But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:8)

In our study of Genesis, we began with a look at the world as God created it, in a state of absolute perfection. It did not take very long, however, for man to mar that beautiful picture. The first sin led to banishment from Eden and introduced the world to death. We are no sooner introduced to worship before we find Cain offering a substitute for God’s pattern, and, when God rejects this, Cain’s jealous rage leads to Abel’s murder. Of Cain’s descendents we read of Lamech, the first documented polygamist (Gen. 4:19). By the time we meet Noah––10 generations after Adam––the world was so full of evil that God expresses grief for having created man (Gen. 6:5–7).

In the midst of this perverse generation, one man stands alone to do the LORD’s Will, and, at the age of 500, God calls him to a great task––to build a sea-going vessel that would carry eight people and two of every kind of land-dwelling creature! The Ark must certainly have been a tremendous piece of architecture. Roughly 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet tall, its size rivals that of the largest ships of the modern day. The text suggests that Noah spent 100 years building this ship to God’s specifications (Gen. 5:32, 7:11). This must not have been easy for a man raising three children in a world in which “every imagination…was only evil continually” (Gen. 5:5), but Noah worked through hardship and discouragement and finally completed the task just as God had commanded (Gen. 6:22). When the waters of the Flood prevailed on the earth in Noah’s 600th year, he and his family were saved, but not as most would think. Noah did not build the Ark to rescue his family from the wrath of an angry God, but rather from the wickedness of an evil generation. Peter tells us that the water saved Noah (1 Pet. 3:20), not the Ark he built with his own hands. We are not saved by the works of our hands today, but rather by the grace of a loving God (Eph. 2:8–9). If Noah had not labored on the Ark, he would have drowned in the water that was intended to be his salvation. If we will not labor in the Lord’s church––God’s one vessel for salvation––our hands will be stained with the very blood that was intended for our cleansing (cf. Matt. 27:25). We must keep God’s commandments, but we also wait for His grace, as Noah did, to save us from our sins. Noah found that grace, and so can we!

After reading the text listed below, see if you can answer the following questions. 

Non-trivial Questions (Genesis 6:1–7:24)

1. When God saw the world filled with evil, how many years did he grant mankind?
2. What were the names of Noah’s three sons?
3. How many doors and windows were to be built into the ark?
4. How many of each clean beast was to be brought into the ark?
5. How old was Noah in the year of the Flood?
6. How long did the earth remain submerged beneath the waters of the Flood?