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]