The Ark of Faith

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #131aal Re-Written 27JUN09

Save Me Today—Part Sixty Four: The Ark Of Faith

by rev dave c

By the end of Genesis Chapter Five we learn that a son was born to Methuselah as the third generation following Enoch’s bodily translation out of this world (the tenth generation since Adam), who was named Noah, and ...Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God (Ge 6:9; NIV). The person of Noah provides for us a picture of incredible obedience as he humbly worked to fulfill God’s command to build an ark of gopher wood the size of an ocean liner in order that Earth’s non-aquatic life might be saved. All the while Noah toiled, he called for his neighbors to obey the Word of the Lord and repent from their sins. While the people of that age had 100 years to turn from their wicked ways and to receive God’s forgiveness, they did not listen and all but eight people drowned in the second worst flood of our planet’s history (Ge 1:2, & ch. 6-9).

“Ark” is translated from a Hebrew word that means “box”. In Exodus 25:10-22 God commanded Moses to have another box built that was called ‘the Ark of the Covenant’, or ‘the Ark of the Testimony’. This ark was also made of wood, but it was completely overlaid with gold. The lid, or cover, of the ark had two golden Cherubim facing each other with their wings swept forward, and it was called ‘the mercy seat’ because that is where the High Priest humbly met with God once a year for the atonement of the people (Le 16:32-34). Inside, it contained the tablets of The Law, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and a gold jar of manna (He 9:4-15). The stone tablets represented ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’, Aaron’s staff represented the ‘tree of life’, the jar of manna represented the Divine provision of God, the gold represented His holiness, the Mercy Seat represented the Divine presence, and the Cherubim represented our spiritual separation from eternal life. In a sense, the design of the Tabernacle at large was symbolic of Eden, with ‘the holy of holies’ generally, and ‘the ark of the covenant’ specifically, being a metaphor for ‘the garden’.

If the first ark was a floating box as the means of salvation from physical destruction by the flood, the second ark, as the focus of God’s covenant with Israel, continued and expanded the revelation that salvation comes through obedient faith—knowledge that God delivered to His people as the word/the law/statutes/precepts/commands/ordinances (Ps. 19 & 119). That obedience required a willful commitment to Deuteronomy 6:5, Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (NIV)...And to Leviticus 19:18, love your neighbor as yourself (NIV).

A cross of wood, while not a box, became the ark for our faith, hope, and peace; an humbling ark where we meet with God; an ark not covered with gold, but with a substance of infinitely greater value—our Savior’s blood. Holy Scripture, and the evidence of our lives, bear witness to the eternal power and worth in the sacrifice of that blood (Ep 2:13-22, Co 1:18-20/2:13-15). For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God (1Pe 1:18-21; NIV).

When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption (He 9:11&12; NIV). Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him (He 9: 24-28; NIV).

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man (Mat. 24:36-39; NIV). For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him (1Pe 3:18-22; NIV). As it was in the days of Noah...that is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself...Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Thank you...and come Lord Jesus. Please save me today. Amen.