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Just as there was one door to Noach’s ark and the salvation it offered from the waters of the flood, there is only one Door to salvation to save us from the eternal destruction of wickedness that will come at the final judgement.
Noach tried to warn his generation of the trouble that laid ahead for the earth, Yeshua (Jesus) did the same in His generation, and He has called each generation of His followers to warn their generation of the coming “time of trouble.”
As the proverb says, history may not repeat itself, but it rhymes. And studying the history of the world from the Torah1Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy is how we can know what will happen, even if we don’t understand exactly when these things will happen.
Genealogy has become a more popular hobby in these days, and people are even looking to DNA to help them find relatives that one can’t easily track from written records. The opening Bible passages of בְּרֵאשִׁית B’reisheet (“In the beginning,” Gen. 1:1–6:8) and נֹחַ Noach (Gen. 6:9–11:32) give us the testimony of the origins of the world, Abraham, the people of Israel and all the other peoples, nations, groups and languages on the earth. The Bible is really history and bears an authentic testimony about the intention and actions of the Creator in this world.
The story of Noach (Noah) explains why we have tall mountains, and deep oceans. From the Flood and its aftermath, we understand why animals fear humans and why people eat all manner of animals in the first place? We also see how humanity has declined from the time of Noach when people live to be over 900 years old to the time of Abraham when people lived on average less than 200 years. We see the breakdown of humanity’s perfection from long life to brief life.
Is the origin of life a tree (common ancestor) or an orchard (multiple lineages)? Genesis tells us that God created different kinds of creatures that are distinct from each other. This has become even more clear over the last 150 years since the days of Mendel and Pasteur, who taught us that life comes from life. People used to believe that rats sprang into existence from garbage and that flies sprang into existence from feces, but careful study of biology disproved the theory of abiogenesis.
Studies of DNA point to humanity’s coming from three female lines (called mitochondrial DNA) and one main male genetic line (called Y-DNA). The Bible gives us a better explanation of how the world works than evolution. In Noach, there is a mix between human action and the work of God. There is a lot of evidence of the Flood in the geology of the earth. The Bible has a better explanation for these physical phenomena than evolution.
The Bible also has a better explanation of why the world is so violent and why the people of the world speak so many different languages, yet these languages retain common linkages even after 5,000-plus years.
‘Enter the Ark’ (Gen. 7:1)
There are a number of parallels between the account of the Flood and Yeshua the Mashiach (Christ):
| Attribute | Noach | Yeshua the Messiah |
|---|---|---|
| Name | נֹחַ noach (H5146) = “rest, quietness” נָחַם nakham (H5162) = “to comfort, relent” נִיחֹחַ nikhoakh (H5207) = “soothing” Synonyms: שבת shavat, שלם shalam Anagram: חן khen (favor, grace) | יְשׁוּעָה yeshuʿah (H3444) = “salvation” מְנַחֵם menakhem (H5162) = “comforter” (Lam. 1:16) Menakhem is a rabbinical name for Mashiakh. “another comforter” = Spirit of God (John 14:16) βασιλεὺς Σαλήμ basileus Salēm = “king of shalom” (Heb. 7:2) |
| Righteousness | “Righteous … blameless … walked with God” (Gen. 6:9) “preacher of righteousness” (2Pet. 2:5) “heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (Heb. 11:7) | Μελχισέδεκ Melchisedek (G3198) = “king of righteousness” (Heb. 7:2) |
How was Noach “righteous in his generation”? Scripture records two things he did for which God called him righteous: He built the ark and entered the ark. Noach chose life, not only for himself but also for his children and the generations after them. That is the way of the Tree of Life.
There are two main arks in the Torah, the ark of Noah and the ark of the covenant. The Latin word that is translated as ark is arca which means container, chest, box, or coffin. The Hebrew word that is translated as ark in the story of Noach is תֵּבָה tevah (Strong’s lexicon No. H8392).
The only other place this Hebrew word is used outside of the Flood account is recorded in Ex. 2:3 to describe what baby Moshe (Moses) was placed in to float him on the Nile away from death.
The Septuagint2Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, on the other hand, uses two different Greek words to describe Noach’s ark versus Moshe’s “ark” (Brown Driver Briggs lexicon):
- κιβωτός kibowtos (Genesis 6–9): box
- θῖβιν thibin (Exodus 2): basket
Some see a parallel between the Flood tevah and Moshe’s tevah as a container of salvation. The men who were brought through calamity are part of a restart.
Noach built a word?
Jewish commentators over recent centuries have taken tevah to mean “word” (Rabbi Mordecai Finley, “Pillar of Prayer,” 2016):
- Devar = “thing” or “matter”
- Milah = spoken word
- Tevah = written word
Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov (1698–1760), taught that the Torah portion Noach could be understood as the building of a word, i.e., liturgy, and the opening in the top of the ark represents a path to prayer.
“In Chasidic teaching, the door in the ark symbolizes repentance.”
First Fruits of Zion, “The Door in the Ark”
Yeshua Himself is associated with the imagery of Noach’s tevah:
- The Word (John 1:1–17)
- The Door (Luke 11:7; 12:36; 13:25)
- The Narrow Gate (Matt. 7:13)
The Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Messiah Yeshua, is also commonly referred to allegorically in the writings of the Early Church Fathers as the ark that was created as a container of salvation. She carried the Word of God alive in her womb for 9 months. Her body protected Him and feed him, just as the ark on the Flood waters protected and nourished Noach, his family and the animals God wanted to save as well as the Ark of the covenant which was designed and created to protected the 10 commandments, the manna and Aaron’s rod.
“At that time, the Savior coming from the Virgin, the Ark, brought forth His own Body into the world from that Ark, which was gilded with pure gold within by the Word, and without by the Holy Ghost.”
Hippolytus (c. 170–c. 236)
“The ark is verily the holy Virgin, gilded within and without, who received the treasure of universal sanctification.”
Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–c. 270)
“The word of the Lord came to …” is a phrase that usually prefaces a prophecy from God to mankind. That is the word that comes from above to the earth. But the word can also go from the earth to the heavens, that is what we call prayer. Communication with Heaven is a combination of download and upload.
Days of Noach = Day of the Lord
Yeshua (Jesus) the Mashiakh (Messiah) compared “that day” (“coming of the Son of Man,” i.e., Day of the LORD) to the time before the Flood.
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.
Matthew 24:36–44 NASB
“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”
Who are those who are “taken” in Yeshua’s parable? Those who didn’t “understand” the signs of the times. Why were they taken? Because they were preoccupied with the joys of life.
Yeshua featured this warning particularly in the parable of the sower (Luke 8:5–15; Matthew 13; Mark 4:2–20):
- Hard soil = Those the Adversary can easily divert from the Word. They are also closed minded from the truth in God’s word.
- Rocky soil = Those who turn away because of temptation.
- Thorny soil = Those who do not contribute to the Kingdom because they are overcome by worry, wealth and pleasure. Intense persecution can also create thorny soil.
- Good soil = Those who aren’t easily distracted, broken by temptation or overcome by the world.
‘Good soil’ = swimming upstream
The path upstream is the like the path to the tree of life, it is hard work, but simply going with the flow downstream is not an option for the wise because there’s a waterfall at the end. Allowing the current of the spirit of this age to take you to the edge and then off the waterfall is the path that leads to death.
Swimming upstream by yourself is hard but if you swim upstream with a team, it makes the swim much smoother and easier. That is the path that leads to life and it’s a little easier when you have others swimming upstream with you. Peer pressure works in both directions, both for good and for bad.
The joys of life are not bad in and of themselves. The Torah instructs us that “rejoicing before the Lord” is a requirement for a healthy spiritual life (Lev. 23:40; Deut. 12:12, 18; 16:11; 27:7; Eccl. 3:12f; 5:18-20).
Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward. Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.
Ecclesiastes 5:18–20 NASB
The issue is that the joys of this life are not to be an end to themselves. We need to keep the joys of life in perspective. But if joys blind us from understanding our situation, they are bad. There are worse things than dying. There are many out there who are scared of everything, they are scared of death but they are also scared of living. But at the end of it, we can’t avoid death.
Similarly, the offerings of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) bring one closer to God, but if we get preoccupied with the particulars and appearances of bringing the offerings, we miss the why of them. And that’s when God says He hates them.
“For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.
Psalm 51:16–19 NASB
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, In burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.”
What happened between Adam and Eve being naked and being unashamed and being naked and ashamed was sin. What happens between Psa. 51:16 where offerings do not please God and Psa. 51:19 to where they do please God? Repentance.
Are we Heaven’s lights in the darkness? Or have we become so consumed with the busyness of modern life and squabbles over trivialities that we have become “of the world.” We need to understand that lateness of the hour and help others do so, too.
Summary: Tammy