Noah's preparation

How was Noah prepared for the flood? Nothing like that had ever happened before, nothing like it will happen again. A flood covering all the earth: I am going to send a flood on the earth to destroy every living being. Everything on the earth will die Gen 6:17 (GNB).  How could he have been certain of the things he received from God? At the creation of the garden of Eden no rain had come on the earth:for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground-- Gen2:5-6 (ESV)  I believe his experience prepared him. The experience I refer to is his late parenting. Have you ever noted how long it took for Noah to have his children? After Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth Gen 5:32(GNB).

This had never happened before. Was it because he married very late? I think not. His grandfather Methuselah was alive before the first man Adam died. (Simply calculating the ages of his ancestry in Genesis 5 will reveal Adam lived for more than 200 years after the birth of Methuselah, but died before Noah was born). It was Noah’s father Lamech that had the longest wait for a son before then in all human existence: 182 years. I can imagine them saying to Noah, “From the time God created man on earth no one of us has reached 200 years without a son.” Would not Methuselah the oldest man that ever lived confirm and say “Yes. I met the very first man Adam. Your own father was yet a baby when he died. In my days I was late in having a son, but this has never happened before. Noah what is the matter?” yet double the previous time passed, and no son to Noah. Eventually After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth Gen 5:32 (ESV). It was after this that God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark…” Gen 6:13-24(ESV).

So when Noah, who preached righteousness 2Pt 2:5(GNB) spoke of the coming flood and mockers would say, “Haba! Noah. A flood to cover the entire world and destroy every one? Nothing like that has ever happened. How can you believe such trash?” he could look at his own experience and be strengthened in faith. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith Heb 11:7(ESV). Definitely the experiences you face who walk blamelessly before God as Noah did in his days are but a preparation for God’s purposes in your life. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God Gen 6:9(ESV).