Genesis 6:22. Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Noah stands as a remarkable testimony to the power of a life that is aligned with God’s Word. Today’s Word records a simple but profound truth: Noah did everything just as God commanded him. To understand the weight of this obedience, we must look at the climate in which he lived. Noah lived and labored in an era of absolute spiritual anarchy.
How could he remain faithful when the rest of the world was in active rebellion against God? The Scripture answers this clearly: “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8).
Noah lived during the age of the Nephilim, the “fallen ones” (Genesis 6:4). It was a time when the human heart had become a factory of constant rebellion, where “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). Since the Fall (Genesis 3:1-7), humanity had lost its spiritual identity.
Ruled by the law of sin and death, people became spiritually blind, consumed entirely by the physical world—eating, drinking, and marrying without any regard for their Creator (Genesis 6:1-2; Luke 17:27). Having lost every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms, they chased after the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16), producing generations that would belong to the devil.
This Nephilim spirit has not disappeared; it defines our modern world. Today, people still worship money, power, and pleasure away from God and look to the “heroes and men of renown” for a solution to their problems and misery. As a result, the world is filled with corruption and violence (Genesis 6:11-12).
Tragically, having forgotten their spiritual identity and authority, the people of the covenant—the “sons of God”—befriend, compromise, and unite with the world. Even the church, whom God called to shine the light of the gospel to the dark world, has no shame in preaching different gospels that lead to destruction (Matthew 16:13-14; Galatians 1:6-9). They have long forgotten the gospel that God would send His own Son as the “offspring of the woman,” the Christ, to rescue them from the kingdom of darkness (Genesis 3:15). This grieves our God more than anything.
This is the current state of our world that Paul warned about:
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul was also clear about the origin of disobedience:
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:1-3).
It is Satan who fuels disobedience in our hearts, just as he did to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:1-6), Saul (1 Samuel 15:1-11), and Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). The devil aims to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).
We live in the age of the Nephilim like Noah, but we have found favor in the eyes of the Lord. We have been set free from the power of sin and death by the power of the gospel. By the grace of God, we have been spared from eternal destruction in hell. Because of the blood of Christ, God finds us righteous and blameless. We have been given the privilege to walk with Him, so we do not have to fear the disasters and calamities that have come upon the world.
God commanded Noah to build an ark to escape from curses (Genesis 6:13), to save himself (Genesis 6:14) and his family (Genesis 6:18), and to preserve life (Genesis 6:20). For the next 120 years, Noah would build the ark made of cypress wood and coated with pitch inside and out (Genesis 6:14). It was so strong and secure that anyone who entered the ark would be saved and protected from all harm.
That is what it is like to be in Christ. In Him, there is no condemnation; there is complete freedom from the power of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). If you are in Christ, your place is secure, and your enemy, the devil, cannot harm you who have been covered by the blood of Christ. You may be weak in every way, but Christ is strong. He has all authority in heaven and earth and is with you now through the Holy Spirit. Nothing can destroy you.
You are today’s Noah. God has chosen you, for such a time as this, to build an ark for your family, your school, your workplace, your community, your nation, and the world. The time is limited (1 Peter 3:20), and the call is urgent. Start building the ark by enjoying and proclaiming the Good News that Jesus is the Christ!
Prayer. Father, I thank You for rescuing me from the age of the Nephilim. It was Your grace that I found favor in Your sight. Open my eyes to see the reality of the world, entirely covered by thick darkness. Like Noah, I will do everything You commanded me to do, building the ark for this generation. In Jesus’ name, Amen.