“People to meet in heaven: Noah’s wife”
Genesis 7:7
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Thirty years ago, American author, painter, sculptor, minister, and teacher Robert Fulghum wrote a book called, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. It’s a book that tries to help adults see the world through the eyes of a child.
So what did he learn in kindergarten? He said he learned things like, “Share everything,” “Play fair,” “Don’t hit people,” “Put things back where you found them,” and “Clean up your own mess.” Today, there are more than 16 million copies in print, translated into twenty-seven different languages, and published in 103 countries around the world.
Since then, others have written parodies of Fulghum’s book, like, All I Really Wanted to Know I Learned in Junior High, and All I Really Wanted to Know I Learned from Watching Star Trek. (We won’t go there right now).
There’s even one that says, All I needed to know I learned from Noah’s Ark. This is what it says: “Don’t miss the boat”…“Remember that we are all in the same boat”…“Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark”…“Stay fit. When you’re six hundred years old, someone may ask you to do something really big”…“Don’t listen to critics. Just get on with the job that needs to be done”…“Build your future on high ground”…“For safety’s sake, travel in pairs”…“Speed isn’t everything. The snails were on board, and so were the cheetahs”…”When you’re stressed, float awhile”…”Remember—the Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals”…and last, “No matter the storm, when you’re with God, there’s always a rainbow waiting.”
The story of Noah and the Ark is a story known by people all around the world. Even those who don’t know the Bible and never come to church have heard the story of Noah, his massive boat, and all the animals coming in two-by-two—two giraffes, two tigers, two rabbits, two parakeets. Even two skunks!
Look almost anywhere and you can find Noah’s Ark paintings, Noah’s Ark T-shirts, Noah’s Ark coffee mugs and Noah’s Ark earrings. There’s even a recipe for Noah’s Ark Brownies coming out of a restaurant in Missouri.
And let’s not forget about the largest waterpark in the United States, located down in the Dells called, “Noah’s Ark.”
So far this summer, we’ve spent a little time talking about people we want to meet in heaven—like the very first two people, Adam and Eve, and Jubal, the father of all who play the lyre and the pipe.
Today, we’ll talk about one of the most important and significant people of all, arguably one of the greatest women who has ever lived, a woman whose name was…
Actually, we don’t know her name. The Bible mentions her some five different times, but it never tells us her name. Jewish tradition says her name was Naamah, the sister of Tubal-cain, but there’s no way we can be absolutely sure.
So for our purposes this morning, we’ll just have to call her, “Mrs. Noah” or “Noah’s wife.” Sorry. Under the circumstances, it’s the best we can do.
Please turn with me in your Bible to Genesis chapter 6, found on page 6. I’ll begin at verse 5: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
Please note first of all that this isn’t just a neat little Bible story, a legend or a fairytale, something from which we can learn “the moral of the story.” This is a clear, hard, sober account of what God once did about sin. Man had grieved His heart. He was sorry He made us.
Verse 5: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” As another translation puts it: “Their every thought was only evil all the time.”
You could go anywhere on earth, but you’d never be able to find one single person who truly loved the Lord. Depravity, violence and killing were everywhere, because, they thought, human life was cheap.
Even more, everyone did whatever they wanted, because, as far as they were concerned, there was no God and there were no rules.
And the earth was so bad and so sickeningly evil, that the Lord could do nothing but wipe it out and start all over again.
Is it any different today? You could copy that phrase, “Their every thought was only evil all the time,” and paste into our day and time, for we too live in a world where violence and killing happen every day, where many think human life is worthless and cheap.
Still, in the midst of it all, there was a man named Noah, and his wife.
Can you imagine how it must have been? All around them were the sights and sounds of a world that had lost its heart for God, spinning wildly out of control. And out of their vast number of relatives and friends, Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives, were the only ones, the only ones, who truly loved and feared God.
Now look at chapter 6, verse 11: “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”
And verse 22: “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded Him.”
Now I don’t know about you, but of all the people we want to meet in heaven, Noah’s wife has to be near the top of the list, because hers was a faith greater than anyone else.
Imagine, for a moment, the conversation that must have taken place between them.
One day, Noah came to her and said, “Dear, you better sit down. There’s something I have to tell you.”
A million thoughts raced through her mind. Quickly and nervously, she sat down. “What is it, my dear Noah?” she said.
“The Lord told me to build an ark.”
“An ark?” she said. “What’s an ark?”
“It’s a boat, a really big boat, about 510 feet--three Olympic-sized swimming pools long.”
“Okay,” she said. “But dear, you do know we live out here in the desert, and I’ve never even seen it rain.”
“That’s not all,” he said. “There’s more. You see, the Lord told me that, on this boat, we’ll carry animals of all kinds.”
“Animals? Of all kinds? So how many exactly and how long will be cooped up with these animals of all kinds?”
Now I know that you wives must love your husbands. But if he were to tell you that God told him to spend years building a huge boat and that he would fill it with thousands of animals with which you would live for a year, you’d be more than a little skeptical. It would test even the strongest marriage.
So why do we want to meet her in heaven? Because, she more than anyone else, must have had an incredibly strong love for her husband and an incredibly strong faith in God.
How else could she have supported him in building a huge, ocean-going ship to escape a flood when she had never even seen rain? How else could she have listened to the sound of relentless pounding, sawing and hammering, a constant reminder of the coming doom? How else could she have stepped onto the Ark, knowing full well she was leaving everyone and everything behind?
The answer? Faith. Faith that could see beyond the challenges, beyond the obstacles, faith that rested wholly and completely on God.
As William Bathurst once wrote in the words of a hymn: “A faith that shines more bright and clear when tempests rage without; that when in danger knows no fear, in darkness feels no doubt.”
One more thing. As valuable and important as the ark was, a means by which life on earth could start all over again, did you know it can also teach us something about Jesus?
Just as Noah covered the ark with pitch, tar, inside and out, so the blood of Christ covers all our sin. That’s what it says in I John chapter 1: “The blood of Jesus His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”
And just as there was only one ark and one door, not many arks and many doors, so there’s only one way to heaven. That’s what Jesus said in John 14: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Just as the ark was a refuge from the storm, a place of absolute security and certainty, so those who come to Christ are fully and eternally secure. That’s what Jesus said in John chapter 10: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.”
And just one more. Just as God once shut the door and no one else could enter, so the day will come when the gospel call will end and judgment will begin. That’s what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7: “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name drive out demons and in Your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!’”
But now, while there is time, while there is grace, come to the ark, come to Jesus, and be saved.
By Your grace, dear Lord, someday we’ll meet all those whom You have called to heaven. Grant that we may be just like them, loving and serving You without end, for Jesus’ sake. Amen