Since I knew that Judy and I would not be here for Mothers’ Day, I deliberately chose our theme for last Wednesday, from among the ladies of the Bible. And I’ve done the same for this evening. Last week, we looked at poor Mrs. Job, and tonight it is poor Mrs. Noah.
As in the case of Mrs. Job, when it comes to this lady, there is not a lot revealed. In fact there is even less in this woman’s case. So I’m going to make some assumptions for the sake of application. But when it comes to assumptions we are open to a lot of personal opinions. For example, we might assume that she followed Noah kicking and screaming into the Ark. But I’m not going to take that position. I’m going to assume those two were as they should have been – kindred spirits. I’m going to assume that Mrs. Noah was Mr. Noah’s closest friend. I’m going to assume that Mrs. Noah supported her husband every step of the way. Sure she might have had inner doubts about spending all their retirement money building a monument to insanity. But if she had those doubts, I’m going assume that she kept them to herself. I’m going to assume that the reason that Noah was so great a man was due in part to the fact that he had a great wife.
For the sake of our thoughts this evening, I am going to assume that Mrs. Noah was, at the very least, an enthusiastic encouragement to the FAITH of her husband. And that is in spite of what the neighborhood ladies thought about either one of them. What can we all learn from the mother and wife – Mrs. Noah?
First we notice her NAME.
Or rather, we don’t notice her name – we see that she doesn’t have a name. It wasn’t that this lady didn’t have a name, surely she did, but it was not shared with us. She, of course, was not the penman that the Lord used to give us the history of Noah. But I think that if she had been she still may not have used her name. Oh, it wasn’t that she was ashamed her name; it was likely perfectly good name, even a beautiful name. But like the penman of Gospel of John, perhaps she felt unworthy to have been named. And it was certainly not necessary that we know her name. This is called “humility.”
Humility is one those human characteristics that is given extremely high marks in the Bible. I Peter 5:6 reminds us that if we want to be exalted, we need to work on being just the opposite. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.” There is nothing that the Lord hates in us any more than pride. Even in men’s eyes, there may be nothing that mars our appearance than pride. Part of the nature of humility is to be at the forefront of the work, but to be in the shadows for the praise. That was the nature of this woman.
It doesn’t matter to us, today, to know the name of Mrs. Noah. What matters is that her name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. What matters is that when Noah stands at the Judgment Seat, this woman will be standing there with him. Together and individually, they shall hear, “Well, done thou good and faithful servant.” May we all learn from this lady, to be faithful, whether we are recognized for it or not. May we learn that the Lord shall exalt us in His due time.
Second, as far as the world was concerned Mrs. Noah lived with an ECCENTRIC.
The word “eccentric” is a nice way to say “weird” or perhaps “peculiar.” Fifty years ago, you could say that an eccentric person was “queer,” but we can’t say that today. And what is it that makes a person “weird?” It is nothing but the opinion of the critic. What one person says is “peculiar,” may considered perfectly normal by the next person. And what one person says is “weird,” the Lord may approve 100%. There was a man with whom I worked at the Mall, years ago, who I considered “weird.” Why weird? Because he was doing something completely unimaginable in me. The man told me that he enjoyed performing at a comedy club. This man was deliberately going to try stand up comedy, which I think is a bit “strange.” But I have no doubt that he thought I am peculiar in standing before you each Sunday.
Mrs. Noah lived with an eccentric. He was eccentric because he was old-fashioned. He was more like his great grandfather, Enoch, than he was the people of his own day. Noah’s neighbors helped to make the collective wickedness of man very great in the earth. The imagination of the thoughts of their hearts were only evil continually. Noah was not as much like them as he was his great grandfather who died about 200 years earlier. That’s equivalent to you being more like George Washington than Barak Obama. Noah was considered to be weird, and Mrs. Noah was married to the weirdo. He was eccentric because he was so conservative, if not actually fundamental. His taste in music was different from world’s; he didn’t go for contemporary Christian music. He encouraged his wife to dress more modestly than the other husbands did. He taught his sons that when sinners enticed them that they should consent not. Noah’s family didn’t go to the same entertainment centers that their neighbors did. He had convictions about things – lots of things. And he prized the words of God, whereas the other members of his church considered the commandments of the Lord as mere suggestions. In fact Noah actually heard, and listened to, the voice of God. “Can you imagine that?” the gossips were all saying. “Poor Mrs. Noah, has to live with a man who hears the voice of God.”
Praise the Lord, if you live with a man who hears the voice of God through the written Word of God. Bless the Lord, if your husband reads, and loves, and respects the Word of God. Voltaire was one of the most notable, professed atheists of his day. But in his writings he said that he still wanted his family and servants to either be Christians or behave like Christians. It was to Voltaire’s benefit to have those around him moral and upright people. Atheism and agnosticism are not conducive to sound morality. And it is to the benefit of any wife to have a husband with a heart tender towards the Word of God. She didn’t have to worry about him coming home drunk and beating her. She didn’t have to worry about him ruining their family with immorality. She should have been able to expect him to make wise decisions because of the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
How can a good wife possibly put up with an eccentric? By loving him more than she does her friends and that part of the family who might laugh at him. Wife, you should thank your husband for his love of God’s Word. And you should encourage him to be in it much more than he actually is.
But was Noah really an eccentric? He was not, if the Lord didn’t consider him to be eccentric. He was peculiar only in the sense of I Peter 2:9 – “But ye are chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; That ye should show forth praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” That is precisely what happened with Noah; he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Oh that this world was filled with people like Noah. Oh that you and I were more like Noah and his wife.
Poor Mrs. Noah, she may have been PERSECUTED.
Do you think that Noah could spend all those years, all that money and all that energy building something that no person had ever seen before, without being laughed at? Do you think that he could preach and warn his generation about a cataclysmic judgment which they had difficulty even imagining, without him being laughed at? Do you think that his neighbors took his preaching about sin and righteousness and judgment silently? Did he ever feel the sting of a rock or an egg? Did he ever have to paint over nasty graffiti on the side of the half-finished ark?
Persecution can come in many different forms, from almost nothing, to blood and death. It can come in the loss of a job – because of someone’s faith in Christ. It might be the laughter of one’s neighbors. It could be rejection by a person’s family. You may have to face the specter of martyrdom some day because of your faith. Our Baptist forefathers did throughout many centuries of their history. And as Noah was persecuted, so was his wife. At the grocery store, at church, perhaps at the family reunion. But as the Lord Jesus said, “If you’ve done it to the least of my brethren you’ve done it me.” If they persecuted Noah, his hurt was felt in his wife’s soul as well. Poor Mrs. Noah.
But, eventually, Mrs. Noah was IN THE ARK, when the rest of the world was in the water.
Say what they will, Mrs. Noah was in type and fact, saved by the grace of God. There was a reason why the world was destroyed by water. It repented the Lord that he had made man. Or to put it more theologically correct, It grieved Lord mankind had become so wicked. And God determined to prove His hatred of all such wickedness. God determined to judge, both physically and eternally, the people that wicked generation.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord delivered eight souls out of the hundreds of thousands of others. And Mrs. Noah was included in that salvation, by the grace of the Lord. I’m not implying that Noah and his family were by nature better people than others. I am saying that the Lord chose to save this family to repopulate the earth with folk who could testify of His wrath.
The Ark of Noah is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving grace. It was constructed completely according to the Lord’s pattern. It had features that pointed to the Lord, like the wood in which it was made. That species of wood, was especially selected for use in the temple and tabernacle. I don’t have time to prove it, but that wood depicted the humanity of Christ. Obviously the ark was a refuge from Divine judgment. It was place of absolute security both in the way that it was constructed. And in the fact that the Lord closed the door and seal them inside. Noah and his wife and family had the personal invitation of God to join Him inside. The ark had only one entry just as there is only one door to the Lord’s salvation. The ark had only one window and it was placed on top to give access to the light Heaven. It had rooms, or literally “nests,” places of retreat and comfort. And in addition to salvation it provided a resurrection of sorts. I’m not pretending to make this a study of the typology of salvation But if you’d read and meditate on Noah’s ark, I think that you’d find even more ways to see God’s eternal salvation.
And there was Mrs. Noah smack dab in the heart of the Lord’s salvation. One day, perhaps soon, you and I will have the privilege of meeting that fine lady. But of course, that means that we must get in the ark with her. We have to show the same faith, and perhaps feel the same effects of her faith, that was hers. And that is one of the key factors which set her apart from all her neighbors – her faith. She had faith in Jehovah, and she had faith in her husband. Nothing else really mattered as much.