There are three men mentioned in Hebrews 11, all living before the flood, who are specially cited
in order to bring out three great principles of faith. These are principles as much needed by men
today as they ever were.

Abel

"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of His gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaks"
(Heb. 11:4).

Abel gives us the beginning of life, and the principle of faith as the ground of righteousness, based
on the revelation which God had given. Abel saw that the only way to approach God was by a
living sacrifice_by the shedding of blood. He saw that he had sinned against God, and he came
with his confession. And "God had respect unto Abel and to his offering." The sacrifice that he
brought gave him acceptance, and this he had not thought out for himself, but was based on the
revelation that God had given of the woman’s Seed which should bruise the serpent’s head. Faith
taught him that his sacrifice must speak to God of that. Man had forfeited the life he had with God
when he sinned, and since Adam’s fall all men have been born in sin and under
condemnation_without life as God views it. Abel saw and owned it, and the offering he brought
was a type of Christ, the "Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). How
beautiful was this faith of Abel’s. It is a living faith today. "By it, he being dead yet speaks." He
is still pointing out to men the only true way of approach to God.

Enoch

"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had
translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony that he please God" (Heb. 11:5).

Enoch gives us the principle of the life of faith in dependence upon God. It is a life before God
and for Him. It is a life of testimony to God’s goodness and care, as well as to His holy character.
It is a life in which there is constant self-judgment practiced. If Abel shows us the life obtained
by faith, Enoch shows us that life now sustained by faith. In the former it is justification by faith;
in the latter it is the practical life, acceptable to God by faith, it is a good conscience before God
and men, a life victorious over sin in communion with God. Enoch was thus identified with God,
and God was identified with him. He was thus delivered from himself and was in fellowship with
God. God’s things and interests were his object in life. He may have been limited in every way,
but there are no limitations to God. He needed wisdom, power, and grace, and found them all in
God and not in himself. Enoch is a type of the Church, for just as Enoch was translated, so the
Church is to be translated. He was God’s delight, and God took him to be with Himself.

Noah

"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" (Heb. 11:7).

Noah gives us the principle of faith for the inheritance of God as a future thing, which is not in
a scene so defiled as the one in which he lived. He did not lay up treasures here, but for a new
scene entirely. By faith he condemned the world. He knew that the present scene was to be visited
with God’s judgment, and so his faith laid hold of God for the new earth. The world could not
give him anything nor take away what he had by faith in God. God’s dwelling-place is not in this
present corrupt scene, and neither was the inheritance that Noah looked for. God may visit this
world in His grace, but it is only as a visitor. So Noah could not settle down where God was not.
By faith he received warning of coming judgment, he believed God, and built the ark. There were
no signs to be seen, but faith counted upon God’s Word. The men of that day may have thought
Noah to be a strange character, but that did not concern him. They were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage_making the most of this present life, and living in independence
of God. But faith made Noah a stranger to all that, and gave him the hope of eternal things.

(From Seed for the Sower.)