The Ark and the Cross

Introduction

The story of Noah is, at best strange, at worst horrifying. It should startle us, the judgment on display through the flood. It’s that part of the story, the judgment, that stands in contrast to the way this story is portrayed in children’s storybook bibles; it’s ironic that the imagery from this story is used in children’s Sunday school classes all over the world—smiling giraffes and monkeys, happy Noah and Mrs. Noah. Welcome to church, kids, remember this terrible judgment on the earth? It is this dramatic act of judgment. But it is more than that.

We return to this story again and again not because it’s cute, but because it is a story in which judgment gives way to God’s redemption. And that’s our main idea today: Even through the flood waters—those waters of judgment—we are invited to rest in the salvation and hope of God.

The Flood of judgment

We’ll start in our outline with the flood itself.

We saw this last week, but again, the state of the world in Noah’s day is not as it should be and not as it was intended to be. This is a world in which sin has run rampant, the corruptness of humanity has flooded the earth and God is not at the center. God is not at the center of worship, of society, of culture, of families, of any wisdom. Humanity lost Eden in Genesis 3 and the tragic result is this overwhelming corruption on the earth.

The flood is God’s response to this corruption, it is an act of judgment over how far humanity had fallen. But it is not judgment alone. It is also a redemptive act. I want us to see this today, that even in these earliest chapters of scripture, God is a God of redemption. He does not simply want to wipe everything out. If that were the case, this would merely be a judgment story.

The flood is an act of de-creation, it is a reversal of God’s work in Genesis 1 and 2. There God separated the waters of chaos, dry land emerges, and he fills the space with creatures. And here, he’s undoing that work. Look at the language in Genesis 7:19-22

Genesis 7:19–22 ESV

19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 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.

The chaos waters are unleashed, no longer held back, but now let forth to destroy creation. Notice, it’s a mirror to Genesis 1, the same creatures are now destroyed and judgment is brought to bear on all of creation. Everything with breath in its nostrils—even this an allusion to God breathing life into man in Genesis 2.

Judgment has come to bear on sin and corruption. The flood reads as a purifying act, violent but cleansing. The image that came to mind is that of a surgeon working to remove a cancerous tumor. The surgeon has to cut in order to heal.

And there is healing—as I’ve said, this is not only judgment, but a redemptive work that leads from de-creation to re-creation. Look at Genesis 7:13–14 “13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14 they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature.”

Again, it’s the Eden imagery, the same description of the animals that will be destroyed. But here God is putting them in the ark. Eden will be undone—de-created—by the flood, but God is putting Eden in the Ark so that when the flood waters subside, he can continue His work of sre-creation and redemption.

Do you see? It is not an indiscriminate judgment. It is judgment that gives way to renewal and restoration. We are then called to take sin and corruption in this world seriously. We are to seek God’s renewal and restoration in our own hearts and in the world around us. We seek renewal in our neighborhoods by how we treat our neighbors, how we love others, how we choose mercy and grace over violence and anger.

If God cares so much about renewal, then we must see that we cannot have peace on this earth so long as corruption and wickedness carry on. We seek God’s renewal now—mercies that are new for us each day—and we look ahead to the day when all will be made right.

The tragedy of the Noah story is that no one in his day took seriously the warning of the flood and the coming judgment. For years and years, Noah built the ark but none heeded the call, so many missed the invitation of salvation.

The Ark of Salvation

This gets to the second point of our outline: the means of that salvation, the Ark! As we’ve said, God is putting this renewed Eden in an ark and this ark is then the vehicle of salvation. This is how Noah, his family, and all of creation are saved from the flood. Let’s stay with this image of the ark.

It’s a very interesting image because the Hebrew word here—tevah—is only ever found in one other part of scripture, in Exodus 2. This is the same word used to describe the basket that baby Moses is placed in by his mother and in which he is sent down the river. That was a moment of salvation, Moses is saved from the Egyptian Pharaoh’s decree to kill all the newborn Hebrew boys and throw them in the river. Do you see? A redeemer is rescued from the chaos waters of the river, waters of genocide, he is rescued and then through this rescued one God will rescue his people out of slavery.

There is some irony with this word for ark—tevah—it is not a word that refers to a boat or a ship at all. Indeed, if you read God’s instructions to Noah in chapter 6, we don’t hear of masts and sails, we don’t hear of a rudder, all we hear of is an enormous wooden box. The word for ark is a word that in the ancient world referred to a coffin. Do you see the strangeness of this story? God calls Noah and tells him: a flood is coming, so I want you to make a giant coffin! Genesis 7:1 “1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the [coffin], you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.” Get in the death box!

What? The irony gets deeper when we see that it is through this coffin, through this symbol of death, that God will deliver Noah and his family and creation into new life! Get in the coffin, not to die, but to be saved!

Noah, Moses, of course, this all pre-figures a greater redeemer, Jesus who takes on death himself to rescue his people out of slavery to sin and out of the oppression of death itself. Do you see? the imagery of the ark and the chaos waters they point us to a redeemer rescued through death and out of the waters of judgment to bring new life to humanity! The ark and its salvation point us directly to Jesus!

Noah was a righteous man, but he still had sin, he was not made perfect through the Ark and the flood, yet he was still called to go through death and the judgment of the flood to bring new life. Yet even in the new life after Noah, the world was still fallen and broken, sin still a problem. Jesus, we know, is perfectly righteous and instead of getting into an ark to pass through death, Jesus takes on death himself to rescue his people from the corruption of sin and death now and forevermore.

Jesus is a better Noah, a perfectly righteous redeemer. But he is not just Noah, He is the Ark! It is the Ark itself that points to Jesus. He is the living temple of God, perfectly God’s saving presence who went through death, but came out resurrected and into new life!

Like Noah must get into the ark to be saved, we must get into the ark of Christ to be saved. See what Paul says in Romans 6:3–4 “3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Paul understood that we must share in Christ’s death so that we can share in His resurrection, we must identify with Jesus—his suffering, his death and we will receive the promised resurrection. Jesus Himself said, “take up your cross and follow me, for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

When we identify ourselves with Christ, we identify with the cross and his death. And just like the flood, the cross is salvation through judgment. The flood of judgment poured out on Jesus and, so long as we are in Him, we will be saved! So long as Noah is in his floating coffin, he was saved! And see the image in Genesis 7:17 “17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.” The ark did not become a means of salvation until the flood waters came and lifted it up. So it is with the cross, it is precisely because Jesus took on the flood of judgment that we, like Noah in the ark, are lifted into new life through Him. The world will say this is foolish, but at the cross death gives way to life!

And this is not just nice imagery and making connections where there are none. The New Testament writers understood the flood and Noah in light of our baptism into Christ. 1 Peter 3:20–21 “20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”

We are like Noah, the waters of the flood are like the waters of baptism, we go under the water and we die, die to our old selves and we die to our sins and when we come out of those waters are are alive in the new life with Christ Jesus. Noah’s story is our story!

Get in the Ark

So if the ark is our salvation? What are we to do? Do what Noah did—get in! This is the third point in our outline: get in the ark! Genesis 7:7 “7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood.” Again, think of what we’ve just talked about: this is not a ship in any traditional way, not a boat Noah could steer. It was a box and all Noah could do was get inside. He couldn’t even, it seems, shut the door behind him, for he had to rely on God to do that.

There’s one door to salvation—of course this reminds us of what Jesus said about Himself John 10:7–9 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” There’s a door to salvation, you’ve just got to walk through it. You have to take Jesus at his word, trust in Him for our security and rescue. Trust him when he says: come to me!

Noah’s salvation depends, at every turn on God, God told Him to build the ark and how to build , God told him to get in the ark through the door to salvation, God shut the door behind Him to keep him safe. Noah was at the mercy of the God of the flood at every point. And to Noah’s credit: he is faithful, he hears the warning of judgment and he gets in the ark!

And it wasn’t just a couple of days, Noah was in the ark for 377. For 377 at the mercy of God, the only thing to do: rest, settle into the grace he had been given. (Btw, that’s what Noah’s name means). To settle into this renewed Eden, this salvation. It would have been easy for Noah to get anxious as the flood waters rose, and surely he was tempted in that. But he remained trusting and faithful, resting in the promises of God. One way to put it is this: Noah did not trust his eyes but rather God’s word concerning the true nature of things. His eyes would have said: we’re not going to make it through this!

No matter the how fierce the waters became, Noah rested in God. That’s our invitation today—no matter the world around us, no matter the trials, the sorrows, the grief, the suffering. If the trial you are facing feels too overwhelming, like we’re going to drown—we can rest in Christ. No matter what it is: rest in Christ. Isn’t this the image we have of Jesus on the boat in the storm? Remember, he’s literally asleep on the boat and the disciples are freaking out because of the storm! He wakes up and rebukes the wind and the waves demonstrating that he is the God over the flood and over all of our tribulations. Jesus rebukes his disciples, as if to say? Why did you trust your eyes? You only need to rest in me.

We want to be like Noah before the flood, we want to constantly working, to build the ark! To do something! But the invitation of the gospel is to rest in the finished work of Christ, our ark of salvation. Think again, of that illustration from earlier, the surgeon operating on you. During surgery, you’re not directing the surgeon. You’re resting under the care of the one who can save you.

Instead, we are to be like Noah in the ark, to set aside fear and anxiety and instead find our rest so deeply in Christ Jesus. Like Noah taking up residence in his Ark, we are to take up residence in ours, to abide in Christ Jesus, to abide in his death and his resurrection.

What does it mean to get in the ark that is Jesus? It is to find our hope, our trust, our security always and only in the salvation that he offers. Not a salvation of our own making or of our schemes, but one that is found in him. To go back to the cross and find safety and life rather than guilt or death. It looks like us setting aside our sin and instead turning to obedience in following Him. It means cultivating a relationship with Him through His word and prayer. Abiding in Christ means taking seriously the community we have in the church—to encourage and support one another and point one another toward Jesus through every trial.

When the floodwaters of anxiety or pressure rise, stop and pray this: Jesus, I choose to step into Your ark. I trust You to carry me.” He will carry you.

And on the ark, true rest is not the absence of danger or death, but being under God’s protection no matter the circumstances now. And one day, like Noah when the flood waters subside, we know that we will come into eternal rest with God.

You see this is where we’re all headed. I keep ending these Genesis sermons with a passage from Revelation and today is no different, but it’s a short little detail that’s easy to miss, look at Revelation 21:1 “1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”

There’s no more sea. No more waters of chaos and destruction and judgment. This is where we’re headed: from de-creation to new creation, new life no longer under the threat of death and destruction. This is our hope. Get in the ark. Rest in Him. He will carry you you the rest of the way.