Sermon: Two Arks of Salvation

The Arks of Noah and Moses
#1773A
Ted E. Bowling
Given 20-Jul-24; 35 minutes 2024-07-20

I love trivia, I love riddles. So I am going to start with one. How many people were on Moses' ark? I know, now everyone's supposed to laugh at this point because it was Noah's ark where the eight people were saved, with all the animals. But then you might say, "Well, Moses is associated with the Ark of the Covenant, that is an ark." Because he was the director that directed the construction of it. The only problem is, this only works in the English language.

We are familiar with these two different types of arks, but they are two very different Hebrew words. In the Hebrew, Ark of the Covenant is the word is aron, which is Strong's #727 and it means ark, chest, or coffin. Now, Noah's ark is the word tebah, which is Strong's #8392. What is its definition? Very similar. It is a box or a chest. So these words are very similar because both of them are a chest, a container, again, even a box or even a coffin.

But it is how these words are used that determines the reason that they have a different term and connotation in the Hebrew. The word tebah is only used as a storage box or chest kept afloat on water and it refers specifically to storing a human being or a living person. While the other word for ark, aron, refers to a chest or box used for other types of storage, including nonliving articles as in the Ark of the Covenant. Again, as a coffin. And it is used, we see that in Genesis 50:26, referring to Joseph. it says,

Genesis 50:26 So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and they put him in [an aron] a coffin.

So it is only in the English language that both use this word ark. I wanted to make a difference to those two words to start out with because my focus in my sermon today is on tebah, which appears only twice in the Bible. So please turn to Genesis 6. I will read verses 9 to 16. Again, we already mentioned this one. This is Noah's ark and it says,

Genesis 6:9-16 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 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. Make for yourself an ark of gopherwood [this word ark again is tebah]; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark [tebah] shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 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 on its side. You shall make it with a lower, second, and third decks."

God was very specific here, and again, God is instructing Noah to build a floating box or chest, providing him the length, width, and height; to build a window, to build a door. But what is missing from these instructions that was given to Noah? There is no rudder and there are no means of propulsion. Boats and ships are built to navigate the waters, to transport people or something from Point A to Point B. The ark did not have the ability to do this because it had no way to determine where it would go. Why? Because the ark was not designed to go anywhere. In fact, once the earth was flooded there was no place for it to go. Its only purpose was to stay afloat and keep its occupants alive. God was the navigator of the ark. Noah did not know what was happening on the outside of the ark at all. They could not see outside.

Richard just spoke about waiting two weeks ago and he mentioned Noah's ark. I was thinking as he was speaking on this subject, you know, Noah and his family was inside the ark for over a year. That is waiting, especially in such an enclosed area.

Now I want to stop for a second because I found some interesting facts about the ark and I just want to read this to you real quick. In feet it was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. This ratio is a 6 to 1 ratio. The Encyclopedia on Shipbuilding and Navigation says, "The 6 to 1 ratio probably served to influence the design of cargo ships. This ratio was used for centuries." So modern naval engineers, when designing cargo ships to battleships, started with this basic design, this basic ratio. But today the ratios are much higher because of modern technology.

I also read an article I found very interesting about Noah's ark. It is titled. "Thinking Outside The Box," by Tim Lovett and it is featured in Answers Magazine. In the article it addresses a scientific study that endorses the seaworthiness of the ark.

Noah's Ark was the focus of a major 1993 scientific study headed by Dr. Xin Hong at the World Class Ship Research Center KRISO, based in Dijon, South Korea. Doctor Hong's team compared 12 hulls of different proportions to discover which design was most practical. No hull was found to significantly outperform the 4,300 year old Bible design. In fact, the Ark's careful balance is easily lost if the proportions are modified, rendering the vessel either unstable, prone to fracture, or dangerously uncomfortable. The research team found that the proportions of Noah's Ark carefully balanced the conflicting demands of stability, resistance to capsizing, comfort, seaworthiness, and strength. In fact, the Ark has the same proportions as most modern cargo ships.

I love it when we see God's wisdom in the practical use and the shape and design which He maximized cargo space. He kept it stable, built to the minimum chance of it being broadsided by a wave and capsizing. When the waters came, when the Flood came, God was in total control of that vessel. And I love it when modern science proves the Scriptures can be trusted because even modern scientists—this is 4,300 years ago—are saying there is no better design for a vessel. In Hebrews 11, speaking of Noah, one of the heroes of faith, says this:

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith.

It is clear that Noah was made motivated by a deep and abiding respect for God and took the warning of God of this impending crisis very seriously. We know that Noah walked with God. And it is interesting to me that in these scriptures about Noah, Noah does not talk to God like Abraham and Moses did. If you will notice, Noah is only listening to what God has to say and he obeyed. He obeyed everything that God told him to do no matter how difficult it would be. There is no evidence at all that his faith in God ever wavered; and he accomplished a significant undertaking which consumed approximately 120 years. There is no implication of any hesitation of obedience to God on Noah's part.

After God's first set of instructions He gave him, Genesis 6:22 says, "Noah did everything just as God commanded him." And then in Genesis 7:5, it also says, "And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him." And he did not do just that. In II Peter 2:5, it says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. So during that 120 years, as he was building this enormous construction, he was preaching, he was warning people, and I am sure that Noah became very famous as they watched this huge vessel being constructed. And for what reason? And so I am sure that he had, probably, every day an opportunity to warn the people that they need to repent because there was an approaching doom.

We know that God is a very patient God and loving God, and He waited 120 years. He gave the people every opportunity. There was no takers. To the very day that he finished that, he was preaching God's Word. And I am so sure that during the course of all this time, Noah was being mocked, ridiculed, and even hated for the warnings that he was giving.

You know, I was telling David [Grabbe] before services, there may have been people that might have come on board for five years, maybe 10 years, maybe in 20 years. We do not know. But no one lasted that 120 years with him. And that should be a reminder to us today. We have seen so many in the church for many, many years and now, where are they? They are gone. And so there is a warning to us here that it is necessary for us to stay faithful. The longsuffering through these trials and ridicules and tests that we will go through, we need to have that same fortitude as Noah, that same faith because just as Noah was living at an end time at that point, we also are living in an end time, and you—you—may be mocked, you may be ridiculed as well, or even hated. The question is, will your faithfulness to God be unbroken? Or will it be broken?

Noah's creation provides a physical means of an end time tribulation at that time. And through Jesus Christ, we are working to be created in His spiritual character and that He will provide for us a deliverance from this end time tribulation. God's grace will carry us through the entire operation from beginning to end if we will remain faithful to Him.

Now, as I said earlier, there were two arks. The second ark, please turn to Exodus chapter 2. I am going to read verses 2 through 10.

Exodus 2:2-10 So the woman conceived and bore a child. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took [a tebah] an ark of the 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. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when they saw the [tebah] ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children. And his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call a nurse for him for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?" And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." So the maiden went and called the child's mother. 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. 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."

By faith Jochebed, which is his mother, placed him in an ark. Again, some translations will use the term basket. But the Hebrew is tebah, ark. Nevertheless, this means that both Moses and Noah are linked by this means of salvation; each of them chosen for a crucial and momentous task and both of their lives were saved by miracles.

In Exodus, all the male babies were being killed, being drowned in the Nile River. I always think she actually did obey the law to a degree, she did put the baby in the Nile, but she put it in an ark at the edge of the water. And this was not necessarily a really safe place to be. Again, these were crocodile-infested waters and the current of the Nile River was strong. There was no guarantee that child in that ark would stay put.

It is interesting. Can you imagine giving up your child like that though? Putting a three month old baby in a little ark and then possibly watching it float away. How much faith did that take for her to do that? How difficult it would have been, whisking away that child, saying goodbye, possibly for the last time. But it was God that protected Moses from being pulled out into the current. It was God that navigated that little miniature ark.

And so Amram and Jochebed had faith and believed that God would protect him. And He did, it was God that protected Moses from being pulled out of that current. Again, as in Noah's case, God was the navigator of those vessels.

At the time, there was no safety for a male child, a Hebrew male child. Moses began his life though under the protection of Pharaoh's daughter. Through God's providence, Moses was raised and taught by his own mother from anywhere from 3 to 7 years. Because of their faith, they were able to teach him his own heritage and how to be steadfast in his faith to God's covenant with all the other Jewish people.

We can see God laying a foundation for Moses. We can see God setting Moses on the right path. Then Moses was sent from the plush comforts of Egypt to the hot desert, where he became a shepherd. And there God took 40 years to prepare him, humbled him for a fantastic, huge role as His servant. At that point, God was able to trust Him to lead millions of people out of Egypt to the Promised Land and executing the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham some 400 years earlier.

And Moses is called the most humble man in Numbers 12:5. Because of Moses' humility and deep respect for God, God used him in a powerful way, not to mention the spiritual level, I think, is unmatchable by any other human being.

Now, these were two very special men and I do not think it is a coincidence that they are linked here, and I want to just go over just a few parallels between these two men. Both Moses and Noah were saved by an ark. Noah, along with his family and the animals, were saved in this huge, massive vessel and Moses in this miniature basket of a vessel. Noah and his sons carefully coated the massive structure with pitch so no water could seep in and Moses' mother covered the little ark with the pitch and what it calls sludge.

I think about the ark and the picture it brings with all this pitch, asphalt, this petroleum-type substance covering both the inside and the outside of the ark to make it waterproof. Pitch is very sticky and it is a black substance. I would like to read from Richard Ritenbaugh's sermon on "The Great Flood, Part Two," and he is talking about this covering. I just want to read this to you because I think it goes hand-in-hand with what I had been thinking. And so thank you, Richard, for providing this for me.

The impression is that the ark was not just "caulked"; they did not use it just to chink between the planks or however the outside was done. Rather there was a continuous covering of pitch over the entire ark, inside and out. Who knows? Maybe one year they put a half inch lay on, and then the next year they added another, and so on. They had 120 years to-complete the thing. Who knows how thick this stuff was and became. Not only that, but it was pitched inside also. There are two major layers of pitch on the ark.

I cannot help but think about the pictures we see of the ark. How beautiful it is, the nice wood grains. It is amazing how we like to make things pretty. Well, in my estimation, it was not. I actually went online and tried to find a picture and I did find a rendering of the ark covered in pitch and I will just say, it is not a pretty sight. But again, it may have reflected the attitude and the hearts of the people outside of the ark. All those people, they had dark, black hearts and the outside of the ark was dark and black as well.

What is interesting about the subject of pitch is that it is covered under the Day of Pentecost. It was a covering. The blood of Jesus Christ's sacrifice is our only means of truly having our sins covered and our hope for eternal life. Noah's only hope was the covering of pitch on the inside and outside to be saved. When our sins are covered, they are completely hidden. It may not be pretty, but since we do sin, we can have a continued life without guilt, which leads into my next point. Both arks were under divine protection. Noah and Moses, their only purpose in these arks was to stay afloat. These vessels, again, had no means of navigation or able to steer. How could a three month old baby steer anyway? And when Noah and his family entered the ark, it says the Lord shut them in. What would you think inside as those waters were rising not knowing what was going on on the outside.

It was a matter of faith when Jochebed placed Moses in that miniature ark on the Nile River. Only being three months old, he was at the mercy of the water. They may have been facing life-threatening situations, but their lives were never in danger because God was always in total control. God's hand directed and protected every moment, assuring their salvation.

The next point. Both Moses and Noah were God's instruments in a great way. Noah and Moses played pivotal roles in God's plan for humanity, where one saved all of mankind and the other initiated the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt. They lived incredible lives, but they trusted God because, as we see in Hebrews 11 again, they are among the heroes of faith. Their convictions and dedication to God's service are powerful examples for us today to see men give their lives in service. And their experiences are very similar. And then both of them displayed leadership under extreme pressure and endured tremendous trials, but they both enjoyed miraculous deliverance.

For us today, the record of these two men teach us that even in the midst of challenging circumstances we can trust God. When facing adversity, uncertainty, we can lean on God's promise and have the confidence that He is going to work all these things out for us. And it will be for our good. By trusting in His plan, we can find peace and strength as we navigate through life's challenges. By cultivating complete trust in God, obeying His instruction even when it is difficult, practicing patience and perseverance, we can experience a deep and more fulfilling relationship with Him.

One of the great symbols of Noah's faith; Noah did not question God. No matter how difficult that journey was, Moses' humility was incredible. And throughout our lifetime, it is fitting for us to follow their pattern of complete humility, obedience, and trust in God. The question is, do you believe that God is in total control of your life? Do you believe that God is directing, navigating every moment no matter what the situation is, do you believe that He is there, watching over you? We can have that assurance because those are the promises of Jesus Christ. And that is how we build a deeper and more sincere relationship with Him.

From these examples, we can grasp God's intention in the sanctification here. Noah and his family did not save themselves. Like Noah and his family, we are required to respond faithfully to God because He is the only one that can save us.

Mark 13:20 "And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved [alive]; but for the elect's sake, whom He had chose, He shortened the days."

How short are our days? We do not know. One thing we do know, though. God does not change. We saw His faithfulness back in Noah's days and He is going to be faithful today. So this is a wakeup call for us to be alert and be prepared. We are about to enter the period of time in the Bible referred to as Jacob's trouble and it will be the sequel to the worldwide destruction as in Noah's day.

God directly altered the course of the events of these two men's lives and He is doing the same with us. We do see the hands-on participation that He gave these two men, the direction. He gave them everything they needed to get the job done and He is doing the same thing for us.

Now, we will never do anything on the same scale as they did. But please, know this: God's purpose for you is also affecting other people's lives. Yeah, they saved millions of lives. And we may have the same responsibilities. It may only be one or two family, friends, church brethren. It could be more. There is no question though that God works directly with you and me. We must never forget that God is with us just as He was with them because again, God does not change.

You know, Moses, he may not totally understood when he started out as a young man, but over time, he began to realize that God was thoroughly involved in his life and that God interceded on his behalf. It may have taken many, many years for him to understand that. But look what it led to. And brethren, this is the same for us. It may take many, many years for us to really understand what God is doing in our lives. But we must be patient. We must be faithful because He will show us.

This is a reminder today that you are instruments in God's hands in our journey to God's Kingdom. We may not understand how God is directing our steps, especially when it comes to difficult times in our lives. But we need to be aware that God does direct our steps.

Proverbs 16:9 A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

This verse is saying that we can decide and we can plan and we can work toward an end. But it is God that determines the outcome. In the heart a man plans his own course of action, but the Lord determines His steps. We are again talking about how so involved God is in our lives that we may be going forward.

Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

A part of our thankfulness and appreciation of God is that recognition that He has intervened in our lives many, many times, oftentimes when we do not even know that He has.

So in conclusion, I just want to say, God prepared these two men in a very unique way. God provides encouragement to us today in the lives and the experiences of these two men. God gave them an amazing mission to accomplish, but He is doing the same with you today. (You may want to write down II Corinthians 6:1-2.)

It may not seem that you are living in an epic time like Noah and Moses. But indeed, you are. We are living in the greatest transition of all the ages in history of mankind right now—right now. Like Noah Moses, we are being developed for a specific and an individual assignment, a purpose, and it is our privilege and duty to develop a close relationship with God in the course of that. And like Moses and like Noah, let us live our lives in faith, fortitude, and humility.

And by the way, the answer to my question at the beginning of the sermon was not a trick question. How many were saved in Moses' ark? The answer is one.

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