The Ark of God
There are three Arks in scripture:
First:
Genesis 7:1 “And the Lord said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into the Ark; for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation.”
Noah’ Ark proclaimed salvation from the wrath to come, upon the whole world, because of the wickedness and violence of man.
Genesis 6:5, 11 “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
The earth also was corrupt before God; and the earth was filled with violence.”
“Imagination” here means desires and plans….they were always planning some new way of hurting others, gaining from someone else, or destroying something.
Even the earth was becoming spoiled, and wasted.
[God had set a way to meet with Him, in sacrifice as Abel had (Genesis 4:4), but they had refused it.
God had warned Enoch, and he had been a preacher to his generation (Jude 14-15).
And when Enoch was translated…for he “walked with God, and was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24)….they knew what had happened…..but still resisted the Holy Spirit.]
Genesis 6:3 “And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.”
Twenty years later God called Noah to build an Ark…(he had found grace in the eyes of the Lord Genesis 6:8)….
[It is interesting to note: he “found grace”….had he considered to follow the world, yet was convicted of the Holy Spirit, and found grace?]
Noah built and preached for one hundred years to the mockers, and people who came to watch. (2 Peter 2:5, Hebrews 11:7)
He preached as he brought the animals….a miracle before the people, as well….yet they refused God’s Word.
The Ark was given as a beacon: a revelation to man that God was not mocked (Galatians 6:7-8)……
And a light…..He set a way of salvation, in the Ark, to the world from this destruction…..if they would turn, hear, and believe it.
The Ark saved all who entered into it…through rain, flood, and decay; yet all inside were safe…till they came out into a new, clean earth, one year, and two months later…(Genesis 8:13-17).
So our Great Ark, Jesus Christ is preached to a lost and dying world…Come and enter into life….in Him.
Acts 4:12 “Neither is their salvation in any other: for there is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Second:
Exodus 2:3 “And when she could no longer hide him (Moses), 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 (Nile’s) bank.”
Moses’ ark of bulrushes…. to save one soul, from the most powerful man in the known world.
We need to first remember, that at that time, Pharaoh had planned to kill all the male Hebrew children, because the Israelites were multiplying…and he was afraid of an uprising.
They were often killed, by throwing them into the Nile.
Exodus 1:22 “And Pharoah charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.”
So his mother made a ark of bulrushes, and sent him into the same river that the children had been drowned…hoping no one would hear his crying…and set his sister to watch out for him.
We know the rest: the daughter of Pharaoh saw the ark, and when she opened it….God moved her heart to have compassion on a child her father would have killed. (Exodus 2:5-6)
Moses was to grow up, and was called to be the leader of God’s People to deliver them from Pharaoh, and Egypt’s slavery, by obedience to God.
To lead them to the land promised Abraham and his children. (Hebrews 11:23-29)
[We, too, are like babes in this world of cruelty and anger, but kept safe in the arms of Jesus]
This Ark saved a single soul, and was a hiding place in the storm of fear, and death.
So Christ Jesus came to save all who would shelter in Him…”whosoever will” (John 3:16)
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come.
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
1 Corinthians 15:55, 57 “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Third:
The Ark of the Covenant, which was to lead His people, and be the gathering place for the worship of God.
Exodus 25:10-11, 17-18, 21 “And they shall make an Ark of shittim wood:….
And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shall thou over lay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.
And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold:….And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
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.”
It was the presence of God in the midst of His people. (The Tabernacle was actually set up in the middle of the camp…with three tribes on each side.)
Exodus 25:22 “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the Ark of the testimony,…”
The Ark of the testimony was wood…a picture of Christ’s humanity; and overlaid within and without with gold….a picture of Christ’s Divinity, within and without…even when He was the Son of Man, He was the Son of God.
The mercy seat was all gold. It was the lid of the Ark.
It had two cherubim on it. One on each side, looking down to the center. Their wings covering them.
The center of the mercy seat was the place where all looked to pray….and where the blood of the atonement was poured out.
Leviticus 16:14, 30 “And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.”
In the Ark, was the two tables of stone on which the Law had been inscribed, sheltered under the blood.
The Ark lead them from Sinai, to the Promised land:
Numbers 10:35-36 “And it came to pass, when the Ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee.
And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.”
The Ark lead them through Jordon, and around Jericho to victory. (Joshua 3:11, Joshua 6:11)
And came to rest in Canaan, first in Shiloh; and then in Jerusalem, under king David, where all were to gather for worship at least seven times a year (the feast days).
All are a picture of Christ, and His work as Lord and Savior:
First, as a Light to the world……for all who will come and believe:
Acts 17:30-31 “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent:
Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”
Christ is presented as the Savior from sin…..if they will come to Him.
Second, as a Personal Lord and Savior:
Romans 5:8, 11 “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the atonement
Third, as our Center and Guide:
He leads us through “rivers, battles, and gives us rest”:
Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye.”
Isaiah 43:2 “When thou passes through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”
The Arks of the Old Testament showed what the Lord would do for all who came to Him, and put their trust in Him.
Isaiah 41:10 “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.”
Are you sheltered in Christ Jesus? Are you following His guidance?
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 