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It seems that even as Noah built the large structure that would come to be known as “Noah’s Ark,” it seems there was a wall being built between the man of faith and his neighbors. They, focused on the pleasure of this life, had made their choice to live for this world, while he, with faith in God, was living in righteousness. While it may seem obvious that the worldly ones would laugh at the man building an ark for a worldwide flood, at a time when there had been no rain, yet the world had probably already listened to Noah’s preaching of righteousness for several hundred years, and rejected it, despite the fact that his preaching then probably didn’t seem to be in so much violation of the rules of nature.

Possibly, then, those who were under judgment saw the ark not as stupidity, but as a strongly convicting message about their own sinfulness. After all, here was Noah, who had already sacrificed pleasure in this life for righteousness’s sake, building this gigantic vessel simply upon the word of God—how much more dramatic and unavoidable could a reminder of one’s own sinful state be? In fact, the Scripture specifically states that Noah’s building of the ark condemned the world: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7) It seems that then, just as now, simply the reminder of someone’s righteousness was taken as offensive by those who rejected righteousness.

But Noah was more fearful of the judgment of God than of the scoffing or the hatred of man, and he ventured out on the word of God.

And then came the story of Genesis 7. God told Noah that he and his family should come into the ark. Unlike the later story of Lot, Noah’s family—even Ham, who may not have even been righteous himself—seems to have implicitly trusted Noah’s judgment about this life and death matter, enough to leave all their possessions and come aboard the ark. During his hundreds of years on earth, Noah must have avoided compromise with the world, compromise that might have lost him his family at this crucial moment, even had he managed to regain his own righteousness. He stood apart from the crowd—a monument of fidelity to God, a light in dark world, a man that faced the world and came out victorious. And his immediate family was saved in the destruction of the earth.

Noah knew that judgment was coming. He knew that God would bring His punishment upon the workers of iniquity. We also know that God’s judgment will eventually come. Noah, because of His fear of God, held fast to God, saving himself and his family. Will we hold fast?