God was very specific here, and again, God is instructing Noah to build a floating box or chest, providing him the length, width, and height; to build a window, to build a door. But what is missing from these instructions that was given to Noah? There is no rudder and there are no means of propulsion. Boats and ships are built to navigate the waters, to transport people or something from Point A to Point B. The ark did not have the ability to do this because it had no way to determine where it would go. Why? Because the ark was not designed to go anywhere. In fact, once the earth was flooded there was no place for it to go. Its only purpose was to stay afloat and keep its occupants alive. God was the navigator of the ark. Noah did not know what was happening on the outside of the ark at all. They could not see outside.
It is clear that Noah was made motivated by a deep and abiding respect for God and took the warning of God of this impending crisis very seriously. We know that Noah walked with God. And it is interesting to me that in these scriptures about Noah, Noah does not talk to God like Abraham and Moses did. If you will notice, Noah is only listening to what God has to say and he obeyed. He obeyed everything that God told him to do no matter how difficult it would be. There is no evidence at all that his faith in God ever wavered; and he accomplished a significant undertaking which consumed approximately 120 years. There is no implication of any hesitation of obedience to God on Noah's part.
After God's first set of instructions He gave him, Genesis 6:22 says, "Noah did everything just as God commanded him." And then in Genesis 7:5, it also says, "And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him." And he did not do just that. In II Peter 2:5, it says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. So during that 120 years, as he was building this enormous construction, he was preaching, he was warning people, and I am sure that Noah became very famous as they watched this huge vessel being constructed. And for what reason? And so I am sure that he had, probably, every day an opportunity to warn the people that they need to repent because there was an approaching doom.
Now, these were two very special men and I do not think it is a coincidence that they are linked here, and I want to just go over just a few parallels between these two men. Both Moses and Noah were saved by an ark. Noah, along with his family and the animals, were saved in this huge, massive vessel and Moses in this miniature basket of a vessel. Noah and his sons carefully coated the massive structure with pitch so no water could seep in and Moses' mother covered the little ark with the pitch and what it calls sludge.
What is interesting about the subject of pitch is that it is covered under the Day of Pentecost. It was a covering. The blood of Jesus Christ's sacrifice is our only means of truly having our sins covered and our hope for eternal life. Noah's only hope was the covering of pitch on the inside and outside to be saved. When our sins are covered, they are completely hidden. It may not be pretty, but since we do sin, we can have a continued life without guilt, which leads into my next point. Both arks were under divine protection. Noah and Moses, their only purpose in these arks was to stay afloat. These vessels, again, had no means of navigation or able to steer. How could a three month old baby steer anyway? And when Noah and his family entered the ark, it says the Lord shut them in. What would you think inside as those waters were rising not knowing what was going on on the outside.
Turn over to Genesis 6, verse 13. In one sense, this sermon is a word study, not completely but partially. And it is always interesting to look at the meanings. There are various meanings that even a single word has in Scripture. The judgment encourages preparation for the coming of Christ. So the idea of judgment spurs us to righteous living. And this preparedness is not simply a matter of intellectual knowledge, but a faithful response to God's grace.
As an act of grace, God warns Noah of a coming judgment and reveals a plan of salvation, that is, the construction of the ark. Noah prepared for the judgment by obedience, literally building his own salvation.
So Noah is being told to do something physical in preparation for what was coming and going to happen to the world.
We should take note of that in our own lives today. That God told Noah to prepare for what he could see was coming and what God told him was coming to the world. We know what is coming to this world and we should take heed to this and be preparing ourselves for what is coming, because we do not know how much of it will have to go through. Hopefully not the Tribulation, but it can get pretty bad before that. So we should take this to heart about preparing. And that is what I mean by judgment because it can encourage people to prepare because knowing there is a coming judgment upon our nation or around the world that we do not want to end up being part of, we should prepare for that.
It takes faith and a lot of it. And we need God's help to be able to grow in faith.
Similarly, prior to the destruction of the firstborn in Egypt, the Lord graciously revealed to Moses the provisions for the Passover. Reminiscent of the description of Noah's obedience, the Israelites are said to have prepared themselves according to the Lord's instructions. They obeyed and were spared.
