"...Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God."

Genesis 6:9

Perhaps the most popular Biblical character of all was Lamech's son Noah. Most people today know very little about Noah outside of the story about the ark and the Biblical flood. However, there is so much more to Noah as his life involved more than one flood, but rather two.

Jesus Himself described Noah as being surrounded by a world flooded with sin and even compared it to the level of sin that would be present again in the world at the time of His Second Coming when He spoke in Matthew 24:37.

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they new nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."

When we consider all of the evil in our world today we can easily imagine why God, in disgust, chose to start over by destroying the old world in a catastrophic flood. The Bible tells us Noah was the only righteous man left in his day and that he remembered the God of creation, perfection, and love.

God's response to that sinful world was a 120-year, last-chance, during which He had Noah build a graphic illustration (Ark) of the message of his life. Nothing like a huge boat on dry land in the middle of the desert to make a point!

For 120 years Noah built onto this enormous boat that measured roughly 450' long x 75' wide x 45' tall. When asked why he was building such an enormous vessel, Noah preached about the rain God was going to send to flood and destroy the Earth in judgment of sin and people laughed at Noah then like people laugh at Christians today who warn about Christ's return in the sky.

For Noah, obedience meant a long-term commitment to a project. Many of us have trouble sticking to any project, regardless of whether it's directed by God. It is important to note that the tenure of Noah's obedience, 120 years, was longer than the life spans of people today. The only comparable long-term project we can compare to is our life-long commitment to God. This is one great challenge Noah's life gives us - to live in acceptance of Gods grace, and in an entire lifetime of obedience and gratitude.