The ark, which God prepared through Noah for His elect, and the good land, the land of Canaan, into which God led His elect, are intimately related to the security and enjoyment of God’s elect. Both are types of Christ.
The ark is a type of Christ as the salvation of God’s elect (1 Pet. 3:20-21). Noah built the ark which eventually saved him not only from God’s judgment but also from that crooked and perverted generation. The ark which he built terminated the old generation and ushered in a new one. That was the kind of salvation that Noah built. It was not merely a salvation from eternal perdition but a salvation from the crooked and perverted generation. Christ as the salvation of God’s elect is also of two aspects: the redeeming aspect and the saving aspect.
The first aspect of Christ’s salvation is the redeeming of God’s elect from God’s condemnation and judgment. God’s chosen people were under the corruption of the corrupted generation. Hence, they were condemned by God and deserved God’s judgment. The ark which Noah built was pitched inside and outside with pitch. Pitch is a type of the redeeming blood. Noah was saved from God’s judgment by the pitch that was on the ark. Through His redeeming death on the cross, Christ, our Redeemer, has redeemed us from God’s eternal condemnation and judgment by resolving the case of sin that we had before God.
The second aspect of Christ’s salvation is the salvation of God’s elect from God’s punishment and the corrupted generation and the ushering of God’s elect into a renewed age.
The ark saved the whole family of Noah from the pounding and drowning of the flood. This is a type of the salvation of Christ that saves God’s elect from God’s punishment. In the days of Noah, people were befuddled by eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage; they did not know that judgment was coming, until the flood came and destroyed them all (Luke 17:26-27). Likewise, people today are befuddled by the necessities of this life and do not know that God’s judgment will come upon them by the Lord’s appearing. Just as Noah was saved by the ark that was built by his work, so we must also work out our own salvation (Phil. 2:12) that at the Lord’s coming we may be saved from God’s punishment and not suffer the plagues that the world will suffer.
The ark built by Noah eventually not only saved him from God’s judgment but also saved his family of eight from that evil generation. This is a type of Christ’s salvation that not only delivers us out of eternal perdition but also saves us from the corrupted generation. Whoever is saved will by no means perish. However, we need the further and higher salvation that saves us from the corrupted generation. This salvation is the corporate Christ whom we are building. We need not only to preach the individual Christ but also to build the corporate Christ, the church. This Christ may be considered today’s ark. Through this Christ as salvation thousands of people have been saved not only from God’s judgment but also from the crooked and perverted generation.
The ark saved Noah and his whole family from the evil generation and ushered them into a new age that they might live an altogether new life for God and before God. In like manner, Christ’s salvation also saves God’s chosen people from the corrupted generation and ushers them into a renewed age, into the new realm of resurrection. Noah and his household passed through the flood waters by being in the ark. After the flood, the ark rested on the mountain of Ararat. Their passing through the flood was a type of baptism; the ark’s resting upon the mountains was a type of Christ’s resurrection; and the living of Noah’s family of eight after the flood was a type of the church life. Through baptism we buried the old community and the old society, and in resurrection we have entered into another community, another society, which is the church life.