GENESIS 7 AND 8
We have seen plainly how all flesh came under God’s judgment, not only pronounced but actually executed, so that the world that then was perished. But one man found favour with God; there was one righteous man with whom God’s covenant was, and those who were kindred with him were preserved. Those who are truly in the ark at the present time are kindred with Christ through the grace of God; they appreciate Him, and are found in company with Him and the [p. 66] Spirit, condemning the world, and carried through in the power of God’s salvation.
Then, as remarked before, Noah and the saved family in the ark typify Christ in connection with the remnant by-and-by. The remnant will see that the end of all flesh has come before God, so that they will turn away from all the thoughts of men, and will refuse the mark of the beast, and the covenant of Antichrist. As baptised in the Name of the Lord they will own no other name, and will make Him their Sanctuary, and will be found in complete separation from the world of the ungodly. All will be judgment around, but there will be — to speak in the language of the type — an ark where every divine element will be preserved. I do not suggest that the saints will escape suffering, or even death, but every element of faith and testimony will be carried through into the new world. In principle this is the case today. All Israel’s hopes and promises are preserved in the faith of the assembly, and, indeed, the blessing of all families of the earth. Every divine element of the world to come is being preserved and carried through in the faith and affections and testimony of the assembly. This is an aspect of the typical significance of the ark which is greater than its reference to individual salvation.
Everything that is of God and for God’s pleasure has to be preserved and carried through to take its place in the world to come. Just as every element of natural life was preserved in the ark, so every element of piety, faith, and divine testimony has to be preserved and carried through. It suggests something more than our personal deliverance; it suggests that everything that God values is preserved alive and carried through. We have to take account of the fact [p. 67] that God has drawn us to Christ, and given us to appreciate Christ, not simply for our personal blessing, though that is perfectly secured, but God has connected us with Christ that we might be identified with His testimony. What is in my mind is, that “every living thing” that God values is preserved in the ark. There is in Hebrews 11 a wonderful collection of living things. My impression is that every feature of piety, faith, and divine testimony seen in that chapter is preserved today in the assembly, and will be preserved in the remnant by-and-by, and will be carried through into the rest and blessing of the world to come. Every living element of divine testimony that God introduced into this world in connection with Abel’s faith, and Enoch’s, and Noah’s, and Abraham’s, and all the rest, will never perish. It is preserved, and will be preserved, and carried through to the world to come. What was precious to Abel’s faith is in the world today, in the hearts and testimony of thousands of saints. Think of Enoch, too, who apprehended God’s complete victory over death; think of that being carried through a scene of death in living testimony! All that was of God in the world was under cover of the ark, and every living thing is preserved for God today in the ark. We think of the ark as a means of salvation for us, but it is really the place where everything is preserved for God and for another world. The then world was under judgment, and God had another world before Him; all the elements that will fill that world to come are in the assembly now, and when the assembly has gone these elements will be preserved in the remnant.
It is an exercise for us that the different qualities of faith, and the elements of piety and divine light that [p. 68] belong to the testimony of God should be preserved alive. There are those in this world of whom Christ can say a most marvellous thing, “They are not of the world even as I am not of the world”. They are His family, preserved not only from the world under judgment, but from all the elements and character of things found in that world, and this is salvation in a practical sense. It should be a real exercise with every one of us, whether we are in a practical sense in the ark, and whether these qualities of faith that God loves and preserves as His testimony are living in our souls. In Revelation 6 we read of people who “were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held”. Why will they be slain? They will preserve what is of God. The saints will not escape suffering, but the testimony will be carried through. In the Revelation there are different companies of saints who cherish what is of God; we see a company of sealed bondmen of God in chapter 7; and a great multitude that no one could number who have learned to ascribe salvation to God and to the Lamb; then we find worshippers and witnesses in chapter 11; then in chapter 12 the remnant of the woman’s seed keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus; then in chapter 14 we see 144,000 who have the Lamb’s Name and His Father’s in their foreheads; and in chapter 15 we see those who have gained the victory over the beast, and over its image, and over the number of its name. All this gives us some idea how things will be carried through. We may also read the Psalms and see how the precious qualities of faith and testimony will come out in the remnant. At the present time everything is held and carried through in the faith and testimony [p. 69] of saints of the assembly. In all periods what characterises those in divine security and testimony is obedience (see Genesis 6: 22).
When God takes in hand to deal with what is evil He will do it effectually; nothing will escape. In the end of chapter 7 Noah alone remained, and what was with him in the ark; God had dealt in judgment with everything else. We ought to count it a great privilege to be in present deliverance from the world under judgment; we ought not to need to be dragged out of it as Lot was out of Sodom.
When we come to chapter 8, we see what God had in view; the world of lust and lawlessness had all perished; it had gone under judgment; and now we see the new world coming into view, the world that was going to be filled with what God had preserved in the ark. The first words are very touching “God remembered Noah”; His covenant was with him. How could God forget Christ? He was the Man of God’s pleasure who had found favour with Him, the One with whom God’s covenant is. The world has forgotten Christ; it has no idea that Christ and His family are going to be brought in, and that they will fill the earth. But God remembers Christ, and He is going to fill the earth with Christ and His family. The world does not want Christ to come in, it wants to enjoy things in a state that is under judgment.
It is very interesting to see that the ark rested a long time before the waters disappeared. It suggests that the saved family is brought to rest on holy ground long before the waters of judgment disappear. Ararat means ‘holy ground’. That suggests to me that new [p. 70] and holy ground has been touched in the resurrection of Christ, and the saved family — the assembly now, and the remnant by-and-by — are brought to rest on holy ground long before the disorder and judgment of this world passes away. They reach it spiritually in their souls. Saints of the assembly are brought to rest on holy ground opened up by the resurrection of Christ. And I think the remnant will have the faith of Christ risen; that will be their resting-place; it will be holy ground for them to rest upon in the midst of the tribulation and the scene of judgment.
The next thing is that the tops of the mountains are seen. It suggests that before the conditions of kingdom blessing are secured, before the scene is yet clear for the kingdom, faith sees all greatness and eminence and authority centring in Christ. In Revelation 14 we have the 144,000 standing on Mount Zion with the Lamb; they apprehend Him in His royal glory, and stand with Him there before the kingdom is set up; they stand with Him in the faith of His glory, greatness, and power. We see Christ now in His greatness and glory as Head of all principality and power. In Scripture mountains are symbolical of great powers; we see now the tops of the mountains, the glorious eminence of Christ, long before the waters subside. Everyone will see it by-and-by, but the saved family can see it now. Compare 1 Peter 3: 22; “He is at the right hand of God, gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being subjected to him”; all the greatness is seen connected with Christ. We do not yet see everything put under Him; the waters are still on the earth; but these wonderful mountain tops have appeared. We see the glory and greatness of Christ; we see Him [p. 71] crowned with glory and honour; and we know that very soon all will be in subjection to Him; to faith it is very real now. Many of the Psalms anticipate the kingdom before its conditions have actually come. This is like the tops of the mountains being seen.
Then after forty days Noah opens the window; he begins to observe the signs of the times. That is what the remnant will do, and it will be right for them to do so. Our sign is the morning star in our hearts; we know what is going to happen because the morning star has arisen in our hearts; He will soon call us out of this world to Himself. But for the remnant there will be signs of the times, and Noah observes these signs. He first sends out an unclean bird; Leviticus 11 tells us that every raven is unclean; there is a black mark against it. The raven can pursue its restless course in spite of the waters not having abated; it is like the unconverted man who can make himself quite at home in things that are not yet in divine order. So that in connection with the raven the remnant will learn that the world is still a place where the unclean can make himself content.
But Noah also sent forth a dove. We can all see that the dove would fittingly represent those who have the Spirit of God, the godly ones. Noah says, as it were, We will see if there is anything in the world yet where those who have the Spirit of Christ can rest.
But the dove finds no resting place for the sole of her foot, and has to come back to her own company! Then Noah waits another seven days, and sends her forth again, and she comes back to him with an olive leaf plucked off in her beak. What a marvellous sign of the times! One can imagine how eagerly in that [p. 72] future day the saints will observe the signs of approaching redemption! I think this speaks with no uncertain voice of the appearance of Israel as grafted once more into her own olive tree. Romans 11 tells us that Israel has been broken off and the Gentiles grafted in; but by-and-by Israel will be grafted in again, and “the deliverer shall come out of Zion; he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob”, Romans 11: 26. Israel will become once more manifestly an object of mercy. That will be the great sign of the times, the blessed witness that the earth is emerging from the terrible waters of judgment! After that, conditions will soon appear that are in keeping with it, so that after another seven days the dove finds conditions in which she can rest, and the ark is not wanted any more. The Deliverer is come out of Zion and has turned ungodliness from Jacob; Israel is grafted in, and God’s new covenant is established. There will be conditions abroad in which those who have the Spirit of Christ can rest. Jehovah will be gathering Israel, and turning the hearts of the Gentiles to them; it will be the very verge of millennial blessing, so the cover can be taken off the ark and the saved family can come out. What a change in this poor world! Then very soon the last trace of disorder and of judgment will pass away. “The earth was dry”.
Then when they come out God speaks of all the living things that had been in the ark, that they were to swarm on the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply. That is, the new earth is to be filled with what comes out of the ark. This will be a wonderful world when it is filled with what comes out of the ark in a spiritual sense. Righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit — all these features are found in the saved [p. 73] family, and they are going to fill the earth; every thing will become a witness to the greatness of God’s salvation.
The altar is spoken of now; it is the first time such a thing is known in Scripture; for how could one build an altar on cursed ground? A clean place is needed for an altar; now that the world had all passed under judgment there was a clean place. In building his altar Noah claimed the earth for God, and put the earth on the ground of the burnt offering. It is exactly what Christ will do in a coming day; He will claim the earth for God. The curse is entirely removed, for the man who grieved God has gone in judgment; and God smells a sweet odour of rest. There is the sweet savour of another Man who has glorified God; man is now to God’s delight. This is not man in the flesh improved; that is why God says: “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth”. It will not be man improved in the millennium. People are trying to bring about the millennium by improving man, but it will not be that, but another Man brought in, and the sweet savour and fragrance of that One filling the heart of God with rest, and occupying every human heart with His blessedness. Then the curse will be gone, and all its effects removed, and the whole earth will come into the fragrance of the offering of Christ.
It is wonderful to see a picture like this. There is nothing more marvellous than these pictures in the early chapters of Genesis. What God has before Him is repeated again and again. Chapter 1 shows how God is going to bring in a Sabbath of rest for Himself, and chapter 8 shows how He will bring in a sweet savour of rest for the scene where the curse has been.
[p. 74] Where grief, dishonour, and reproach have been, He will fill the earth with the fragrance of Christ. It is the great privilege of saints now to carry on the savour of the burnt offering all through the night until the morning, when it will be publicly on earth. The burnt offering was to burn all night; it was the business of the priests to see that it did so. This chapter is the morning typically, but in the meantime the fragrance of Christ in the hearts of saints is rising up all night to God, and filling His heart with the savour of rest. We find in Ephesians 5 that the burnt offering is to be continued in the saints: “Walk in love as Christ has loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour”. Every step a saint takes in love is a continuation of the burnt offering. What will it be like when the fragrance of the burnt offering fills the world, and the love of Christ gives impulse to everything! We can understand how the sweet fragrance of Christ can be presented before God in the praises of the saints; but it is also to be presented in the walk of the saints. We may come together and praise God and thus present the fragrance of Christ, but our praises and walk should correspond. If a man’s praises are full of the fragrance of Christ, his walk should be also; that is why the priest who offers the burnt offering gets the skin of the bullock. If I really present Christ to God in my praises that is the burnt offering; and the man who offers the burnt offering gets a coat to wear in which the beauty of Christ is seen. The walk of such displays the moral beauty of Christ. What a wonderful time it will be when the beauty of Christ will be on everything: “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us”, Psalm 90: 17. “This is his name whereby [p. 75] he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness”, Jeremiah 23: 6. “And this is the name wherewith she shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness”, Jeremiah 33: 16. That is, the saints become morally what He is; so the beauty of Christ will be on all things, even on the bells of the horses. In the millennium every one will carry some trace of the beauty of Christ under the eye of God; the fragrance of the burnt offering will spread over everything. They will not only praise God universally for Christ, but His beauty will be seen on all, and His glory will fill the earth. That is the world to come; a scene where everything is based on the death of Christ, and all is pervaded by the fragrance of His offering Himself. There will be no more curse, but God will be complacent; there will be the covenant, and an abiding order of things — “Seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease”.
This is a picture of the bringing in of the conditions of the world to come after the judgment is passed. When the calamities are all passed, the glory and blessedness of Christ will come in, and fill the earth.