“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock” (Matthew 7:24,25).

It is noteworthy that Jesus uses terms that describe a flood when He speaks of the consequences of obedience or disobedience to His word. Four times in the account of Noah it is said that Noah “did all that God commanded him” (Genesis 6:22; 7:5,9,16). The foundation of Noah’s obedience was that he first “found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8).

This first mention of grace in the Old Testament is a beautiful illustration of God’s sovereignty as He reached down to one man and his family in the midst of a world that was totally corrupt. “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Hebrews 11:7). God “spared not the old world, but saved Noah, . . . a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly” (II Peter 2:5).

Noah is the best illustration of a man who obeyed God, and, in so doing, built his house (or home or family) upon a rock, because the floods did come, even to the degree that the highest mountains were covered (Genesis 7:20). He built his house upon that “spiritual Rock,” that is, Christ (I Corinthians 10:4). “He is the rock, His work is perfect” (Deuteronomy 32:4). “For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God” (Psalm 18:31). “Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved” (Psalm 62:1,2). CJH