Christ in the Ark

One of the most well known Old Testament pictures of the Lord Jesus is Noah's Ark. We will consider this briefly as follows:

The Ark was Salvation

The intent of God when he instructed Noah to build an Ark was to "keep ... alive" Noah, his family, and the animals (Gen 6.19). It was intended as the means of salvation from the coming "flood of water" which God had promised would "destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life" (6.17).

God provided the Ark in spite of the fact that no-one deserved His protection from the judgment for sin, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD" (Gen 6.8).  In the Bible, the whole concept of "grace" is best described as God's kindness shown to those who are completely undeserving of it.

Now, while this was true in those days, it is most encouraging to see in the New Testament that "the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men" (Titus 2.11). This "grace of God" appeared in the incarnation, perfect life, atoning sacrifice, and triumphant resurrection of the Son of God. The "Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world" (1 John 4.14), He did not send His Son into the world "to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3.17).

So just as the Ark was the salvation of Noah and his family, Christ is the salvation of every soul who trusts Him. A short time after His birth He was brought to the temple and, when Simeon saw Him, he said to God "mine eyes have seen Thy salvation" (Luke 2.30).

The Ark was Submerged

In order to provide the salvation that Noah needed, it was essential that the Ark be able to endure the storm of divine judgment. The "fountains of the great deep" would be "broken up, and the windows of heaven ... opened" (7.11). The flood-waters would "prevail" upon the earth (7.18, 19, 20, 24). The flood was the outpouring of divine justice upon a world that was filled with corruption, violence, immorality, and wickedness of every kind. The result of this devastating outpouring of God's righteous wrath is summed up "All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land died" (7.22). To be the means of safety, the Ark must be able to withstand, and endure, the divine judgment in it's entirety.

All of this beautifully pictures Calvary. There, He who was the perfect Saviour, became the holy Sufferer. He was surrounded in, and submerged under, the flood of divine justice. The storm of God's wrath against sin fell upon Him. Prophetically He said, "I sink in deep mire where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me" (Ps 69.2). "All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me" (Ps 42.7). "Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves" (Ps 88.7). 

"On Him almighty vengeance fell
That would have sunk a world to hell
He bore it for a ruined race
And thus becomes my Hiding-Place"

While the Ark was for a period surrounded by the flood, it emerged triumphant and eventually "rested ... upon the mountains of Ararat" (8.4). The very day it rested (being the seventeenth day of the seventh month) equates to the day of the resurrection of Christ*. So Christ who suffered for sins, and was submerged under divine judgment, has emerged triumphant from the tomb! He not only "died for our sins according to the Scriptures", He "was buried" and "rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor 15.3-4).

The Ark was Secure

The security of all those who entered the Ark is confirmed in two ways.

First: Once Noah and his family took the step of faith and entered through the door into the Ark, they no longer needed to worry about their safety for "the LORD shut him in" (Gen 7.16). And, if the Lord shuts a door we can be assured that no-one is capable of opening it (Comp. Job 12.14; Rev 3.7)!

Second: All those who entered through the door into the Ark were, according to the divine record, kept safe from judgment, and landed safely on the dry land. Notice how explicitly this is stated "And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons wives with him" (8.18, Comp 7.13), and of the animals, "Every beast, every creeping thing ... every fowl ... whatsoever creepeth ... went forth out of the ark" (8.19).

We cannot help but see in this an illustration of the eternal security of all those who enter into Christ by faith. When a sinner comes to the Saviour, trusting Him as the only means of Salvation, they entrust their eternal preservation to Him, and they can rest assured in His ability to keep that which is entrusted to Him (comp 2 Tim 1.12). In a future day, the saying of the Son of God will be gloriously true "Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none" (John 18.9). "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8.1).

Safe in Christ the weakest child 

Stands in all God's favour

All in Christ are reconciled

Through that only Saviour

Safe in Christ; safe in Christ! 

He's their glory ever;

None can pluck them from His hand,

They shall perish never.

Once their sins on every side, 

Seemed to tower over them

Christ has stemmed the angry tide;

Been through death before them.

In His death they've crossed the sea,

Passed through condemnation;

Well may they triumphant be;

Saved through God's salvation.

Now by faith the justified

Know that God is for them;

To the world they're crucified,

Glory is before them. 

(Anon)

* This is one possible reckoning of the date. Remembering that the 7th month was changed to the 1st month by the LORD at the institution of the Passover.   

Christ in Abel (3)

Christ is the Shepherd, and Christ is the Sacrifice - this much we have learned from the life of Abel so far. What can we learn from his death? It is the first incidence of violent death in the Bible, and serves to illustrate much concerning the death of Christ. 

The Slaughter 

"Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand" (Gen 4.8-11 ESV).

1. The Brother of Abel

Cain was religious, we learn that from the fact that he "offered" alongside Abel. But his religion consisted of the works of his hands, presented to God, with the intention that he would be accepted on that basis.

In the  New Testament, however, we learn much about Cain's true character and conduct. He "was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous" (1 John 3.12). 

So, Cain had a veneer of external religion, and yet within he was corrupt. This cannot help but turn our mind to the society in which the Lord Jesus lived. The Lord was the most gracious of men, but he denounced some in His day in the strongest possible terms: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity" (Matt 23.27-28). 

Cain's true character was manifested in his treatment of Abel. He "slew his brother", and the reason was that his own "works were evil, and his brother's righteous" (1 John 3.12). 

External religion does not remove internal corruption, and the true character of the religious leaders in the days of the Lord was likewise manifested in their attitude to Him. The Lord stated "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin" (John 15.22). The idea is that, the life of the Lord Jesus among the people, and the subsequent rejection of Him by the religious leaders, exposed their true character. They no longer had a covering for the corruption of their heart. They "hated me" He could say "without a cause" (John 15.15).

Peter faced the nation with their guilt when calling them to repentance: "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs ... ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2.22-23) "The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses" (Acts 3.13-15). 

Down through the centuries false religion and religious hypocrisy have unitedly  caused rivers of blood to flow! This began with the slaughter of Abel, and reached it zenith in the crucifixion of the Son of God. It continues to this day. 

2. The Blood of Abel 

The "blood" of Abel is mentioned twice in Genesis 4, and three times in the New Testament. 

According to Gen 4, the blood of Abel "crieth unto" God from the ground, for judgment. The Lord Jesus picks up this lesson in his teaching in Matthew 23, as He warned the leaders of Israel of coming judgment: "Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation" (Matt 23.34-36). 

Thus, linked with the "blood of righteous Abel" is a cry that calls to God to judge the criminal, it is a cry for justice. It is a call to punish those who have committed the crime, and have shed that blood.

However, when we come to Hebrews 12 we read that the blood of Christ "speaketh better things than that of Abel" (Heb 12.24). The meaning is that, the shed blood of the Lord Jesus also cries, but not for punishment! His blood cries for pardon for those who trust Him. 

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ does not demand that justice BE satisfied, it rather declares that justice HAS BEEN satisfied. It is this fact that enables God to be "just, and the justifier of him which believeth on Jesus" (Rom 3.26). Grace can flow out to all, because God's justice has been satisfied.

In our meditations we have viewed Christ in Abel's shepherding, sacrifice, and slaughter! May our hearts rejoice that His blood avails for all who trust Him. God's justice is forever satisfied, and, as the hymn puts it:

"Grace is flowing like a river

Millions there have been supplied;

Still it flows, as fresh as ever

From the Saviour's wounded side!

None need perish, All may live, 
For Christ has died" 

Christ in the Fall (3)

In our previous two posts we noted that Genesis 3 presents the Lord to our view in at least four aspects. He is:

1. The Contrast

2. The Caller

3. The Conqueror

4. The Covering

We have considered Him as the Contrast to Adam and Eve, and as the Caller of Adam and Eve already. Now we view Him as:

The Conqueror

The first direct prophecy of the coming of the Saviour is given in this passage. Sin has barely entered the world, and God in grace announces the Proto-evangelium*. During His judicial statement concerning the serpent, He declares: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (v15). 

This is a promise of victory for the "Seed" of the woman. The poetic justice of this is evident. The devil used a woman (Eve) to influence the first man, Adam, to bring sin into the world, and to gain a "victory" for himself.  God will use another woman (Mary) to bring into this world the "second Man, the Lord from heaven" to put away sin, and to gain the ultimate victory over the devil. 

Notice the promise of continual warfare and opposition between the Serpent and the Woman, and between their offspring. Notice also that it is the woman's seed. This is enlarged upon in the prophecy of Isaiah 7.14 "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel". 

The eternal God became flesh, by means of the virgin birth, for the purpose of defeating the greatest foe of man and God. "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery" (Heb 2.14-15 ESV).  

At Calvary the death-blow was struck. Just as David cut off the head of Goliath with his own sword, so the Lord Jesus destroyed satan with his own formidable weapon - death. 

"And now, the mighty deed is done

On the Cross!

The battle fought, the victory won

On the Cross!

To heaven He turns victorious eyes,

'Tis finished now, the Conqueror cries,

Then bows His sacred head and dies

On the Cross."

(Joseph Hoskins) 

We enjoy the benefits of a victory already won, we reap the spoils of a battle already fought. May God enable us to take sides with the Mighty Conqueror, and to sing His praises! 

*Proto-evangelium: i.e the first messianic prophecy in the Old Testament, the first glimmer of the divine purpose in respect of the Gospel