THREE ARKS
EARTHLY PATTERN OF A HEAVENLY ORIGINAL
Three Arks described in the Bible Are:
The Ark of Noah,
The Ark of Moses,
The Ark of the Covenant.
All three symbolically speak of:
Sanctification (Set Apart)
Redemption (escaped death, Bought For a Price)
Atonement (The Covering, Acceptance)
New Beginnings (Starting over, New and different direction)
God’s Judgment (Rewards, good and bad)
I. FIRST ARK — Noah
Noah Pleases God
Genesis 6:9-12 (NKJ)
9. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.
10. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11.The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
When we please God, God sets us apart from the sinful world. However there is work to be done on our part. Verse two (2) reads as if it was being read from yesterday’s newspaper.
The Ark Prepared
Genesis 6:13-17 (NKJ)
13. And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.
15. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
16. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
17. And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
The first thing to realize is that all three Arks are symbolic of protection and covering with and from God. This is also foretelling the “End Times”: God’s protection and separation, “The Rapture.” God’s wrath and judgment of sin is shown in Revelation chapters 5; 6; 8; 9. …
Genesis. 7:1, 7 (NKJ)
1. Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation
7. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.
In the Ark of Noah, a family of eight were kept safe and secure from judgment and brought through the flood, in which all others on the outside perished. It was sealed within and without with pitch. It was weatherproof and storm proof. No storm could harm those within the ark, for they were shut in by God, and was shut in with God.
How does Noah’s Ark point to Jesus Christ?
- Door — Jesus is the door. Only God could open and close the Door - come up hither
- Shut in with God — Sanctification — Set apart - intimacy.
- Pitch — “Kaphar”, Old Testament word for Atonement
- Water — Type of Baptism and cleansing, wood when soaked in water expands and eliminates the leaks, of the flesh.
- New beginning — The Number 8 means new beginning — New creation in Christ Jesus, new direction.
II. SECOND ARK — Moses
Exodus 2:3 (Context 1-4)
Exodus 1:15-22 (KJ)
15. Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah
16. and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
17. But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.
18. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”
19. And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”
20. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty.
21. And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them.
22. So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”
As we read this scripture Moses’ mother did not give up even when there was a sentence of death pronounced over her son Moses. But God intervened. The Egyptian midwives who were to carry out the sentence of death became advocates. No matter the race or ethnic background a mothers heart is always one of love.
Moses means - I drew him out of the water.
Exodus 2:8-10 (KJ)
8. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother.
9. Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.
10. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
First we need to understand that Moses was a type of Jesus the Christ.
The Second Ark was made by Jochebed,
Genesis 2:1-4 (KJ)
1. And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi.
2. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months.
3. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.
4. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.
The sentence of death had been pronounced by Pharaoh; king of Egypt, upon all male children of Israel, and he had commanded them to be drowned in the river Nile. However what was to take Moses life was what saved Him, it took Moses to a place of safety. Does “Water of Life” sound familiar? But Moses was made safe in the ark of the bulrushes, made by his mother, and sealed with slime and with pitch. There was security for Moses in the Ark, for God was with him in the Ark.
When we think of Moses we can ascribe symbolic similarities:
How does Moses’ Ark point to Jesus Christ?
- Moses was born with a death sentence on his head.
- Water was a type of Baptism of repentance (Changing of direction)
- He was sanctified—set apart for God’s purpose and plan.
- Pitch—“Kaphar”, Old Testament word for Atonement.
- Moses was used to set God’s people free from bondage.
- Moses was sent out for forty years.
- Moses had to be in constant communication with God.
- Moses was willing to sacrifice himself for God’s people Ex. 32: 32,33
Both the Ark of Noah, and the Ark of Moses, was made waterproof by being lined with pitch. The word for pitch in the Bible is “Kaphar,” and is the Old Testament word for “Atonement.” But atonement was always made with blood. Salvation depends upon the blood of atonement of an innocent sacrifice. Therefore the application of slim and pitch was a type of a covering atonement as the blood was for the Israelites. Both the Ark of Noah and the Ark of Moses were made safe by the application of the slim and pitch of atonement.
III. THIRD ARK - ARK Of THE COVENANT
The Golden Ark. The two previous Arks were symbolic for the coming of the third Ark, which was the center of the tabernacle service: it too was a place of shelter and refuge and safety from judgment.
The Ark of the Covenant
1. The Ark is a place of safety.
2. Within the Ark there is:
- Aaron’s Rod/Staff — Numbers 17:1-13 God’s choice.
- Buds — Represents new birth, life starting Numbers 17:5,8
- Blossoms — Represents Maturing in the Lord. Numbers 17:8
- Fruit — Witnessing and evangelizing. Numbers 17:8
3. God’s Law (Guidance and Standard)
4. Manna - Bread of Life (Jesus) that never goes stale.
5. Gold - Representing the Deity of Christ which covered wood representing mankind.
Making The Ark of the Testimony
Exodus 25:10-22 (KJ)
10. “And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height.
11. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around.
12. You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side.
13. And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.
14. You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them.
15. The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.
16. And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.
17. “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width.
18. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat.
19. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat.
20. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat.
21. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you.
22. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
God had Moses building the first article, the Ark of the Covenant.
The purpose is to establish that salvation does not start with man, but with God. Throughout the Bible the emphasis is on God, not on man as the way of salvation.
