The Ark - a Portrait of the Cross
One thing that is vital to understanding scripture is to keep the end in mind as you study. If you lose sight of the big picture, you will miss the spiritual applications or be in danger of taking scripture out of context. God is working out His plan and He sees the end from the beginning. Everything is done to accomplish His ultimate purpose. If you look closely you will notice that the Old Testament prepares, or paves the way to the New Testament. Calling them the Old and New Testament gives the misconception that they are separate. Most people look at the testaments as though one has passed and the other has replaced it. I would like for us to look at it from a different perspective entirely. Look at the scriptures as one path from beginning to end. The signs and directions of the Old Testament point the way so that we don’t miss what God is preparing for us. The old doesn’t pass away, but it carries us by the hand into God’s revelation of His plan for redemption. Everything that happens in the Old Testament becomes an anchor that God uses to direct man toward God’s plan. The Old transitions into the gospels; it does not end abruptly and change directions when Jesus arrives. The laws and events in the Old Testament point toward Christ and prepare the world for the desperately needed Redeemer. The later you get in the Old Testament, the less imagery you have in worship and the more prophesy we see that identifies the coming Messiah and the plan of His sacrifice and future reign. Keep this in mind as we examine the spiritual application of the flood. Though historical events recorded in scripture are actual events, but God ordains these events to enlighten future generations to His plan. As the apostle Paul said, it was a great mystery but now has been revealed in Christ.
This study will focus on three areas that reveal God’s unfolding plan.
1. Names
I am going to borrow this from the book ’Cosmic Codes’. This book has an interesting study on the names of the generations of Adam. Many times in the scripture you see that the name given to a child is prophetic. In the genealogy from Adam to Noah we see this also. Here is the Hebrew interpretation of the meaning of the names from Adam to Noah:
Hebrew English translation:
Adam Man
Seth Appointed
Enosh Mortal
Kenan Sorrow;
Mahalalel The Blessed God
Jared Shall come down
Enoch Teaching
Methuselah His death shall bring
Lamech The Despairing
Noah Rest, or comfort.
If you read the meanings as a sentence, you get:
Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (and) His death shall bring (the) despairing (to) rest.
Or as 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 states it:
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Through Adam, we all suffer and are appointed to death, but through Christ we are made alive and the door is open for us to enter into God’s rest. So we can see that the names given to the generations leading up to the flood were a foreshadow of the coming salvation through Christ. Likewise, the ark is also a symbol of salvation in Christ. What is more fascinating is that Genesis and next four books in the Old Testament are the Tara. The Tara counted as sacred to the same Jewish priests, scribes and Pharisees that rejected Jesus and plotted His crucifixion. Yet many times their own sacred scriptures point directly to Christ. The generations of Adam lead directly to the ark and the meaning of the names point directly to Christ.
2. Ark
Four generations preached that God’s judgment was coming. For 120 years, the world saw Noah building the ark before their eyes. The door was open for any who would come in, but almost everyone rejected the invitation. I am sure they thought that since nothing has happened like this before, anyone who thought judgment is coming was foolish. For over 1,000 years men preached the coming judgment and nothing had happened. In spite of the prophesies, preaching, warnings and Noah building the ark for over a century, they were completely unaware of the coming destruction until the flood came and took them all away. They died completely ignorant in spite of the testimonies that surrounded them. Jesus said that as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when He returns. They will live life as though everything will continue as it always has; they will have plenty of testimony and the invitation will be open. Then the judgment will come and take them unaware. This is why Jesus said in Matthew 7:
13 " Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Even though the door is open and He appoints proclaimers of the truth to point the way, there are few who will be willing to enter through it.
The ark is a picture of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. God declared that He will not always strive with man, He made a way of escape and then His judgment came. His wrath was poured out over the whole earth but those who trusted in God’s plan of salvation remained safe in the ark. The ark bore the brunt of God’s wrath. The ark endured the storms, the debris and the destruction that would have destroyed Noah and his family. They felt no harm but rested securely in the ark.
Compare that to the work of Jesus Christ. Just as all were invited to enter into the ark, all are invited to come to Christ for rest. Matthew 11:
28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Just as there was no other way to escape the flood judgment other than the ark, there is no other way to enter into God’s rest and escape the judgment of God except through Christ. John 14:
6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
7 " If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."
I am sure many men said to Noah, there are many ways to be saved. These mountains will save us. We will find our own ways to get around God’s plan. Today we hear the same arguments. "I can climb on top of the mountain of my good works", or any number of ways men attempt to save themselves while rejecting God. God does not care about anyone’s religion or good works. He only cares about one thing - are you in Christ. If not, there is no other remedy. Only Jesus Christ bore the wrath of God. Anyone not covered by the blood of Jesus Christ is outside of God’s refuge and will bear the storm of judgment with or without religion. Only Jesus bore our griefs. Look at Isaiah 53:
4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
God’s wrath will be poured out. The Bible says that God stores up wrath for the Day of Judgment. But those who are in Christ have our wrath poured out on Christ. We are reconciled to God in Christ. It is not God’s desire to judge anyone. Judgment is always the last resort. The first choice is always grace and mercy. It is only when grace and mercy are rejected that sins are judged. God doesn’t judge us for our sins, but with our sins. The Bible says that every sin ever committed will be judged and punished by God. God’s mercy does not nullify God’s justice. But in stead, God’s mercy bears the penalty of God’s justice. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
It is out of mercy that a holy God paid the penalty of our sins with His own blood (Acts 20:28). All of our efforts do not wipe away our guilt. Even our own sense of justice realizes that. If someone is convicted of a crime - regardless of how minor or how heinous, we see the need for a judge to be impartial. If a jury convicted a criminal and he stood before sentencing and offered his works as a defense, it would mean little. If a convict had a 100-page resume of all the good things he or she had done, it would not override the crime and the need for punishment. We are outraged when judges pervert justice. Regardless of how good a person someone is, they are still guilty of the crime. Yet with God, we expect an indifference to violations of His law. If an imperfect judge in our courts can see the need to be just to the law, how much more will a holy God who judges without partiality?
That is the whole purpose of Jesus’ death on the cross. When we disobey in any area, we have violated God’s perfect law and that is sin. That sin will be judged. The only question is where? God poured out the wrath due us on Jesus Christ on the cross. Our choice is to lay our sins down and take up Christ, or to push aside Christ and take the wide road and bear the storm ourselves. The open door is there for any who will come. There is no greater sin than to reject the sacrifice of Jesus Christ made on your behalf. Hebrew 10:
28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
We have all heard the term ’unpardonable sin’. In the scripture, this is the only unpardonable sin. If we die in rejection of the payment of our sins that God paid on our behalf by His own suffering and blood, there is no hope. How can anyone not be amazed that our Creator who has the right to demand us to work for our salvation, instead paid our way with blood, suffering and tears. To count that suffering as a common thing truly is an insult. To count something as common means determine it is valueless. Something you walk past like a pebble on the street.
Without leaving the world system, you can’t be in Christ. We must be willing to leave this world that is destine for judgment behind. This is where most people lose the picture. They want to accept Christ and they want forgiveness, but they want to remain in the world that is under condemnation. That is the choice we have to make. Do we want Christ, or do we want what God hates? The ark only saved those who went in, not those who believed it could save them but did not go in.
3. The Raven and the Dove
This is where we have the point of decision. Look at Genesis 8:
7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.
8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground.
9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself.
10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark.
11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.
12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
The raven went out first. He never returned but kept going to and fro until the water dried up. The raven was satisfied with a dead world. He was able to rest on the debris that floated on top of the waters. He had to eat the dead corpses that drifted in the water. This is a symbol of someone who loves the world. People who have no concept of the fresh new life to come are satisfied with the dead works that float around the world. They keep going to and fro without rest from one sin to another trying to find satisfaction. They invest their entire lives in this dead world that is already passing away. Sometimes you see this in churches. You have someone who has all the outward signs of being a Christian, but they grow tired of waiting for God’s plan so they leave and pick the flesh off the world. They were in church, but were never really a part of the church - the body of Christ. They depart thinking that God doesn’t fulfill them because they were never interested in God’s plan for their life; they only looked to God as a means of gain. When their fleshly desires are not satisfied, they begin to long for the world. They are willing to sacrifice the hope of the future for a temporary world that is drying up. The future means little as long as they can have it now.
The dove is symbolic of the Spirit filled life. The dove did not find anywhere to rest the sole of her feet. The dove had no satisfaction in the dead works around the world, but looked for the promise to come. The dove was patient and waited for the promise of God’s new life. The second trip out, the dove brought back an olive branch - the hope of the peace to come. A true Christian will have this mind. We are in the world but not of it. We long for the promise to come. Each time we look around, we are unsatisfied with the world and continue to wait for the hope of God’s promise. The spiritual life finds satisfaction in a personal relationship with God. Our focus is not on what we have here and now, but the reality of what is to come. As Hebrews 11:1 puts it, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of what is not seen". The promise of God’s eternal reward is so real that we will gladly sacrifice the world for it. As we pass through the earth, we can’t be satisfied with the pollution around us and our hope always returns to Christ. We eagerly long for that day when we will see Him face to face and nothing else can satisfy. Only someone looking to the finish line and the promises that lay ahead can recognize the worthlessness of what this world has to offer.
We are either a raven or a dove. Either we put our hope and invest our lives in this world and sacrifice what lies ahead, or we long for the eternal rewards that lie ahead, invest ourselves in eternity and will never be satisfied with resting in the world. Hebrews 12:1-2 sums it up well:
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The cross was not Jesus’ source of joy, but what lay beyond the cross. The benefit of reconciling us to Himself was of such joy that He was willing to endure the torture and bear the shame that He despised. That should be our focus as well. We don’t endure our circumstances because we enjoy them. We endure because we are looking ahead to the joy that Jesus has set before us. Whatever I invest my life into now will be what I reap for all eternity. Only when I value what God promised, can I endure what tries to sidetrack me. I am willing to lay aside anything that prevents me from finishing this race because everything is worthless compared to the prize at the end of this race.
I endure my job not because I like work, but because of the reward of my labors. I enjoy my work most of the time, but sometimes it is a hassle. I could take my free time now and reject work and that would give me instant gratification, but that would sacrifice the better life that I have because I work. When work is hard, I don’t walk away because I know the alternative has no value at all. Even though I usually enjoy what I do, but I am not working just for the sake of working. I work for the financial benefits on payday and the future benefits that pay opens for me. The same is true for my Christian walk. I enjoy living the Christian life most of the time, but sometimes it is hard. Sometimes I don’t feel spiritual; sometimes I have to deny myself of things that promise me pleasure. It is the harder times that my goal must be in sight. I endure for the sake of the future. I could walk away, but the alternative is worthless compared to what is ahead. If I endure the tough times, I grow and my faith is strengthened. What I gain from the times of struggle are more valuable than anything I could gain from the world.
Look toward the finish line and you can endure any hardship. Jesus is the author and the finisher. He is the One we begin with when we lay down our life in exchange for the new life created for us. He is also the reward at the end of the race. All good things come from His hand.
2 Timothy 2:
11 This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him.
12 If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.
My prayer is that we each keep our eyes on the end prize so that we may endure.
*** This sermon can be downloaded as a Word document by following the link at http://www.exchangedlife.com/Sermons/gen/Genesis_8.htm
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