The Ark of Salvation

Hebrews 11:7 (ESV)

7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Introduction

The writer of Hebrews is addressing the history we find in Genesis, beginning in chapter 6. The first verse of chapter 6 says that man began to multiply on the face of the earth. From the beginning of human kind with two people, Adam and Eve, the population had continued to increase into a virtual population explosion. But as man began to multiply, so did the sin that man was involved in.

In Genesis 6, verse 3, it says:

Genesis 6:3 (ESV)

3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

Some interpret this verse as meaning that man’s lifespan was going to be limited. People tended to live a very long time in those days, but there were occasions after this where people had lived well beyond 120 years. I believe the correct interpretation is that God is setting a countdown timer. Man has another 120 years before God in going to rain down destruction on man. And I do mean “rain down” destruction.

Genesis 6:5–7 (ESV)

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

God has come to the conclusion that things have gotten so bad that he should just wipe man off the face of the earth.

I’m sure you are familiar with this feeling. I once had ambitions to be an artist. I would spend hours putting oil pants down on canvas and more I painted, the worse the painting looked, to the point where I would finally just take a pallet knife and wipe all oil paint off of the canvas.

Perhaps that is the way God felt when he looked at man. He wanted man to develop into faithful followers, but man just got worse and worse.

That is with the exception of one man, in verse 8:

Genesis 6:8 (ESV)

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

The account goes on to tell us that God gave instructions to Noah, and Noah obeyed. God instructed Noah to build a great ship, an ark. This would be the salvation of Noah and his family. Universal death was imminent, man was about to be blotted out, Noah’s only salvation, his only deliverance from death was this ark.

This account of Noah and the ark has some close comparisons to the salvation we have in Jesus Christ. In Romans 6, it says:

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The first point is that:

The ark was a refuge and salvation from death

Just as Jesus is our ark of salvation and deliverance from death.

1 John 4:9–10 (ESV)

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Noah’s only means to escape death was in the ark that God had instructed him to build. Without the ark, Noah is doomed to a drowning death along with the rest of mankind.

Today, the only way that we may escape death, and receive everlasting life, is to place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Without Jesus we perish, as the rest of the world without Jesus will perish.

Not only was the ark Noah’s refuge and salvation:

The ark was the only refuge and salvation

Genesis 6:17–18 (ESV)

17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

The ark was the only means by which Noah and his family would be spared the fate of the rest of the world.

And today, Jesus Christ is the only means by which we may be spared the fate of the rest of the world.

Acts 4:12 (ESV)

12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

John 14:6 (ESV)

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Some people today like to argue that there is something wrong with the God of the Bible because He does not save everyone. They ask, "Why is God so narrow-minded, why has He only set up one way?” They say the God of Bible seems to delight in punishing people. He only wants to save a few people.

When we look into scripture, when we review the history of the Israelites, and see the patience of God, we have to wonder about people who think God has not done enough for us. When we read the New Testament and comprehend even a small part of what Jesus went through to provide the only way of salvation, we can hardly say that God hs not gone far enough to redeem humanity.

God humbled Himself. He came to this earth to be born in a stable, to be born into the lower class of society. He allowed Himself to be mocked and reviled by the "politically correct" establishment for three years. He went so far as to allow them to beat Him, torture Him, and crucify Him. Jesus was God, and still He willingly went through all these trials. Can anyone say God has not done enough?

The reason so many have problems with the God as He is revealed in Scripture is because mankind is terribly wicked, and does not understand what a holy God is like. Until we begin to understand how holy God is, we will never begin to understand how gracious God has been in putting up with us. We generally have such a high opinion of ourselves that we presume that God owes us more grace than He had given us, and we continue to sin against Him.

If we truly understood the Gospel, we would understand that the questions is a moral one and not an intellectual one. When we question the integrity of God, it only points our own own lack of integrity.

What we really should be asking in not why is there only one way to salvation, but why is there anyway at all. The real questions is why does God bother providing us a means of salvation at all when we have repeatedly rebelled against Him and His authority.

The next point I want to make is:

All who entered the ark were saved

Genesis 8:15–19

15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.

God set the condition regarding who would be saved. He instructed Noah who to bring aboard the ark, and in the ark they would find sanctuary. Noah and his family were saved because Noah had found favor in the eyes of the Lord, to the exception of everyone else on earth, and Noah followed God’s instructions.

Today we don’t have to build an ark to be saved. In Acts 16, 31 it says:

Acts 16:31 (ESV)

31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Those who entered that massive door of the ark were saved, today Jesus is that door:

John 10:9 (ESV)

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

And what happens to those who don’t enter at that door?

All who refused to enter perished

Genesis 7:21–23 (ESV)

21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.

Anyone who did not enter that door of the ark perished, just as anyone who does not have a relationship with Jesus Christ will perish:

John 3:18 (ESV)

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

There came a time when it was “too late” for Noah’s contemporaries. There is a time when the door will shut. There is a time, and I believe it may come soon, when it will be too late for those today to enter that door.

Genesis 7:16 (ESV)

16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.

Rememer with the the account of the ten virgins in Matthew, chapter 25. They were to attend a wedding feast. Five of the women had oil in their lamps, but the other five had not bothered to prepare and were out of oil.

Matthew 25:10 (ESV)

10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.

God shut Noah in and shut out the rejecters. At the marriage feast, those who were ready went in and after they entered the door was shut.

Conclusion

Proverbs 1:23–33 (ESV)

23 If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

24 Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,

25 because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof,

26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you,

27 when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.

29 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord,

30 would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof,

31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.

32 For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”