The patriarch Noah is now 900 years old.
Three centuries have passed since the great Flood destroyed wickedness and gave humanity a second chance to prove its loyalty before God. The aging veteran of two worlds—his wife, his sons, and daughters-in-law—will never forget the unspeakable horror of those days and weeks within the walls of that massive vessel. The torrential rains, the giant subterranean geysers, the monstrous waves coming and going, the ark trembling in every fiber as it is dashed from billow to billow, the ceaseless discomfort attending both animal and human passengers—what stories they could tell their children and distant descendants for generations to come!
Worse still was the agony of soul felt by Noah and his family, what some today might call “survivor’s guilt.” One has to assume the presence of numerous relatives and friends on the outside of that ark, many who had likely agonized about whether or not to come aboard, only to hold back in the end for fear of ridicule and other consequences. How many times, dare we ask, did poor Noah have to go to the ark’s door and tell those frantically banging and pleading for admittance, “I would love to open this door and let you in. But I didn’t shut this door, and I can’t open it.”
What must the pain have been, likely for days, hearing the heartbroken pleas, the too-late confessions, the voices of the forever lost, and at last the awful silence? We often think of how horrific it must have been for those outside the ark, struggling desperately to escape the rising, raging waters on hilltops, in the lofty branches of trees, or clutching the necks of powerful animals [1]. But the horror inside the ark must have been very real too. Though thankful for God’s salvation, the tears and anguish of the survivors would linger in their memory and that of their offspring for centuries to come.
And Now??
Now, 300 years later, Noah is still in pain, and not just from his memories. He is in pain because the world, now populated solely by his descendants, has become almost as wicked as it was when the Flood destroyed it. In Ellen White’s words: “After the dispersion from Babel idolatry again became well-nigh universal, and the Lord finally left the hardened transgressors to follow their evil ways” [2].
Noah finds it hard to understand these choices. Many, indeed, of those now straying into idolatry and its attendant evils have sat at his feet, hearing the stories of the antediluvian world, of the fiery angels on guard at Eden’s gate, of the rampant vice, brutality, and corrupt worship that awakened God’s wrath, of the many years spent building the ark and warning the world of coming judgment. And of course, they had all heard of the weeks and months on the water—the crashing waves, the howling winds, the pleas for mercy on the outside, the drowning millions, the ceaseless torment of body and spirit, the rain finally ending, the first sight of land, the birds flying to and fro, and at last the ark resting on the mountains of Ararat.
Why haven’t they learned? he must have asked over and over again. Is it my fault for not setting a better example? . . . But that way lies the dragon, and the hurt is too great for him to dwell more than a moment on that degrading, embarrassing episode (Gen. 9:20-24). Though he knows God has forgiven him, the shame and regret continue to stalk his heart. Pardon may cancel a dark incident in the books above, but it won’t cancel the memory of such deeds in minds inclined to waywardness.
The Patience of the Saints
The pain now convulsing the heart of the veteran patriarch, together with the hearts of others among his family and descendants who had remained true to God, must have been almost as strong as that endured by the eight survivors in the ark during the weeks and months of the Flood. More than once they must have wondered whether God’s promise not to destroy the earth again was conditional, and whether the rampant and near-total apostasy of the new world’s inhabitants would again awaken divine wrath.
But what kept alive the faith of Noah and others in the dismal centuries that followed the Flood was the consecration and perseverance of a faithful remnant. Ellen White states, regarding the spiritual state of the world at that time:
But the true faith was not to become extinct. God has ever preserved a remnant to serve Him. Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, in unbroken line, had preserved from age to age the precious revealing of His will [3].
Noah and those of his descendants who nurtured and transmitted the true faith continued to cherish, through good times and bad, the divine promise that one day a Savior would come to offer salvation to all, that in time an obedient and holy people would demonstrate to the world the integrity and love God has sought for so long from those who bear His name. As with Job (James 5:11), patience has been a perennial hallmark of the consecrated in every age, as it has been the hallmark of God’s own dealings with humanity. The anchor offered the soul by the memory of God’s mighty acts has ever made His promises the enduring marker to which the hope of His saints is fastened. Throughout the many centuries that elapsed till the Messiah’s first advent, these memories and the perseverance they inspired kept the faith of the faithful burning bright.
Conclusion
The patience of the saints is being tested yet again. There are those among the striving faithful in God’s remnant church today who at times grow weary of the waiting—not only waiting for the second coming of Christ, but for the more rapid progress of reform inside the faith community. They seem not to realize in such moments just how patient God has been with them in their own struggle with apostasy and sin. They seem not to appreciate God’s supreme reverence for free will—the indispensable ingredient of the love for which He so yearns in His relationship with His creatures. The Savior’s wooing of His reluctant and wayward bride has taken far longer than He wished. But the eternal love and devotion which that waiting will at last develop will make it all worth waiting for.
Little wonder that the third angel’s message closes with the assurance:
Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus (Rev. 14:12).
REFERENCES
1. Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 100.
2. Ibid, p. 125.
3. Ibid.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan