When Noah was 600 years old and he stepped out of that ark, he could not have imagined what was to come. He did not know the stories of Abraham coming down his generational line. He would never have known about a nation called Israel. Or the written word of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Let’s go further. He would never have imagined a virgin in Nazareth, a cross at Calvary, and an empty tomb three days later! He would not have known the ark was the forerunner of the salvation known through Jesus.
“After the flood, Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.” (Genesis 9 v 28-29)
On Friday, 7th November 2025, just a few days ago, a 100-year-old war veteran was being interviewed. Alec Penstone had joined the Royal Navy as a young man, given his life for his country, and survived. Recalling his friends who had lost their lives, with tears in his eyes, he was asked what Remembrance Sunday meant to him. He said that winning the war was ‘not worth’ how the country had turned out today.
Hold that thought.
Noah lived 350 years after the flood.
There is nothing about Noah in these years. He just lived. He just kept going.
I wonder if, when he spoke of the world before the flood, tears came to his eyes as they did to Alec Penstone?
I wonder, as he saw the Tower of Babel being built, did he think the ark was worth it?
He had seen the worst of humanity, the destruction of society, and the moment of reset for the world. What were his thoughts as he saw the decline of the world that God had saved?
One day, the exact five words that are in v29 will be applied to us all, “and then he died.”
He lived a long time, but it still applied to him.
The man who survived the death of the world still died himself.
Here’s another question: how is your life going?
Sometimes walking with God is simply living. In a world that is declining in values. A world that hurts one another. In a world that still hears a gospel of repentance. Thankfully, many are responding to it, and sadly, too many are not.
But we continue to remember what God has done for us and through us.
Three hundred and fifty years of continuing. Thankfully, not that many!
And then … we’re home.
Is it worth it?
Is faithfulness worth it when it costs me everything?
Is obedience worth it when I can’t see the purpose?
Is survival worth it when everyone I loved is gone?
Is continuing worth it when I’m exhausted?
You may not know the complete answer in this lifetime. Many around the world, hanging onto their faith, under cruel persecution, will know, like us, after, “and then he died.”
But oh, the joy of knowing it really was, then!!
Missions Paul 