Genesis Types: 4. The Ark of Noah, A Type of God’s Salvation
(Genesis 6-8)
The ark was a refuge from the Flood, even as God’s salvation
is a refuge from God’s wrath
against sin. The Flood was God’s visitation of righteous
judgment against the awful sinning of
mankind.
"And 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" (Genesis 6:5). But the
family of Noah was provided for within the ark. "Which
sometime were disobedient, when
once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah,
while the ark was a preparing,
wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by [through
water" (I Peter 3:20). God’s ark of
salvation, provided by Jesus through His death on the cross,
is a most remarkable refuge today
for sinners who look to Christ for salvation. "Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and ye perish
from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust
in him" (Psalm 2:12).
Even as Noah’s family found a place of safety inside the
ark, so believers today find security "in
Christ." Once the family of Noah was inside the ark, they
were safe from the flood waters. "And
the Lord shut him in" (Genesis 7:16). The Lord shut the door
against the storm waters. And
now all those who take refuge in Christ and abide in Him
find in Him a place of security and
shelter from life’s storms. "Your life is hid with Christ in
God" (Colossians 3:3).
The ark took the full force of the floods of rain, even as
God’s punishment for sinners fell upon
Jesus on the cross. "And the waters prevailed, and were
increased greatly upon the earth;
and the ark went upon the face of the waters" (Genesis
7:18). The ark rode upon the storm
waters, and they beat upon it with awful fury, but all
within were sheltered. And this is a type of
what Christ had to endure on our behalf on Calvary’s cross.
"For the transgression of my
people was he stricken" (Isaiah 53:8). Instead of the stroke
falling upon the sinners who
deserved it, it fell upon Jesus, the sinless One. All who
seek refuge in Him find shelter from
God’s righteous wrath against iniquity.
God invited Noah and his family into the ark, even as the
Lord invites sinners to enter His ark of
salvation today. "And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and
all thy house into the ark"
(Genesis 7:1). Noah’s family in going into the ark accepted
God’s gracious invitation. And the
Lord invites men today to enter His ark of salvation.
Revelation 22:17 is the last invitation in the
Bible: "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him
that heareth say, Come. And
let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him
take the water of life freely." [Old Testament Types - FHW]
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