Noah was also a herald of righteousness (2 Pet. 2:5). Nothing was righteous in his generation, and the earth was filled with violence and corruption. When God told Noah that He was going to destroy all men with the earth, Noah rose up to preach God’s righteousness in opposition to the corruption of his generation, telling the people to get right with God, with others, and with themselves or else God’s righteous judgment would come upon them. Because he preached righteousness and lived a righteous life to protest against the unrighteous, ungodly, and evil generation, he was spared from God’s governmental judgment according to God’s righteousness.
While Noah was preaching righteousness, he was also building the ark. He built the ark by faith (Heb. 11:7) and also according to God’s revelation (Gen. 6:14-22). He did not construct it according to tradition or his own concept, but, believing in God and practicing God’s revelation, he constructed it absolutely according to God’s revelation. During that period of time, he must have experienced a great deal of opposition, criticism, mockery, and condemnation. No one besides his family appreciated the work of building the ark. That work was unique and strange, and in human eyes it was impractical. However, when God’s judgment came, the ark saved him out of that judgment.
Not only was Noah saved from God’s judgment through the ark, but he was also saved from that corrupt generation through water (1 Pet. 3:20) into a new age, just as the children of Israel were saved by the water of the Red Sea (Exo. 14:22, 29; 1 Cor. 10:1-2) and the New Testament believers are saved by the water of baptism (1 Pet. 3:21). The flood that God used to execute His judgment upon that evil age saved Noah from that age. Hence, Noah enjoyed a double salvation. On the one hand, by faith he entered into the ark and was saved from God’s judging flood through the ark; on the other hand, he passed through the flood in the ark and was saved, through the water of the flood, out of the condemned world into a renewed world.
Thus, it was with Noah, a righteous man, a perfect man who walked with God, one who preached righteousness, one who built the ark to save himself, and one who was saved through water, that God made the third covenant with man.
Before the human race was judged by the flood, God made a covenant with Noah (Gen. 6:18—7:5) that his family of eight should enter into the ark and that he should bring some of every living thing into the ark to keep them alive and thereby keep seed alive upon the earth. It was because of this covenant that, after God’s judgment of destruction, man and all living things were kept alive and God’s purpose for man could be maintained. This covenant may be considered the basis upon which God made a further covenant with Noah after the world was destroyed by the flood. After the flood, based on the covenant prior to the flood, God made the present covenant with Noah.
After he came out of the ark, Noah first built an altar to Jehovah and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar (Gen. 8:20). He did more than Abel in that he not only offered sacrifices but also built an altar. Building an altar and offering sacrifices signify the offering of Christ through the cross. This indicates that Noah took God’s way of redemption by presenting the offerings, which signify Christ, to satisfy the requirement of God’s righteousness and to be accepted by God. This was the effective basis upon which God made a covenant with Noah.
After Noah built an altar and offered the burnt offerings, Jehovah God smelled the sweet savor and said in His heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake...neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done” (Gen. 8:21). This is because the burnt offering signifies Christ as God’s pleasure, and those who believe in Him, through their union with Him, are also accepted by God in Him (Lev. 1:1-17; Heb. 10:5-7). Hence, the sweet savor issuing from the burnt offerings brought satisfaction to God. Before the flood, the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, so that it repented Jehovah that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart (Gen. 6:5-6). However, here was a man who offered burnt offerings according to God’s pleasure and was accepted by God, making God happy and satisfied. Hence, God came to make a covenant with man to preserve the earth and the order of all things related to the earth that man might be kept alive and that He might use man to fulfill the economy of His intention.