Noah's Ark: A Picture of Salvation Genesis 6:9 7:24

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1 Return To Lowell F. Johnson Master Menu Return To Lowell F. Johnson Genesis Menu Noah's Ark: A Picture of Salvation Genesis 6:9 7:24 A few years ago a man named Robert Fulghum wrote an essay called, All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten. It was so popular that it spawned a number of spin-offs. I ran across one called, All I need to know I learned from Noah's Ark. Here's the list: 1.Don't miss the boat. 2.Remember that we are all in the same boat. 3.Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark. 4.Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. 5.Don't listen to critics, just get on with the job that needs to be done. 6.Build your future on high ground. 7.For safety's sake, travel in pairs. 8.Speed isn't everything. The snails were on board with the Cheetahs. 9.When you're stressed, float awhile. 10.Remember: The Ark was built by amateurs. The Titanic by professionals. 11.No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting. Two things I want us to focus on in this study: I. Noah : The Man Who Built the Ark Why did Noah and his family survive the flood while the rest of the human race perished? A. Noah was a Believing man who walked with God. - 6:9-13 Noah wasn't a minor character in the story of redemption.. he is mentioned fifty times in nine differedt books of the Bible. 1.Noah was a righteous man 6:9; 7:1 This is the first time righteous is used in the Bible, but Noah's righteousness is also mentioned in other places (Ezek. 14:14,20; Heb, 11:7; 2 Peter 2:5) -Noah's righteousness didn't come from his good works; his good works came because of his righteousness. -Noah believed God's Word and it was counted to him for righteousness (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:9ff; Gal. 3:1ff). That means he believed God and took His Word seriously. His faith produced in him a lifestyle that made him different from his contemporaries. 2.Noah was a blameless man 6:9

2 This describes his moral conduct despite the evil day in which he lived. If righteousness describes Noah's standing before God, then blameless describes his conduct before people. Blameless doesn't mean sinless because only Jesus lived a sinless life, but it means having integrity, whole unblemished. Noah's conduct was such that his neighbors couldn't find fault with him. 54 Php 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Php 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings: Php 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Php 2:16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. 3.Noah walked with God 6:9 Noah and Enoch are the only two men in the Bible who are specifically said to have walked with God. They experienced a taste of the intimacy and obedience that pre-fallen Adam and Eve knew when God walked with them in the garden. 4.Noah was a family man 6:10 We are told that Noah had three sons. We are never told Noah's wife's name or the names of his three daughter -in -laws. God's covenant with Noah included all the members of the household. 5.Noah was a unique man 6:11-12 Focus is placed on the contrast between Noah and his generation. The word corrupt means rotten or putrid or utterly foul. It describes a world in the final stages of moral decomposition. In the darkness of those days, one man stood out from the crowd. In an impure world, he was pure. In an unrighteous world, he was righteous. In a world that dismissed God, he walked with God. B. Noah was a Faithful man who worked for God. - 6:14-22 God's plan involved three responsibilities for Noah and his family. 1.Building an Ark - A very specific design is given 6:14-16 The word translated ark is used in only two places in the Old Testament. In both places it basically means box or container. The other reference is in Exodus 2 and refers to the basket

3 in which the infant Moses was placed when his mother hid him in the bulrushes. -Both were to be coated with pitch which was used to bond and to weather proof. Gopherwood was cedar or cypress wood. The ark was designed for Flotation, not navigation. The Ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It had three decks, one door, and a series of small windows eighteen inches high right under the roof, providing light and ventilation. Three decks were divided into compartments where the various animals would be kept and where Noah and his family would live. It contained at least 100,000 square feet of floor space, equivalent to 20 full size basketball courts. Total storage space was over 1.5 million cubic feet, roughly the capacity of 569 standard railroad cars. Dr. Henry Morris calculated that the ark was large enough to provide space for about 125,000 animals. Of course, many of the animals 55 would be very small and would not need much space; and when it came to the large animals, Noah no doubt collected younger and smaller representatives. There was plenty of room in the ark for food for both humans and animals (6:21). A very specific reason 6:17 The flood was world-wide, covering the Mountains. A very specific promise given 6:18 A very specific passenger list 6:19-20 Some very specific cargo 6:21 2.Trusting God's covenant 6:18 This is the first use of the word covenant in the Bible. A covenant is an agreement that involves obligations and benefits for the parties involved. Sometimes the covenants were conditional and sometimes unconditional. The covenant included both Noah and his family. 3.Gathering the animals 6:19-22 How was Noah to gather such a large number of animals, birds, and creeping things? God would cause these creatures to come to Noah 6:20; 7:8,15. This included not only pairs of unclean animals who would be able to reproduce after the flood, but also seven pairs of clean animals, some of which would be used for sacrifice (8:20; 9:3). Can you imagine the ridicule Noah must have endured as he began building the ark? How many Noah jokes do you think people came up with in the 120 years it took Noah to build the ark? Yet, Noah maintained his obedience, doing exactly what God said for 120 years. -Heb. 11:7 and 2 Peter 2:5 tell us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness and that he condemned the ways of the world for 12 decades and not one person believed him. -People have not changed, for even today people do not really believe God will punish sin. Some seem to believe that God's warnings in the Bible about judgment and punishment of all sin are

4 just scare tactics. C. Noah was a secure man who waited on God 7:1-24 Noah labored, building the ark and preaching repentance, until God's grace was exhausted and His patience ran out. 1.A Week of Waiting 7:1-10 Notice that the Lord did not say, Go into the ark; He said Come into the Ark. He would be with them in the ark. If the ark went down, God would have gone down. -Noah was in the ark as we are in Christ. More than 60 times in the N.T. believers are referred to as being in Christ. Noah may have slipped and fallen IN the ark, but he never fell OUT. In the same way, we slip and fall in Christ, but we won't fall out, for those who are truly saved will confess their sins, get up, and continue to live in Christ. 56 Noah and his family go into the ark seven days (7:4) before the rain starts to fall. For seven days after Noah enters the ark, the door remains open for anyone to enter, but no one else accepted God's invitation. Evidently, it took the animals seven days to make their way into the ark. You would think that the people who saw the animals gathering into the ark would have realized that this had to be of God, but not one turned to God. 2.The Day of Reckoning 7:11-24 Notice that God shut the door of the ark 7:16 -It rained 40 days and 40 nights 7:12 We are told in 7:11 that the waters came from two sources: The windows of heaven were opened and all the fountains of the great deep were broken up. That is, there were gigantic upheavels and shiftings of the earth's crust which caused the ocean's floor to rise and break up their reservoirs of subterranean waters. In other words, the heavy rains from heaven fell for 40 days and nights. But the waters continue to rise for 110 more days because of the break up of the fountains of the deep. The waters rose for 150 days until the waters rose some 24 feet above the highest mountains, at which time the ark rested on top of Mount Ararat. It took 150 days for the water to recede and another 70 days for the Earth to dry. So, Noah and his family were in the ark for over one year and 17 days. II. Jesus Christ: The Ark of our Salvation Let me leave us with some spiritual lessons from the flood account: A. God Judges Sinfulness This is the central message for those who perished. God is patient, but His patience must eventually come to an end. God will not always strive with men (6:3). Sin will be judged sooner or later.

5 B. Even in Judgment, God Displays His Grace Though the world perished, one man and his family were saved. Until the day the flood came, the door was open. Anyone could have entered. C. Judgment will come when Jesus returns to the Earth The Ark points to Jesus. 1.Just as the ark was provided by God, Christ was sent from heaven as the gracious provision for our salvation. 2.The ark was sealed inside and out with pitch. The Hebrew word for this resinous substance comes from the same root word translated elsewhere as atonement or covering. Just as the pitch sealed and covered the spaces between the planks of gopher wood, the blood of Christ covers our sins so that they cannot rise up and condemn us any longer. 3.There is only one ark provided and it had only one door John 14: The ark saved everyone who entered. And everyone who comes to Christ is saved. No one who comes to him in faith will be turned away. John 6:37 5.The ark was a place of total security. No matter how high the waters rose, all inside the ark were safe. 6.Once God shut the door, no one else could enter. While the door was open, anyone could enter and be saved from the coming flood. Once the door was shut, it would not be opened again until the flood was over. Today is the day of grace. The door of salvation is open to all who will enter. Whosoever will may freely come. God takes no delight in the death of the wicked. 2 Peter 3:9 Only one question remains. Are you in the Ark of safety? Are you In Christ? Jesus is the Ark of Salvation. Jesus alone can save you from your sins. He alone can rescue you from the judgment to come. Return To Lowell F. Johnson Master Menu Return To Lowell F. Johnson Genesis Menu