The Ark and the Church

Introduction:

God, in His infinite wisdom, left information in the Old Testament which helps us gain a deeper understanding of the teachings in the New Testament that pertain to us.  One method He chose was the use of types and antitypes.  The Word of God reveals that there were people and things in the Old Testament that symbolized people and things in the New Testament.  The types were in the Old Testament and the antitypes in the New Testament.  For example, Adam was a type and Christ the antitype.  (Romans 6:14)  There were similarities.  Our text today, I Peter 3:20-21, says the water of the flood was the type and baptism is the antitype.  We will also see from this passage that the ark was a type and the church is the antitype.

Text:  I Peter 3:18-21

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us — baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (NKJV)

Body:

I.  The Waters of the Flood and the Waters of Baptism

·  Our text says “. . . eight souls were saved through water . . . baptism now saves us.”  There is a likeness between how the flood waters saved Noah back in the days of the patriarchs and He uses the water of baptism to save people in the gospel age.

·  We must first look to see how God used water to save Noah and his family.  We must remember from scripture that God used the flood waters to destroy the people of Noah’s day all over the world.  It was a world-wide flood.  These waters were what caused the ark to rise with the rising flood waters and float.  But Noah’s family was not saved through water alone.  Note Hebrews 11:7.  It was their faith and godly fear in addition to their building of the ark and entering it that was also necessary for them being saved through water.  All of these steps were necessary!

·  So what is the resemblance between the water of the flood and the water of baptism?  We first realize it wasn’t the water itself that saved Noah but that God used the water to save Noah.  Similarly, water itself doesn’t save people today but it’s how God uses water to save people.  Baptism, which is an immersion, is the final step in God’s plan to save the lost from being condemned.  (Mark 16:15-16)  Baptism is the dividing line between the lost and the saved.  Just like the waters of the flood cleansed the world of sin and evil, baptism cleanses the believer of all his past sins.  (Acts 2:38)  One rises from baptism a new creation similar to the earth being new after the flood.  (Romans 6:3-6)  So in these ways just mentioned, baptism is the antitype and the flood waters the type. 

II.  The Ark and the Church

·  It seems quite obvious from our text that the ark was a type and the church is an antitype.

·  The days of Noah were very evil.  Sin was rampant.  (Genesis 6:5-7)  During the construction of the ark, Noah preached for over 100 years.  He was called a preacher of “righteousness.”  (II Peter 2:5)  Only his family listened and obeyed.  They entered the ark and were the only humans to survive.  All others were lost.  They were lost because they didn’t respond to Noah’s preaching.  (Ezekiel 18:9) 

·  Just as the ark was a place of safety then, so is the church a place of safety today.  (Acts 2:47)  All saved people are in the church; there are no saved people outside the church.  We are added to the church when we are baptized in water.  (I Corinthians 12:12-13, Galatians 3:27, Colossians 1:18)  Just as everyone outside the ark died, so will everyone outside Christ, His body the church.

Conclusion:

During the entire time Noah was preaching the message of salvation, the door of the ark was open.  But there came a time when God closed the door of the ark.  Likewise, the door of the church has been open for almost 2,000 years while the gospel message has been preached.  But when Jesus returns, the door of the church will be close.  Where do you want to be found – in the ark of safety or outside? 

Bobby Stafford 

January 11, 2015