hebrews 11:7. Another New Testament reference to Noah from 2 Peter 2:5 says that God, “5 did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly…”
Let’s consider two aspects of Noah’s faithful service to the Lord.
First, when Noah was told by God to build an ark, he obeyed God despite the scoffing of others around him. Hebrews 11:7 says that Noah “in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.” There was not such an enormous flood before or since the great flood that God sent upon the world of Noah’s time. It was unprecedented and this fact added to the people around Noah probably remarking, “What are you doing building such a huge boat? Are you crazy?” Despite the skeptical remarks and disparaging attitudes of those around, Noah feared the LORD, and in union with his reverence and worship of God, did what God told him to do. His fear of God outweighed his fear of man!
Second, according to 2 Peter 2:5, Noah was engaged in heralding or speaking about the righteous judgement of God coming upon the world. The phrase that Noah was “a herald of righteousness” is the clue that he did more than just build an ark in obedience to God but also warned others of the coming flood. The word “herald” in the original Greek language of the New Testament means a public messenger, one who proclaims, or a preacher. In Genesis 6:5,6 we hear of the sinful depravity prior to the flood which brought on God’s judgment on humanity,
“5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
This became the substance of Noah’s message that the wickedness of man was great, and that God was sending a flood on the earth. Safety would only be found in the ark that Noah was building according to the command of God. Hebrews 11:7 reminds us of the truth that by Noah’s building of the ark, he condemned the world because of their unrighteousness and their unwillingness to take refuge in God’s provision of safety. In faithful obedience to the LORD, Noah and his family built the ark and sought refuge inside.
Noah was faithful believer from the Old Testament who trusted in the LORD. His faith was evident in the building of the ark, in his warning to the people of his day of the coming judgement of the flood, and finally in his entering the ark as directed by God for refuge.
