How is Noah’s Ark Related to Jesus?

Genesis 6:5-14

Christ said, “As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37).The days of Noah were days of apostasy. (See Genesis 6:5.) “So the LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth…But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:7-8; emphasis added).

Grace Provides a Savior 

The ark pictures Christ. (Read 1 Peter 3:18-20.)

The Ark’s Security

“Make yourself an ark…and cover it inside and outside with pitch” (Genesis 6:14). “Pitch” is tar. This word is translated in the rest of the Bible as atonement. The water was God’s judgment, and not one drop could come through. Christ is the atonement for your sin, and if you are in Him, no judgment can get to you.

The Ark’s Sufficiency

“The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits” (Genesis 6:15b). 3 million cubic feet. There was room on that ark for all who would come, and there is room at the cross for all who would come.

The Ark’s Shape

These are the dimensions of a coffin. When Noah came into that ark, it pictured the way we are buried with Christ in baptism. (See Romans 6:4.)

“You shall make a window for the ark…and set the door of the ark in its side” (Genesis 6:16a). God sealed the door, (See Genesis 7:16.) but Noah could open the window and look up. We are sealed into Christ by the Holy Spirit. We look into Heaven through Christ.

The Ark’s Sustenance

“And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself” (Genesis 6:21a). God took care of the needs of all who were in the ark. Jesus, as the ark, not only saves but also satisfies.

The Ark’s Schedule

“Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4). In the Jewish calendar, this was April—the time of Passover, when Jesus took God’s wrath upon the cross!

Grace Provides Salvation

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:8-10a; emphasis added).

“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. …‘I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you’” (Genesis 6:8,18). Grace means that God saves us apart from any effort of our own.

“Then the LORD said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household’” (Genesis 7:1a). Noah had to take that step through faith. (See Hebrews 11:7.)

“So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth’” (Genesis 9:1). We do not do good works in order to be saved, but because we have been saved.

Grace Provides Security

Those who believe in Christ are “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13b). Could Noah have lost his salvation? God shut the door! We are saved by grace, and kept by grace. (See John 10:28.)

The first time, God destroyed the world by water. The second time will be by fire. (Read 2 Peter 3:5-9.) Now here is the question: “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God…?” (2 Peter 3:11-12a)

You had better be in the ark of safety, the Lord Jesus Christ, and know the grace of Almighty God.