Come into the ark, you and all your house, for I have seen you righteous before me in this generation. – Genesis 7:1
Noah is in accordance with a spiritual type, that is of sovereign importance for our generation. Many prophetic information is indicative that our generation will be the last one to experience the visible presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And one criterion for it is exactly Noah – Matthew 24:37-39. Therefore, we should study the person, the behavior and the faith of Noah exactly, because without his righteousness, as an example, there is no qualification to enter the saving ark!
The name “Noah” is Hebrew and means “rest”. And “rest” is directly referring to the “rest of God” after His finished work of creation, the seventh day in the Jewish symbolic, the so-called Sabbath. That however is fulfilled in the finished works of Christ on the cross of Calvary. Jesus Christ is personalizing the so-called Sabbath rest in which to enter we should be zealous and strive diligently (Hebrews 4:11). We should do our utmost to rest in the works of Christ completely, because Jesus Christ is the fulfilling of the Sabbath and, associated, the Sabbath rest. Therefore, the name “Noah” is speaking of the perfect work of salvation of Christ, that means of Jesus Christ himself. Noah is a forefather of Jesus Christ after the flesh (Luke 3:36). But, more importantly: The criterion to enter the ark was the present righteousness. However, righteousness only is existing in Jesus Christ. And in addition, the ark is a perfect type of Jesus Christ Himself. Therefore, Jesus Christ and righteousness are exchangeable terms – or one and the same.
Look at the qualities/characteristics of Noah, by which he was declared by God as righteous and whereby to him and to his household was provided a complete saving before the disastrous judgement over the whole earth and all inhabitants:
- Noah walked with God (Genesis 6:9). This sentence means: Noah walked in constant fellowship with God. The same qualification only got Enoch, who was caught up and transferred to heaven, so that he did not have a glimpse of death (Genesis 5:22+24; Hebrews 11:5). The behavior of Noah is so remarkable because nobody else behaved like him anymore. His whole environment was fallen into complete remoteness of God and ungodliness (Genesis 6:11-13). Noah thereby chose a radical different style of life from his whole environment: a direct living relationship with the living God unwavering and without distraction. This is pointing directly to the center of the Gospel of (the) Christ. Religion, religiosity, confessions, membership to denominations etc. are not demanded, but the complete union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ must be our life, and this is only possible through personal faith.
- Noah lived blameless among his contemporaries (Genesis 6:9). Even though Noah had not yet access to the life of Jesus Christ and to the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, a blameless style of life was apparently possible. Many Christians prove the opposite in and with their life. They are fleshly (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). They are constantly producing the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21), are linked to the world (1 John 2:15-17), are seeking for the reputation and for the success in the world and much more. But in fact, they would have been made holy and blameless in the Work of Christ (Ephesians 1:4). But who has not known Jesus Christ, has no access to a style of life, which God describes as blameless (without blame), although one wants to live blamelessly. It only ends in a senseless religious strain – because in the end the sin, the flesh, the old man and finally the enemy are superior and unconquerable beyond an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Noah did all what the Lord commanded him to do (Genesis 7:5; 7:9; 6:22). It is this absolute obedience which tags humans of faith. From human’s intellectual viewpoint, it was a total nonsense what Noah had to accomplish: to build a huge ark, a hundred and fifty meters long, in the middle of the dry land – and all this with just the technical possibilities of his days and with the support of only three men. However, we don’t read anything about resistance, discussions etc. Noah was implicitly obedient to the Word, in total devotion to his God. And the reason is written in Hebrews 11:7: He was moved by awe when God had given him an insight into His plans. The statements of the Word of God should last to lead us in this total obedience to the will, the speaking and the plans of God. Obedience of faith is the great keyword in the New Testament and in the Gospel of (the) Christ (Romans 1:5; 16:26). It decides on life and death, on a life inside or outside the saving ark – a life in Christ or beyond Him.
- By faith Noah built … (Hebrews 11:7). The whole construction of the ark was one great thing, resulting from Noah´s personal faith. Noah was hearing the speaking of God, and then he acted in faith without seeing anything. True faith is always related to the Works of Christ, because faith without works is dead (James 2:17.26). The construction of the ark was one great message of faith, that means of Noah’s relationship with God. His whole generation could hear and see for a hundred years. Noah did not have to speak nor “preach” not even once. His entire behavior in and through faith was one single “preaching”. Therefore, he is also called preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). At the same time his faith was the beginning of the judgement of the unbelievers. For a hundred years he punished or convicted the entire global population, while he was living in the faith and building the ark (Hebrews 11:7b).
- Noah had authority in the family. Noah prepared the saving for his whole family (Hebrews 11:7). He practiced a priesthood for his family – in faith. But vice versa he was supported by the whole family. Thus, his wife lived in true and active subordination – a true helpmeet, who supported her husband in every way. She had to live in faith as well because for a hundred years there wasn’t any deluge of water in sight to lift the ark. The sons of Noah lived in faith, too, in the way they supported their father completely. They lived also in obedience and subordination to their father. And why had Noah (spiritual) authority over and in his family? Because they all had seen his way of life in obedience of faith, in total subordination to the Lord. Also, a perfect demonstration of 1 Corinthians 11:3 – the succession of authority in the family and the spiritual meaning of the so-called “head covering “.
- Noah was seen righteous (Genesis 7:1; Hebrews 11:7b). It is not meant an affected self-righteousness, piety and religiosity, as it is omnipresent in Judaism and Christianity. Rather the whole way of life in obedience of faith was an expression of his inner heart attitude and of his intimate relationship with God. That characterizes righteousness through faith, in other words, actively acted out of faith, exactly implementing what the Lord instructs – even if it may seem impossible or absurd. Men in Christ are righteous only because they are resting in Christ, the Holy and Righteous One. Christ in us is the God-given righteousness. He is made our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). But the righteousness of Christ always will prove itself in practice: through a life in and through Christ and through doing the Works of Christ in everyday life, accomplished through the obedience of faith.
The ark is a clear type of Jesus Christ, of his total and perfect redemption for our whole man. But He is also the perfect hiding place in the coming judgements. In Christ one is protected and preserved wonderfully in all eschatological, so-called apocalyptical judgements. In this way, one will be saved through, into the Kingdom of God, on a new earth with new heavens, into the heavenly call for the chosen in Christ Jesus.
Above all a question arises: Are we really qualified to go into the ark (say, completely into Jesus Christ and his heavenly Kingdom) and thereby to escape all judgements of God with this earth and its population? Our life is giving the answer! 
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(This text is only a summary and the manuscript of the spoken lecture in German with the original title: “Geh in die Arche, du und dein ganzes Haus” – 1.Mo.7,1 – MP3-Audio.)
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