In a world drowning in corruption and violence, one man stood apart while the rest of humanity pursued wickedness without restraint. Noah remained faithful to God, walking in righteousness when the world around him was drowning in revelry. When God looked upon the earth and saw its depravity, He was deeply troubled at how far His creations had fallen. Yet, in His mercy, He chose Noah to carry forward His promise. But why Noah? What made him different? And what can we learn from his faith in the face of impending judgment?
I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. – Genesis 6:13 (NIV)
The Ark of God
God instructed Noah to build an ark of cypress wood, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high, with a roof, an opening, and three decks. Noah was to bring his family and pairs of every living creature, along with food, into the ark. God promised to establish His covenant with Noah and preserve life through the coming flood.
Noah did everything just as God commanded him. – Genesis 6:22 (NIV)
It was God’s grace that made Noah righteous. This is the same truth Jesus taught us—that we cannot make ourselves righteous through our own actions. No matter how many baptisms we take, how often we attend church, how much we volunteer, or how many confessionals we partake in, the only thing that makes us righteous is God’s grace. In His infinite grace, God gives us the opportunity to participate in His plans, and we can either willingly join in or oppose His will, aligning ourselves with the prince of this world.
God commanded Noah to enter the ark with his family, bringing pairs of animals to preserve their kinds. After seven days, torrential rain fell for forty days and nights, flooding the entire earth and wiping out all life. The waters covered even the highest mountains, leaving only Noah, his family, and the animals in the ark. For a hundred and fifty days, the floodwaters remained, but God remembered Noah and sent a wind to begin the process of receding the waters. This moment signified God’s faithfulness in fulfilling His promise to bring Noah and his family safely through the flood. It also serves as a reminder that while judgment is inevitable, God’s mercy and grace are always at work. Just as He provided salvation through the ark, He offers redemption to those who trust in Him.
Relief on Ararat
After the floodwaters receded, the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat. As the land dried, Noah sent a raven and later a dove to check for dry ground. The dove’s eventual return with an olive leaf signified the waters had receded. After another seven days, the dove did not return, confirming the land was habitable. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was completely dry.
Then God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.” – Genesis 8:15-16 (NIV)
Noah was instructed to wait for the Lord to open the door of the ark that He had sealed. However, in the meantime, Noah still tried to determine for himself if the land was drying up. Perhaps he was impatient or simply curious to see if the waters had receded.
In the same way, we often do the same while God is at work, seeking to take matters into our own hands. Whether it’s curiosity or anxiety, these actions reflect our lack of faith. We struggle to fully surrender control to God and instead try to influence the outcome ourselves. This often leads us down the wrong path, distancing us from God.
Once the land had dried, God instructed Noah and his family to leave the ark, bringing with them all the animals, birds, and creatures, so they could multiply and fill the earth. They had remained inside the ark for an entire year and only emerged when God commanded them to, as the land was now dry. God had been faithful to His promise, preserving Noah and his family through the flood, just as He had said.
God’s mercy on Noah’s family in the midst of judgment reminds us that His grace always provides a way for redemption. It also serves as a reflection of our own spiritual journey—while the world may face trials and destruction, those who trust in God will find safety in His promises. Noah then built an altar and offered some of the clean animals and birds as burnt offerings to the Lord.
The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” – Genesis 8:21-22 (NIV)
God has a plan that humans have not understood, an everlasting covenant that will bring us back to the Garden. The sacrifice of His Son will wash away our sins and bring us closer to God. But until that appointed time, God is making several covenants with mankind. Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, and Isaiah received separate covenants from God, serving as a transient fix to the larger problem. However, the ultimate covenant would be the sacrifice of His own Son, which will cleanse the sins of the entire world—something no flood can ever achieve.
God commanded Noah and his sons to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. He established a covenant with them, their descendants, and all living creatures, promising never to destroy life again with a flood. The sign of this covenant would be the rainbow, which God set in the clouds as a reminder of His promise. Whenever a rainbow appears, it will serve as a reminder of God’s everlasting covenant with all life on earth.
Life After the Flood
After the flood, Noah planted a vineyard and became intoxicated from the wine he had discovered. This may have been the first instance of wine production, as the post-flood climate could have been ideal for fermentation. Noah’s drunkenness caused him to lie naked and exposed in his tent. When Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness, he chose to inform his brothers rather than cover him. In contrast, Shem and Japheth acted with respect and decency, walking backwards into the tent to cover their father without looking at him.
When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. ” – Genesis 9:24-25 (NIV)
When Noah awoke and learned what Ham had done, he cursed Ham’s son, Canaan, to be the lowest servant to his brothers. Noah then blessed Shem and Japheth, asking God to expand Japheth’s territory and let him dwell in Shem’s tents, with Canaan serving both. Noah lived another three hundred and fifty years after the flood, dying at the age of nine hundred and fifty years.
Noah, in his drunken state, lost all awareness and didn’t realize he was naked. It seems unfair that he blamed his son for seeing him in that condition when it was Noah who had been drunk. However, the father-son dynamics at the time were likely very different. Ham’s failure to cover Noah or go to his brothers and recount his father’s drunken state would have been viewed as mocking his father or defying his authority.
Lessons from Noah
Noah was chosen by God to help fulfill His promise of the coming Redeemer—the “snake crusher” prophesied in the line of Adam. He had the privilege of being part of Jesus’ genealogy. However, Noah was not without flaws; unlike Enoch, he could not return to the Garden. Despite being set apart, he struggled with the temptations of the world, much like the people who perished in the flood. He fell into sin to the point that his own sons had to cover his nakedness. Similarly, we are chosen by God not because of our righteousness but because of His grace. Yet, like Noah, it is easy to take that grace for granted, drift away from God, and become entangled in the ways of the world.
The Jordan Valley 
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