Through Faith and By Faith - Hebrews 11

Looking at the achievements of faith from the perspective of persuasion and credence. Part Three - Noah

Author: Randy Pritts

Today's Text:

kjv@Hebrews:11:7 @ 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.

"By faith Noah" v7

Noah is the third exemplary faith that we have studied from the Antedeluvian ages, ages being framed/repaired by the word of God. God speaks, men react. The generation of of Noah is seen by us to be reacting.

It seems to me that so far in these three studies we've know so little about what the faith of these patriarchs actually believed. Our understanding of their faith has almost been defined by what we see the people around them not believing. All we knew about Able was that he made a more excellent sacrifice, though we are not for certain what made it more excellent other than Cain's self exalted reactions. With Enoch, again we know so very little other than whatever his faith was in, it pleased God enough for God to translate him, this in contrast to a world around him that is slipping off the deep end in rebellion to God's word.

Now Noah, we know a bit more of, though not in substance other than it caused him to do something that the Lord had commanded that turned out to be to the saving of his immediate family. This is in contrast to a world that has gone so far as to be so wicked that the Lord is not going to allow it to continue anymore. Remember now that the word of God that they are reacting so wickedly to does not yet contain the Covenant of Abraham, Law of Moses, the Levitical Priest Hood etc.. This is simply their vile reaction to God being God, God having removed/kept them from the Garden and added toil/thorns and pain, God having castigated Cain and translated Enoch, God having given a cryptic prophecy and atonement pointing to a future messiah; that's all of the framing word that they really know. The rest we suppose God has left in the hands of mens' innate moral conscience, which sad to say while detached from God goes into steep decline very fast (within the first and second generation leading to a dramatic event here in generation 10).

We have already begun to wonder whether it is what these saints did in that time that makes them stand out (if it is then we don't really know what it is they did) or more about what they believed (which by context we can intelligently guess at) that made them exemplary and pleasing to God and righteous. There is a third possibility, at least accounting towards righteousness: each of the three is in the lineage leading to Christ Jesus; righteousness in this case may have to do with blood line or the purity of blood leading to Jesus.

"...being warned of God of things not seen..." v7

A framing word is being added to God's word in the tenth generation that will cause men to react either in negative of positive ways.

"And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years". kjv@Genesis:6:3

The word of God was now saying that 120 years from this date the Antediluvian age of man will be put to a sudden end. Why? "Genesis:6:5 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. 6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 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".

We know of course how every man and women living then reacted; don't we? All except for one. "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD" kjv@Genesis:6:8 .

kjv@Genesis:6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

It is interesting to note that God (who knows all things past/present/future) could have ended all flesh day one after the fall. He wouldn't have had to been burdened with this entire matter, unless, by doing so HE could make something very important to know known to us. What could be made known that would be so important? Well, for one, the heart of man and the degeneration that comes upon the innate moral conscience when it is detached from God by the self exalting will. Second, that HE has not and will not give up on man and has promised man a worthy seed called Redeemer. This may now look like the end for a great many rebellious but granted time hearts, but there is no end for the great many whom God has called to be conformed to Christ's Holy Image.

We see how the people of that age react as Noah and family build that Ark. They put old Noah to a great deal of ridicule and shame. I imagine that these converts that our author is trying to draw together and build up have tasted a similar vile taste of ridicule for their new beliefs as well. Is the ridicule of ungodly sinners reason to turn back round? Is the shaming of so called religious and high priest enough to put down the hammers and stop building this ark? The faith of Noah you see endured everyone of the sticks and stones and names perhaps more than sixty years until the vessel built was pitched and stocked and the first rain drops began to fall. Harder yet are the sticks and stones when they are thrown at your wife and sons and their wives because of your faith, because of their trust in your faith, the wavering faith that even you sense at times because of this in your own.

God's word frames the ages, men react, very few men react right. Perhaps it should be said that no man reacts well unless he/she has found grace in God's eye.

"...by the which he condemned the world..." v7

Here is an interesting thought - in this part of the sentence is "he" God or Noah that is preforming the of condemning on the world? Is it God by HIS word that is doing the condemning? Is it Noah by being obediently faithful to the command given to build and Ark? The idea of this will come up again in the New Testament when Jesus says to the Scribes and Pharasees: "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust" kjv@John:5:45.

Let me explain it like this: how can a man be guilty of failing at what is impossible to achieve? The man could tell the judge that he is being unreasonable, you're condemning me for something nobody else is able to do, condemn me and you have to condemn everyone else for failing this as well. Well Noah didn't fail at this. He did what the others for rebellion to the word of God failed to achieve. Here it was not impossible for them to achieve this, it's just that they did not want to achieve it, in fact attempted to hinder and slander Noah in achieving. Yes, it is God doing the judging but, the grounds for condemnation proceed from what the faith of Noah in obedience was able to achieve. In a certain sense, the act of "saving his house" was the enabling thing that brought the final sure destruction upon theirs.

Here in the Greek the word "world" is a different word being used, not "ages" as before, but "kosmos" - orderly arrangement that is decoration. At the end of one age, the framing word of God remains in tact and continues, what is being shifted in the next age is the collective order. This flood represents a major shift in the order, perhaps the greatest shift that any age has had to adjust to, and by appearances this shift really needed to be.

The few descriptions of what the culmination of the Antediluvian Age was macabre and like a freak show. Perhaps it is best that there are few descriptions so not to give the wicked of our age any further ideas. There are a number of theories out there on the internet, we don't know if they are right or wrong, but they range from cross species breeding to genetic manipulation and beyond. All we really know for sure was that the people of that age were wicked in ways that only the final Tribulation generations on Earth will understand. How will this final and other ages leading up to it proceed to be condemned? Will there be more men and women like Noah faithful through it all, obedient to the end?

Noah could be said to be a shadow type painting a picture of Jesus. Jesus built for us a steady rock. This time when the waves come crashing all around, where the the sand collapse under foot and washes away, the rock holds firm. The Flood is also a shadow type picturing a version of baptism. One faithfully builds from the blue prints of God the vehicle battle worthy to the saving of his household, places his fate into God's hands, is sealed away in the water tight graces of God through flood and storm, comes out the other side in a bold and fresh, washed and clean new age. There is just so much rich visual imagery in Noah's story to pickup on.

"became heir of the righteousness which is by faith" v7

Let's not think to say that Noah had been programmed by God to achieve all this. Noah was not God's robot, God sought to employ Noah's faith. But, that is how a good many people think of this. They'll think that leaders are born leaders, that it is in their DNA, that I could not achieve that because I have not been made that way, I am not a leader nor an achiever. How then could it be be said "righteousness which is by faith"?

Now this doesn't mean that we should clap and applaud that Noah had figured all this righteousness business out and did what the righteousness business told as best his human mind could see. It is God that should be applauded for designing the craft, creating the lite weight and workable gopher-wood, the hay and straw and fruit and wheat, to name but a few of HIS righteously given and contributing things. How about the physics of water displacement? How about a round of applause to God for that? Noah simply believed in God Jehovah, believed in what Jehovah had said, believed God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (just like the author here has already said).

Our relationship to Christ is much the same. Yea for us believing, but super yea for Jesus giving us something far beyond our own making in which to believe. What He has done and who HE is has given me something most substantial and obvious and easy for me to believe. To tell you the truth, it is a whole lot more exhausting work trying to not believe and avoid it at this point. In fact the thing that non-believers are describing in us as blind faith is rather them being blind to all the meaty substance the framing word of our Lord Jesus brings to the table. It is the substance found in the person and work of Christ Jesus and His righteousness to which we respond and believe. I'll say it again: Yea for us believing, but super yea for Jesus giving us something far beyond our own making in which to believe.

And so be it said that we too are "heirs" of this righteousness. Heir means to inherit it from another. The righteousness was not originally ours, it was someone's that had bequeathed it. The testator of it died and therefore we have received it. In this case the Testator again lives, we take it with us to wherever He calls. Noah did not innately have this righteousness, as it is said he "became heir" of it.

There is so much more to say about Noah. For the first time in this chapter long exercise we will run out of time before we run out of available information. What matters most is how we each process this information already considered. The author of Hebrews would want us to consider it in the context of spiritual growth (the meat of the word) and toward the resolve and endurance of faith even during its' persecution.

And I would add that this much needed growth and endurance under persecution plays out in different ways during different ages. The same framing word, a variety in the temperament of negative reactions among those many ages. For some it comes more head on and in your face oppressive. For others it presents itself more subtle and more well hidden. Today I feel the age has made a sudden shift, like within the past 20-30 years, the milder age we elders of the age once knew we now know is not coming back. Once again we will have to be reminded the words of this Hebrew author to drawn near, hold fast, consider/provoke (perhaps in bolder/more courageous ways then the previous age once called for) to love one another and to good (even better) works.

Comment Board: ThroughFaithAndByFaith03

Tags: Faith, Antediluvian Age, Noah, Flood, Wickedness, ,

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