Grace, grace… wonderful grace. “I have found grace in the eyes of the Lord!” Grace is the object of scripture. It is the “treasure” the righteous find. It is the Holy Grail hidden within Scripture. It is the Holy Grail that men still seek. It is the “Vessel” of God who is called Jesus. The “Cup” that Jesus could not pass, was a Vessel of grace. Noah found grace that his kind do not even search for.
And God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that
he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord
said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both
man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it
repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. (Gen 6:5-8)
What sticks out in those verses? “Noah found grace.” This is the first mention
of grace, but Adam found grace as well. The coats of skin that God made for
Adam and Eve were by God’s grace for the preservation of Adam’s kind.
They deserved to perish but God found a suitable lamb and made coats for them;
to comfort them and keep them safe for another day (age).
The “mystery of Christ” was revealed right then when Noah found grace. Paul
found grace when he merely stood there on the road to Damascus. He wrote about
what he had found:
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery… Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit… (Ephes 3:1-5)
Better said is that Noah “matsa’ chen” or in English,
Noah “attained grace” from God. God dispensed grace to Noah. The “Mystery
of Christ” is that salvation was always by grace, and that all the
dispensations were of grace, and are for all mankind.
In other words, there are neither different Covenants nor
Dispensations, nor even different Testaments. God’s Will was grace, and His
Testament was the Dispensation of Grace. God’s Will was written and finalized,
and sealed with blood in the days of Abraham to whom God dispensed the same
grace that he dispensed to Adam and Noah.
Paul wrote that the “Mystery of Christ” was “made known to
him, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men.” Where
have you read about the “sons of men” before? They were the sons of the
daughters of men; men of renown. [i] “Renown”
are those who would make a name for themselves.
God made a Name for the Son of God. He called His Son,
Jesus. Sons of men would not make a Name for God but would for themselves. The
sons of men did that again by building a tower to make a name for themselves. [ii]
Sons of men would diminish God and exalt themselves by endeavoring
to make for themselves a Name. Satan warned Adam and Eve about that — they
would be “as God.” [iii] What is called, “sin” is ultimately TO BE God.
That word comes from the old Danish, es, meaning “to be.” The offspring
of Seth’s line (Sons of God) and Cain’s line, (daughter’s of men) would be “sons
of men” who would be of the Wicked One but aspire TO BE Sons of God.
Noah was a true “son of God.” He was not of the Wicked One.
His genealogy was very pure. He was of Righteous Seth and his wife, Aklia, the
righteous twin of Righteous Abel. The only mutation in Noah was of the “mother of
all the living” — Eve.
She was of Adam and of God, but she still wanted TO BE. Noah’s
line was not perfect as he was the Son of God and the son of woman, or “wife-man”
which means adulteress. (Gesenius’ Hebrew Chaldee Lexicon).
He was, however, the best that God had in his Hand when He dispensed
grace. He was the firstfruit of God’s “crop” of Adams. If Noah had been perfect as original Adam was,
then he would not have needed grace. Grace is dispensed because of sin. The
more the sin, the greater the dispensation of grace. The dispensation of grace
is the sharing of God’s Holy Spirit.
Noah was dispensed grace because he had the spirit of Eve in
him. Sin was not accounted to Eve because she was beguiled. Adam sinned with eyes
wide open. “By one man, sin entered the world” [iv]
Sin entered the world by Adam, not wife-man, Eve.
However, sin soon entered the world again when Noah became
drunk with wine. However, sin was not accounted to him, because he was of
God who had dispensed grace to him. Then, Ham sinned, and sin was accounted
to him. His son Canaan was cursed. God’s grace had covered Noah’s drunkenness
because God understood that the new creature had not been sober and vigilant. [v]
The greater sin was a conscious act. Ham had dishonored his father and broke
the Fifth Commandment before it was ever put in stone!
Did Noah deserve grace? Grace (chen in the Hebrew)
means “favor” or “good-will” (ibid). Noah did not have good will in him, so God
dispensed good will. Up to then, man had free will. God endowed
Noah with His Will, since only God is good. [vi]
When Jesus was accused of being “good,” He de facto, as God, was good.
God endowed Noah with the Spirit of Jesus. What would Jesus will to do? Save
mankind. What was Noah’s good will? To save mankind.
The old Noah would have shunned the crusade just as Jonah would
shun the saving of Nineveh… perhaps even in the same place that would become
that city. However, God dispensed His own Good Will and mankind was saved. It
turns out that grace is dispensing the Good Will of God. God did that with Adam
and Eve and now he gave Noah Good Will; the same Good Will that He provided
with Jesus when He dispensed Jesus out of grace.
And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:13-14)
When Paul wrote that the “dispensation of the grace of God” was not known to
the sons of men, he was surely referring to the wicked ones of Noah’s time.
Only Noah had grace dispensed to him, not even his own sons and daughters-in-law.
Ham soon showed the lack of grace when he dishonored both God and his “savior,”
so to speak. Thenceforth, Canaanites to this day have not found grace that the
Savior dispensed. It is there but remains unfound. The treasure belongs to all,
but for it to be dispensed, it must be willed. Noah was hesitant but willing.
It was a hard task, but God’s Will must be done. There it is again — finding grace
is our will in harmony with God’s Will. It is God’s
Dispensation, but our willingness to attain it.
Because he had obtained grace, Noah became a willing worker. He did not
obtain grace because he worked but worked because he had found grace. There is
a huge difference! That is the mystery of Christ — that Jesus always dispensed
grace and those willing to have the gift shall be saved.
God wanted that “none (in Noah’s day) should perish.” [vii]
Even none of the wicked ones. By grace, God even saved the wicked one, Ham.
However, he did not dispense grace to him. Ham was unwilling to honor the grace
that had saved his life. How could he ever honor the grace that would save his
soul?
God not only saved the righteous one, Noah, but also the unrighteous ones
who were willing to board the Ark. The Ark is antitypical of the Holy Cross. Both
are the “vessels” that saved mankind.
Noah, full of grace, was captain of the Ark, and Jesus the Master of the
Cross. There were at least three “Arks” of grace: Noah’s, the Ark of the Covenant,
and the Old Wooden Cross that was made to carry all mankind across the “sea of
glass” [viii]
to Paradise in the Third Heaven.
The death of Jesus was by the same grace that was dispensed to Noah. God
sacrificed his only Son to sail across the crystal sea, or the heavens. God
also sacrificed Noah. Noah could have died, just as Isaac could have
died on his “Ark.” (Another ark?) Rather than God carrying Isaac over the Holy
Mountain, by grace, God did that when he provided a ram.
Can you not see? Salvation was always by grace and not by works. Sons of
man only need to take up the Cross and follow Jesus. [ix]
Noah took up the Cross, He took up the Ark of God to carry him to safety. His
Ark took a long time to be built but he was steadfast in his faith because he
found grace.
Not by coincidence, it took Noah 120 years to find safety on the Holy
Mountain, and now mankind is allowed as much as 120 years to find the grace of
God! Everything is according to Plan and God had the same Plan for grace then
as now. Noah found grace, but God dispensed it. Jesus was God’s Dispensation of
Grace with His only Righteous Man!
Look at the front of the Ark in the picture below. Can you not see the cross on the Mount of Calvary?
(picture credit: scriptoriumblogorium.blogspot.com)
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