GET OUT OF YOUR ARK.

Genesis 8.16 – “Go out of the ark…”

A quick comparison of Genesis 7.11 with 8.14-16 indicates Noah spent one year and ten days on the ark.  With the destruction of the wicked, God was now making all things new.  Noah was to take the animals from the ark so that they could be fruitful and multiply (v. 17).  The ark had been a place of refuge from the storm.  Now it was to be left behind to begin the work of populating the earth and rebuilding society.  Once the animals were disembarked,  Noah built an altar to make sacrifices to God.  God saw Noah’s worship and sacrifice and was pleased (v. 21). 

For Noah there was both work and worship.  1 Peter 3.20-21 tells us,

“In the days when God waited patiently while Noah built the ark, eight

people were saved from the destruction of the flood.  And that water is a

picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your

body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience.”

In other words, Peter tells us that the ark was a “type” of baptism through which eight souls were saved.  He makes it clear, however, that salvation does not come from the water but that the waters of believer’s baptism are entered to signify a clean conscience before God.  Thus, after Noah’s “baptism” there was work to do for God and worship to render to God. Romans 6.4 says,

“We were buried with Christ by baptism into death, so that as Christ was

raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Ephesians 2.8 and 10 adds,

For by grace you are saved through faith, not of yourselves; it is

the gift of God ... We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus

for good works, which God prepared beforehand for us to do.

Like Noah, once we are saved, we are commissioned to “go” out into a life of work and worship – work which God has already prepared for us to do and worship which keeps our hearts connected to the heart of God.  Noah would have forsaken God’s plan for his life had he clung to the safety of the ark.  Jesus prayed that God would not take the disciples out of the world in which they were to work but that he would protect them from the evil one (John 17.15).

From the waters of baptism, God intends for the salvation of His people to result in work and worship.  Like Noah, they must go out from their places of safety and comfort in order to be salt and light to a dying world (Matthew 5.13-16).  Get out of your ark!