Let us turn to the Holy Word
of God, and I direct your prayerful attention to the portion that
we read. We read for our text in Genesis
chapter 7 and verse 16. Genesis chapter 7 and verse 16,
and it particularly is the last phrase, and the Lord shut him
in. and the Lord shut him in. Genesis 7 verse 16, the end. Now what is upon my spirit this
evening is the Lord Jesus Christ in the types of the Old Testament
and particularly this evening in the type of the Ark, Noah's
Ark. It has pleased the Almighty to
set forth through the Scriptures many types and shadows many things
like the Apostle refers to in Hebrews 9 where he speaks of
the patterns that were figures in verse 9
of chapter 9 of Hebrews he says, which was a figure for the time
then present, and we have the tabernacle, we have the holiest
of all veiled with a veil and no way into that, and the apostle
says there was a significance in that, that the way into the
holiest, whereas the Lord Jesus Christ had not come and not made
that way, so that signifies something and later on in that chapter
as well in verse 24 we have for Christ is not entered into the
holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but
into heaven itself and so we have that teaching that In the
scriptures, those things that were in the tabernacle, the things
that were made, they were figures, they were patterns. It was through
those that the Old Testament saints were able to get glimpses
of Christ, what his work was to be, who he was to be in his
ability to save, ability to deliver. We see this in many aspects. We think of how the Apostle Paul
says that the children of Israel, they drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. And so again
we have those types and those shadows there. We must always
remember where we look at a type, never does follow through in
every particular. Our Lord spoke of a sign being
given, which was the sign of Jonas the prophet, well his being
buried in the sea and then brought up again, even so must the Son
of Man be three days, three nights in the heart of the earth. But
we would never liken the Lord to the disobedient, running away
prophet, the prophet that couldn't get hardly over his anger because
God would show mercy to repenting people. And so we have from the
Lord himself those examples of taking one aspect of a life or
one aspect of a time and it being a true time where we truly we'll
see a glimpse of Christ and yet we won't see it in the whole
account or whole of that person's life and we specifically see
this in Noah's Ark of course because eventually the Ark was
not needed and the people went out of the Ark whereas Christ
shall be everything to the people of God though not as it were
in the same here below and to bring his people to heaven, yet
heaven without Christ, without the elder brother, without our
captain, without our Redeemer, Savior, would not be heaven. And so we can't look at the Ark
in that way, right following through in all of the parts and
all of the times. Noah was said to be a preacher
of righteousness and Peter speaks of Christ going and preaching
unto them that are in prison which in the time of Noah they
waited and it refers to Noah preaching Christ and those that
rejected the word there and perished that those that then in hell
those had had the gospel preached to them in their day and in their
generation. And so we have Noah and he is
mentioned right through scriptures and I said that before you because
we believe the word of God from beginning to end and the literal
account of Noah that is no fable but it is a real historical account
how God destroyed the old world by water how that he preserved
eight people alive in the ark and all the animals with him
and the birds and renewed the earth and the evidences of that
flood right through the earth and in the writings of many,
many peoples But throughout the scriptures, he's referred to
not only in Genesis, but also Isaiah, Ezekiel, the Chronicles. Our Lord, of course, refers to
Noah, and we have it in Hebrews 11. We have Noah as a man of
faith. By faith, Noah, being warned
of God, of things not seen as yet, prepared an ark to the saving
of his house. It is vital that we hold to the
real account. Often think of the scriptures,
how many names are written there. And Noah features in many of
the genealogies. And why are there so many names? Because it deals with real people
and the real history of this world. Peter says, we have not
followed cunningly devised fables. when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so the account
of Noah that I want to look at with the Lord's help this evening,
to look at what Noah would have seen. We are able to see now
that we have the clear revelation of Christ, but to see the types
that Noah had and to look at them and to see the Lord Jesus
Christ in that time. And so with the Lord's help,
I want to look at three headings. Firstly, the types of Christ
that Noah saw in the construction of the ark itself. And then secondly,
the types of Christ that Noah saw in the day that the flood
came. And then lastly, the types of
Christ that Noah knew while in the ark. So firstly, the types of Christ
in the construction of the ark. Firstly, we are told that the
ark was made out of gopher wood. It is the only time in scripture
that that wood is mentioned. It is the only construction that
was made with gopher wood. And we cannot help noticing as
well that in the wilderness journeys of the children of Israel when
they were commanded to make the tabernacle and the Ark of the
Covenant the furniture of the tabernacle it was Shittim wood
wood that came from a place called Shittim and the children of Israel
actually dwelt for some time in that place But again, it's
the only place in Scripture that we read of that wood being used. And so you have a unique wood,
a wood that was just for that purpose. You could think of,
as well, with the anointing oil and the fragrances of the tabernacle,
all of them, there was to be nothing like it made. That was
to be the only one. And so with this, with Noah,
the actual construction of the Ark. It was made of that which
was unique. It just belonged to the Ark and
not mentioned anywhere else in Scripture. Christ is unique. There is only one name given
among men whereby we must be saved. There is only one God
and one Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ. God and man in
one person, a unique person to join both natures, truly human,
truly divine, in one person. And there is none other on earth,
in heaven, that has a person that has two natures like that.
Christ is unique. and his uniqueness was specifically
for the salvation of his people, to save his people, to be made
bone of our flesh and flesh of our flesh, to be made like unto
his brethren, not just spirit like the angels, not just flesh
like the beasts, but flesh and spirit like the seed of Abraham. And so Noah would have had this
message, the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's
head, the one that was to come, the one that was to be a continued
promise through this time of the destruction of the world,
was to be a unique saviour, that he was to be made as none other
was made. Well did Job marvel and He says,
but how can a clean thing come out of an unclean? It's to be
the seed of the woman, but the woman is fallen and man is fallen. How can it be so? And we know
that the Lord then said to Mary, the Holy Spirit shall overshadow
you. Wherefore that holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Christ is unique. The second thing that was mentioned
in the construction of the Ark was that it had three stories
to it. Now I would just say in speaking
on this, obviously many aspects of the construction of the Ark
and many things about the Ark were of a purely practical nature. It had to fulfill a practical
purpose of housing, not only Noah but the animals, the food,
the waste, everything. It had to be a functional vehicle,
a vessel. And so we don't want to read
into it what is is not there but what we find right the way
through the scripture is a great significance in three the three
days our lord was in the tomb the three days that abraham took
to take his son up to mount moriah to offer him up the three times
that Balaam offered the seven, the perfect number of sacrifices
from three different perspectives. And now here we have three stories
in a vessel that is a vessel of salvation. And immediately
we see the Trinity here, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The Father
sent the Son, the willing Son obeyed, the Holy Spirit, the
witness, to ratify that witness and sacrifice that God has made,
and He seals it upon the hearts of the people of God. Salvation
is of God. Our Lord said, the Father Himself
loveth you. And it is the Holy Spirit that
is the author of the Scriptures, the author of the new birth,
the author of every blessing, spiritual blessings, in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. And so we get a little glimpse
here of these three stories, as it were, in this vessel of
salvation, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a triune God. Then we have in the third place
that there is a door. Now no doubt the door was in
one of the stories, in the lower story perhaps. There wasn't three
doors, there was one door. And our Lord in John 10, when
he speaks of the parable of the good shepherd, and he says very
clearly that I am the door, the door into the sheepfold. Noah,
all those that went into the ark, they all went through that
one door, no other way. Again, what a beautiful time
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear friend, if you and I are
brought into the way of salvation, the way of deliverance, it will
be through that one door through the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how
clearly it is set before us in Scripture. And when we have the
response of dear Peter, where he says, when many left the Lord,
he says, to whom can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. There was only one way. There
is none other way. If ye believe not that I am he,
says our Lord, ye shall perish in your sins. I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And how beautifully, what a simple
illustration this is. But how beautifully it says before
us as sinners, guilty sinners, needy sinners, needing of a refuge,
needing of deliverance from the wrath to come. and this one door
is set before us. A door of hope is open wide in
Jesus' bleeding hands and side. The Ark had a door. The Church of God has a door. A poor sinner has a door set
before them and in the Gospel and in gospel days I have set
before thee an open door and no man can shut it." The fourth aspect of the Ark
was that it had to have a window. Those that were in that Ark,
they had to have light. The Lord Jesus Christ sets forth
that He is the light of the world, that those that are in Him shall
not walk in darkness, but they shall have the light of life. And so with the Ark again, how
it was, many have conjectured as to how it was, whether it
run the full length of the Ark, whether it was on the top of
the Ark, it gave light, it gave Also ventilation, we don't know. All we know is what the Spirit
has seen fit to tell us. That there was a window, and
what is a window for? To let in light, and to let out
light. It sets forth light. And yes,
we can't think of the types and say, well, there's no light in
the Ark, it had to come from outside. we move from that, we
think of the ark, a window, and light, and how it agrees with
the scriptures, that there is light in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the darkness that is upon this earth, the darkness in poor fallen
man, but when the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ
shines into our hearts, what a blessing light that is. Well, there is the last thing
I'd mention concerning the construction, and that is the size of the ark. We are given the dimensions of
it in cubits, and we are given the proportions of it, how The
length of it was such that it was very stable in that direction. But then we have also the width
of it. The width of it was wider than
what the depth of it was. And so with the actual proportions
of the arc, it was to be a very, very stable vessel. If we were to make a box, in
fact I think proportion-wise or similarity would be a shoebox. A shoebox would be a similar
proportions and if you put it in water then it would be very
stable and so was the Ark. Stability in Christ. But not only that, there was
to be a sufficiency. What if the ark wasn't big enough?
What if all the animals got there and there wasn't enough room
for them all? What if there wasn't enough to
fulfil the purpose that it was made for, just at that crucial
time? there was. The Lord had given
the dimensions for it, the same later on with the construction
of the tabernacle. And there was a sufficiency.
There was room enough. And what a message there is in
the Gospel there. A sufficiency in Christ. There is room for every poor
sinner that comes seeking salvation. It shall never be said, it is
full. There's no room for you. There's
room in Christ. It's a blessed thing. The Lord
knew exactly who that ark was for. And He knows exactly who
He is for. Who He suffered for on Calvary's
tree. whom He bled for, those that
the Father gave Him to redeem, and those that He did redeem,
and those that He will call, and those that out of a sense
of need will flee unto Christ and seek unto Him. Through the
type here with Noah they have the assurance that there is a
sufficiency, there is room in the Lord Jesus Christ. for all
that seek unto Him. So we have in the construction
of the actual ark itself those five aspects of type that Noah
would have seen that we can see and meditate upon with comparing
with other scriptures setting forth the suitability of the
Lord Jesus Christ in the construction of the ark. But then we have, secondly, the
types of Christ that Noah saw in the day that the flood came,
the day that the heavens were to be opened, the day when the
earth was to be destroyed, the day when Their great need was
that day, that day when destruction was coming. What was the ark then? What types
of Christ are set before us then? The first is this, a prepared
place. A hundred years. That ark was
a preparing. All that labor, but on that last
day, that day when the Lord would reign from heaven and break up
the deep, it was finished. It was finished. It was all prepared,
all ready for that very time. How many times in scripture is
a prepared place? Eden was a prepared place. God prepared it, then he put
man into it. Canaan was a prepared place.
He said they did not have to build houses, they did not have
to build or plant vineyards, it was all there. And they came
and they possessed that land. Heaven is a prepared place for
a prepared people. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there you may be also. The ark was a prepared
place. It was already for that time. And you know, in gospel days,
The ark of grace, the ark of Christ, the ark of the refuge,
the hiding place, the salvation, is a prepared place. The dear disciples were to go
forth and to preach a gospel of which our Lord on Calvary
said, it is finished. And he rose from the dead, an
assurance unto all men, that gospel is a prepared gospel and
you know even in the types even in those that knew in the old
testament day that looked forward to Christ that believed on him
you think of David when David was told by Nathan the parable
of the poor man's lamb and he was convicted of the murder of
Uriah of adultery with Bathsheba and David says i have sinned
Nathan does not need to say, well, I must then go back to
God and ask Him what we can do and if there's any respite, if
there's any escape from the punishment because you're a murderer, a
premeditated murderer and there's no provision for you. He doesn't
say anything of that. He immediately says, the Lord
hath also put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. The remedy was
already there. As soon as David confessed his
sin, as soon as he owned it, immediately there was forgiveness
and pardon. The work of our Lord is a finished
work. And that place in Christ is a
prepared place for sinners. That sinners that live to feel
their need, they're welcome there. And in their greatest time of
need, as it was with Noah, that is when a prepared place is to
be valued. Oh yes, some might say, oh yes,
Noah had a part in this and all that. No, salvation is of God. The type that we have and where
we want to see is Christ in all the scriptures. is not of works
lest any man should boast. Noah he did indeed by faith build
this literal ark to the saving of his house. And really every
poor sinner that seeks unto Christ, he also is doing the same thing
by faith, looking unto Christ, seeking unto Christ, seeking
unto God's provision of salvation. That's what it is. The ark was
God's provision of salvation. And so every poor sinner that
is brought to look that way will find that it is already prepared,
already done. Think when the Lord rose from
the dead, he appeared to the disciples on the shore, they
were fishing, And they hadn't caught anything all night. He
said, cast the net the right side of the ship. They caught
then 153 fishes. They brought them to the shore.
He said, bring now your fishes. But in a sense, they didn't need
them. When they came there, he had a fire. He had the fish already. The provision was already there,
already provided. And so it is in Christ. The second thing is an only hope. In the day that that flood came,
what other place had Noah to look? If that ark wasn't any
good, if it wasn't big enough, if it leaked, if something was
not right prepared, where else could he look? Where else could
he go? It was an only hope. Dear friends,
have you got an only hope? It's a blessed thing if that
only hope is Christ. Other refuge have I none, hangs
my helpless soul on thee. We don't need, we don't want
a lot of different hopes, as it were. We want one, and it's
a good hope through grace, a hope in Christ and Christ alone. And that's what Noah had. And
you picture that. You picture the scene. Dry land
all around. The ark sitting there. But the
heavens to be opened up. And the time of the Lord's judgment
upon the earth to come. And there stood the ark alone. How many times in our life, dear
friends, whether it is as a sinner, under the lashings of a broken
law, whether it is one in affliction's hour, whether it is in the valley
of the shadow of death, whichever place it is. May we think of
Noah and his only hope, and our eyes be upon Christ and Christ
alone. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name." The third thing on that day was
a command, a command by God to enter the habit in verse 1 chapter
7 the Lord said unto Noah come thou and all thy house into the
ark come thou you think of that the last great day come thou
blessed of my father enter the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world come thou it's a blessed thing When
all is settled and all is needed is for the Lord to say to His
dear people, come now. Come up higher, come now. All prepared, all ready, come
now. Noah was right prepared, the
need was there, the place was there, Everything was there. It's like the feast, all prepared
and all ready. The Lord told the parable, didn't
he? Come, get some guests for the wedding banquet. But those,
they didn't want to come. They wouldn't come. But when
you get a prepared sinner, and one that is in the position like
Noah was, how sweet, how sacred to have that word come now. May the Lord speak into your
heart and into mine. Come now. The fourth thing that Noah would
have seen on that day was a separation. Noah was to leave that old world
and enter into that ark, never to see that old world again. How different it would be a year
and ten days later. No people on the earth, but those
ain't. No animals, but those that were
in the ark. A completely regenerated earth
and landscapes are very, very different. What a separation,
the scriptures, Teach separation from the beginning to end. Sometimes
it's very hard. We see it in the case with Lot. Lot took a lot to be separated
from Sodom, didn't he? The angel was merciful, bringing
him out. He remembered Abraham when he
brought him out. Abraham's pleading. We hear in
the gospel coming out from among them, touch not the unclean thing,
and I will receive you, and you shall be my sons and my daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. Let us go out unto him without
the camp, bearing his reproach. As for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord." Noah had to be separated, and
the church is a separated church. The way of Christ is a narrow
way. It is a way that only the people
of God shall walk, and it's a way of separation. Whosoever will be a friend of
the world is an enemy of God. If they have done these things
in a green tree, says our Lord, what shall they do in the dry? If they have persecuted me, They
will also persecute you. I am not of the world, the Lord
said, even as they are not of the world. Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my word shall not pass away. A separation from
an ungodly world, but a separation unto Christ. You cannot serve
God, O mammon. You cannot stay on this earth
and be saved. You must enter into the ark. It must be a several, we don't
know how many. Other relatives or other friends
or those that Noah had, we're not told of any. But we know
that they only went into the ark. Never be ashamed. of the separation
that godliness, holiness, righteousness were necessary cause. Never be
ashamed of going out of the camp unto the Lord Jesus Christ, identifying
with Him, cleaving to Him. It is in that way, as it was
with Noah, that there is salvation and deliverance. But lastly, in this second point,
a people shut in. This is the word of our texts. And the Lord shut him in. What a picture. Noah and his
family going in and all the animals into the ark. One time they're
all round about the Ark, as it were, all gathering together, and then they go in, and the
door is shut, and looking on from outside, all we see is the
Ark. We don't see those that are within,
we only see the Ark. O that I might, says the Apostle,
be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is by faith. Hide me, O thou Saviour,
hide, till the storm of life is past, safe into the haven
guide, O receive my soul at last. And there is Noah received into
that ark. He's hidden in Christ. He's sheltering
in Christ. You think how many times this
type was repeated. You think of it and that Passover
night as the angel went over the houses of the children of
Israel. Was there any of the children
of Israel to be seen? No, not one. They're all in their
houses. What was seen? The blood on the
doorpost, the blood on the lintel, But when I see the blood, I will
pass over you. And so we have here, Noah entering
in, and the door is shut, securing him in and also shutting the
others out. We think of our Lord's parable,
the five wise and the five foolish virgins, and how that the foolish
had no oil in their vessels with their lamps they had a profession
but they did not have the possession of grace they did not have a
store that was in Christ outside of themselves many poor sinners
mourn that they've got nothing in themselves they're empty empty
vessels and they've got no store in themselves What that parrot
was teaching was not a store in themselves, but they had in
the vessels with their lamps. And if we are truly amongst the
wise, then our store is in Christ, our fullness in Christ. We have
in the Colossians, it is pleased the Father that in Him should
all fullness dwell. It was to be in Christ, not in
us. And so with the parable of our
Lord, while there were those that they went to buy, then the
bridegroom came and the door was shut. It was too late then,
too late. Now is the day of grace. Now
is the day of salvation. And it's a blessed thing that
that door is open but one day it will be shut. But for the
people of God it is shut in with Christ. We think about Him once
in Him, in Him forever thus the eternal covenant stands. The security that Christ is for
His people is set forth and it was the Lord that shut Him in,
the Lord that sealed him in and this was all in the day when
that flood came in the day of great need do you know he wasn't
shut in the day before or the week before but on that
day there is a favoured time a set time to favour Zion a set
time when the Lord blesses His people with the blessings that
they need for that day, for that time and that hour, and no one
needed those things in that day when the Lord brought the flood
upon the earth. You and I need those blessings
in times of affliction, times of spiritual need, times of temptation,
times when we come down to death itself, to know what it is to
be shut in with Christ. I want then to look at our last
point, which is the types of Christ that no one knew while
he was actually in the Ark. The first is this, that the floods
that came, they bore up the ark, and the rains that came from
above, they fell on the ark. The ark itself was bearing all
that was coming of the wrath of God, all the destructing power
that was put forth. The Ark was bearing all of that. It was shielding Noah and all
those within that Ark from those things. Our Lord Jesus Christ
alone bore the wrath of God due to his people's sin. My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The wrath of God poured out
upon the Lord for sin, a just judgment. He hath laid on Him
the iniquity of us all. He hath made Him to be sin for
us that knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And no one would have known this. No doubt they would have in some
measure heard and felt the motion of the boat. They've heard some
of those things. But they were shielded in a great
way. They couldn't see what was going
on outside. They couldn't see the death of
many around them. They were shut in. But the Ark
was bearing all of this. It's a beautiful time. It's a
beautiful time when we consider the Lord bearing the wrath of
God so that we do not bear it. And it's also a beautiful time
when we think of the valley of the shadow of death. We think
of what the Lord says. He doesn't just say then, come
as it were and come on your own. I will come unto you and receive
you unto myself. The Lord will be with his people
as he was with the Ark of the Covenant in the midst of the
Jordan when they went through it. And so with the Ark, the
people of God. The Lord has them with him. We think of the second coming
of the Lord, which shall be at the end of the world. Those outside
of Christ shall be calling upon the rocks and the hills to hide
them from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne. But
the Lord shall come with his saints, and come with his people,
and that when we see these things begin to come to pass, we are
to look up for our redemption draweth nigh. And so we have
Noah in the ark. He would have been realising
what the ark was bearing, that they weren't. And I believe in
measure we know and have some fellowship with the Lord in his
sufferings by knowing through tribulations and chastenings
and sorrows, something, a little bit, of the sorrows of our Lord,
enough to make us realize that He bore the full wrath of God. Then we have the provision. Noah,
of course, was commanded to make provision, but all of that year
long and ten days, it must have been a miracle. They had provision
in that ark. Dear friends, there's a provision
in Christ that does not run out. It is again a sufficiency. Not
only was there enough room in the Ark, there's provision enough. And we're to remember that. My flesh is meat indeed. My blood is drink indeed. But then there's safety. Our
Lord in John 10, He says, No man is able to pluck them out
of mine hands. My Father that gave them me is
greater than I, and no man is able to pluck them out of my
Father's hand. I and my Father are one. And
we see again the Trinity and the security of the people of
God in the Trinity, the three stories. But the safety of Noah
in that ark, safety is of God. Safety is where he is found. And then fourthly there is rest
in that ark. We have a beautiful type of that
with Noah puts forth the dove and he goes and he doesn't find
a place for the sole of its foot so he comes again to the ark
and Noah puts forth his hand and took the dove and pulled
him in unto the ark. There is rest, ye found no rest
outside. Come unto me, all ye that labour,
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Ye shall
find rest unto your souls. And then lastly, he would have
found that faith was well founded. You think how his faith must
have been tried those hundred years preaching and building
and then entering into that ark and proving its security, proving
its safety and at the last to come out of that ark you know
he would have looked back on all that have happened And he
thought, my faith was well founded. It was true. It was right. It was on the rock. The Lord
did save me. He did deliver us. He did save
us. And what must it be at last to
be brought around the throne of God in heaven? I believe there's
many times we'll know it here below that we know that our faith
in Christ The Lord has not disappointed it, we've proved it to be true
and strong and real. But to look in heaven and to
remember all what the Lord has brought us through and to realize
that our faith in Christ, how good that was, how right that
was. And you know, God-given faith, it centers in the right
place and the Lord will never never let down His dear people. Was Noah let down? Was any part
of that salvation, of that deliverance from death to life, was any part
let down? Not one part. Everything had
been provided for. Everything had been done. And
everything was accomplished, what that ark was to accomplish. And so it will be with all that
are found in Christ. Christ is the only perfect saviour
and shall at last have all the praise and honour and glory in
heaven. The praise shall be upon his
head through all he has done. And may our faith be strengthened
this evening in looking at these times that the ark shows us of
our Lord. Sometimes it is through illustrations
like this that we can see more clearly some of those beautiful,
profound, blessed truths of our Lord, of what He is to the people
of God, that He is our salvation, He is our Lord, our God, our
Saviour, and our Redeemer, our only hope. May we then be like
Noah, May we be of those that are saved through the Lord Jesus
Christ and that blessed provision. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.