Genesis 8:13-22
ND IT came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth.” v. 13. The judgment that had poured forth on a sinful world was passed; God’s holiness was vindicated, and now He was about to introduce Noah to a cleansed world. It is interesting to note that both the commencement and the end of the flood are recorded as to year, month and day. God never does anything haphazardly. He “hath appointed a day” for judgment and knows precisely when it will be. He has also established the precise moment when He will call His own into glory.
“And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark,... Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee... that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him.” vv. 15-18. The ark had fulfilled its purpose. In its safety Noah and his company had been unaffected by the waters of judgment, indeed had risen up triumphant on those very waters. Secured within it, they had been taken out of the world and its wickedness and were to emerge on a better scene.
This answers to the three aspects of the ark previously before us. First, as a type of Christ, the true Ark of salvation in the present dispensation. Second, as the Ark of refuge for the Jewish remnant who will be brought safely through the terrible tribulation of the last days. And, third, as a type of baptism, the believer owning himself to be “dead to the world”; “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:11); come forth “in newness of life” — expressed typically when coming up out of the water of baptism. All in God’s sight is seen in Christ, the true Sanctuary from the world and its judgment. He is the transport of all His own in every age, safely conveying them through each dispensation, bringing them out to “a better world” prepared by God for them. Noah was in the ark just a few days over one year. We know not how long we, in faith, will abide therein while going through this world, but go in the promise that “He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Hebrews 10:37. What a glorious prospect! Reader, do you share it too?
The earth, following the flood, was to be repopulated, both with man and all living creatures — a particularly clear type of the blessing to come on the earth in the millennial period. It is God’s expressed purpose that they be fruitful, multiply and replenish the whole earth.
“And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and..., offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake;... neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” vv. 20-22.
Memory Verse: “GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.” John 15:13.
ML-11/29/1964