And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the Earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the Earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.” (Genesis 6:13-14)

Noah Believed In The Grace Of God

The early days of the Earth did not produce a righteous nation of people. Following the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, men grew worse and worse in their desire to please themselves through the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and the lust of the eye. Nothing was held back. Filling themselves with every kind of unrighteousness, the world exploded with evil, causing God to decide something had to be done. It grieved the heart of the Creator to see how His creation had turned their back on His love, mercy, and grace. As the Lord gazed upon the hearts of men, He found few that were righteous. Noah was such a man the Lord saw favor and grace.

Living in such a corrupt world would seem impossible, but Noah and his family were determined to serve the Lord with all their hearts. Raising three young boys in such an environment would have been a monumental effort. Noah and his wife instilled in Ham, Shem, and Japheth a love for God. The influence of Noah reached to the women who married his sons. The family of Noah was the only island of holiness in a world filled with the flood of wickedness. As a light shining in a dark place, Noah’s family stood firm for God and His word. The Lord looked upon the Earth and saw the evil that had taken the hearts of men. He decided to kill everyone on Earth except the family of Noah. They found grace in His eyes.

Grace is only found in the mind of God. Gazing upon a wicked world, the Lord decided He would destroy everyone. Noah was unaware of the mind of God. He had no way of knowing the plan of God and the reason the Lord would destroy the world. Noah served the Lord in faithfulness without the knowledge of the coming destruction. Grace is first served when God comes to Noah and tells him of the imminent destruction. It must have been a blow to Noah to consider the number of people that were going to die at the hand of the Lord. Trying to understand a global flood was beyond his comprehension. God’s grace was without definition in the mind of Noah as he viewed the word of God. The world faced extinction and destruction.

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God comes to Noah to tell him something he could not know apart from divine revelation. The kindness of God warned Noah of the impending doom, and then grace told Noah what to do to be saved. After God tells Noah what He plans to do, Noah may have wondered how he would save himself and his family. Would they move to the tallest mountain in the world and hope for the best? How could Noah survive the great flood that would kill all mankind? Noah had no answers. God’s grace had the answer.

Telling Noah what was coming did not save him and his family. God’s grace demanded a plan of salvation. Grace is of no value if there is no means of redemption. Noah was told to build an ark and construct it in a specific way. God’s grace gives Noah the plan to save himself and his family, but Noah is still not saved. Believing God will destroy the world and accepting that building an ark could save him is now how the grace of God could save Noah and his family. The grace of God must be obeyed. Moved with godly fear, Noah prepared an ark for the saving of his household. Grace alone did not and could not save Noah. It was within the power of God to build the ark for Noah, but that was not the will of God. Noah had to build the ark, which must be constructed precisely as God instructed.

Noah believed in the word of the Lord and built the ark exactly as determined by the will of God. When the flood came and destroyed all whose nostrils were the breath of the spirit of life, Noah was in the ark as God commanded, along with his family. Grace saved Noah, and obedience to the word of God saved Noah. Without the grace of God, Noah and his family would have perished in the flood. If Noah refused to build the ark, he would have doomed his family to perdition. Grace and works saved Noah. He believed the word of God and obeyed His command. God’s grace has determined the world’s fate again, and the Lord has given instructions on what a man must do to be saved. When men reject the will of the Father, they reject the only ark that will save them. Obeying the word of the Lord will put a man in Christ, where the grace, mercy, and love of God are found. No obedience means no salvation. Thank God for His grace. Are you doing His will?