You Are Righteous Before Me! Genesis 4-7

 Genesis 7:1 (ESV)

1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.

You Are Righteous Before Me!

Imagine those words being said by God toward you!  How amazing would that be.   Noah was not the first one God noticed and proclaimed righteous.  Note:

Job 1:1 (ESV)

1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.

It should be noted, based upon what we read in other parts of the Bible, that no man is “righteous” in and of himself.   In fact, that is the complete story of the Bible.   Man is a sinner and will only do sin (Romans 3).   Man needs God’s intervention to become righteous and holy.   When we look back a few verses in Genesis we can see that God did, indeed, intervene in Noah’s life.  Note:

Genesis 6:8 (ESV)

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 

The word “favor” is the Hebrew word for “grace.”   When God looked down on the earth and saw that it was evil (Genesis 6:5-6) He didn’t, by chance, suddenly see Noah doing righteous deeds.   God actually intervened in Noah’s life and gave him “favor” (grace).   This is how God works.  God choose to give Noah favor. By doing so, God condemned the rest of the world and destroyed them in a flood for their evilness.  This is not God being unfair.  All men, including Noah, deserved to die.   God simply choose to save Noah.   God showed him favor and that made him righteous and that is who saved.  That is true today.   Men are evil.  All of us:  Me, you, them, they, all!!   We all need God to show us “favor” (His grace).  We can wonder why God choose only Noah.  We can wonder why God showed favor to Noah’s three sons and wives and not others.  But, we cannot claim that God was unfair.   If God were to act to be “fair” all mankind, including Noah would be crushed by His wrath based upon His holiness.   We cannot approach God without His favor.   God intervened in Noah’s life.  That is what God does. He shows favor to those who He will.   He built them an ark in the work of His Son, Jesus.  Jesus rescues us from the peril of the flood of God’s wrath.   Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  He serves as a warning to all mankind:

Luke 17:26-27 (ESV)

26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.