Hidden in the Ark

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. - Hebrews 11:23

    "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment." Hebrews 11:23

    There are three arks mentioned in the Word of God. Each was a place of refuge, shelter, and safety. Each of these three arks was typical of the Lord Jesus Christ, and God’s salvation in and by him.

    Noah’s Ark

    The ark that Noah built secured those who were in it from the vengeance and violent wrath of an angry God. That is Christ our Substitute. All the terror of God’s wrath fell on Noah and his family in the ark; but no wrath touched them. The ark absorbed all. So, too, all the fury of God’s wrath fell on his elect in Christ; but no wrath can ever touch us. Christ absorbed it all. Noah and his family were saved when all the world was drowned in the wrath of God. In Christ all God’s elect shall be eternally saved when all the world is drowned forever.

    The Ark of the Covenant

    The ark of the covenant sheltered the two tables of God’s holy law, and, being covered with blood, was the place of atonement, mercy, and acceptance with God for sinners. Where the ark went God went. That ark is Christ our Mercy-Seat. In him we have perfect righteousness and complete atonement. He kept the law for us in his life of obedience to God as our Substitute, and satisfied its justice by his death in our place at Calvary. If we are in the Ark, Christ Jesus, God is reconciled to us and we are reconciled to him. The holy Lord God bids needy sinners to come to him at the Mercy-Seat, Christ Jesus, and promises to meet all who come to him upon the Mercy-Seat, by faith in Christ, with mercy!

    Moses’ Ark

    Moses’ parents hid him for three months in an ark (a basket) made of bulrushes. That ark protected one of God’s chosen ones, Moses, from the murderous designs of a wicked ruler, Pharaoh. That ark, too, was a picture of Christ, into whom chosen sinners were placed by our loving, heavenly Father from eternity. As that ark of bulrushes was the means by which Moses was saved from drowning in the Eygptians’ river, God’s elect are saved from drowning in that infernal lake of his wrath, which burns forever with fire and brimstone.

    From the beginning there has been but one place of refuge for sinners, only one way of salvation. That refuge, that way, that salvation is Christ! If we would be saved, we must be robed in Christ’s righteousness and washed in his blood. We must be in Christ by faith. Only Christ can bear our souls above the flood of God’s wrath. Only Christ can save us.