Genesis 6:9–A Man for our Time These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. A great tribute is paid to Noah here. There are many people in the Bible who are described as “just,” some who are called “perfect” and one, Enoch, who “walked with God.” But here is a man of whom all these things are true. What a noble epitaph it would be if at the end of our days the same things could be said of us! We may think that Noah lived in remarkable times which bear little relation to our own. But listen to the words of Christ: “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26,27). The warning is that before our Lord’s return, men will be living careless, godless lives, just as all those centuries ago. The danger is that “the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (1Thess.5:2) – sudden, unexpected, calamitous. It is easy to be swept along with today’s wordly tide. But here is a man who resisted the trend in his day and can teach us what is required of God’s people in this generation. The portrait we have of Noah is one of righteousness. There is the righteousness of his character. To be “just” is to be righteous. Every believer is righteous in God’s sight, clothed with the righteousness of Christ in justification. But we must also be righteous in our character. Noah was a God-fearing man: the Lord meant something to him. He trembled at God’s word when all around him there were those who scoffed at the idea of a judgment to come. We learn also the righteousness of his conduct. He was “perfect in his generations.” He lived 950 years, 600 before the Flood and 350 after. He saw many generations come and go. He saw a world increasing in wickedness, filled with corruption and violence. Yet he was sincere and steadfast in serving God. His faith was accompanied by works, for at God’s command he “prepared an ark to the saving of his house” (Heb.11:7). Like other good men he had his faults. After 150 days he came out of the ark and set his feet on dry land again. Then “Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken” (Gen.9:20,21). But this was a blemish, not a way of life. There was surely remorse and repentance. Finally we see the righteousness of his cause. God’s cause was also Noah’s. He lived in daily fellowship with the Lord. He was a man of worship. When he left the ark he “builded an altar unto the Lord” (Gen.8:20). He was a man of conviction, “a preacher of righteousness” (2Pet.2:5). He was one of those many “burning and shining” lights who have illuminated a dark world by their lives and pointed needy sinners to the “Sun of righteousness,” our Lord Jesus Christ (Mal.3:2). How may we follow Noah? What was his secret? In these words: “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen.6:8). We need our sins forgiven and we must begin to seek God’s mercy now. Salvation is not by our goodness but by God’s goodness, by His redeeming love in Jesus Christ. May we all find that needed grace.