By Kathy L McFarland
Genesis 6:11-14
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 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.” (Genesis 6:11-14)
The LORD God saw righteousness in Noah as he lived among wickedness. It was only Noah that had successfully maintained a righteous relationship with the LORD God, and it was only Noah and his family and a sampling of beasts that the LORD God chose to save. The LORD God gave measurements for an Ark to be built, to save the best of His creation from annihilation.
Genesis 7:15-16
“And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein [is] the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.” (Genesis 7:15- 16)
The LORD God “shut” Noah in the ark that he had built according to blueprint given to him. Another word for “shut” in context to this action is “sealed”. Noah and his family and the selected beasts were rescued and preserved by the ark as the waters prevailed upon the cursed earth.
Genesis 7:21-23
”And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils [was] the breath of life, of all that [was] in the dry [land], died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained [alive], and they that [were] with him in the ark.” (Genesis 7:21-23)
Only those lives that were “sealed” in the ark were saved. All other life forms were destroyed by the flood of waters sent by the LORD God.
The LORD God remembered the life sealed in the Ark, and blew the waters away. He blessed Noah and his sons, gave him dominion over beasts, and established shed blood as the sacrifice required for life to proceed, be fruitful and multiply. Then the LORD God made an everlasting covenant with Noah, signified by a rainbow that promised mankind that He would no longer destroy mankind by the waters of a flood.
Genesis 9:12-17
”And God said, This [is] the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that [is] with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which [is] between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that [is] upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This [is] the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that [is] upon the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-17)
That salvation of mankind had been sealed inside the Ark and given the most sacred promise of the LORD God. The first Ark of Noah begins the shadow of the wooden container that is present throughout the Word of God. How appropriate it was that the mother of Moses used the same type container to save her son from death by placing him in the Ark of the Bulrushes.
Exodus 2:1-5
“And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took [to wife] a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he [was a] goodly [child], she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid [it] in the flags by the river’s brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash [herself] at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.” (Exodus 2:1-5)
Moses grew to become a great leader of the people of Israel, and pleasing to the LORD God. He saved the Israelites from Egyptian control through the moving of God, and escorted the Tribes of Israel through the wilderness and toward the Promised Land. The Ark of the Bulrushes had saved the man set to lead God’s chosen people. If not for the Ark of the Bulrushes, Moses would not have received the Ten Commandments from the LORD God! Hold on to that thought as we catch up to the history of the Ark in the Word of God.
The Ark of the Covenant was made to specific instructions by the LORD God, to house the laws of the LORD God within the Tabernacle. It was made of shittim wood with golden rings attached to its side so staves could be used to carry it as the Israelites traveled through the wilderness. The wooden ark had Cherubims stretching forth their rings above it, covering the mercy seat that set upon the Ark. It was that place that the LORD God met with them, and communed with them, in the back of the tabernacle, in the holiest of holies rooms, that only a sanctified priest could enter.
Exodus 25:21-22
”And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which [are] upon the ark of the testimony, of all [things] which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” (Exodus
25:21-22)
Aaron was made high priest to come into the Holiest of Holies, and into the place where the mercy seat set upon the Ark of the Testimony within the Tabernacle. He was instructed to bring a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, and the LORD God promised to appear to Him in a cloud upon the mercy seat, which set upon the Ark. Thus, the shedding of innocent blood for the cleansing of sin was accepted at the Ark, and became the tool of salvation for obedient men.
Leviticus 16:1–5 (KJV 1900)
And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; 2 And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. 3 Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. 5 And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. (Leviticus 16:1-5)
Now back to the Ten Commandments: Moses was instructed to hew two tablets of stone like the first Ten Commandments that had been broken. He took these two new tablets up to the mountain, and the LORD God wrote on them the same commandments, and instructed Moses to put them in the Ark of Testimony made with shittim wood.
Deuteronomy 10:1-5
”At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest and thou shalt put them in the ark. A d I made an ark [of] shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.” (Deuteronomy 10:1-5)
The Ark of the Covenant held the book of law. The LORD God promised the Israelites to be their LORD God and make them prosper. But, He required them to follow His law, and that law was placed in the Ark to convict those who did not obey Him.
Deuteronomy 31:25-26
“That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.” (Deuteronomy 31:25-26)
The Ark filled with the presence of the LORD God traveled through the wilderness with the Israelites, and led them across the Jordan. When finally the Temple of the LORD God was built in Jerusalem, the Ark was moved inside; while not always located in that place, it figures greatly in the salvation of men through the LORD God’s covenant, and the accounts of David’s dance and Solomon’s Temple.
David danced before the LORD with all [his] might!
2 Samuel 6:1–17 (KJV 1900)
Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. 3 And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. 4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. 5 And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. 6 And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. 7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. 8 And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perez-uzzah to this day. 9 And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me? 10 So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 11 And the ark of the LORD continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the LORD blessed Obed-edom, and all his household.
12 And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness. 13 And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. 14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. 16 And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul’s daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart. 17 And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. (2 Samuel 6:1-17)
Take a moment, open your Bibles and read as the Ark is brought to Solomon’s Temple in 1 Kings 8.
Now to the deep part that directly touches faithful Christians today:
Matthew 24:37–44 (KJV 1900)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. (Matthew 24:37-44)
We are instructed to be ready and watchful for our Lord Jesus Christ to come. Just as the times when Noah entered the Ark, faithful Christians watch expectantly for the coming destruction of the earth, preceded by the Son of Man coming for them in rapture.
Open your Bibles to Hebrews 9, and read the progression of the Ark as it seals the Covenant of the LORD God throughout the Word of God. Pay particular attention to the plan of salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ as High Priest, as mediator of the New Testament, and as Purger of bad conscience from dead works to serve the living God. The Ark was the pattern from the start that represented the sealing of men through the redemption of the sacrificed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the covenant of the LORD God.
Hebrews 9:23-28
“[It was] therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be_purified with these; but the heavenly thzngs themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands [which are] the figures of the true· bui into heaven itself, now to appear i the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Hebrews 9:23-28)
Stand in awe of the full revelation of your Lord Jesus Christ!
Hebrews 11:7 (KJV 1900)
7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. (Hebrews 11:7)
Just as faithful Christians are heir to the righteousness by faith! It was always planned, from the time that Noah was saved by the Ark through the flowing waters of the LORD God. Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ saves faithful Christians as they are able to have good conscience toward the LORD God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Ark of the Covenant, the High Priest that administers salvation, and our Savior!
1 Peter 3:18–22 (KJV 1900)
18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. (1 Peter 3:18-22)
