"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."
Hebrews 11:7

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."
Genesis 6:5-8

Noah was used by God to preserve the human race when God destroyed the earth with a flood. He was the son of Lamech (Gen. 5:3) and had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Gen. 5:32). He lived to be 950 years old (Gen. 9:29).

When God saw the wickedness of the people on the earth, He decided to destroy the earth with a flood. He looked down and saw one man who feared God and lived in a just manner: Noah. God gave Noah detailed instructions for building an ark to preserve Noah's family and every species of animal (6:14-16). He instructed Noah to take two of every unclean animal and seven of each clean animal aboard the boat.

"Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he."
Gen. 6:22

Noah obeyed God without question, even though the odds seemed to be against him. People at that time had no concept of what rain would be like, since no rain had fallen before that time. They probably ridiculed Noah when he prophesied of the coming Flood and must have mocked him and his family for building a gigantic boat on dry ground.

When the ark was finished, Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives, still taking God at His word, went into the ark with the animals. Seven days later, the rain began to fall (7:10). The water came down in torrents for forty days and nights (7:17), and the ark held firmly as it was tossed about in the water.

After forty days, the rain stopped, and the waters gradually receded. The ark rested on top of Mt. Ararat (8:4). When the water had dried up, God told Noah to leave the ark (8:16). Noah and his family left the boat along with the animals. The first thing Noah did was to build an altar to God (8:20).

God commanded Noah and his sons to have children and replenish the earth with people (9:7). He promised never again to destroy the entire earth with a flood, and he set a rainbow in the sky as a sign of his covenant (9:13-15).

Would you be like Noah and obey God without question? Would you be faithful to Him, even if you were the only one?

Other scriptures mentioning Noah:

• 1 Chr. 1:4
• Is. 54:9
• Ezek. 14:14
• Matt. 24:37-38
• Luke 17:26
• Heb. 11:7
• 1 Pet. 3:20

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