The Ark and the Cross

Messianic Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Moshe

Rosh Chodesh (New Moon Day); March 19, 2007

One thing that is vital to understanding scripture is to keep the end in mind as you study. If you lose sight of the big picture, you will miss the spiritual applications or be in danger of taking scripture out of context. G-D is working out His plan and He sees the end from the beginning. Everything is done to accomplish His ultimate purpose. If you look closely you will notice that the Old Testament prepares, or paves the way to the New Testament. Calling them the Old and New Testament gives the misconception that they are separate. Most people look at the testaments as though one has passed and the other has replaced it. I would like for us to look at it from a different perspective entirely. Look at the scriptures as one path from beginning to end. The signs and directions of the Old Testament point the way so that we don=t miss what G-D is preparing for us. The old does not pass away, but it carries us by the hand into G-D=s revelation of His plan for redemption.

Everything that happens in the Old Testament becomes an anchor that G-D uses to direct man toward G-D=s plan. The Old transitions into the gospels; it does not end abruptly and change directions when Yeshua arrives. The laws and events in the Old Testament point toward Messiah and prepare the world for the desperately needed Redeemer. The later you get in the Old Testament, the less imagery you have in worship and the more prophesy we see that identifies the coming Messiah and the plan of His sacrifice and future reign. Keep this in mind as we examine the spiritual application of the flood. Though historical events recorded in scripture are actual events, but G-D ordains these events to enlighten future generations to His plan. As the apostle Sha=ul (Paul) said, it was a great mystery but now has been revealed in Messiah.

This study will focus on three areas that reveal G-D=s unfolding plan.

1. Names

1 Corinthians 15:21-22 states:

21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Messiah shall all be made alive.

Through Adam, we all suffer and are appointed to death, but through Messiah we are made alive and the door is open for us to enter into G-D=s rest. So we can see that the names given to the generations leading up to the flood were a foreshadow of the coming salvation offered up through our precious Messiah. Likewise, the ark is also a symbol of salvation in Messiah. What is more fascinating is that Genesis and the next four books in the Old Testament are the Torah. The Torah counted as sacred to the same Jewish priests, scribes and Pharisees that rejected Yeshua and plotted His death. Yet many times their own sacred scriptures point directly to Messiah. The generations of Adam lead directly to the ark and the meaning of the names point directly to Messiah.

2. The Ark

Four generations preached that G-D=s judgment was coming. For 120 years, the world saw Noah building the ark right before their eyes. The door was open for any who would come in, but almost everyone rejected the invitation. I am sure they thought that since nothing has happened like this before, anyone who thought judgment is coming was foolish. For over 1,000 years men preached the coming judgment and nothing had happened. In spite of the prophesies, preaching, warnings and Noah building the ark for over a century, they were completely unaware of the coming destruction until the flood came and took them all away. They died completely ignorant in spite of the testimonies that surrounded them. Yeshua said that Aas it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when He returns.@ They will live life as though everything will continue as it always has; they will have plenty of testimony and the invitation will be open. Then the judgment will come and take them unaware. This is why Yeshua said in MattithYAHu 7 (Matthew):

13 " Enter in through the narrow gate! Because the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter in through it.

14 "Because the gate is narrow and the way is hard pressed (or afflicted) which leads to life, and there are few who find it.@

Even though the door is WIDE open and He appoints those who proclaim the truth to point the way, there are few who will be willing to enter through it. The ark is a picture of what Yeshua Messiah did for us on the execution stake (Cross). G-D declared that He will not always strive with man, He made a way of escape and then His judgment came. His wrath was poured out over the whole earth but those who trusted in G-D=s plan of salvation remained safe in the ark. The ark bore the brunt of G-D=s wrath. The ark endured the storms, the debris and the destruction that would have destroyed Noah and his family. They felt no harm but rested securely in the ark. Compare that to the work of Yeshua Messiah. Just as all were invited to enter into the ark, all are invited to come to Messiah for rest. Matthew 11:

28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I shall give you rest.

29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your beings.

30 AFor my yoke is gentle and my burden is light.@

Just as there was no other way to escape the flood judgment other than the ark, there is no other way to enter into G-D=s rest and escape the judgment of G-D except through Messiah. Yochanan (John) 14:

6 Yeshua said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

7 " If you had known Me, you would have known My Father too. From now on you know Him and have seen."

I am sure many men said to Noah, there are many ways to be saved. These mountains will save us. We will find our own ways to get around G-D=s plan. Today we hear the same arguments. "I can climb on top of the mountain of my good works" or any number of ways men attempt to save themselves while rejecting G-D. G-D does not care about anyone=s religion or good works. He only cares about one thing - are YOU in YESHUA Messiah? If not, there is no other remedy. Only Yeshua Messiah bore the wrath of G-D for you. Anyone not covered by the blood of Yeshua Messiah is outside of our Holy G-D=s refuge and will bear the storm of judgment with or without religion. Only Yeshua bore our grief’s.

Look at YeshaYAHu (Isaiah) 53:

4 Truly, He has borne our sickness and carried our pains. Yet we reckoned Him stricken, smitten by Elohim, and afflicted.

5 But He was pierced for our transgressions (sins), He was crushed for our crookedness. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, went astray, each one of us has turned to his own way. And G-D has laid on Him the crookedness of us all.@

Rest assured, G-D=s undiluted (without mixture) wrath will be poured out. The Bible says that G-D stores up wrath for the Day of Judgment. But those who are in Yeshua Messiah had our wrath poured out on Messiah. We are reconciled to G-D in Messiah. It is not G-D=s desire to judge anyone. Judgment is always the last resort. The first choice is always grace and mercy. It is only when grace and mercy are rejected that sins are judged. The Bible says that every sin ever committed will be judged and punished by G-D. G-D=s mercy does not nullify G-D=s justice. But instead, G-D=s mercy bears the penalty of G-D=s justice.

Look at 2 Corinthians 5:

20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Messiah, as though G-D were pleading through us: we implore you on Messiah's behalf, be reconciled to G-D.

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of G-D in Him.

It is out of mercy that a holy G-D paid the penalty of our sins with His own blood (Acts 20:28). All of our efforts do not wipe away or erase our guilt. Even our own sense of justice realizes that. If someone is convicted of a crime - regardless of how minor or how heinous, we see the need for a judge to be impartial. If a jury convicted a criminal and he stood before sentencing and offered his works as a defense, it would mean little. If a convict had a 100-page resume of all the good things he or she had done, it would not override the crime and the need for punishment. As a society, we are outraged when judges pervert justice. Regardless of how good a person someone is, they are still guilty of the crime. Yet with G-D, we expect an indifference to violations of His law. If an imperfect judge in our courts can see the need to be just to the law, how much more will a holy G-D who judges without partiality?

That is the whole purpose of Yeshua=s death on the execution stake. When we disobey in any area, we have violated G-D=s perfect law and that is sin. That sin will be judged. The only question is where? G-D poured out the wrath due us on Yeshua Messiah on the stake. Our choice is to lay our sins down and take up Messiah, or to push aside Messiah and take the wide road and bear the storm ourselves. The open door is there for any who will come. There is no greater sin than to reject the sacrifice of Yeshua Messiah made on your behalf.

IBRIM (Hebrew) 10:

28 Anyone who has disregarded the Torah of Mosheh dies without compassion on the witness of two or three witnesses.

29 How much worse punishment do you think shall he deserve who has trampled the Son of Elohim underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was set apart as common, and insulted the Spirit of favour?

We have all heard the term >unpardonable sin=. In the scripture, this is the only unpardonable sin. If we die in rejection of the payment of our sins that G-D paid on our behalf by His own suffering and blood, there is no hope. How can anyone not be amazed that our divine Creator who has the right to demand us to work for our salvation, instead paid our way with blood, suffering and tears. To count that suffering as a common thing truly is an insult. To count something as common means determine it is vain or valueless. Something you walk past like a pebble on the street.

Without leaving the world system, you can=t be in Messiah. We must be willing to leave this world that is destined for judgment behind. This is where most people lose the picture. They want to accept Messiah and they want forgiveness, but they want to remain in the world that is under condemnation. They want to be licentious, be of the world, sin perpetually, be lawless, disregard HIS laws and feast days. That is the choice we have to make. Do we want Messiah, or do we want what G-D hates? The ark only saved those who went in, not those who believed it could save them but did not go in.

3. The Raven and the Dove

This is where we have the point of decision.

Look at Bereshith (Genesis) 8:

7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.

8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground.

9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself.

10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark.

11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.

12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.

The raven went out first. He never returned but kept going to and fro until the water dried up. The raven is driven by its own strength and felt he did not need the ark. He could make his own way without G-D=s promises. The raven was satisfied with a dead world. He was able to find his rest on the debris that floated on top of the waters. He had to eat of the dead corpses that drifted in the water. This is a symbol of someone who loves the world. People who have no concept of the fresh new life to come are satisfied with the dead works that float around the world. They keep going to and fro without rest from one sin to another trying to find satisfaction. They invest their entire lives in this dead world that is already passing away. Sometimes you see this in our own assemblies. You have someone who has all the outward signs of being a true believer, but they grow tired of waiting for G-D=s plan so they leave and pick the flesh off the world. They throw in the towel, they give up and turn their backs on the Messiah. They were in assembly, but were never really a part of the assembly - the body of Messiah. They depart thinking that G-D does not fulfill them because they were never interested in G-D=s plan for their life in the first place; they only looked to G-D as a means of gain. When their fleshly lusts and desires are not satisfied, they begin to long for the darkness of the world. They are willing to sacrifice the hope of the future for a temporary world that is drying up.

The future means little as long as they can have it now.

The dove is symbolic of the Spirit filled life. The dove did not find anywhere to rest the sole of her feet. She was confident in her weakness and depended on the ark for refuge. Living by her own strength was not as important as the benefits of abiding in G-D=s promise. The dove had no satisfaction in the dead works around the world, but looked for the glorious promise to come. HalleluYAH! The dove was patient and waited for the promise of G-D=s new life. The second trip out, the dove brought back an olive branch - the hope and joy of the peace to come. A true believer will have this mind-set. We are in the world but not of it. We long for the glorious promise to come. Each time we look around, we are unsatisfied and at times even down-right disgusted with the world, yet we continue to wait for the hope of G-D=s wonderful promise. The spiritual life finds satisfaction in a personal relationship with G-D. Our focus is not on what we have here and now, but the reality of what is to come. As Hebrews 11:1 puts it, "And Belief is the substance of what is expected, the proof of what is not seen."

The promise of G-D=s eternal reward is so real that we will gladly sacrifice the world for it. As we pass through the earth as pilgrims, we can=t be satisfied with the deadly pollution around us and our hope is always on the Messiah. We eagerly long for that day when we will see Him face to face and nothing else can satisfy. Only someone looking to the finish line and the promises that lay ahead can recognize the worthlessness of what this damaged world has to offer. We are either a raven or a dove. Either we place our hope and invest our lives in this world and sacrifice what lies ahead, or we long for the eternal rewards that lie ahead, anchor ourselves in eternity and will never be satisfied with resting in the world.

Hebrews 12:1-2 sums it up well:

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

2 looking unto Yeshua, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the stake, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of G-D.