Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Genesis 6:9-22.
These
are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his
generations, and Noah walked with God (Genesis 6:9).
In
Genesis 6:9 there are three descriptions of Noah, the man who “found grace in
the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8):
First,
“Noah was a just (or righteous) man.”
He
was a godly man in an ungodly generation. This will be a hallmark description
of Noah. Twice in the book of the prophet Ezekiel Noah is listed alongside
Daniel and Job as men outstanding for their righteousness (Ezekiel 14:14, 20).
Paul,
in the great faith chapter of Hebrews 11 will write, “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” (v. 7).
How indeed is one made righteous or justified in
God’s sight? It is by faith. As the apostle Paul will put it in Romans 5:1, “Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
It will later be said of Abraham that he believed
in the LORD and it was counted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6). And yet
even before Abraham there was Noah. Not only is he described in Scripture as
being a just man, but he is also described by Peter as “a preacher of
righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5).
Second, Noah was “perfect in his generations.” This did not
mean morally perfect or sinless, because all mankind after Adam born by
ordinary generation has inherited a sin nature from him and committed actual
transgressions. The KJV offers an alternative translation for the word “perfect”
as “upright.” What this tells us is that though Noah had remaining corruption
within, he was yet the most upright man of his generation.
Third, “Noah walked with God." This recalls the
description of godly Enoch (Genesis 5:24). Noah enjoyed a level of deep communion and
fellowship with his Creator. He was a spiritually minded man, a man who was not
a spiritual hypocrite, but one who intimately knew the LORD.
It was this man whom the LORD set apart to build
the ark, to save a remnant, to accomplish a life-preserving mission, “to keep
them alive” (Genesis 6:20).
Noah was the greatest man of his day, but he was
still a fallen man.
In the fullness of time, there came one greater
than Noah, the Lord Jesus Christ. When he died on the cross Luke tells us there
was a centurion there who when he “saw what was done, he glorified God, saying,
Certainly this was a righteous man” (Luke 23:47).
The apostle Paul said God made him who knew no
sin to be sin for us so that “we might be made the righteousness of God in him”
(2 Corinthians 5:21).
The apostle Peter said that he “once suffered for
sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
This one who is greater than Noah has raised up
an ark in our day that saves men not
only from temporary destruction but from eternal destruction, and you enter
into this ark, which is Christ himself, only by faith in him.
So, let us believe, and let us be saved.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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