The Ark and the Cross

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE ARK AND THE CROSS

Gen 6:9-22

 

9 This is the account of Noah.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.   16 Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."

22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

NIV

We are told in very detail this account of Noah and the building of the ark in exactly the way God instructed him. We also know from previous verses that after Noah was 500 years old he had three sons. We would think by the time God told Noah to build this ark, his sons were at least in their twenties or old enough to help in the construction. This was a big undertaking, and it took years and years, and a lot of lumber had to be hand-cut from thousands of trees. We also are not told where or how Noah found or made a pitch. However, here is the most interesting truth in this whole account. We should note that Noah did everything just as God commanded him. This serves as an example that we should live by, doing everything the Lord commands. But back to this most excellent truth. The Hebrew word translated as pitch is kaphar. Its most direct meaning is to cover, to purge, also to make an atonement, to reconciliation, to cover over with pitch. We have always seen the ark as the prime example of the cross. All who were in the ark, Noah and his three sons, and their wives, eight people in all, were saved from the destruction of all life on this earth because it was filled with corruption and violence, basically, sin. The Ark was made from the tree, and it was covered with the atonement for sin, the safety of God. Jesus hung on the tree to make be an atonement for all our sins. There is no coincidence between the ark of safety and the cross of safety. Those in that ark were saved, and those who are in the cross of Jesus are saved from the same thing, the destruction of all life that is filled with corruption and violence or filled with sin. How grateful we are that God was able to get through to us and bring us to the cross and show us salvation. We do wonder, for we are not told if the same wood that Noah used to build the ark of safety for his family was what was used to build the cross. We think that would be just like God to do something like that. Nevertheless, here we are in the cross that is covered with atonement for our sins. We live in this safety knowing that when God takes aim on this earth the next time it will be consumed by fire, and all life that is not in the cross will perish. Thank you, Lord, for the truth that you have revealed to us and we entered the cross of life. It is also noteworthy to see that Noah was a righteous man and blameless and he walked with God. As we are now in the cross of Jesus, we also are righteous and blameless in the eyes of God, and hopefully, God can say that we walk with him. This is the story of the ark and the cross.