How Did We Get In This Mess In Our Lives – Part 6B
GENESIS 6–9 – NOAH AS A TYPE OF CHRIST JESUS
GENESIS 5:28 – “And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years, and beget a son”.
GENESIS 5:29 – “And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall COMFORT US concerning our WORK AND TOIL of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath CURSED”.
* NOAH WAS A “COMFORT” FROM THE CURSE UPON MANKIND BECAUSE OF MANKIND’S SIN – HE WAS TO BE THE “REST GIVER” – SO IS CHRIST JESUS
*To begin at the beginning, Noah’s very name foreshadowed the “Coming One of Judgment”. Noah means “REST”! His father regarded him as the one who should be the “REST GIVER”, the one who should provide COMFORT FROM THE TOIL INCURRED BY THE CURSE OF SIN! Noah’s father looked upon his son as the one who would bring DELIVERANCE FROM THE CURSE, as THE ONE WHO SHOULD PROVIDE COMFORT AND REST FROM THE WEARINESS OF THE TOILS OF LIFE!
ISAIAH 11:10 – “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse (A descendant of Jesse), which will stand for an ENSIGN (A SIGN, A STANDARD AS A RALLYING POINT) of the people; TO IT SHALL THE GENTILES SEEK: AND HIS REST SHALL BE GLORIOUS (BREATH TAKING AND INDESCRIBABLE)”.
It was Christ Jesus, when He was here on the earth and walking here on the CURSED GROUND, that He said this, to us even today:
MATTHEW 11:28 – “COME UNTO ME (HE IS OUR ‘ENSIGN’), all you that LABOR and are HEAVY LADEN (WITH THE TOILS OF LIFE), and I will give you REST (HE IS THE “REST GIVER”)”.
But further than this, Noah’s name and the prophecy of his father, on the occasion of Noah’s birth, also look forward to the time of our “Lord’s Second Coming”, when He (Christ Jesus) shall deliver the earth from its “CURSE” (ISAIAH 9; ISAIAH 35).
* NOAH “FOUND GRACE IN THE EYES OF THE LORD.”
GENESIS 6:8 – “BUT NOAH FOUND GRACE IN THE EYES OF THE LORD”.
All “Flesh” had corrupted its way upon the earth. The “Ruinous and Ravaging effects of sin” were universal. But as God looked down upon the creatures of His hand, now “Fallen and depraved”, there was ONE WHO STOOD OUT BY HIMSELF, one who was “JUST” and “PERFECT IN HIS GENERATION”, one, upon whom God’s eye delighted to rest.
It is very significant that nothing is said at all about Noah’s family – his sons and their wives – in this connection. Noah is only mentioned, as if to show us that he is the ONE to whom we are to fix our attention upon. When we know what a striking “Type”, Noah is to of our Lord Jesus, this becomes obvious; He (Christ Jesus) is the ONE, we are to fix our eyes upon because He is the ONE, with whom the heart of the Heavenly Father was DELIGHTED IN.
Note also, that the FIRST WORDS, that is told us, in connection with Noah, is it that he “Found grace in the eyes of the Lord”, so also, is the FIRST WORDS, of the Heavenly Father, after the Lord Jesus had commenced His public ministry were: “THIS IS MY BELOVEDS SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED” (MATTHEW 3:17).
* “NOAH WAS ‘JUST A MAN’ – SO WAS CHRIST JESUS
GENESIS 6:9 – “These are the generations of Noah: NOAH WAS A JUST MAN and PERFECT IN HIS GENERATION, and Noah WALKED WITH GOD”.
Noah was a “JUST MAN”. Like all other sinners, who find acceptance with God, Noah was “JUSTIFIED BY FAITH”. He possessed no “Inherent Righteousness” of his own. “Righteousness” is IMPUTED (Credited to our account), IMPUTED TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE (ROMANS 4:6, 22 – 25).
* There was only ONE MAN, who has ever walked on earth, who was “INHERENTLY AND INTRINSICALLY RIGHTEOUS” and that was He, who NOAH foreshadowed, He of whom the Centurion testified: “CERTAINLY THIS WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN” (LUKE 23:47).
* NOAH WAS “PERFECT IN HIS GENERATION” – SO WAS CHRIST JESUS
Next, we read that Noah was “Perfect in his generation” (GENESIS 6:9). Noah and his family had not been defiled by his contact with the “Nephilim”(Fallen Angels). “Perfect in his generation” signifies that Noah was uncontaminated in His physical nature. “Perfect in this generation” is spoken of Noah alone, because no other person in the Bible is described as such. Which I believe is the perfect symbolism of Christ Jesus! Does this not point to the immaculate humanity of our Lord, who was “BIRTHED” by the Holy Spirit?
When the Eternal Word was made “Flesh”, he did not contract the corruption of our “Fallen nature”. Unlike all of humankind, he was NOT “Shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin” (PSALMS 51: 5). On the contrary, his mother Mary was told: “That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God”. In His humanity, our Lord was “Separated from Sinners” (HEBREWS 7:26) BECAUSE He WAS CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY GHOST (LUKE 1:34, 35). He was “Uncontaminated by the virus of sin”. He was “Perfect in his generation”.
* NOAH “WALKED WITH GOD” – SO DID CHRIST JESUS
And this also was a “Type or Symbol” of Christ Jesus, who for 30 years lived here on the earth, and in UNBROKEN COMMUNION, with the Heavenly Father (EXCEPT FOR THE SHORT TIME ON THE CROSS). All through those years, however varied His circumstances were, Christ Jesus found enjoyment in the holy and blessed fellowship of the Heavenly Father. During His early life, in the seclusion of Nazareth, we learned that “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in FAVOR (GRACE) WITH GOD AND MEN” (LUKE 2:52).
During the long season of fasting and temptation in the “Wilderness”, we find Him living, by “EVERY WORD OF GOD” (LUKE 4:4). While His disciples slept, our blessed Lord retired to the solitude of the mountain, where He poured out his soul to God the Father and enjoyed fellowship with His Heavenly Father (LUKE 6:12). At the close of His suffering on the cross, we hear Him cry: “Father Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (LUKE 23:46). Truly, Christ Jesus’s “Walk”, was ever with the God the Father.
* GOD THE FATHER GAVE NOAH AN “HONOROUS WORK” TO DO – AND CERTAINLY AS WELL IN CHRIST JESUS “WORK” ALSO
GENESIS 6:14 – “Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shall pitch it within and without with pitch”.
GENESIS 6:18 – “But with THEE WILL I ESTABLISH MY COVENANT; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee”.
GENESIS 6:19 – “And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female”.
Here we find a work that is entrusted to Noah by God. It is a highly important work, a momentous and stupendous work! Never before or since was such a task been allotted to a single man – until, of course, the task given to Christ Jesus! The task of effecting the salvation OF LOST AND RUINED SINNERS, from God’s JUDGMENT, on all of God’s creation, was committed to Noah – THE SAME WAS TRUE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR CHRIST JESUS!
So clear and plain is the symbolism here, it is almost needless. To the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s beloved Son, was entrusted to task of affecting the SALVATION OF THE LOST AND RUINED SINNERS. It is to this, He refers when He says: “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (JOHN 17:4) – speaking here as though in “Glory”, where He is now our great High Priest in Heaven!
* NOAH ALONE DID THE WORK OF BUILDING THE “ARK” – ONLY CHRIST JESUS DID THE “WORK” ALONE
It should be noted, there is no reference in the Bible commentary to any help that Noah received in the execution of his God-given task! There is no hint whatsoever that any assisted him in the work of building the “Ark”. The record reads as though Noah alone provided the necessary means for securing the lives of those that God had entrusted to his care! Surely the reason is obvious. The truth which is foreshadowed here is parallel within the typology of LEVITICUS 16:17 – “And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goes in to make it atonement in the holy place, until he come out” – WHEN ATONEMENT WAS BEING MADE, THE HIGH PRIEST MUST BE ALONE.
So it was, “The work of redemption was accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ, who HIS OWN SELF bear our sins in His body on the tree” (1 PETER 2: 24), and He needed no assistance in His work, for God has “LAID HELP UPON (THE) ONE THAT IS MIGHTY; I HAVE EXALTED (THE) ONE CHOSEN OUT OF THE PEOPLE” (PSALMS 89:19).
The full harmony was with the symbolism of LEVITICUS 16, and in perfect accord with the fulfillment of our great Savior, we find that the record in Genesis reads, as though Noah was ALONE, in his TASK AND RECEIVED NO ASSISTANCE IN THE WORK OF PROVIDING A REFUGE FROM THE COMING “STORM” OF GOD’S WRATH!
* THE TIME THAT NOAH BUILT THE “ARK” IS NOT STATED IN THE BIBLE – FOR NOAH TO PERFORM HIS TASK
Also, there’s no biblical record of the time necessary for Noah to have performed this task. This is very striking. For many months, and probably years, were required to build an “Ark”, of the dimensions given to us, in the “Book of Genesis”. But not a word is said about this. After God gave instructions and Noah to build the “Ark”, the next thing we read is: “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he” (GENESIS 6:22). In the very next verse, we read, “And the Lord said unto Noah, Come down and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteousness before me in this generation” (GENESIS 7:1) – as if to show that when he began his work it was SPEEDILY ACCOMPLISHED!
How much we may learn from the silence of Scriptures! And again I call attention to the parallel type in LEVITICUS chapter 16: “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” (LEVITICUS 16:30).
In LEVITICUS 23, “The Day of Atonement”, is classified among Israel’s greatest “Feasts”, and by noting this, the point I’m now making is more clearly, by way of contrast. The other “Jewish Feasts”, such as “The Feast of Unleavened Bread”, “The Feast of Tabernacles”, etc., were extended over several days, but “The Day of Atonement WAS ACCOMPLISHED IN ONE DAY. Nothing was left over to be completed on the next day, Which reminds us of the blessed words of our triumphant Savior – “IT IS FINISHED”. There is nothing now for us to do but “REST” IN/ON HIS “FINISHED WORK”. In one day, on the cross, our Lord put away sin, by the sacrifice of Himself! As I have said, this was anticipated in the “Typical” significance of Noah’s work. By the silence of Scriptures, upon the length of time, he was engaged in the performance of his task, with the record reading, as though it was speedily executed.
* NOAH ACCOMPLISHED HIS TASK BY BEING IN COMPLETE OBEDIENCE TO THE HEAVENLY FATHER – JUST LIKE CHRIST JESUS WAS HERE ON EARTH
GENESIS 6:22 – “Thus did Noah; ACCORDING TO ALL THAT GOD COMMANDED HIM, SO DID HE”.
GENESIS 7:5 – “And Noah did ACCORDING TO ALL THAT THE LORD COMMANDED HIM”.
So too, we read, of the PERFECT OBEDIENCE of Him, from whom Noah did foreshadow – Christ Jesus:
JOHN 15:10 – “IF ye keep my commandments, YE SHALL ABIDE IN MY LOVE; EVEN AS I HAVE KEPT MY FATHER’S COMMANDMENTS, AND ABIDE IN HIS LOVE”.
PHILIPPIANS 2:8 – “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH, EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS”.
Only, to be noted, the obedience of our blessed Lord WENT FURTHER than that of Noah, for He (Christ Jesus) became “OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH, EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS” – in all things Christ Jesus has the “Preeminence”.
* GOD MADE AN “EVERLASTING COVENANT” WITH NOAH AND ALSO WITH CHRIST JESUS
GENESIS 9:8 – “And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
GENESIS 9:9 – “And I, behold, I ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH YOU, AND WITH YOUR SEED AFTER YOU”;
GENESIS 9:16 – “And the (RAIN) BOW shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the EVERLASTING COVENANT between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth”.
The word “COVENANT” appears SEVEN TIMES, IN GENESIS CHAPTER 9, and note that because of Noah’s complete obedience, God gave us an “EVERLASTING COVENANT”!
HEBREWS 13:20 – “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, to the blood of the EVERLASTING COVENANT”.
HEBREWS 13:21 – “MAKE YOU PERFECT IN EVERY GOOD WORK TO DO HIS WILL, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen”.
* GOD BLESSED NOAH AND HIS DESCENDANTS – THE SAME WAY THAT GOD THE FATHER BLESSED CHRIST JESUS AND ALL OF HIS “DESCENDANTS BY FAITH.”
God blessed Noah and his sons (GENESIS 9:1). It is a beautiful thing to see that Noah and his sons here are linked together in the enjoyment of God’s blessings, as though to foreshadow the blessed fact that every mercy and blessing we now enjoy is ours, IS OURS BECAUSE OF CHRIST JESUS!
EPHESIANS 1:3 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed US WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS in heavenly places in Christ”:
