The Red Thread in Noah’s Ark – Pt. 2 @JeanWilund.com
In all the world, only Noah was holy in God’s eyes. In all the world!
Despite living in a world where every heart was set on evil, Noah still lived his life in such a way that God could declare him righteous in His eyes.
I talked about this in my last post, The Red Thread in Noah’s Ark — Part One.
Noah was earnest about pleasing God, and he trusted in Him and His Promises.
Today’s post isn’t about Noah — it’s about everyone else.
It’s staggering to me that sin had so quickly brought the world to the place where only one man in all the earth was righteous in God’s eyes.[1]
Imagine what everyone else was like. I think I got a small taste of it recently at my daughter’s soccer game.
I usually stand on the sidelines to take photos, so I get to hear just about everything. This particular evening, a constant barrage of hateful comments spewed out of the mouths of some parents. My heart went out to Noah for having to live every day in the midst of much worse evil.
After enduring two hours of a steady stream of malevolent words, while at the same time restraining myself from outwardly expressing my opinion on their abhorrent behavior, I was exhausted. My brain hurt!
How did Noah do it? I couldn’t. I definitely wasn’t holy in my thoughts that night.
If Noah was the only one holy in God’s eyes, what does that say about his own family?
It might mean they could have been Reality TV stars today. (Can you see it? “Stay tuned for today’s episode of The Housewives of Noah and watch Ham’s wife flip a table.”)
Or maybe they were more normal, like us — or at least some of us. But, regardless, we know they didn’t find favor with God.
Not even Noah’s family was holy, and yet God invited them into the ark.
(If Noah’s family was anything like those soccer parents, there’s no way I’d have wanted to invite them into the ark. They probably weren’t, but maybe, possibly, they were. Either way, we know they weren’t holy.)
Why did Noah’s family get invited into the ark but not the rest of the world?
It’s a Red Thread Clue:
Noah’s wife, his sons, and their wives weren’t righteous in God’s eyes, but they belonged to his family. [1]
Likewise, none of us is righteous, but all who accept Christ as their Savior are adopted into His family.[2] His righteousness becomes ours.[3]
That’s it.
I see no other reason.
The basis of their being invited by God into the ark (their only possible means of salvation from the flood) was not their holiness. They were saved on the sole basis that they were in Noah’s family, even while they were yet sinners.
Likewise, God sent His Son into the world so that all who believe that He paid the price for our sin on the cross will not perish.[4] God has invited us to accept His Son as our only possible means of salvation, and in so doing, receive adoption into His family[2], even while we are yet sinners.[5]
We’ve become God’s children and co-heirs with Christ!
Romans 8:17 – Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (NIV)
That’s great news for us because if we had to be worthy of salvation, we’d be sunk!
In my next post, we’ll look at another important Red Thread Clue involving Noah’s family — and us.
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Tweetable:
How are we just like Noah’s family? (Click to Tweet)
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[1] Genesis 7:1
[2] John 1:12-13
[4] John 3:16
[5] Romans 5:8
