Genesis chapters 6-8
"Make thee an ark of gopher wood"-Genesis 6v14
The story of Noah's ark is so well known that even President Putin of Russia's escape plan, in the event of breakdown, has been so termed. The New Testament (Hebrews 11v7) interprets this old narrative as follows: "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. Again (1st Peter 3v20), "...the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is eight souls were saved." The ark of Genesis symbolises provision for the safety of some, while the whole world was in danger, and clearly points to Christ as the Saviour of the world, and refuge for those who seek His presence.
The sin that entered the world in Eden, whilst seemingly innocuous, had taken on monster proportions in the days of Noah. We are not privy to the details but the declarations of the God. who knows everything, reveals the reality of these days;
"God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." 6v5
"And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth...for it repenteth me that I have made them."
That this is relevant to the present, Jesus said that "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." Luke 17v26; Matthew 24v37. The world today is no better than the days of Noah, the wickedness is just as great, the threat of the judgment of God is just as real. The only escape is the provision God has made in Christ, available to all, but effective only on those who are in the proverbial ark. This is Christ imprinted on the sacred Old Testament pages in Genesis. He is the only escape from the wrath of God; He is the only Saviour from the consequences of sin. The Ark speaks of Christ.
The Ark was made to the design and the dimensions given by God. Interestingly enough, modern ships are built to the scale of Noah's Ark-v14-16. No better designer than God!
It was impervious to the ingress of water-v14; It was 120 years in the building-v3.
Those to be saved, both man and animal, were called to enter the ark and the door was shut-chapter 7.
The start of the deluge was marked as to the year, the month and the day of Noah's life-7v11
The deluge of water was awesome..."all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened-7v11. The waters descended from above and beneath upon the earth and the full force of the storm was felt in the Ark. "The waters increased-7v17; the waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon the earth-7v18; the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth and all the high hills that were under heaven were covered-7v19; fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail and the mountains were covered-7v20.
All flesh died that moved on the earth-7v21.
The picture is detailed, and graphic. There is no room left for speculation or doubt. The wrath of God fell on an ungodly world, and only those in the Ark were saved. After 11 months the Ark rested on mount Ararat on the seventeenth day of the first month. This corresponds to the exact day of the resurrection of Christ who was crucified on the 14th day of the first month of the new year, and rose again on the 17th day. The accuracy is awesome and compelling and sets the Ark of Noah as a type of the death and resurrection of Christ.
We ponder the detailed image of this deluge as applied to Christ. We remember that His death is described as a baptism, both by Himself (Luke 12v50) and by the apostle Peter (1st letter 3v21). He is the fulfilment of what the Ark represents, and He endured the full fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God to become our Saviour. We could not end such a study without registering the record of scripture about Him. God shrouded this aspect of His suffering in darkness from the eyes of men, just as it is largely hidden from our minds today. However there are glimpses, and we pen a few here, describing the indescribable, the force of God's wrath poured out on His Son to save us. All of these apply to Christ.
Psalm 69v1-2 "Save me O God, for the waters are come into my soul. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me."
Psalm 42v7 "Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows they pass over me".
Psalm 88v6-7 "Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with thy waves".
Isaiah 53v6 "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all"-R.V. suggests laid on can be translated "made to converge on Him", or "cascade upon Him."
Romans 8v3 "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh."
1st Peter 2v24 "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree."
Like the flood that engulfed Noah's Ark, so was Christ engulfed at Calvary, when He took upon Him the wrath of God against our sin. Just as the ark rested, after the storm, so God has rested in the work of Christ who took all our sins in the murky depths of the cross, and now the invitation is to come "...thou and all thy house into the Ark".
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