And further; Noah is described, in the verse following the text, as “a just man and perfect in his generations.” His faith, as we have already intimated, was not, like that of many professors of religion, a mere outward and formal assent; it resided in his heart, as well as in his understanding; and shewed itself in his disposition, his character, and his life. Believing in the goodness of God, he loved Him; in the power and justice of God, he feared; in the infallible truth and authority of God, he obeyed. With an enlightened reason and conscience, he studied the duty of ordinary life; his duty to God and man; and he performed it faithfully. “He was perfect in his generations;” not that he had attained unto absolute, positive perfection; for that is impossible to any mere man, in his fallen condition; it was only “the man Christ Jesus,” the incarnate God, that was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners;” [59] but Noah, in the midst of a “disobedient and gainsaying people,” was sincere and upright; he lived in no wilful or habitual opposition to his God; he had that degree of perfection, which is the mark and fruit of genuine faith; and shews, that the frail creature is brought into a state of acceptance with his Creator. He engaged heartily in the cause of religion; there was nothing in the world, which he was not ready to renounce for it; there was no ordinance, nor command of God, which it was not his unbending purpose to obey; desirous was he “to serve Him, in holiness and righteousness all the days of his life.” And therefore it is yet further said, that “he walked with God;” [60a] “setting the Lord (as David speaks) always before him;” [60b] living in a perpetual sense of the divine presence; acting as under the continual observation of that Almighty Being, who was acquainted with all his ways; and whose word was “a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path.” [60c] He walked in communion with God, by his life and conversation, as well as by faith, and meditation, and prayer; and he preached to a “backsliding and stubborn generation,” by his example as well as by his word.
We cannot wonder, that such eminent holiness and obedience, shining forth in the midst of so much profligacy and corruption, were honoured with the signal favour of Almighty God. A righteous character, which is always “of great price in the sight of God,” is peculiarly honourable in an age overspread with impiety and guilt. The man, who stands forth to maintain the cause of God against a universal host of enemies; who is untainted by the moral contagion which is every where diffused around him; who perseveringly opposes the mighty stream of iniquity, which is ready to overwhelm his soul; that man is a spectacle for angels to behold with joy; and one in whom the holy God Himself is well-pleased; he is as “a light shining in a dark place,” made more conspicuous and attractive by the surrounding gloom. Such was Noah; and God distinguished him accordingly by especial tokens of favour and blessing: for He said, “Behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.” [62a]
A question has been raised respecting the nature of the covenant here intended; but the words themselves, taken in connexion with the subject, would lead us to conclude, that the covenant to be established, in the first instance, was a covenant of safety in the ark, during the flood; and this sense is abundantly confirmed by the same word being afterwards used in the 9th chapter, when God made His promise to the patriarch, that the world should never again be so destroyed: “Behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you—neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.” [62b] Yet, though this was the immediate import of the covenant, it probably had, like the ark itself, a further and a typical signification, which is thus very admirably expressed by one of the best commentators; “I will most certainly make good the promise I have formerly made to thee, of preserving thee and thy family from the said destruction; and further I will make good, in due time, to thee or thy seed after thee, all those covenants or promises, which I have made to mankind from the beginning of the world, and which remain to be made good; especially the grand covenant concerning the promised seed, of Messiah: to which end, I will certainly preserve thee and thy family from the destruction I am now bringing on the rest of mankind.” [63]
The first covenant made by God with Adam, was a covenant of works, of unsinning obedience; this was broken, and thence came death. The second covenant made with Adam, was that of grace and salvation by Jesus Christ, who should “come in the fulness of time;” this latter covenant was confirmed with Noah, the representative of mankind in the new world after the flood; and the covenant, thus renewed with him, was to extend to all his posterity; to generations unborn, to all that would become, as he was, “heirs of the righteousness which is by faith.” Through him, deliverance was preached to the people before the flood; through him, everlasting deliverance from sin and death was promised to believers in every future age. In the covenant, therefore, made with Noah, all mankind have an interest, an especial interest at this day; the promised deliverer, whom Noah represented, is come; we “have seen the salvation of our God;” the gospel of peace is proclaimed; and nothing is wanting but our faithful acceptance of it.
Proceed we now with the history of Noah’s preservation: “The waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth (a hundred and fifty days), and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered—and all flesh died that moved upon the earth, Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the ark rested in the seventh month, upon the mountains of Ararat.” [65] Thus was the divine promise literally fulfilled, and the fidelity of the patriarch signally acknowledged and rewarded. What must have been the emotions of this holy man, as he was floating, through the long eventful period, upon the surface of the raging waters! How deep and lively his conviction of the adorable goodness and the perfect truth of God! How fervent his gratitude, how sublime his joy, at escaping unhurt amid the desolation of the world! How indescribable his feelings of horror and of awe, at the sufferings of those countless multitudes, who were perishing around him; over whose lifeless bodies he was riding in peaceful security, reserved to be the father of a new-born world! Similar to these are the impressions of every sincere believer, on beholding both the providential and spiritual dispensations of the Lord. Deeply is he convinced of the “goodness and severity of God;” of His goodness to the righteous, His severity to the disobedient and evil: Every divine promise and every denunciation of divine judgment have been fully accomplished in due season; “not one jot or one tittle of the word of God has failed.” The Christian, moreover, by his own experience, can testify the truth and loving kindness of God: he has sought and found a refuge in the ark of salvation, in the gospel of peace; he has been taken out of a corrupt and troubled world, and raised above it; so that, while the billows of adversity have been rolling all around, and the overbearings of iniquity have every where prevailed, he has felt himself in a state of security; inclosed by divine mercy “on the right hand and on the left;” protected by the power of Jehovah; all things, even the most unruly elements, “working together for his good:” when “the rain descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow,” he hears and sees it all without dismay; nay, with gratitude to his heavenly Preserver; hoping and believing, that the waves of trouble are bearing him to the celestial Ararat, upon which he shall alight, in God’s appointed time, and “find rest unto his soul.”
But, in the midst of his satisfaction and joy, there is a consideration, which strikes a damp upon his soul, and fills him with grief and terror; it is, the miserable condition of those his fellow-creatures, who have been regardless of their salvation and have perished: the Saviour “called, but they would not answer;” He assured them of the coming desolation, but they would not take heed; He offered them mercy, but they turned away: and the flood came upon them unawares; and it is painful to think of them, where they now are, and how many they have been. And not only for those who are gone, but for numbers still living, does the charitable Christian also feel: it is not for him to be forward in judging, not for him to condemn; “he hopeth all things, and believeth all things;” but when he sees multitudes around him manifestly walking in the “broad way of destruction,” he cannot help feeling both pity and pain; especially if any of his neighbours or friends be found in this awful state of heedlessness and sin; especially if any who are near and dear unto him. He cannot help grieving for them; they will have, at least, his tears and his prayers. Would that such sinners might feel for themselves, what others feel for them; would that they might turn and live! Their case is not like the case of those who were perishing in the flood; they are not yet consigned to destruction; would to God that they might turn and live!
At length, “the waters were dried up from off the earth, and the face of the ground was dry.” “And Noah went forth” out of the ark, and “builded an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings upon the altar,” in thanksgiving for his miraculous preservation; “and the Lord smelled a sweet savour;” [69] He accepted the incense of the sacrifice, approved and honoured the piety and gratitude of Noah.
In all our deliverances and escapes, in all the benefits and blessings we receive at the merciful hands of God, let us never fail to imitate this bright example of righteousness: be it our first, our immediate act, to waft unto the skies the incense of adoration and praise. The faithful and observant Christian does indeed perpetually notice the interposition of divine Providence in his behalf; and he never fails to render the tribute of his heart at least, if not of his lips, to the great Deliverer: but besides this, there are few of us, who have not, in some striking instances, been wonderfully rescued from imminent danger and destruction; preserved in frightful accident, or raised from a sickness which was seemingly unto death. Has the favour been duty remembered with gratitude? Did it bring us on our knees before the throne of mercy? Did we present our offering with that humble sense of our own unworthiness, and that devout acknowledgment of God’s love, which gave us just reason to believe that the offering was accepted, through Jesus Christ our Lord? And ever since, has an altar been raised in our hearts; have our affections been dedicated to God, as a memorial of the past deliverance, and a fulfilment of the purpose for which we were mercifully spared?
And there is a deliverance greater and mightier than all, of which every faithful servant in the gospel is enjoying, at once, both the hope and the benefit; a deliverance, of which Noah’s was a type, from the bondage and penalty of sin; from eternal misery, and ruin. Are we penetrated with a sense of this marvellous mercy? Do we worship our great Redeemer in spirit and in truth? Do we love Him with all our heart and soul? Do we proclaim abroad our gratitude and love, in the presence of a contemptuous world? Noah was immediately and powerfully reminded of the divine goodness accorded to himself, by beholding the face of nature all desolate and void: and thus, when we behold around us the dismal ravages of sin, and contemplate, with the eye of faith, the ruin which they will finally bring, are there not afforded to us, exulting as we are in the hope of our own redemption, abundant memorials of the favour of God to ourselves? “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who redeemeth thy life from destruction, and crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.” [71]
My brethren, if we would find, as “Noah found, grace in the eyes of the Lord,” we must be like him, in faith and obedience, in “faith which worketh by love.” We must be ready, at the divine command, to leave the “pomps and vanity of a wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh,” and prepare the means of our deliverance, in the way which God mercifully points out. We must dare to be singular in the midst of a gainsaying and reviling people; and maintain our integrity in the face of a backsliding age. If, in the hour of danger and destruction, we would have God for our deliverer and friend, we must seek Him and serve Him, whilst we are in health and safety: thus will He be our portion in life, in death, in judgment, and for ever.