Noah

Biography

Noah lived in an age of unprecedented wickedness, when humanity's thoughts were only evil continually and the earth was filled with violence. Yet in this corrupt generation, Noah found favor in God's eyes, described as a righteous man, blameless in his generation, who walked with God. God revealed to Noah His plan to destroy the earth with a flood, commanding him to build an ark of massive proportions—450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. For perhaps 120 years, Noah labored on this enormous vessel while preaching righteousness to an unbelieving world. He is called "a herald of righteousness" in 2 Peter 2:5, faithfully warning of coming judgment even as his neighbors mocked. When the ark was complete, Noah brought his family—his wife, three sons, and their wives—along with representatives of every animal kind into the ark. God Himself shut them in, and the fountains of the great deep burst forth while the windows of heaven opened. For forty days the rain fell, and for 150 days the waters prevailed on the earth. After the flood, Noah built an altar and offered sacrifices to God—the first recorded altar in Scripture. God made a covenant with Noah and all living creatures, promising never again to destroy the earth with a flood, setting the rainbow as the sign of this everlasting covenant. Through Noah, humanity began again, and all people alive today descend from his three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.