Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
God gave Noah exact, detailed orders to build the ark, with Himself as designer and Noah to follow every specification rather than human plans. It was to be an immense wooden vessel of durable gopher wood that would resist decay, fitted with rooms and sealed inside and outside with pitch, built like a house on a boat-shaped hull three stories high with one side door and light admitted from above. The command was given one hundred and twenty years before the flood because God saw the earth corrupt, violent and filled with continual transgression of His law. The ark was His provided refuge from the coming storm of wrath, and Noah made that warning visible by preaching righteousness and building for 120 years, yet it was met with scorn and rejection until only Noah and his family, eight in all, entered and were saved. As it was then so it will be at the coming of the Son of man, and Noah's faith that obeyed implicitly in preparing on dry land is the pattern for preparing for Christ's return against ridicule and opposition.
Ark's Materials and Design
God gave Noah exact, detailed instructions for building the ark, acting Himself as designer while Noah served as master-builder of a structure of strength and durability beyond human wisdom. Obedience meant following those specific instructions in every detail rather than substituting human plans or skill. The timber commanded was gopher wood, a durable cypress, or gophir, that would resist decay and not decay for hundreds of years.
The ark was to be divided into rooms, or nests, with provision for different animals, every piece closely fitted and every seam covered and sealed with pitch within and without. It was constructed like a house set on a boat-shaped foundation or hull like the hull of a ship so that it could float upon the water, yet in some respects more nearly resembling a house than an ordinary vessel. It rose three stories high with only one door in the side and no windows in its sides, light being admitted at the top through a window that lit the apartments, with the rooms arranged so that all were lighted.
It was an immense, huge wooden vessel with a tall curved side made of closely spaced ribs and long bands, put together on open ground with upright supports and scaffolding by many workers using long logs and beams, on so large a scale that it dwarfed the people working at its base. Preparing its timber was slow and laborious, requiring much more labor than now because of the great size of the trees and the nature of the wood, even with the greater strength men then possessed. Though all that man could do was done to make the work perfect and the building as sound as possible, it could not by human skill and effort alone have withstood the coming storm and violence of the flood upon the tempestuous waters; only God's miraculous power preserved it on the waves. God communicated and arranged every detail of the ark, gave wisdom and skill and understanding to do His will in building it, and directed the laborers in the work at every step.
Historical Setting and Builders
One hundred and twenty years before the flood God by a holy angel declared to Noah His purpose and directed him to prepare the ark, granting the old world a merciful probation of one hundred and twenty years to repent or be swept from the earth by a flood of waters. The direction to build was joined to a charge to preach that God would bring a flood of water upon the earth to destroy the wicked, and those who believed and prepared by repentance and reformation would find pardon and be saved. During that time every passing day left one less day of probation, yet the warning sounded for a hundred and twenty years to give opportunity to turn from evil ways and find shelter from coming wrath. When the appointed time came after long forbearance and ample opportunity for repentance, God fulfilled His word and visited His judgments upon the rejecters of His mercy.
The command came because God looked upon the earth and saw it corrupt and filled with violence, for all flesh had corrupted its way. The inhabitants continually transgressed His law in disobedience that had grown bold since Adam's transgression, perverting human gifts and skills, pursuing ever greater inventions, forgetting God, and leaving Him out of their plans, with talented men wise to do evil. Their wickedness became unbearable to Him, so He determined to purify the world by bringing a flood of waters to destroy all flesh with the breath of life so that everything in the earth would die. The flood account is inspired Scripture and historical fact, with Noah as a literal person who lived. Up to that time rain had never fallen and only a mist watered the earth, yet God announced He would bring the flood to destroy its living creatures.
Noah did not labor alone, for amid prevailing corruption his family and others received instruction from him and helped build the ark. Methuselah with his sons and his grandsons lived to hear Noah's preaching, received instruction from him about the coming flood and the work, and assisted him in building, and with Noah and many others labored to keep alive the knowledge of the true God. Enoch had already repeated to his children what God had shown him about the flood, and skillful men were available to accomplish the immense work of making the ark for the saving of Noah and his family. Many who helped build did not believe the message, did not cleanse themselves from wrong principles, and did not overcome conduct and speech entirely contrary to the mind and will of God. Some carpenters Noah employed believed but died before the flood, others of his converts backslid, and many workers failed to complete the needed change of character and apostatized, so that helping to prepare the ark did not save those who chose corrupt company and refused the good.
When the ark was finished and goods were stored, cattle, beasts, birds and all other living creatures obediently came two by two and were housed and found refuge, while men remained disobedient and unbelieving despite the sight. At God's bidding Noah and his family entered, believers were shut in by an invisible hand, and they remained enclosed one week before rain fell, enduring mocking and derision as a trial of faith that fully revealed the mockery of unbelievers. After that week of testing with no rain, rain fell slowly and then in torrents while the foundations of the great deep were broken up, the waters from beneath uniting with the waters from heaven. The waters covered the tops of the highest trees and swept all away until the whole of the unbelievers outside were perishing in their sins, leaving not a living being or dumb animal outside alive.
Warning Proclaimed and Rejected
The command to build the ark was joined to a charge to preach, for God made known that He would bring a flood of waters to destroy the wicked living creatures because the earth had become corrupt, violent and filled with disobedience to His law. During the one hundred and twenty years of merciful probation while the ark was building, Noah preached righteousness, warning of coming judgment and calling the people to turn from corruption and disobedience and to prepare by repentance and reformation that they might find pardon and be saved. He did not labor alone, for amid prevailing corruption Methuselah, his sons and grandsons who lived to hear the preaching, and many others labored with him to keep alive the knowledge of God, after Enoch had already repeated to his children what God had shown him about the flood. The same warning was sounded by Noah, Methuselah and many others with entreaty, so that the ark stood as a refuge offered against a coming flood that would deluge the world for its unsurpassed wickedness.
Building the ark as God directed made Noah's faith and warning visible, for his example showed that he believed the destruction he preached was coming and he warned by works as well as by words. Every blow struck on the ark was a note of warning that preached to the people and showed his obedience to God and his faith in what he preached. Noah thus warned the world by building, so that the work of building was itself preaching sermons, and faithful work in erecting the Lord's institutions today does the same, convicting and converting hearts when done in the spirit and love of God with prayer, dependence on Christ, counsel sought at every step, and labor together with God.
His preaching warned, tested and proved the people, for obedience to the expressed will and law of God would have brought safety and salvation. Measured by the standard of God's law, the obedient were distinguished from the disobedient in a most critical time as the one-hundred-and-twenty-year probation on dry land was about to close, while many believing ones kept the faith and died triumphant. Noah and his helpers were constantly at work building the immense boat on dry land while God bore long with transgressors, and they preached obedience all the more earnestly in proportion to the universal scorn and ridicule heaped upon them and upon God's law. When the ark was finished and goods were stored, cattle, beasts and birds came two by two and were housed, and the believers were shut in by an invisible hand, followed by one week of testing with no rain that fully revealed the mockery of unbelievers, then steady rain until not a living being or dumb animal outside was left alive, revealing that when men exceed the limits of grace God interferes to vindicate the honor of His law and limit human life.
The message was met for more than a hundred years with universal scorn, contempt, ridicule, scoffs, jeers, mocking and derision amid popular contempt for a full one hundred and twenty years. Nearly all the inhabitants claimed they knew more than Noah and were right while he was wrong, branded him a fanatic and crazed alarmist, closed their ears to truth, laughed at his words as parables and held a carnival over them. They explained his warning away by false science and the unvarying succession and laws of nature, saying it was impossible and a fanatical proposition that the world would be destroyed by water with rain such as had never been seen, since rain had never occurred. Those who followed their own pleasure mocked and derided the heavenly message while every passing day left one less day of probation.
Their unbelief, scoffing and rejection did not prevent the flood or make the warning powerless. After long forbearance and ample opportunity for repentance, God at the appointed time fulfilled His word and visited His judgments upon the rejecters of His mercy, sending rain from heaven and breaking up the foundations of the great deep until the waters from beneath united with the waters from heaven. The rain came and the wicked inhabitants who had laughed to scorn perished and finally drowned in the waters that covered the earth, showing that warnings of Christ's second coming will likewise be fulfilled despite unbelief. Noah's faithfulness in giving that true message and work despite opposition is an example of remaining faithful to God's trust and standing loyal and true on God's side even if the whole world opposes God's law.
Few heeded the warning to find refuge in the ark. Only Noah and his family, eight people in all out of that vast population, accepted the warning, repented, entered the shelter provided for the obedient, and were saved, while the multitudes refused to enter and the world perished in its waters. Those who would not keep His commandments perished, and the flood stands as a warning that the majority may be lost with only a few saved.
Refuge Provided and Judgment
The command to build the ark was God's provision of salvation from the destruction of the earth, a refuge from the terrible storm of judgment and wrath coming upon the wicked inhabitants of the old world. It was to be an immense boat standing on dry land, built by faith in obedience, into which all who desired to be saved might enter and where the obedient could find safety and shelter until God's indignation was overpast. During the one hundred and twenty years of probation men could choose to obey God and find safety in it or reject His voice and be destroyed, and all exposed to the Flood were urged to escape to it. Believing the warning would have been for the salvation of that generation, but separated far from God they did not hear His voice and would not believe.
When the time came the beasts and birds were obedient to God, coming two by two and being housed to find refuge, while men remained disobedient and unbelieving despite seeing the sight. At God's bidding Noah and his family entered and God shut them in by an invisible hand, and they remained enclosed one week before rain fell, enduring mocking and derision as a trial of faith that fully revealed the mockery of unbelievers. Up to that time there had been no rain, only a mist to water the earth, then rain fell slowly and then in torrents with the waters from beneath uniting with the waters from heaven until they covered the tops of the highest trees and swept all away. The ark floated upon the troubled waters as the only place of refuge, which the world then desired too late, while not a living being or dumb animal outside was left alive.
Men's salvation depended on the manner in which they treated that message from heaven warning of coming judgment. Those who believed God's warning and prepared through repentance and reformation would find pardon and be saved, and all who heeded the warning to bring men to repentance would have been saved. Noah built while proclaiming the message of warning to the impenitent antediluvian world for one hundred and twenty years, employing carpenters, some of whom believed the message but died before the flood, while others of his converts backslid and even his own workmen spoke unbelief, saying it was impossible the world would be destroyed by water. So only a few righteous remained and only eight, Noah and his family, lived to enter the ark, while the multitudes refused to heed the warning to enter.
Because they rejected the warning as an idle tale and rejected Noah's words, the Spirit of God was withdrawn and ceased to strive with the sinful race. The rebellious race who would not keep the commandments of heaven were swept away by the flood and perished in its waters, with death as their portion. This fulfilled the prophetic warning that all who would not keep the commandments should drink the waters of the flood, and exemplified the truth of God's word.
The flood came because the inhabitants of the old world continually transgressed God's law and their wickedness became unbearable to Him, so He determined to purify the world by a flood. In mercy and love He gave the antediluvians a probation of one hundred and twenty years, during which while the ark was building Noah, Methuselah and many others sounded warning and entreaty, so that every blow struck on the ark was a warning message. Noah did right and preserved the law, and he and his family were saved by God in the ark. When men exceeded the limits of grace God interfered to vindicate the honor of His law and limit human life, by the standard of His law distinguishing the obedient from the disobedient. The flood declares God's verdict that the wicked were incurable and shows that He destroyed them in mercy to the world.
End-Time Parallel and Obedience
As it was in Noah's day of universal evil, violence and destruction, so it will be at the coming of the Son of man, when people are eating and drinking and marrying until sudden destruction takes the unready away, and there is no temporal millennium of a thousand years for all to prepare for eternity. Noah's generation prefigures the age before Christ's return, and the account of the flood is inspired Scripture and historical fact with Noah as a literal person. The command to make the ark of gopher wood with rooms sealed inside and outside with pitch was joined to God's declaration that He Himself would bring a flood of waters to destroy all flesh with the breath of life so that everything in the earth would die, because all flesh had corrupted its way and the earth was filled with violence. Obedience to His expressed will and law would have brought safety and salvation amid universal disobedience, for the ark was God's provision as the means of safety.
Noah's preparation of the ark is the example of preparing for the Lord's coming: as he acted on the warning and prepared the ark, people are to heed the signs of the times and prepare for Christ's return. The ark was an immense boat standing on dry ground into which all might enter who desired to be saved, built amid mockery and laughter to scorn as a fanatical proposition because rain had never occurred, yet unbelief did not prevent fulfillment, the rain came and the wicked perished, showing that warnings of Christ's second coming will likewise be fulfilled despite unbelief. For one hundred and twenty years Noah warned of the coming flood while preparing it, but the people laughed him to scorn.
The same past is repeating today, for God looks upon the world today as He looked upon it in Noah's time and sends His messages to people today as He sent them through Noah. He is sending plain, startling warning messages as He sent them through Noah, while His judgments are already falling in flood and flame and earthquake upon evildoers amid increasing calamities, earthquakes, floods and disasters by land and by sea, and all who refuse to repent will perish. The command to build came because the inhabitants of the old world disobeyed His law and their wickedness became unbearable to Him, so He determined to purify the world by a flood, yet in mercy and love He gave a probation of one hundred and twenty years during which Noah, Methuselah and many others sounded warning and entreaty, so that every blow struck on the ark was a warning message. Many who helped Noah build did not believe the message, did not cleanse themselves from wrong principles, and did not overcome temptation to do and say things entirely contrary to the mind and will of God.
The flood judgment that came because of mankind's increasing sin warns that God's punishment of persistent wrongdoing is certain, applying to people nearing the end. The world perished and only a few were saved, and the flood stands as a warning that the majority may be lost with only a few saved. Noah was saved by faith that obeyed God implicitly and made ready beforehand, finding refuge with his family from the terrible storm of judgment coming upon the wicked inhabitants of the old world. Building the immense boat on dry land by faith was a heavy cross requiring a decisive venture, yet he did all the Lord commanded him exactly, without picking and choosing among God's precepts what was agreeable for present comfort and convenience and rejecting what required self-denial, though obedience made him the subject of sport and derision of the godless. Genuine faith does the same, acting as soon as it knows the will of God without consulting its own will and choice, and carefully and conscientiously walking in the path God indicates although obedience sacrifices friends, property, name and life itself.
His building is the pattern for entering the strait gate and traveling the narrow path cast up for the ransomed, pressing forward toward heaven against Satan and evil angels, against transgressors of God's law, and against earthly authorities that require disloyalty to God, meeting tribulation, bruising of spirit, hard speeches, ridicule and persecution, and finding the cross in the way to life by obeying all of God's requirements without choosing a personal way. The command put Noah where obedience meant loss, inconvenience and ridicule, where he could have reasoned for a more consistent and convenient course to avoid scorn, but he did not take that course. Noah and his household standing by faith against a corrupt generation show that those who trust God's word can withstand powerful opposition even when helpless in themselves. His faithfulness in giving that real warning is an example of remaining faithful to God's trust despite opposition, for unbelief and scoffing did not prevent the flood, and he publicly foretold destruction though called a crazed alarmist, just as predictors of Jerusalem's destruction would be.
The command to build required loyalty to God's commands and keeping His people separate from the world, just as God has now given a decided message of warning for the present world as He gave a decided message of warning for the antediluvians. It teaches the danger of being led away from loyalty to God, departing from the old landmarks, belittling the importance of the Sabbath in order to link up with unbelievers, conforming to the world, and heeding human wisdom and counsel that works against what God has wrought to keep His people distinct. God communicated with Noah and arranged every detail of the ark and gave wisdom, skill and understanding to do His will in building it, directing the laborers at every step, and Noah warned the world by building, so the work of building was preaching sermons. Faithful work in erecting the Lord's institutions today does the same, preaching sermons that convict and convert hearts when done in the spirit and love of God with remembrance that God Himself is watching, with anxiety for the constant help of Christ, with time taken to ask counsel of Him, with prayer and holy song ascending, with entire dependence on God, with looking to Jesus and laboring together with God because the work carries forward eternal consequence, resulting in buildings plain yet substantial, convenient, attractive, clean and orderly that rightly represent present truth rather than drawing astonishment and admiration for grandeur.
The ark upon the billowy deep outriding the storms that threatened it with destruction illustrates how the word of God outrides every storm threatening it with destruction. Though men labored to obscure the plain, simple meaning of the Scriptures and to make them contradict their own testimony, and Satan urged burial of the word of truth beneath error, heresy and superstition, the word was preserved uncorrupted through all the ages of darkness, bearing not the stamp of man but the impress of God. The ark's construction belongs to the warning that came before the world was destroyed by water. God sent the old world that message of warning and truth for one hundred and twenty years calling them to heed it and find refuge from the coming storm of His wrath because it was for their own interest, but they turned away because heeding did not suit their inclination.
God gave Noah exact, detailed orders to build the ark, with Himself as designer and Noah to follow every specification rather than human plans. It was to be an immense wooden vessel of durable gopher wood that would resist decay, fitted with rooms and sealed inside and outside with pitch, built like a house on a boat-shaped hull three stories high with one side door and light admitted from above. The command was given one hundred and twenty years before the flood because God saw the earth corrupt, violent and filled with continual transgression of His law. The ark was His provided refuge from the coming storm of wrath, and Noah made that warning visible by preaching righteousness and building for 120 years, yet it was met with scorn and rejection until only Noah and his family, eight in all, entered and were saved. As it was then so it will be at the coming of the Son of man, and Noah's faith that obeyed implicitly in preparing on dry land is the pattern for preparing for Christ's return against ridicule and opposition.
Ark's Materials and Design
God gave Noah exact, detailed instructions for building the ark, acting Himself as designer while Noah served as master-builder of a structure of strength and durability beyond human wisdom. Obedience meant following those specific instructions in every detail rather than substituting human plans or skill. The timber commanded was gopher wood, a durable cypress, or gophir, that would resist decay and not decay for hundreds of years.
The ark was to be divided into rooms, or nests, with provision for different animals, every piece closely fitted and every seam covered and sealed with pitch within and without. It was constructed like a house set on a boat-shaped foundation or hull like the hull of a ship so that it could float upon the water, yet in some respects more nearly resembling a house than an ordinary vessel. It rose three stories high with only one door in the side and no windows in its sides, light being admitted at the top through a window that lit the apartments, with the rooms arranged so that all were lighted.
It was an immense, huge wooden vessel with a tall curved side made of closely spaced ribs and long bands, put together on open ground with upright supports and scaffolding by many workers using long logs and beams, on so large a scale that it dwarfed the people working at its base. Preparing its timber was slow and laborious, requiring much more labor than now because of the great size of the trees and the nature of the wood, even with the greater strength men then possessed. Though all that man could do was done to make the work perfect and the building as sound as possible, it could not by human skill and effort alone have withstood the coming storm and violence of the flood upon the tempestuous waters; only God's miraculous power preserved it on the waves. God communicated and arranged every detail of the ark, gave wisdom and skill and understanding to do His will in building it, and directed the laborers in the work at every step.
Historical Setting and Builders
One hundred and twenty years before the flood God by a holy angel declared to Noah His purpose and directed him to prepare the ark, granting the old world a merciful probation of one hundred and twenty years to repent or be swept from the earth by a flood of waters. The direction to build was joined to a charge to preach that God would bring a flood of water upon the earth to destroy the wicked, and those who believed and prepared by repentance and reformation would find pardon and be saved. During that time every passing day left one less day of probation, yet the warning sounded for a hundred and twenty years to give opportunity to turn from evil ways and find shelter from coming wrath. When the appointed time came after long forbearance and ample opportunity for repentance, God fulfilled His word and visited His judgments upon the rejecters of His mercy.
The command came because God looked upon the earth and saw it corrupt and filled with violence, for all flesh had corrupted its way. The inhabitants continually transgressed His law in disobedience that had grown bold since Adam's transgression, perverting human gifts and skills, pursuing ever greater inventions, forgetting God, and leaving Him out of their plans, with talented men wise to do evil. Their wickedness became unbearable to Him, so He determined to purify the world by bringing a flood of waters to destroy all flesh with the breath of life so that everything in the earth would die. The flood account is inspired Scripture and historical fact, with Noah as a literal person who lived. Up to that time rain had never fallen and only a mist watered the earth, yet God announced He would bring the flood to destroy its living creatures.
Noah did not labor alone, for amid prevailing corruption his family and others received instruction from him and helped build the ark. Methuselah with his sons and his grandsons lived to hear Noah's preaching, received instruction from him about the coming flood and the work, and assisted him in building, and with Noah and many others labored to keep alive the knowledge of the true God. Enoch had already repeated to his children what God had shown him about the flood, and skillful men were available to accomplish the immense work of making the ark for the saving of Noah and his family. Many who helped build did not believe the message, did not cleanse themselves from wrong principles, and did not overcome conduct and speech entirely contrary to the mind and will of God. Some carpenters Noah employed believed but died before the flood, others of his converts backslid, and many workers failed to complete the needed change of character and apostatized, so that helping to prepare the ark did not save those who chose corrupt company and refused the good.
When the ark was finished and goods were stored, cattle, beasts, birds and all other living creatures obediently came two by two and were housed and found refuge, while men remained disobedient and unbelieving despite the sight. At God's bidding Noah and his family entered, believers were shut in by an invisible hand, and they remained enclosed one week before rain fell, enduring mocking and derision as a trial of faith that fully revealed the mockery of unbelievers. After that week of testing with no rain, rain fell slowly and then in torrents while the foundations of the great deep were broken up, the waters from beneath uniting with the waters from heaven. The waters covered the tops of the highest trees and swept all away until the whole of the unbelievers outside were perishing in their sins, leaving not a living being or dumb animal outside alive.
Warning Proclaimed and Rejected
The command to build the ark was joined to a charge to preach, for God made known that He would bring a flood of waters to destroy the wicked living creatures because the earth had become corrupt, violent and filled with disobedience to His law. During the one hundred and twenty years of merciful probation while the ark was building, Noah preached righteousness, warning of coming judgment and calling the people to turn from corruption and disobedience and to prepare by repentance and reformation that they might find pardon and be saved. He did not labor alone, for amid prevailing corruption Methuselah, his sons and grandsons who lived to hear the preaching, and many others labored with him to keep alive the knowledge of God, after Enoch had already repeated to his children what God had shown him about the flood. The same warning was sounded by Noah, Methuselah and many others with entreaty, so that the ark stood as a refuge offered against a coming flood that would deluge the world for its unsurpassed wickedness.
Building the ark as God directed made Noah's faith and warning visible, for his example showed that he believed the destruction he preached was coming and he warned by works as well as by words. Every blow struck on the ark was a note of warning that preached to the people and showed his obedience to God and his faith in what he preached. Noah thus warned the world by building, so that the work of building was itself preaching sermons, and faithful work in erecting the Lord's institutions today does the same, convicting and converting hearts when done in the spirit and love of God with prayer, dependence on Christ, counsel sought at every step, and labor together with God.
His preaching warned, tested and proved the people, for obedience to the expressed will and law of God would have brought safety and salvation. Measured by the standard of God's law, the obedient were distinguished from the disobedient in a most critical time as the one-hundred-and-twenty-year probation on dry land was about to close, while many believing ones kept the faith and died triumphant. Noah and his helpers were constantly at work building the immense boat on dry land while God bore long with transgressors, and they preached obedience all the more earnestly in proportion to the universal scorn and ridicule heaped upon them and upon God's law. When the ark was finished and goods were stored, cattle, beasts and birds came two by two and were housed, and the believers were shut in by an invisible hand, followed by one week of testing with no rain that fully revealed the mockery of unbelievers, then steady rain until not a living being or dumb animal outside was left alive, revealing that when men exceed the limits of grace God interferes to vindicate the honor of His law and limit human life.
The message was met for more than a hundred years with universal scorn, contempt, ridicule, scoffs, jeers, mocking and derision amid popular contempt for a full one hundred and twenty years. Nearly all the inhabitants claimed they knew more than Noah and were right while he was wrong, branded him a fanatic and crazed alarmist, closed their ears to truth, laughed at his words as parables and held a carnival over them. They explained his warning away by false science and the unvarying succession and laws of nature, saying it was impossible and a fanatical proposition that the world would be destroyed by water with rain such as had never been seen, since rain had never occurred. Those who followed their own pleasure mocked and derided the heavenly message while every passing day left one less day of probation.
Their unbelief, scoffing and rejection did not prevent the flood or make the warning powerless. After long forbearance and ample opportunity for repentance, God at the appointed time fulfilled His word and visited His judgments upon the rejecters of His mercy, sending rain from heaven and breaking up the foundations of the great deep until the waters from beneath united with the waters from heaven. The rain came and the wicked inhabitants who had laughed to scorn perished and finally drowned in the waters that covered the earth, showing that warnings of Christ's second coming will likewise be fulfilled despite unbelief. Noah's faithfulness in giving that true message and work despite opposition is an example of remaining faithful to God's trust and standing loyal and true on God's side even if the whole world opposes God's law.
Few heeded the warning to find refuge in the ark. Only Noah and his family, eight people in all out of that vast population, accepted the warning, repented, entered the shelter provided for the obedient, and were saved, while the multitudes refused to enter and the world perished in its waters. Those who would not keep His commandments perished, and the flood stands as a warning that the majority may be lost with only a few saved.
Refuge Provided and Judgment
The command to build the ark was God's provision of salvation from the destruction of the earth, a refuge from the terrible storm of judgment and wrath coming upon the wicked inhabitants of the old world. It was to be an immense boat standing on dry land, built by faith in obedience, into which all who desired to be saved might enter and where the obedient could find safety and shelter until God's indignation was overpast. During the one hundred and twenty years of probation men could choose to obey God and find safety in it or reject His voice and be destroyed, and all exposed to the Flood were urged to escape to it. Believing the warning would have been for the salvation of that generation, but separated far from God they did not hear His voice and would not believe.
When the time came the beasts and birds were obedient to God, coming two by two and being housed to find refuge, while men remained disobedient and unbelieving despite seeing the sight. At God's bidding Noah and his family entered and God shut them in by an invisible hand, and they remained enclosed one week before rain fell, enduring mocking and derision as a trial of faith that fully revealed the mockery of unbelievers. Up to that time there had been no rain, only a mist to water the earth, then rain fell slowly and then in torrents with the waters from beneath uniting with the waters from heaven until they covered the tops of the highest trees and swept all away. The ark floated upon the troubled waters as the only place of refuge, which the world then desired too late, while not a living being or dumb animal outside was left alive.
Men's salvation depended on the manner in which they treated that message from heaven warning of coming judgment. Those who believed God's warning and prepared through repentance and reformation would find pardon and be saved, and all who heeded the warning to bring men to repentance would have been saved. Noah built while proclaiming the message of warning to the impenitent antediluvian world for one hundred and twenty years, employing carpenters, some of whom believed the message but died before the flood, while others of his converts backslid and even his own workmen spoke unbelief, saying it was impossible the world would be destroyed by water. So only a few righteous remained and only eight, Noah and his family, lived to enter the ark, while the multitudes refused to heed the warning to enter.
Because they rejected the warning as an idle tale and rejected Noah's words, the Spirit of God was withdrawn and ceased to strive with the sinful race. The rebellious race who would not keep the commandments of heaven were swept away by the flood and perished in its waters, with death as their portion. This fulfilled the prophetic warning that all who would not keep the commandments should drink the waters of the flood, and exemplified the truth of God's word.
The flood came because the inhabitants of the old world continually transgressed God's law and their wickedness became unbearable to Him, so He determined to purify the world by a flood. In mercy and love He gave the antediluvians a probation of one hundred and twenty years, during which while the ark was building Noah, Methuselah and many others sounded warning and entreaty, so that every blow struck on the ark was a warning message. Noah did right and preserved the law, and he and his family were saved by God in the ark. When men exceeded the limits of grace God interfered to vindicate the honor of His law and limit human life, by the standard of His law distinguishing the obedient from the disobedient. The flood declares God's verdict that the wicked were incurable and shows that He destroyed them in mercy to the world.
End-Time Parallel and Obedience
As it was in Noah's day of universal evil, violence and destruction, so it will be at the coming of the Son of man, when people are eating and drinking and marrying until sudden destruction takes the unready away, and there is no temporal millennium of a thousand years for all to prepare for eternity. Noah's generation prefigures the age before Christ's return, and the account of the flood is inspired Scripture and historical fact with Noah as a literal person. The command to make the ark of gopher wood with rooms sealed inside and outside with pitch was joined to God's declaration that He Himself would bring a flood of waters to destroy all flesh with the breath of life so that everything in the earth would die, because all flesh had corrupted its way and the earth was filled with violence. Obedience to His expressed will and law would have brought safety and salvation amid universal disobedience, for the ark was God's provision as the means of safety.
Noah's preparation of the ark is the example of preparing for the Lord's coming: as he acted on the warning and prepared the ark, people are to heed the signs of the times and prepare for Christ's return. The ark was an immense boat standing on dry ground into which all might enter who desired to be saved, built amid mockery and laughter to scorn as a fanatical proposition because rain had never occurred, yet unbelief did not prevent fulfillment, the rain came and the wicked perished, showing that warnings of Christ's second coming will likewise be fulfilled despite unbelief. For one hundred and twenty years Noah warned of the coming flood while preparing it, but the people laughed him to scorn.
The same past is repeating today, for God looks upon the world today as He looked upon it in Noah's time and sends His messages to people today as He sent them through Noah. He is sending plain, startling warning messages as He sent them through Noah, while His judgments are already falling in flood and flame and earthquake upon evildoers amid increasing calamities, earthquakes, floods and disasters by land and by sea, and all who refuse to repent will perish. The command to build came because the inhabitants of the old world disobeyed His law and their wickedness became unbearable to Him, so He determined to purify the world by a flood, yet in mercy and love He gave a probation of one hundred and twenty years during which Noah, Methuselah and many others sounded warning and entreaty, so that every blow struck on the ark was a warning message. Many who helped Noah build did not believe the message, did not cleanse themselves from wrong principles, and did not overcome temptation to do and say things entirely contrary to the mind and will of God.
The flood judgment that came because of mankind's increasing sin warns that God's punishment of persistent wrongdoing is certain, applying to people nearing the end. The world perished and only a few were saved, and the flood stands as a warning that the majority may be lost with only a few saved. Noah was saved by faith that obeyed God implicitly and made ready beforehand, finding refuge with his family from the terrible storm of judgment coming upon the wicked inhabitants of the old world. Building the immense boat on dry land by faith was a heavy cross requiring a decisive venture, yet he did all the Lord commanded him exactly, without picking and choosing among God's precepts what was agreeable for present comfort and convenience and rejecting what required self-denial, though obedience made him the subject of sport and derision of the godless. Genuine faith does the same, acting as soon as it knows the will of God without consulting its own will and choice, and carefully and conscientiously walking in the path God indicates although obedience sacrifices friends, property, name and life itself.
His building is the pattern for entering the strait gate and traveling the narrow path cast up for the ransomed, pressing forward toward heaven against Satan and evil angels, against transgressors of God's law, and against earthly authorities that require disloyalty to God, meeting tribulation, bruising of spirit, hard speeches, ridicule and persecution, and finding the cross in the way to life by obeying all of God's requirements without choosing a personal way. The command put Noah where obedience meant loss, inconvenience and ridicule, where he could have reasoned for a more consistent and convenient course to avoid scorn, but he did not take that course. Noah and his household standing by faith against a corrupt generation show that those who trust God's word can withstand powerful opposition even when helpless in themselves. His faithfulness in giving that real warning is an example of remaining faithful to God's trust despite opposition, for unbelief and scoffing did not prevent the flood, and he publicly foretold destruction though called a crazed alarmist, just as predictors of Jerusalem's destruction would be.
The command to build required loyalty to God's commands and keeping His people separate from the world, just as God has now given a decided message of warning for the present world as He gave a decided message of warning for the antediluvians. It teaches the danger of being led away from loyalty to God, departing from the old landmarks, belittling the importance of the Sabbath in order to link up with unbelievers, conforming to the world, and heeding human wisdom and counsel that works against what God has wrought to keep His people distinct. God communicated with Noah and arranged every detail of the ark and gave wisdom, skill and understanding to do His will in building it, directing the laborers at every step, and Noah warned the world by building, so the work of building was preaching sermons. Faithful work in erecting the Lord's institutions today does the same, preaching sermons that convict and convert hearts when done in the spirit and love of God with remembrance that God Himself is watching, with anxiety for the constant help of Christ, with time taken to ask counsel of Him, with prayer and holy song ascending, with entire dependence on God, with looking to Jesus and laboring together with God because the work carries forward eternal consequence, resulting in buildings plain yet substantial, convenient, attractive, clean and orderly that rightly represent present truth rather than drawing astonishment and admiration for grandeur.
The ark upon the billowy deep outriding the storms that threatened it with destruction illustrates how the word of God outrides every storm threatening it with destruction. Though men labored to obscure the plain, simple meaning of the Scriptures and to make them contradict their own testimony, and Satan urged burial of the word of truth beneath error, heresy and superstition, the word was preserved uncorrupted through all the ages of darkness, bearing not the stamp of man but the impress of God. The ark's construction belongs to the warning that came before the world was destroyed by water. God sent the old world that message of warning and truth for one hundred and twenty years calling them to heed it and find refuge from the coming storm of His wrath because it was for their own interest, but they turned away because heeding did not suit their inclination.