Lesson 17 The Ark - A Figure of Him Who is to Come

 The Ark - A Figure of Him Who is to Come

                                   Genesis 6:11-17; Hebrews 11:7

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Gen.6:11-12).

Man, who is a creation of the flesh of humanity, and who has gone his own way, lives in the flesh body as though it were his and as though his body is him (see 1 Cor.7:23; 1 Pet.1:18-20). He has his manner of life in the lusts of the flesh and of the mind (Eph.2:1-3). He will not concede that the body of human flesh is a mere creation of God for a temporary purpose. That it is mortal, he will admit, but he does not let his mind dwell on that fact. He will make the most of the time he has on earth in the here and now and hopes death is annihilation.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer.17:9). In the deceits of his own lusts, man will compromise if he believes that the end justifies the means. He will persuade himself that he believes the truth, while in the imagination of his heart he has changed the truth to fit his own desires. Man is deceived in his own imagination. His own heart - in the thoughts conceived in his own imagination - is what deceives him. He is drawn away and enticed by his own desires (Jas.1:14).

An unbelieving heart is an evil heart. An unbelieving heart corrupts. It will devise wicked ways. Why all the violence and corruption upon the earth? The corruption and violence show a society of restless, dissatisfied souls. Why all the unrest? There is no satisfying the desires of an unbelieving heart. There is no end to man’s desires of the flesh and of the mind. The desire is always for more or greater. Even in his degradation, the lust is for great satisfying of a desire which will not be satisfied. The deceitful heart says, “Why should one deprive oneself?”

“And God said unto Noah, ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth’” (Gen.6:13).

Jehovah had given man 120 years to see the pride of his own self-will in going his own way, and thinking for himself as he pleased and fulfilling his own desires (Gen.6:3). Man had 120 years for changing his mind to agree with God. Jehovah had given man 120 years to prove his own heart to him. Though the thinking and the desires were seen to be corrupt and violent, man refused to admit that he is his own worst enemy. The reason being, man in the flesh is at enmity with God in his mind (see Rom.8:5-9).

Unregenerate, ungodly men, at enmity with God in their mind, are powerless to make themselves safe from being destroyed. Each one must have help. God knew this when He purposed and covenanted with Himself to have man in His image. Man’s salvation is covered in God’s Covenant with Himself. Man’s need is met and salvation made possible in the Anointed Son of God - the Son of the Covenant.

All is of God and by God and through God. The Anointed Son of the Covenant is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor.1:24b). In the wisdom of God the Anointed Son of the Covenant is made unto His mankind wisdom - both righteousness and sanctification, even redemption (1 Cor.1:30).

Redemption is more than the forgiveness of sins. The redemption of the body includes both Christ, who knew no sin, becoming sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him and our having been sanctified, set apart unto God in Him. There must be the ministration of death before there can be the ministering of righteousness and sanctification to the heart.

In grace God made a way for the sinner to be justified. The Covenant Son, with the power of eternal life, would become the Servant of Jehovah. He would take the likeness of man, born in a prepared body of human flesh. The Covenant Son, the Word who is God become flesh, would become God’s birthed Son of Man (Ps.139:13-14; Is.7:14; 49:5-8; Mt.1:18-25; Lk.1:26-35; Jn.1:1-14; Heb.10:5-23). The only perfectly obedient Son of His Father, the Anointed Son [Jesus] would be obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross (see Phil.2:5-8).

In that death the Covenant Son would become sin for His creation of mankind, that whosoever believes into Him should not perish but would become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor.5:21). In this way each one believing into Jesus and uniting with Him in His death and burial is justified.

Not only is one forgiven his sins but he is acquitted of all charges of sin and guilt (Is.53:4-6; Rom.4:25-5:11; Col.2:14-15). He is set apart unto God, sanctified together with the Son. All are out of the same Father through having been begotten out of the dead - alive forevermore. Whom He justified, God also glorified with a body born of eternal life (Rom.8:28-30).

God has the power to save man from perishing. The Covenant Son was willing to pour out His soul and to lay down the life of the prepared body, that He might take it up again a body of glory (Is.53:10-12). What is man’s to do? Will the sinner bow himself to the One who has the power to save? Will he come to Jesus Christ and take up His cross and follow Him through death to life eternal (Mt.16:24-27; Lk.9:23-26). There must be repentance toward God - a change of thinking. Will the sinner give up the enmity of his mind and reconcile with God?

There must be faith toward the Anointed Covenant Son. Repentance is the acknowledging of the wrong done by having gone one’s own way and by remaining at enmity with God in one’s mind. Also what must be acknowledged is the justice of the deserved death for the wrong done God (see Is.53:3-9).

Faith is the acceptance of the Gift of the Son with the righteousness of God and the sanctification in the redemption of the body and a thankfulness for the grace and mercy extended an ungodly sinner, helpless to help himself (Rom.5:8).

How does the sinner hear of the grace and mercy extended to him in the Covenant Son? Through the preaching of the gospel of the Anointed Son. The good news of the faith is set before one in the preaching of the righteousness of God through faith in His Anointed Son. Held out to us in the gospel is the display of God’s love for His creation of mankind. All the many facets of the person and work of the Covenant Son are set on the dark background of sin and death and hopelessness and helplessness and fear of death and of judgment to come. All displayed, that we might buy His salvation through repentance and faith in the Son.

It pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save those who believe. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but unto those who are saved by it, it is the power of God (see Rom.1:16; 1 Cor.1:18-29).

“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 which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Heb.11:7).

Noah was a preacher of the righteousness through faith in the Anointed Covenant Son. God bears him witness in His word (see 2 Pet.2:5). As seen in Genesis 5, Noah came from a family of preachers of the righteousness of God through faith in God’s Covenant (see Jer.44:4; Lk.1:70). Noah took his text from the gospel of the Covenant Son declared in the heavens (see Gen.1:14-19; Job 9:6-9; 38:31-33;  Ps.19:1-6; 97:6; Is.45:11-12; 46:9-11; 48:16-18; Rom.10:5-18).

There against the black velvet of the night sky is seen the four faces of the One who was coming with life and light for ungodly sinners at enmity with God in their minds. There in the stellar heavens, like glistening diamonds, is seen the four faces of the Covenant Son - the Son of Man, the Servant of Jehovah, the Son of God and the King of the universe. The heavens declare the glory of the sovereign God who was willing to take the likeness of man in order to save God’s creation of mankind. There is seen how He carried out the salvation as a Servant of Jehovah. There is seen the virgin birthed Son of God and there is seen His death and His having been raised up out from the dead, the begotten Son of God who brings many sons of God to glory. There in the stellar heavens is the gospel of salvation which leads men to repentance and to put their faith in the Anointed Son of God, that they will be born again and not perish. There is seen the King of the universe He created, who will come again and set up His Kingdom, His Kingdom of righteousness and peace, filled with sons of God, that will continue on into eternity.

Noah, the preacher of righteousness, was a justified, glorified man through faith in the coming Son of God. Noah walked with God (Gen.6:8-9). Noah could be warned of the coming judgment as to details and he was given understanding of what was coming before it was seen (see Amos 3:7).

At the end of 120 years, with man still showing no repentance, judgment would come in the form of a flood of waters covering the earth. Therefore an ark must be prepared to make Noah’s household safe from the coming judgment of waters.

“God said unto Noah, ‘Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; rooms shall you make in the ark, and shall pitch it within and without with pitch. And you shall make it this way: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shall you make to the ark, and in a cubit shall you finish it above; and the door of the ark shall you set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shall you make it’” (Gen.6:14-16).

God is the Architect of the ark, but Noah is to be the builder of the ark. The reproaches of the One sending the Flood will fall on Noah. While Noah is building the ark, he will not only be a preacher of the righteousness of God through faith in the Covenant Son, he will be a preacher of judgment.

Though the necessity of preparing the ark was very real to Noah, to the unregenerate, unrepentant sinners of his day it would have seemed sheer folly and Noah a foolish old man with delusions. Many a jibe would be heard as they passed or stopped to watch the delusional old man. Noah would be the butt of many jokes.

Noah did according to all that God had commanded him (Gen.6:22). In Hebrews 11:7 the writer tells us that Noah was moved with “godly fear,” a rightly directed, godly reverence which dwells with faith. The secret of Noah’s obedience was faith - faith in the faithful Companion with whom he walked. The things had not been seen as yet, but Noah knew the One who had forewarned him. He knew the living and true God is faithful and true to His word. What He has spoken, He will make good (Num.24:19; Is.42:9; 45:21-24; 46:9-11; 55:11). In Noah’s faith and his godly reverence was his love for his God. In loving obedience he set to work cutting and planing timbers.

The future, unseen things of the Flood seen by faith were real to Noah. In the light of the scene around him, it was a just judgment. Man would not have God rule over them and, with the imagination of the hearts only continually evil, violence filled the earth.

God gave Noah the instructions to build the ark. All Noah need do was follow God’s lead to make an ark of gopher wood, literally “timbers of wood.” First trees must be cut down and dragged or taken to a specific place. The timbers must be planed and hammered together and then covered within and without with pitch to make the ark waterproof. The ark would be the only place of safety in the waters of death.

Considering the size according to the dimensions Noah was given, with three stories of rooms, to prepare the ark must have seemed a formidable task to Noah. But Noah had put his faith in the Covenant Son and he had come to the Covenant Son to be given the rest of salvation and to learn of Him and continually find rest for his soul. No matter the labor to be done, Noah had learned that, yoking up with the Anointed Son, made the yoke easy and the burden light (Mt.11:28-30).

Faith is the only condition necessary for entering into the rest of the Anointed Son of God. When one can truly say, “Your will be done,” and submit all to his Lord and Master and trust himself to his Savior-Redeemer, he will find true rest for his restless soul. Then God can work in that one to will and to do of His good pleasure.

So far in the happenings recorded in the book of Genesis, Moses has made no mention of building ships. Though the river going out of Eden was divided into four heads, there is no mention of a shipping trade or travel on the rivers for necessity or pleasure (see Gen.2:10-14).

But Noah was not building a boat or a ship. God’s blueprint was for a large box-like structure. The length was to be 300 cubits, the breadth 50 cubits and its height 30 cubits. A cubit can vary in size, anywhere from 18 inches to 22 ½ inches. If we take the general basis of the cubit as 18 inches, the length would be 450 feet and the breadth [width] 75 feet and the height 45 feet. This would make the ark considerably larger than a football field, which is 300 feet by 50 feet. The ark, being divided into three stories, would provide a total of 101,250 square feet of usable living space. The ark differs from a normal boat in that the ark was meant to float and not to navigate currents. The Hebrew word for “ark” simply means “a vessel.”

Once inside the ark Noah was totally at the mercy of the One in whom he had trusted, the One who loved him. Noah had trusted Jehovah God and His Anointed Son to receive the righteousness of God and the eternal life offered as a gift in the Anointed Son. Noah was a righteous man. He could trust his God for safekeeping through the waters of judgment. He and his family were entirely safe in the keeping care and grace and mercy of his God and His Covenant Son.

In our lesson “Saving a Household,” having seen Peter’s comparison of the preparing of the ark being a like figure to baptism (see 1 Pet.3:18-21), let us now look at the vessel of the ark being a like figure of the earthen vessel of the flesh prepared for a dwelling place for God’s Anointed Covenant Son, Jesus.

The “ark” was a vessel built upon the earth from timbers of a cut down tree, many trees. To prepare an earthen vessel for the Anointed Son, the Word who is God, to become flesh and dwell [tabernacle] on the earth, living tissue was taken from the womb of a virgin to prepare a body in the likeness of man.

In that earthen vessel dwelt the Word, who is God, and there all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell (Col.1:19; 2:9; Jn.10:36-38). There in that earthen vessel as the Son of Man dwelt the one Man who did not “walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor did He stand in the way of sinners” (Ps.1:1a). He never turned to His own way, but He was perfectly obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Jn.6:38; 8:28-29; Phil.2:5-8). “Nor did He sit in the seat of the scornful” (Ps.1:1b).

“His delight is in the Law of Jehovah, and in His Law He meditates day and night.” These first two verses in Psalm 1 are in the present tense. They are as true of the Covenant Son before He became flesh as afterward.

Verse 3 is in the future tense. When Israel sang this psalm of their coming Redeemer, He had not yet become flesh to dwell among them. “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of the water, that brings forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever He does, shall prosper.”

This is the Man, the one Mediator between God and man, who divides all mankind into the righteous, who are born of His seed, and the ungodly, who do not choose to receive the eternal life He has come to bring and who, therefore, remain dead in trespasses and sins (see 1 Tim.2:3-6; Ac.17:31).

“The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment (of the righteous), nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous,” the Kingdom of the Son of God’s love. “For Jehovah knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Ps.1:4-6).

Here is a Man who divides the ungodly sinners from the congregation of the righteous, those who will not stand the judgment of the Second Death (see Rev.20:6). Jehovah knows the way of the righteous. They are the fruit of the Man who is like a tree. They become the righteousness of God through faith in the Anointed Son, who became sin for them. They are His seed (see Is.53:10-12; Jn.12:23-32).

In Psalm 22, which is prophetic of our Lord, He prayed, “Deliver My soul from the sword” (Ps.22:20a). He could not ask for His body to be saved from the crucifixion of the body. But the body could be saved from the power of death (see Jn.10:17-18; 12:27; Ac.2:23-24; Phil.2:8). Isaiah 53:8 speaks of Him being cut off out of the land of the living.

Yet “a seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation” (Ps.22:30). The prophet Isaiah prophesies of the same figure: “Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You shall make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities” (Is.53:10-11). His seed will be called “trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that He might be glorified” (Is.61:3b).

The vessel, the ark built by Noah, was a very large box, like a coffin floating in the waters of death. Buried in the ark were Noah and his family, who would come through the waters of judgment alive and safe. Here we have, in figure, mankind, through faith, being placed into the Anointed Covenant Son in His death.

“As many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ [the Anointed Son] were baptized into His death, and therefore we are buried with Him through baptism into death, that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For since we have been planted [united] together in the likeness of His death, we shall be of His resurrection” (Rom.6:3-5).

As Noah’s household came through the waters of judgment of death safe in the ark with Noah, so the members of the household of the Anointed Covenant Son, His household of the righteous sons of God, have come through the judgment of the Second Death alive and safe, born into the Kingdom of God. In resurrection sons of God shall bear the image of the heavenly Lord from heaven (Phil.3:21; see Heb.3:1-6; Rev.20:6).

Noah was to make rooms in the ark. A “room” is a “dwelling place, an abiding place, or a resting place, a refuge.” So Christ, God’s Anointed Son, was to the sons of Israel a refuge and the Anointed Covenant Son was a refuge to Noah before them. And so He has been to all the righteous sons of God, beginning with Adam. And to us who are here after Israel has been set aside for a time, He is our dwelling place. Verse 1 of Psalm 90 claims Jehovah has been the dwelling place of the righteous through all generations.

Noah was to cover the ark with pitch, both within and without. The pitch would assure that the ark was waterproof. The waters of the judgment must not be allowed to enter the refuge of the household. The waters were a judgment of death. Man loses his life breath in water. Every square foot of the coffin-like vessel must be waterproofed with pitch. The Hebrew word for “pitch” in Genesis 6:14 is the Hebrew word translated 70 times in the Old Testament “to make atonement.” The Hebrew “atonement” has the meaning of “covered” or “covered over.”

In the Old Testament the death of the sacrificial animals figured the covering over sins of the one having believed into the coming Savior of mankind until the Anointed Son of the Covenant would come and ratify the Covenant in His own blood. The offering of the animal pictured the offering of the Covenant Son in the sacrifice of Himself (see Ex.12:1-28; Lev.1:1-7:38; 23:1-44; Heb.8:1-10:23; 13:20).

The offering of the animal in death was a picture of the Covenant Son coming to offer Himself in death as man’s Substitute. There was no redemption in the offering of the blood of an animal. The offerer was merely picturing his faith in the coming Son, whom God set forth as His Propitiation, that man might be freely justified in the redemption that is in God’s Anointed Son, Jesus (Heb.2:9-17; 1 Jn.2:1-2; 4:9-10). In this way, in any age, a person could declare his faith in the blood of the coming Son, whom God set forth as the One satisfying Him concerning the putting away of sin once for all and the sharing of eternal life with the power to raise up the body out from the dead.

For anyone believing in the righteousness of God through faith in the Anointed Son, in whom is the redemption, God could declare Himself righteous to pass over the sins covered in the blood of the Covenant Son, even though they were done before the Word, who is God, became flesh to be obedient unto the death of the Cross (Rom.3:22-26; Phil.2:5-8).

As the ark was covered with pitch to keep the household within safe from the judgment of the waters of death, even so was the earthen vessel of the Son of God covered within and without with the covering to make God’s household safe from the judgment of the Second Death. The begotten Son raised out from the dead is the Person who is eternal God in a tent of flesh and bone of eternal life. There is no death in eternal life.

Inside that earthen vessel built of human flesh was eternal life, the Word who is God, who is life eternal. And after the ratifying of the Eternal Covenant in His blood, the body would be raised up flesh and bone of eternal life. Here is seed of eternal life to raise up the body of the one who has believed into the begotten Son (see Rom.1:1-4; 8:9-11).

All who believe in the righteousness of God through faith in His Anointed Son are covered with eternal life. Each one has been born a son of God, born from above with eternal life. Each one in the resurrection is shared His likeness. Each one will be raised up a body of flesh and bone of eternal life - a deathless, glorified body (see Lk.20:36; 24:36-43; Jn.20:19-27; 1 Cor.15:44; Phil.3:21).

The blueprint for the ark Noah was to build was specific. The ark was to have a window above and a door on the side. The ark would have three decks or three stories (Gen.6:16). “A window” - one window finished a cubit above. Again, using the 18 inch basis, this would be an open space of 18 inches at the top of the sides all around the ark, length and breadth. This would furnish a circulating of air needed for oxygen for the mortal bodies in the ark. It would also furnish light while keeping the waters out.

For those having believed into the Anointed Son of God who have made their exodus out of the flesh and are therefore no longer in the flesh, but in the spirit, there is light and breath for the new born again son of God. The Spirit of God, the very Breath of God, bears witness with our spirit, in the very life of our soul, that we are born of God (Rom.8:9-17; 2 Cor.5:17; 1 Jn.3:23; 4:7-15). The Spirit of Christ dwelling in our tent with us is proof of our having become the righteousness of God in His Anointed Son.

“In Christ” is a key phrase for a member of the true Church, the Body, over which Christ is the Head. “In Adam” one is in the flesh. One lives minding the things of life as related to the body of mortal flesh. In Adam the mind is focused on the things done and said in the body of flesh. Life is all about self and about my will. That thinking is at enmity with God and His purpose to have sons of God - one with Him - thinking His thoughts, doing His will.

United to Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, one is no longer in the flesh, but in the very spirit of being. One has made his exodus out of the flesh creation of Adam. One is a new creation in Christ Jesus. One has died to the sin, to having his will over the will of his Creator-Redeemer. Having been set free from the selfishness of the flesh creation, one is free to live in the very spirit of his being, where the Spirit of God will enlighten the eyes of the understanding of the spirit to spiritual realities of the truth and wisdom of God.

We know that we have made our exodus out of Adam and the flesh creation and we have entered a new realm of spirit life if the Spirit of God has come to live in our tent of flesh with us and teach us the deep things of God and lead us into all truth as He glorifies Christ to us. We have the true light of the knowledge of the glory of God. We see it in the face of Jesus, the begotten Son of God. We no longer know the Lord according to the flesh. In the flesh we thought of Him as such a one as us. We related to Him according to our way of thinking. We either thought of Him too human or too holy.

Now in the spirit of our very being, with the eyes of our understanding enlightened, the Spirit of God makes Him known to us as He is. Now we see through the mirror of the word  in dimness (1 Cor.13:12), but it is the window of our ark of safety. With our heart unveiled of the flesh, we are free to look at the glory. And having beheld the glory in the mirror of the word, we are being changed into the same image from glory to glory (2 Cor.3:18). It is for freedom Christ has set us free. We are free to behold the glory.

There was only one door in the blueprint for the ark Noah was to build. A “door” is both an “exit and an entrance.” The Anointed Covenant Son, the begotten Son of God, is man’s exit out of the creation of the flesh in Adam, and He is the entrance into the presence of the living and true God (see Jn.10:7-9; 14:6).

We put off our body of flesh of humanity and, in union with the begotten birthed Son of God, we made our exodus out of Adam and the flesh creation. Together we went into death. Together we were buried. Together we are raised to walk in newness of life in the spirit. Jesus consecrated a new and living way into the holiest, where God dwells. The new and living Way is in a body of flesh and bone of eternal life raised up out from the dead. Jesus has gone back to heaven in His new living body. One day He will come with our new living bodies and clothe us and take us to the holiest to ever be with Him (Jn.14:1-3; 2 Thess.4:13-18).

There was one other detail in the blueprint God gave Noah. Leaving out the words of our text that are in italics we have, “lower, second, third shall you make it” (Gen.6:16b).

Chapter 1 of the book of Revelation speaks of Him “who is, and who was, and who is to come.” The reference is to both the Father, verse 4, and to the Son, verse 8. Father and Son are one God, but two personal beings.

Verse 5 is a reference to Jesus, the Anointed Son -

who is the faithful witness to the glory of God from the beginning when the heavens declared the glory,

who was begotten out from the dead,

who is to come - the Ruler of the kings of the earth.

God, having given Noah a blueprint for an ark, and for the work of building it, then gave Noah the purpose for the ark. The means of destruction was to be a flood of waters to take away the breath of the temporary life of the flesh.

“And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die” (Gen.6:17).

“I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth.” The repetition of the personal pronoun is for emphasis and force. The Creator and Preserver of life is also the Judge of all the earth, who must do right.

The earth was corrupt before God. All flesh, each one of the creation in Adam, had corrupted his way upon the earth. In man going his own way, he had filled God’s earth with violence. The good environment God created for man to enjoy corrupted and filled with violence - destroyed by destroyers. Now the Creator has judged and He must become the Destroyer. He must bring a flood of waters to take away the breath of the godless sinners. A lifeless body of human flesh cannot corrupt the earth, nor can it do violence.

God has one righteous man - Noah. With Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives God can make a new beginning and carry through His Covenant purpose in the coming Anointed Son.

This concludes our lesson.