Noah’s life and work changed the age – his living and his work afforded God the cooperation He needs to change the age by bringing in the flood and judging that crooked and perverted generation.
Noah lived by faith and built up his own salvation by believing God’s word and obeying God. Noah’s work, a work that changed the age, was according to God’s divine revelation and precise instructions.
At one point, God revealed to Noah what He was about to do – He was about to destroy mankind due to their sinfulness, crookedness, and wickedness. Also, God revealed to Noah what He wanted him to do – Noah found favor in the sight of Jehovah, and so He wanted him to build an ark according to His specific instructions.
The ark today signifies Christ – not only the individual Christ in our experience but also the corporate Christ, the church, which is the Body of Christ.
We need to work together with God to build up the church (the ark) and enter into the church life (enter into the ark) so that we may escape God’s judgement on today’s evil generation through the great tribulation, and to be separated from this generation to be ushered into a new age, the age of the kingdom (see Heb. 11:7; Luke 17:26-27; Rev. 3:10)!
Receiving an All-Inclusive Revelation and Building the Ark According to it
Enoch prophesied concerning his son Methuselah that when he dies, the deluge will come. He saw a revelation that caused him to both prophesy concerning his son and walk with God for the rest of his life. However, Noah received an all-inclusive revelation from God concerning the age he lived in and the work that he has to do to change the age and bring in the next age.
God showed Noah that He was about to terminate that corrupted and wicked generation, and He wanted to bring in a new age. Also, God showed him a clear pattern of the ark with precise instructions of how to build it.
Today our situation is very similar to Noah’s – this generation is corrupt, the earth is filled with evil and violence, and man’s every thought is about evil continually; we truly live in the days of Noah!
Also, God has given many revelations and Bible-opening visions throughout the ages, but in these last days we see an all-inclusive revelation both of God’s economy and of the present situation and the Lord’s move.
We simply need to be today’s Noah, those who walk with God by faith and work with God to build up the ark not according to our own imagination or opinion but absolutely according to God’s revelation and divine instructions, as Noah did (see Gen. 6:15; Heb. 11:6-7; Exo. 25:9; 1 Chron. 28:11-19; 1 Cor. 3:10-12; Eph. 2:20).
We have inherited all the godly ways that were exercised in the past centuries and all the revelations that our forefathers have received – but we should not stop here! God wants us to build an ark and save many, and He desires to bring in a new age, the age of the kingdom!
We need to see the need for the building up of the church (Matt. 16:18) and for entering into the church life, so that God may have a way to save many, judge this corrupted generation, and bring in the new age!
Also, when we work together with God to build up the corporate Christ, everything needs to be out of Him as the source, through Him as the means, the strength, the life, the person, and everything, and to Him – for His glory and corporate expression!
Building the Ark = Building up the Church and Entering into the Church Life
The ark is a type of Christ (1 Pet. 3:20-21) – He is our salvation from God’s judgement. Also, the ark is a type of the corporate Christ, the church, which is the Body of Christ and the new man to consummate in the New Jerusalem (see 1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 2:15-16; Col. 3:10-11).
To build up the ark today is to build up the corporate Christ, to build up the church, with gold, silver, and precious stones – the element of Christ’s riches as the building material (1 Cor. 3:9-12).
We need to work together with God (2 Cor. 6:1; Eph. 3:8-10) to build up the church and enter into the church life today so that we may be saved from God’s judgement on this evil generation (through the great tribulation – see Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27; 1 Thes. 5:3) and to be separated from this generation (Luke 21:36) and be ushered into a new age, the age of the millennium!
First, we build up Christ in our experience by loving Him, talking to Him, living by Him, and enjoying Him, then we enter into Him to be saved from God’s judgement and enter into the new age. In the same way, we build the ark by building up the church with our experiences of the Triune God.
The church today is the ark, and the church is simply the building of Christ into people to build them together by Christ so that they may become God’s manifestation in the flesh (see 1 Tim. 3:15-16; 1 Cor. 3:9; Rom. 11:36).
May we not be distracted and preoccupied with eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage (as people are today), but be watchful and beseeching that we may prevail to escape these things at the coming of the Son of man!
By giving ourselves to love the Lord, be filled with Him, enjoy Him, and build up the church with the Triune God wrought into us, we are preparing an ark for our salvation and for the salvation of our house (the church), and we condemn the world, becoming heirs of righteousness which is according to faith (see Heb. 11:7).
We don’t build up the church with our abilities, gifts, or natural capacities, but – according to God’s specific instructions – we build up the church with Christ Himself being experienced by us, being wrought into us, and being constituted into us for the Body of Christ.
This is our full time job today: building up the church as the ark and entering into the church life for God to gain a corporate manifestation in the flesh and for Him to have a way to come in and judge this generation and bring in the age of the kingdom!
Lord, save us from being befuddled and drugged with the things in the world today. Cause us to see that judgement is coming. May we see the all-inclusive revelation concerning the coming judgement and the need to build the ark according to Your instructions. Lord, we give ourselves to You to build up the church! Work Yourself into us and build us up with the saints in the practical church life so that You may gain the ark today! Save man! Save so many around us. May many see what we see and give themselves to build their own salvation, the church! Lord, make us those who work together with You to build up the ark today. May our work be one that changes the age!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration (besides the Word of God and my Christian experience): bro. Ed Marks’ speaking in this message and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (pp. 392-403), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week/msg 11, Noah — the Life and Work That Can Change the Age.
- Further reading: recommending lessons 16-17 from Truth Lessons, Level Two, vol. 2 (via LSM here). Also, see footnote 1 for Genesis 6:14 in the Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic:
# In this godless age / Lord, You need some Samuels / Burdened with a vision clear of Your economy / Where’s Your ark today? / And the ones who’d care for You, / E’en to put themselves aside to gain Your heart’s desire?
# Seeking of this age to taste, / And of it have a part. / If we only knew, dear Lord, / The ways we grieve Your heart. / We would come and turn to You / With a repenting heart, / And would give ourselves to be / With you, O Lord, inside the Ark.
# Old Noah’s age was so corrupt, / In deep depravity; / So Noah passed across the flood— / That separating sea. / Praise the Lord! He has brought / From the old / To a new recovered region / Where he built in this land / An altar for his God.
About aGodMan
amen
“These are days like few others before them. Although events may for brief moments temper the prevailing winds of the times, we must admit that our society and our times are characterized by indulgence in all manner of living. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of excess” has become the motto of the age.
It is not, however, our intention in these pages to launch a crusade against materialism and consumerism. Rather, we accept these as facts and turn to consider our present condition in the light of a period in human history that resembled our own in its unbridled celebration of pleasure. Approximately 5,000 years ago, human beings were preoccupied by earthly pursuits. While an entire civilization sank into the deep sleep that their life and times brought upon them, one man, Noah, remained free of the world’s intoxication. So when God judged that age and determined to destroy the earth by a flood, only Noah and his household escaped.
Before His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ said that He would come again to execute judgment on the earth and that the days preceding His coming would resemble the days of Noah. Today, these words should resonate with warning. When He comes, how will He find us? Will we be found drugged by our careers, causes, pursuits, and possessions in the midst of a generation that has turned its back on God? Or will we be filled with His life, prepared for and expecting His coming?
Indeed, these are days like few others before them. These are the days of Noah.”
Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Ephesians 5:14
From http://www.generation-magazine.com/v4iss1/letterv4iss1.htm