PREPARATION FOR THE SALVATION OF OUR HOUSES

C. K. Robinson

Hebrews 11: 7; Acts 16: 30–34; 18: 24–28; 20: 35; John 14: 1–3

I would like to say a word on the significance of this comment in the first scripture regarding Noah that he “prepared an ark for the saving of his house”. It will have been noticed that I have read one or two incidents in the Acts that refer to certain houses. It is fine to think of Noah preparing an ark, and the comment is that his objective was the saving of his house. In John 14, what a beautiful reference it is that the Lord Himself says, “I go to prepare you a place”. We will be taken into glory to a place that is already prepared. Prior to the time of Noah, much had already transpired in the book of Genesis, with some great truths brought out. The truth relating to the covering that God prepared for Adam and Eve, looked on beautifully to the work that was going to be accomplished by the true antitype, our Lord Jesus Christ, so that man’s guilt could be removed righteously by God Himself because of the completed work of Jesus. There could be a hint of the truth of justification also in this reference. With Abel it is the truth of our acceptance; Abel bringing of the firstlings of his flock, not bringing what was of his own labour, but what was a result of what had been secured through sacrifice. Our approach to God is the result of our acceptance in another Man and His finished work. When you come to Enoch you see the truth of walking with God.

What great experiences Enoch had, and the climax was that he was translated so that he should not see death. This is like a touch of the truth of eternal life.

But in Noah we come to the truth of salvation. We should remember that salvation is what we need here. We shall not need salvation in glory. Noah “prepared an ark for the saving of his house”. His objective was

that his household, and all that was in his sphere of responsibility, would be saved from the judgment that was coming upon the scene in which he was, and that what was in that ark would be carried through into a new realm altogether. In preparing the ark much detailed description is given. Going back over Genesis 6 and 7, as he prepares this ark of gopher wood, the dimensions of it are given and the structure of it. Noah was wholly in all that was going on as he knew judgment was coming. He felt the need to save what was within his own sphere of responsibility and grasped God’s desire to carry these eight souls through into another realm and into a new world on the other side of the flood, that is on the other side of judgment. So Noah prepared an ark for the saving of his house. How full that is, how great that is to think about! In Hebrews, the value in these comments about Noah and others, is that they reflect a summary long after the events themselves have happened.

When you look back on Noah’s exercises, you say, Why did he build the ark? Why did he go through all that exercise? May I suggest that each one of us, and particularly heads of houses, should have a similar exercise toward the saving of our houses. I would like to draw on these chapters in the book of Acts to show how Paul, in many ways, is striving that the truth of salvation may be proved in the households of believers. We referred in the earlier meeting to our individual lives and our experiences together collectively. I would like now to add a word in relation to our household exercises.

It is instructive to follow through these chapters, and in speaking of them I would have in my mind and affections, to stir exercise with every one of us, so that we can find our way into what the ark would speak of typically, in view of salvation being proved. Salvation is a current, present experience, provided of God for believers as down here, so that they may be saved from

a world that is morally under judgment. Our households and our exercises in them are set amidst that background. Do not let us forget that. ‘The world to doom is passing’, the hymn says. Judgment is coming and the evidence is an increase in the signs of it all around, morally and in every way. Salvation is to be a precious, living, known present experience.

In Acts I have read of a house in Philippi, Aquila and Priscilla with a house in Corinth, and then about Paul as he reflects on three exercising years going from house to house in Ephesus. In these scriptures I think there are experiences and truths which will all help to make us think about the preparing of an ark. The first word to the jailor at Philippi was Paul calling out, “Do thyself no harm, for we are all here”. Then it says, “And having asked for lights, he rushed in, and, trembling, fell down before Paul and Silas. And leading them out said, Sirs, what must I do that I may be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”. Here is a soul with a house there at Philippi and the word to him is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”. I trust every soul here is a believer in the Lord Jesus. The word would still go out today,

“Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”. It means being saved from judgment, saved from all that is going to come in, but also being brought into a sphere of protection where you can be saved in view of the great things of God. So the jailor and his house come under the word, “And they spoke to him the word of the Lord, with all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed them from their stripes; and was baptised, he and all his straightway. And having brought them into his house he laid the table for them, and rejoiced with all his house, having believed in God”.

What activity took place, directed by the jailor, in the course of a few hours! What changes took place in this man’s house! He has accepted the truth of the gospel and he is believing in another Man. Divine light comes into his soul.

Next it is the truth of baptism, which is a very close link with a feature of salvation, he was “baptised, he and all his straightway”. The man’s spirit is totally changed as he is washing them from their stripes—“And he took them the same hour of the night and washed them from their stripes”. Then he brings them into his house and laid the table for them. What a change! There is an ark being formed for the saving of this man’s house! It says, “he laid the table for them, and rejoiced with all his house, having believed in God”. What a household this would be in Philippi. In the type in Genesis, the ark spoke of all that is according to God being carried through onto new ground. Such truth should be preserved and carried through intact in our household exercises as it results in what will be for the pleasure of God and the testimony of Christ. Think of the water being applied to their stripes by a man whose spirit has been totally changed. Here is an early demonstration of what Paul referred to later when he wrote his epistle to these Philippians as the “supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”, Philippians 1: 19. Lydia’s house is another in this passage in Acts. These houses in Philippi proved what was meant by salvation in the ark.

When Paul wrote to Philippi how well received his letter would be in these houses. What truths are covered in that epistle, the fellowship of the gospel in chapter 1, and all that flows from it. He can say, “Only conduct yourselves worthily of the glad tidings of the Christ”, Philippians 1: 27. Paul uses chapter 2 to bring out the descending line; the One who “did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form, taking his place in the likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man, ‘humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross”,

Philippians 2: 6–8. Such down-stooping! “Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and granted him a name, that which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly and earthly and infernal beings, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to God the Father’s glory”, Philippians 2: 9–11. Then in chapter 3, I think the jailor would really appreciate that our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens. That is the realm that salvation has in view. Paul is writing to ensure that the saints in Philippi understand that our associations of life belong to another order altogether, “our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens”, Philippians 3: 20. The judgment goes on and develops morally all around but there is stability and security in the households of the saints, and in local meetings there is protection and preservation of these great things. So that while morally the judgment was going on outside, what was being enjoyed inside in Philippi was these associations of life. Jesus is yet to come again and then will transform our body of humiliation into conformity to His body of glory. In chapter 4, Paul puts in a little exhortation in case there were two souls, in that Philippian company, that would not be of the same mind in the Lord. So in the principle of it, the ark is formed at Philippi and Paul brings out these truths, leaving them there in Philippi in view of the salvation of the saints.

In chapter 18 of Acts, an interesting history is found with Aquila and Priscilla. Paul comes to Corinth and finds them, “a certain Jew by name Aquila, of Pontus by race, just come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife”, Acts 18: 2. He came to them and as they were of the same trade he abode with them. In Corinth, Paul is preparing an ark, by his ministry there, for the salvation of the people of God in that city. Much was to come in, but Aquila and Priscilla grasped the idea. They had lived with Paul who was a wise architect, as he says in 1

Corinthians 3. Aquila and Priscilla are a prime example of a husband and wife who develop together in their

relationships and understanding of the great truths that Paul was bringing out in view of their salvation.

Aquila and Priscilla moved on to Ephesus, and Paul leaves them there, and they are there in Ephesus and Apollos comes along, “an eloquent man, who was mighty in the scriptures ...

knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue”. But then you see the forming of the ark; Aquila and Priscilla take him to themselves and “unfolded to him the way of God more exactly”. We would have loved to have heard that conversation; Apollos sitting down there with them, and these two fine believers explaining what was coming out through Paul’s ministry, incorporating the light of a glorified Christ in heaven and the truth of the assembly down here. Much had happened since the baptism of John, and Apollos was brought forward into the way of God more exactly. Aquila and Priscilla are forming the ark by unfolding the way of God more exactly, and Apollos comes into that light.

He is attracted into it. Later Apollos adds his part to what is developing at Corinth. Paul could say, when he is writing to the Corinthians, “I have planted; Apollos watered; but God has given the increase”, 1 Corinthians 3: 6. Some of what he learned was gleaned here, and when he goes to Corinth he finds, through Paul’s ministry and through his own service, that the truth of the formation of the ark for the saving of the Corinthians is being developed there.

Paul goes from place to place, and I would suggest that, in every place he went to, his exercise was to form an ark for the saving of God’s people. He laboured for the protection and preservation, in view of the world to come, of the great truths of God. All this time the world was going on, judgment was coming nearer, but stability and security and restfulness, supported by the intensity of his exercises appear wherever Paul went. How good it is to think about Aquila and Priscilla being formed and carried through right to the end. There are only two households mentioned in 2 Timothy; one is the

household of Onesiphorus (2 Timothy 1: 16), and the other is referred to at the very end of chapter 4, where both are brought together “Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus” (2 Timothy 4: 19). Here is a household that had embraced the Pauline ministry, as forming what the ark would speak of in this dispensation. So that even in 2 Timothy days, like the days in which we are, let us contemplate the preparing of the ark and let us set ourselves with energy, as exercised and responsible believers, brothers and sisters alike, in order that what is of God will go through intact.

In Acts 20, Paul speaks of how he had been at Ephesus for three years. It reminds us of the third storey of the ark. Noah was instructed to build it with three storeys; the first, the second and the third. An Ephesian household would have had the truth of the mystery and Paul’s Ephesian letter brings this out. In this he is forming in Ephesus the whole height and glory of the truth of Christ and the assembly, that is what is being formed in these Ephesian households. From house to house he had been going round for three years, and this section brings out the great truths that he went over as he went from house to house. Going round he would speak of repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Then another time he would testify the glad tidings of the grace of God or preach the glad tidings of the kingdom. He had not shrunk from announcing to them all the counsel of God. He is saying, particularly to these elders, that now it is time to shepherd the assembly of God which He has purchased with the blood of His own. How affecting these things are! Paul is reflecting on his labours that he, like a true Noah, had put in in preparing an ark for the saving of the Ephesian saints, and he warns them that grievous wolves are about to come in to scatter the flock. How important, therefore, for any one here, as with us all, in any sphere of responsibility, to take on the feature of shepherding what is in the ark and what the ark speaks of in view of the preservation of the truth of God in the

days in which we live. Paul prepared an ark by his labours and now he is looking back and saying. There it is, the completed product of years of service, but he fears it being broken up.

So he is saying here, “Wherefore watch”, then, “I have shewed you all things”. How Noah in his day must have looked at that completed ark, watching over his sons and their wives and all the animals as they entered into the ark.

I commend these things to us all. It is necessary that in the way that Noah prepared the ark for the saving of his house, so we all, particularly if you are head of a house, should take up this exercise. Be prepared to exercise whatever is necessary to save your house. Save the souls that are in it; keep what is not in accordance with God out of it, and go on in the maintenance of the principles of the house of God within it, and preserve what is of the truth of God in the days in which we are. The enemy would love to break it up. During that whole period when the rain came down and the flood waters were going up and up, that ark remained resilient, and it was the sphere of salvation for Noah and his family. God had shut them in. God preserved them. God saw them through, and they came out of that ark into a cleansed earth.

Immediately you have the altar, and the offering of every clean animal to God.

As to John 14, by contrast to the labours that go on in relation to the ark and the building of it, we can see that what awaits us all, beloved brethren, is a place already prepared. The Lord Jesus beautifully says, “I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be”. A wonderful thing that is, that we shall go to a place prepared in the Father’s house above. A precious reality based on faith in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has died for us and has shed His precious blood, and given us the joy of knowing that we are saved from judgment. We are under the shelter of that precious blood, but our destiny is the realm above in that place which He has prepared for us, and where salvation will not be needed. How touching that is—“I go to prepare you a place”. He is saying this to His own in John 14, “I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be”.

May we all be ready for the exercises involved in preparing an ark for the saving of our houses, for the protection of what is of God in the place wherever we are set; but then let us remember that when we are taken above there is a place prepared for us. He will receive us, and soon He is coming to take us there. May these things encourage us for His name’s sake.

Address at Edinburgh
13 November 1993