inheritance is the connecting theme of this second pair of examples:--

"By faith Noah . . . . . became HEIR of the righteousness which is by faith" (11: 7).

"By faith Abraham . . . . . went out . . . . . to the place he should afterward receive for

an INHERITANCE" (11: 8).

Without the scriptures before us we should doubtless assign the position of "heir of

the righteousness by faith" to Abram, rather than to Noah, as so much is said of him in

that connection in Romans and Galatians as well as in Gen. 15: The fact that Noah is

also associated with righteousness by faith, shows that from earliest days this principle

has been in operation, and but the more emphasizes that unpalatable fact, that "the law

made nothing perfect"; that Sinai is a transition, not a goal (Heb. 12: 18-24), and that the

gospel committed to Paul, and which reaches back as far as Adam, and as wide as the

ends of the earth, is the gospel that carries with it age-lasting issues. It separated in Eden,

and was believed by Abel.

The epistle to the Hebrews looks at righteousness by faith from a different angle from

that of Romans. Here we see faith at work. "By faith Noah . . . . . prepared an ark".

Such is the simple statement. We must, however, not omit the moving causes that

assisted Noah's faith to prepare, against all reason, an ark on dry land. Noah's act is the

result of (1) divine warning, and (2) a pious fear.

A divine warning.

We are not allowed to forget the important truth that "faith cometh by hearing, and

hearing by the Word of God". Noah was doubtless wise in consequence of his 600 years

of experience, his fellowship with God, and his purity of life, which would all be in

favour of enabling him to foresee the goal toward which the ungodliness of his day was

fast heading, but this wisdom would never have evolved "an ark". Chrematizo = to warn,

is used in the N.T. to indicate a warning given by means of a dream (Matt. 2: 12-22);

by the Holy Spirit (Luke 2: 26); or by an angel (Acts 10: 22). Its direct connection with

the body of the epistle to the Hebrews will be seen by looking at Heb. 8: 5 and 12: 25.

Moses was "warned" by God in connection with the tabernacle which he "prepared" (see

Heb. 9: 2). Heb. 12: 25 applies this "warning":--

"See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him

who WARNED them on earth, how much more shall not we escape, if we turn away

from Him that WARNS us from heaven."

The verse following reveals that the two "warnings", the one so much greater than the

other, were the voices of Sinai and Calvary. Heb. 2: 1-4 is here repeated with solemn

emphasis, AND with the same sequence. The warning of Heb. 2: 1-4 is followed by a

reference to the "world to come" and its dominion; the warning of Heb. 12: 25 is

followed by a reference to a kingdom that abides the terrific "shaking" of the last days.

So, to come back to Noah, we have the warning, the flood (parallel with the shaking), and

the world to come, the dominion restored after the flood, called in Heb. 11: 7 "the