As we have pointed out, Noah was saved not only from God’s judgment but also from the crooked, perverted, and evil generation. When Noah went into the ark, Jehovah shut the door (Gen. 7:16). It is as if God were saying, “Even if you change your mind, you cannot get out. I have shut you in, and you must stay here.” This kind of salvation may have seemed like a prison. In one sense Noah was saved and rescued, but in another sense he was imprisoned. One of his daughters-in-law might have said, “I prefer my old house with many bedrooms, bathrooms, and a large living room. What you preached to us was good, but this ark is like a prison.” It is the same in principle today. I have served the Lord for over forty years, and I have suffered many things. A number of times my children came to me and said, “Father, according to your ability and education, we should not have to suffer this much. Other people did not get as much education as you did, and they are not as capable, but now they have nice houses, stores, land, and bank accounts. What do you have? You have only one room, in which the whole family lives. Those who appreciate and respect you live in mansions, but we are in a prison.” Noah might have replied to his daughters-in-law, “What can I do, and where can we go? I cannot open the door. It is not up to me; it is up to Jehovah. He shut us in. We simply need to remain here. Do not be bothered; be patient and wait for a little while longer.” After the flood, Noah came out of the ark with his whole family and entered into a new age (8:16, 18).
This shows the kind of salvation Noah secured and enjoyed. It was a salvation not merely from eternal perdition but out of the crooked, evil generation and into a new age. However, when Noah came out of the ark, God had no intention to make him a king. God’s intention was still that he and all his children would be His corporate expression. Genesis 9:1 says, “God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Because man was made in God’s image, for Noah and his sons to multiply was for them to be a multiplied expression of God. God did not have the intention to make them kings with a good life and many acres of land. Rather, they were to continue God’s purpose in creating man to be His image as His corporate expression.
At Noah’s time there must have been more than eight persons who feared God and believed in Him. According to Genesis 5, the early forefathers lived for a long time. Being godly, they taught their second, third, and further generations to fear God and trust in Him. Therefore, we can be assured that besides Noah and his family, there must have been a number of others who believed in God. Although these may have been saved from eternal perdition, they were not saved from their perverted generation, and they were not ushered into the new age. Some may question how it could be that some outside the ark were saved. However, consider the daily life of many who believe in the Lord Jesus, who go to the movies, attend nightclubs, watch television, and follow the modern fashions. Those who partake of these corruptions may be saved from eternal punishment, but they have not been saved from today’s crooked generation, and many will not be ushered into the kingdom of Christ to be kings there. No one who has truly been saved from today’s crooked generation follows the course of today’s present age. On one hand, we are saved because we believe that the Lord shed His blood and died for us. Therefore, we will not perish for eternity. On the other hand, though, we may still go to the department stores to buy the things of the modern, worldly fashions. If the Lord comes tomorrow, are we assured that He will usher us into His kingdom? Rather, we may be punished along with the present generation.
In the Bible there is such a picture of this. Only eight persons were saved in the ark, through water, from that crooked generation. Many may have been saved from eternal perdition, but not many entered into the ark. In order to be saved from eternal perdition, there is no need for us to do anything, but in order to be saved from the evil generation, we need to build up the ark. Philippians 2:12 says, “Work out your own salvation.” Fundamentalists may be unhappy with this verse, because they insist that we are saved by faith through grace apart from any work and that it is heresy to say that we are saved by works. However, at least one verse in the New Testament tells us to work out our own salvation. This is not salvation from eternal perdition. It is salvation from the crooked and perverted generation mentioned in verse 15. This verse says, “That you may be blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine as luminaries in the world.” Many of us can only say that we have been saved from eternal perdition. We may have been rejoicing, saying, “Hallelujah, I have been saved! I will never perish. Heaven is mine, and hell is gone.” However, we should not overly rejoice. This is only half of our salvation. We also need to be saved from the other half, from this crooked and perverted generation.
To be saved from the crooked generation is not as easy as being saved from eternal perdition. To be saved from eternal perdition requires us simply to say, “O Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. I thank You that You died for me. You are the Son of God, and You are my Savior. Lord Jesus, forgive me. I repent and believe in You.” This is sufficient for our salvation by grace. However, the remainder of our salvation requires our cooperation with God. Verse 13 says, “It is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.” To this we need to say, “Amen to Your work.” If we cooperate with God’s operation, on the negative side, we will spontaneously be rescued out of this crooked generation. On the positive side, we will enter into the ark, which signifies the proper church life.
We need to enter into the proper church life, which is a “prison” to us. Many people are free to go everywhere, seeking sports, entertainments, and sightseeing on their holidays. They are truly out of prison. The church people, however, remain in their “prison.” The parents of some of the saints say, “Pity yourself. Do not go to your church so often. You have been going to your church every Saturday and Sunday. That is enough. Do not forget that this is a holiday. Why would you not take a vacation and enjoy yourself?” However, those who speak in this way do not realize that we have something better and higher. They do not know the heavenly, spiritual, and wonderful “entertainment” that we enjoy. We are imprisoned in the church life, and we love it. The church is a prison, but it is also the best “entertainment.”