The Ark - A Portrait Of Christ Series

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: