Noach connected to G-dliness in the way that it expresses itself within the world, but not in the manner in which G-d transcends the world. His perception of G-dliness affected him to the extent that he wasn’t drawn after the rest of the wickedness of his generation in bringing destruction to the world. Yet, Noach was not able to transcend the confines of worldly limitations.
Avraham, on the other hand, perceived G-dliness in a fashion which transcended the world, and his way of serving G-d was therefore on a greater level. Noach reached the highest level that a human being can reach without transcending the world. The other three generations of tzadikim attained a level of G-dliness that transforms the world itself.
When one reaches a depth that is deeper than the world, he is able to affect the material permanently, and transform the world to a different state. It is for this reason that Torah affirms the existence of the world. Because Torah is inherently higher than the world, it is able to affect the world in a deeper way than the world would have been on its own. Since the world was created for the sake of Torah, and not vice versa, the Torah affects the world in a way that not only does not negate it, but strengthens its existence.
Kingship as well, transforms the complete identity of the serf. The serf’s whole identity is that he is a servant of his king. So too, when ours and the world’s identity is that we are servants of the Almighty, our entire character is transformed. This is aptly expressed in the following statement, which speaks of the time of Moshiach:
For the land shall be full of the knowledge of G-d as water covers the sea.
Yeshayahu 9:11
The sea and the water are not two separate things; they are one and the same. In the same way, when Moshiach will come, our identity will be completely one with G-d’s, as if we had no personal life of our own. When this happens, we and the entire world will be transformed, to the extent that even animals will change their natural tendency of violence.
