In the midst of the universal wickedness of mankind and the gross immortality which caused God to order the destruction of the race and of all animal life upon the earth, there was found one good man. Of him alone could it truly be said that he walked with God, enjoyed constant communication with God, and always did what was right in the midst of a perverse and wicked generation. The name of the man was No'ah, who was of the Sethite line, and an immediate descendant of E'noch.
No'ah retained the integrity of his soul when all the world around him was impure. Sinful companions and degenerate times were to him no excuse for faltering goodness; the darkness of the age merely enhanced the lustre of his rectitude. His goodness was genuine, unique, and stalwart. He was Heaven's representative upon earth, the world's hero, and the preserver of the human race.
The piety of No'ah was characterized by justice and moral perfection; by Holy Communion with God, and by unfaltering faith and fervor. It did not waver before the rude winds of sin which swept the whole world into destruction, nor was it weakened by the persecution and sufferings of perilous times. It was kept bright and constant in its flame by the inward Grace of God.
No'ah was the mouthpiece of God to the world of his age; because of his genuine goodness God entrusted to him the purposes of Heaven in the respect to the future. By the anointing of the Spirit of God his pure soul was made the vocalizing agency for God's message to humanity, and he was, indeed, a preacher of righteousness.
In his communications with God it was revealed to No'ah that the time had come when all the people on earth were to be destroyed because of their wickedness. A great flood was to sweep over the whole earth, drowning every living creature. No'ah and his family, however, were to be spared because he alone had walked upright before the Lord.
God then told No'ah how he was to save his life and that of his family, and the means by which the lives of two animals of every kind and specie, a male and a female, should be preserved for the future habitation of the world. No'ah was then directed to build a very large ship as large as many of the sea-going steamers of today, very long and very wide, containing three separate stories, and covered with a water-proof roof. The dimensions of the craft, the materials to be used, and the methods of construction were all prescribed by God. God was the architect, but No'ah was the builder; the plan of safety was of Divine origin, but human cooperation was required. The very elements which were to be used for the destruction of the wicked were to bear up in perfect safety this wondrous craft for the security of the righteous.
The building of the Ark required a long time and involved a great deal of arduous labor. No'ah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Ja'pheth, were one hundred and twenty years in carrying to completion this gigantic undertaking, in which self-abandonment to God's will was required.
