Gen 6,7 – God’s Ark – Image of Christ
Noah had been walking the earth for 500 years. As a young man, he was taught about the Creator by his father and his paternal grandfather, Methuselah. They probably had faithfully related to him the story of creation, the legendary garden of Eden and the fall which was passed down from father to son. His family was very close. I can well imagine a young Noah being brought to the eldest of the clan, Seth himself, who would be around 900 years old. As the lad was presented, Seth’s aged hand would reach out and rest on Noah’s head to give him both a blessing and a warning. The blessing is that the eyes of God is watching the family. The warning is that any of them could easily take the path of Cain.
Noah had seen the descendants of Cain in their great city. He saw their great evil and turned away lest he be tempted. Five hundred years had past and he probably wondered what else he could do with his life. Again, I can well imagine him casting his eyes upon a starry night sky pleading like he had done many times but not expecting any response… until God spoke to him.
So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. [Gen 6:13,17]
Some would wonder whether God was right to condemn that generation. Consider, if you 
will, the Lord not doing anything. Remember, there are two great influences that are ruling the hearts of men in those days, SIN and the evil whispering of the devil (not forgetting the example of the Nephilim). If unchecked, the chances of more of mankind ultimately ending up in the image on the right would become a certainty. Fortunately, for us, the Lord God sees and knows all and always know what is right to do. And by the way, God so love the world, He so desires that none should perish. This is always forefront in the Lord’s plan.
And His plan is dependent on Noah’s building capability… (and Him helping out, of course.)
“So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.” [Gen 6:14-16]
Most people thought the ark was the shape of a boat, but biblically, the ark was in actuality a very long and large rectangular barn with extremely thick walls and a barge-like base heavily coated in some kind of waterproofing resin. Why this basic shape? I believe the reason is that God gave Noah the simplest design for him to build. How could a barn-shaped vessel survive a tempestuous ocean? For myself, the answer is simple. God gave the design. However, for those with unsure faiths, a scientist built a scale model of the ark and in a large indoor pool designed to test ship designs, it was put into 
trials under simulated waves of a stage 5 hurricane. It surpassed all expectations.
What is a cubit? The cubit is the length of the arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. As, further, it was regarded as one-fourth of a man’s height, we may safely compute it at eighteen inches more or less. Thus the ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet broad, and 45 feet in depth.
Put yourself in Noah’s shoes. God just instructed him to construct a humongous structure. He was probably wondering why.
But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.” [Gen 6:18-21]
Noah did everything just as God commanded him. [Gen 6:22]
Noah did not hesitate. He and probably members of the clan moved to an area which was heavily forested with the trees required. They cleared the land and prepared it for the build. Now, God gave no deadline but the build took about 100 years.
The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” [Gen 7:1-4]
On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in. [Gen 7:13-16]
‘It was God Himself that shut and sealed the door, to secure Noah and keep him safe in the ark; also to keep all others for ever out. In what manner this was done, God has not been pleased to make known’. [commented by a Bible commentary]
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CRIMSON THREAD
There are 2 images that are representative of Christ.
The first one is the ark itself. The ark is like Christ because only those that are in it are saved (reflected in 1 John 5:11-12).
The second image is the ark’s only door. How? Here is Jesus’ own words.
“I am the gate (door); whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” [John 10:9]
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In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth… [Gen 7:11-12]
We leave you here until our next post. See you then.
Johann Quisumbing 