Noah was warned of God and, therefore, Divinely instructed
concerning "things not seen as yet" (Hebrews 11:7)
Other occurrences of Divine warning (Greek, Chrematizo)
show that it involves revelation from God concerning "secrets" only known to Him (Amos 3:7),
which He manifests in different ways (Hebrews 1:1)
God instructed the wise men by a dream to flee from Herod
(Matthew 2:12)
God instructed Simeon through the Holy Spirit
that he would not see death until He saw the Messiah (Luke 2:26)
God instructed Cornelius by an angel to summon
Peter to his house for the hearing of the words of salvation (Acts 10:22)
Peter warned (instructed) those to whom were made the
great precious promises (II Peter 1:4 cf. I Peter 2:5,9), the Israelites (Romans 9:4), that there would be scoffers in the last days (II Peter 3:3-4)
He likens them to that of Noah's day which were destroyed
by the flood (II Peter 3:5-6)
He warns (instructs) his audience of like precious faith
(II Peter 1:1), that the ungodly in the last days will likewise be destroyed - this
time by fire (II Peter 3:7)
Again, faith teaches those Hebrews that the ages are prepared
by the revealed words of God (Hebrews 11:3) - the "word of prophecy" will be their light (II Peter 1:19)
Noah's faith (preparation) towards God
By faith Noah responded to God's warning (instruction)
with godly fear (Hebrews 12:28)
The "fear that flees" (Greek, Phobos
- Hebrews 2:15, death)
Noah's faith moved him with godly fear to the preparing
of the ark of salvation while God held back the judgment of the flood (I Peter 3:20)
Noah's preparing of the ark of salvation is what evidenced
the condemnation of the ungodly who would perish in the judgment (Hebrews 11:7)
The "saving of his house" via the ark which
was made with pitch (Hebrew, Kopher, i.e. "atonement") - parallels the salvation of the "house of
Israel" via the blood ("pitch", Matthew 26:28)
of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:8-12 cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34)
Noah's witness (condemnation) to the world
Noah condemned the world by his work, but he also was
a "preacher of righteousness"
Lamech named his son Noah ("consolation"), because
he would bring comfort concerning their futile earthly work - the cursed ground (Genesis 5:29); he brought news of the Lord's blessed heavenly work - the ark of
salvation (Genesis 6:13-14)
As the first "preacher of righteousness", Noah
announced the approaching judgment of God upon the ungodly (II Peter 2:5); the same message prophesied by Enoch prior to his removal (Jude 14-15)
As the first "preacher of righteousness", Noah
is singled out with two other righteous prophets who stood alone against the "scoffers" (Ezekiel 14:14,20 cf. II Peter 3:3-4)
Lot, a just man (II Peter 2:7-8) who believed God at the last, made void his preaching of imminent
judgment by his actions - referred to by his own relatives as one that "mocked", i.e. "spoke nonsense"
(Genesis 19:14)
Lot "lifted up his eyes" and "chose him
all the plain of Jordan" (Genesis 13:10-11)
Noah was a just man like Abel (Hebrews 11:4),
he pleased God by his walk like Enoch (Hebrews 11:5-6) and he was "perfect" in all his generations (Genesis 6:9)
Enoch was sanctified unto a godly walk as the "seventh"
in genealogical descent from Adam (Jude 14)
Noah, was the eighth person concerning the number of the
souls that were saved (I Peter 3:20) to repopulate a restored earth (Genesis 9:1), just as Israel will be saved unto her lively hope (I Peter 1:3)
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (I Peter 3:21)
Noah "found grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 6:8)
by being preserved "without blemish" like the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:5) in all his generations (Genesis 6:9)
All other "flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth"
(Genesis 6:12) by reason of the marriages between the "sons of God" and
the "daughters of men" (Genesis 6:1-2)
These physical unions produced abnormal monstrous iniquitous
offspring called giants (Hebrew, "Nephilim") or "fallen ones" in the days of Noah and afterwards
(Genesis 6:4-5)
The "sons of God" is a title used of "angels"
very specifically in the OT
These angels are described as having left their first
"habitation" (Jude 6); (Greek, oiketerion), "house" occurs only once elsewhere
- in reference to the resurrection "body" (II Corinthians 5:2)
These angels are said to have sinned in the days of Noah
and Lot (II Peter 2:4-9) after the likeness of Sodom, which went after "strange"
(Greek, heteros), "different" kind of flesh (Jude 7)
These angels are the "spirits in prison" (I Peter 3:19)
and "in chains" (II Peter 2:4) to whom Christ preached in His resurrection body (I Peter 3:18)
of their failed attempt to prevent the "Seed of the woman" (Genesis 3:15)
Just as the "seed of the serpent" plotted to
corrupt the "Seed of the woman" in Noah's day, it is said that when Abraham entered the land of Canaan
for the first time, "the Canaanite was then (already) in the land" (Genesis 12:6)
The "seed of the serpent" will surface again
in the last days and will "mingle" with the "seed of men", politically; but not "cleave"
unto them physically (Daniel 2:40-44)
God's witness (inheritance) to Noah
Noah became an heir by the righteousness which is appropriated
by faith (Hebrews 11:7)
Noah's inheritance was a cleansed earth with the same
mandate that was given to Adam - "replenish the earth" (Genesis 9:1 cf. Genesis 1:28)
Noah's inheritance was to be administered differently
from the one given to Adam - a fallen race under judgment as opposed to an innocent race under peace (Genesis 9:2-6 cf. Genesis 1:29-30)
Noah's inheritance issued out of redemption and was promised
not to be again cursed (Genesis 8:20-22) - the sign of the covenant being the "rainbow" (Genesis 9:8-17)
The "rainbow" promise is a faint shadow of the
true promise - "no more curse" (Revelation 22:3) concerning the "new Jerusalem" (Revelation 21:2)
Noah's example of the faith that inherits (Hebrews 11:8)
will be very timely for Israel's tribulation hour (Hebrews 3:19)