Shut Up in the Ark by the Lord

Sometimes we read the Scripture and come across a hidden reference to our Lord Jesus that grabs hold of our hearts.

In reading through the story of the great flood of Noah, such a reference to Christ jumps out at every believer.

What saved Noah and his family? Peter wrote that Noah was "saved by the water" - the flood saved Noah.

But the writer of Hebrews records that Noah was saved by the ark which he built by faith in the promises of God of judgment and rescue.

There was in Noah's day great evil the world over, so that God determined to judge the world by a great flood.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord! This is the first mention of grace in the Bible, and it is found in the midst of great evil and the promise of great wrath.

Noah didn't deserve to be saved, which is why God called it Grace! It was a free gift of rescue that could not be based upon Noah's works at all.

The Flood, indeed, was not only a great judgment, but is a symbol or picture of God's judgment for all our crimes.

Notice this precious truth: Noah and his family went through that wrath and that judgment. They were surrounded by it, and assaulted by it.

But they rode out the judgment in the Ark!

This is the pattern for God's salvation of His loved ones. We pass through the judgment, but it is not allowed to destroy us, because we are in Jesus, our Ark.

How does judgment rescue God's people? Another example is the great judgment of Egypt at the Passover. All the land was subject to that wrath, Jews and Egyptians. They all passed through the judgment that dark night.

But for those whose sins were judged in the passover lamb, the judgment never touched them!