And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 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. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: 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 shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 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 every thing that is in the earth shall die.Genesis 6:12-17)
God had “looked at the earth”, that is He examined it for judgment, seeing the utter corruption and violence. The sentence was passed, the verdict was rendered, and His attitude towards it was uncompromising, the earth, and all upon it who had received the ‘breath of life’ were slated for destruction.
There would be no ‘salvaging’ of the earth, even as there can be no ‘improving’ of our current world today. We will not be able ever, to “make this world a better place”, it has been judged by God, the sentence has been passed, all that remains is the final execution of the sentence.
Our Saviour proclaimed, as He rode into Jerusalem for his final week on earth, leading up to Calvary, “Now is the judgment of this world, now is the prince of this world cast down….”. The world is under judgment and God’s view of it is uncompromising, it is doomed to utter destruction, along with Satan, the proud ‘prince of this world’ and all who will follow him to perdition.
The only question in the day of Noah, as well as in our day, is, ‘Has God provided a way of escape for any of us’? Is there a way out?
The answer given in Noah’s day was the Ark, which God commanded to be built, for those who had “found grace with God’, Noah and his family. The very God who had purposed to absolutely “judge the world in Righteousness”, also ordained a refuge from the wrath of God.
We too who live in the last days, a time Jesus described as being “As in the days of Noah”, have been given a way out of the coming storm of judgment that is already gathering for this wicked, God rejecting, doomed world. Our Ark isn’t a boat, He is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners, and the only refuge from the wrath of God.
The ark of Noah, is a type of Christ, as partially seen in these aspects-
* The Ark was the provision of God, its pattern and mandate came from God. God showed Noah his need of salvation, and gave him the pattern to erect it.
* In a similar way, God has shown we who are Christians something. He has revealed by his spirit that this world is under judgment and we likewise are doomed with it, to perdition. And he has revealed Jesus Christ, crucified and raised from the dead as the place of refuge.
* Gopher wood, the material for the Ark, reminds us that the means of our salvation likewise comes by the tree. “He bore our sins upon the tree that we should die to sin and live to Righteousness and by His stripes we are healed”.
*God himself called Noah to come into the ark. The author Pink notes that this is the first use of the word “Come” in scripture,
Observe that the Lord does not say “Go into the ark,” but “Come.” “Go” would have been a command, “Come” was a gracious invitation; “Go”would have implied that the Lord was bidding Noah depart from Him, “Come” intimated that in the ark the Lord would be present with him. Is it not the same thought as we have in the Gospel—”Come unto Me and I will give you rest!”(AW Pink, Gleanings in Genesis)
* The Ark had only one door. There is only one way to be saved, and only one entrance into the Kingdom of God. Jesus himself, is the door of salvation. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth , and the light, and no man comes to the Father, but by me”. The door of the Ark was placed ‘in the side of it’, according to the Divine pattern. Jesus was pierced in the side, and revealed the opening to Thomas, assuring him that the way of salvation had been opened.
* The Ark had one window, one source of Light, placed on the roof. The light was above them. They were to “look up” to God for illumination.
* The “pitch ” which covered gopher wood of the Ark, making it watertight and secure, is called in the Hebrew, Kepher.This is the same word which is translated many other places in the Old Testament,”to cover” or ”to Make atonement”. Because we have been covered over, with Jesus’ perfect Righteousness, God’s judgment fell upon Jesus, He covered us, He took our place as a substitute for us and bore the storm of the wrath of God!
The Ark, ordained of God, like the Messiah Jesus, whom it points to, is nothing less than a refuge from the wrath of God.h that men would flee into Him before it is too late!
Amen my good brother. To our Lord be the glory. HALLELUJAH!
A couple of other things to ponder. The ark was built from “gopher” or “kopher” wood; rendered “xylon tetragonon” in the Greek septuagint, which translated into English as “squared wood”. What would a ship made from squared wood look like? It would have horizontal and vertical joints, or stripes. It also had a door, or hole, in it’s side. So we have a vessel covered in stripes with a hole in it’s side. Additionally, the ark was exposed to all of God’s wrath, while it’s inhabitants were completely protected. The ark was exposed to all of the rain and flooding and yet it was not destroyed. Jesus endured the full wrath of God for sins and even died, yet He rose victorious from the tomb and was no worse for the wear (though He did bear scars for testimony’s sake); He walked and talked and even ate. When Moses wrote of the Ark, he truly was prophesying about the coming Messiah, who is Jesus!
Hi Pastor Bill and BIG , praise the the Lord for His Love and Grace. Revelation21 , We have a hope that this world does not know . GOD help us to be faithful until he comes and reach out to the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ , Love and prayers John and Teri
I loved your reference from A.W. Pink. He always has a way of making me consider things I didn’t see the first time. Also, it is true as you said that as in Noah’s Day things could not be improved, so they cannot be improved in these, the last days. This is the big difference between Dispensationalism and the Reformed faith. Many in the Reformed faith feel that they must make the world a better place by having a positive influence on culture, but that doesn’t work, nor is it Biblical. True Christianity understands that we must not be conformed to this world, but be transformed into the image of Christ.
While I’m not truly a dispensationalist, I agree with your assertion about the Reformed groups. It didn’t work in Lot’s day, it didn’t work in the days of the apostles (look how the communal living in Acts ended, it ended in death!), and it’s not going to work in our day. The kingdom we seek is not of this world and we won’t see it until the new kingdom comes.
Re jareds comment how amazing is God and His Word I refer to the ark being exposed to Gods wrath and taking the full consequences of it with all of His saved ones fully protected the more I learn the more I see pre-trib teaching coming from a spirit of fear ! Just my feelings which Ive had for a long time.