*Hebrews 2:10–12, Hebrews 4:15, Hebrews 5:7–8, Hebrews 6:20, Hebrews 7:26–28

Good day. I hope you find the following posts on Noah as interesting and compelling as I do.

It will take a couple of posts to cover the subject of Noah, Peter, and the Lord Jesus, and our connection with them in “baptism.” (The typology of Noah, the flood, the disobedient, and the meaning of Christ suffering once for sins (Chapter 3 of I Peter), etc.)

These are weighty truths, time sensitive and eternal, and of great significance today.

Noah, an ancient prefiguring the coming of the Messiah (aspects of Christ’s personal journey including Christ’s sanctifying work in believers), and Peter, the recipient of the gospel of Christ, and you and me, have much in common – the “baptism” of Jesus Christ.

The Age – Old Question of Baptism

Will you and me let Jesus baptize us with the baptism he underwent? Will we allow the Lord to cleanse our temple like unto his glorious temple?

Will you and me be obedient like Noah and Peter, and the pioneer of our faith the Lord Jesus Christ, to the call of God to submit ourselves to the preparation, training and discipline of God?

Will you and me allow the Lord Jesus Christ to intervene and disrupt our lives that he might access the deep, hidden, and secret places of our heart?

Will we allow Christ to inconvenient our lives and revamp our goals and priorities, that he might gain more access to us?

Will you and me allow the Lord Jesus Christ to hold us in grace while he reveals his righteousness in the unsanctified areas of our being?

Do you hear Christ knocking on the door of your heart asking for permission to fellowship with you even in the midst of your stuff?

And will you and me, in the strength and grace of Christ, fight to apprehend what Christ has apprehended and promised to us?

Brief testimony

I wrestle with the fight of faith in certain areas and situations. It’s a process and a journey of learning and experience we all must go through.

I remember almost 10 years ago coming home the first night I was introduced to Ransomed Heart Ministries, a man’s journey.

I went home and just laid on the bed curled up in a ball. I’m not sure what all I was wrestling with, if I had to speculate, I would say things like fear, shame, vulnerability and exposure.

As I laid on the bed the Lord spoke to me distinctly, not audibly, but distinctly, and said, “fight.”

The Lord was calling me to arms, in him, and I am thankful he intervened at just the right time, in just the right way, with just the right word.

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Scriptures

Here are the primary Scriptures supporting my posts of Peter’s revelation of Noah. There are treasures and jewels in these scriptures I’ll only be able to touch.

I hope these posts stimulate your heart for the deeper things of God and what he is about in our generation.   

Luke 12:50, Christ speaking, ‘“But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!”’ (NIV)

1 Peter chapter 3, “17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good then for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.” (NIV)

“19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits – 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,” (NIV)

“21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” (NIV)

2 Peter 2:5, “if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;” (NIV)

Hebrews 11:7, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.” (NIV)

Romans chapter 6, “3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (NIV)

“5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (NIV)

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Prefigure – Types

The story of Noah has always been fascinating. The “types” in the story of Noah are many. By types, I mean those people, places, or events in the ancients or the Old Covenant depicting or pointing forward to a future person, place, or event – typically pointing to Christ.

I’ve heard a type described as a shadow from the future. The best example is an old typewriter. The key/letter is the true image and the image left on the paper by ink is the type.

The classic example of a type is Joseph. If my memory serves me correctly, he is a “type” of Christ in over 50 ways depending on how you group people and events.

Noah lived over two millenniums before Christ and was a type of Jesus Christ. He was called by God, prepared by God, obeyed, preached righteousness, and saved a seed for man and woman to replenish the earth.

He is a type of the new birth in Jesus Christ, overcoming the weakness of the flesh, learning obedience from his heavenly Father, dying to sin, and being revived – resurrected – to walk in newness of life.

(A type cannot fulfill righteousness. Only Jesus Christ fulfilled all righteousness and was made perfect.)

Noah is the first type of Christ, after the fall, where God chooses someone to journey with him as he, through Noah, warns mankind the end of an era is coming.

Recipients and Partakers of the Gospel

You and me, almost 2,000 years after Christ, possess the same invitation, opportunity, and calling of Noah – to be baptized in Jesus Christ.

Christ pioneered and perfected the “baptism” in its entirety and fullness – from which all life flows to you and me in and through him.

Peter partook of Christ’s baptism and testifies of it in 1 Peter 1:2 (see my previous posts). His letter is directed to all to enter in as well.

Noah prefigured Christ, Jesus fulfilled what Noah pointed to, Peter partook of “Christ’s banquet,” and we and all others following Christ are invited – commanded – to do the same.

We of all people have the greatest knowledge, history and light of any previous generation. The church today has greater light, maturity, understanding, intimacy and connection with Christ, surpassing those who have gone before us, and yes, even those in the book of Acts.

(We are far beyond the church in the book of Acts, in fact, we may be on the precipice of the New Testament and the threshold of the Millennium. There is a lot of scriptural support to show the New Testament church is in its latter days.)

The global church of Jesus Christ is filled today to overflowing with the richness and resources of Jesus Christ in an historic and unprecedented way.

For example, today a person can Skype someone almost anywhere in the world and either receive ministry or minister in healing, deliverance, etc., through the gifts of the Holy Spirit – as if present in the same room – under the anointing of the Lord and impartation of the Holy Spirit.

Surely, no previous generation has had the privilege, opportunity, access and depth of God available to them on the scale Jesus is providing today.

My friend, now is the time to do everything you can to make yourself available to the Lord to see what he has just for you.

Noah’s story is essentially the same message proclaimed by the kingdom of God today, “The kingdom of God is here, now, present for you to prepare, you and your family, for intimacy and connection to Jesus Christ.”

“The Lord is here to heal and restore the thoughts and attitudes of your inner man, to give you a new identity in him, to impart his delight and love in the deepest part of your being, to put his laws in your mind and write them on the tables of your heart, that you might be full and complete in him, connected and in union with Jesus Christ your Savior.”

Salvation is for the “here and now.” Let’s accept the Lord’s invitations coming our way and take the opportunities he presents. I believe the Lord is making provision for you even as you read this writing.

Jesus wants to take you and me as far and as deep in him as he can, as time permits, and resources are available. Those who prepare now will be lifted even higher in new waves and moves of the Spirit of God.

Peter connects the story of him, the story of Christ, and the story of us to Noah showing God’s plan from the very beginning is to make us into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, the baptism of sanctification.

There is a design, plan, and timetable in the adventure and endeavor Christ is offering you and me.

Noah and the “Disobedient”

Noah was faithful to publish and heed the “news” of God’s kingdom.

The preparation of the Ark represents a tangible manifestation of the changes God worked in the heart and life of Noah. Certainly, God wrought a deep work in Noah’s heart over the many years he prepared and warned others of the coming deluge.

Was Noah under a special dispensation of grace, for him and his family?

(God’s grace races ahead, precedes his righteousness, providing time for repentance and forgiveness. Even in the situation of Sodom and Gomorrah, God extended grace up to the last moment. The two men sent to determine Sodom and Gomorrah’s destiny, instructed Lot to tell all those who belong to him to flee because they were going to destroy the city.)

Noah and his family did all the hard “heart work” before the flood.

(Can you imagine the inconvenience, disruption, and unprecedented change Noah and his family endured to walk out their salvation in obedience to God?)

(There is so much to say, but can you imagine telling people who have lived for hundreds of years to repent because disaster is coming, something they’ve never seen?)

Noah and his family satisfied the conditions God established commensurate with the level of knowledge and understanding they had in God and commensurate with the measure of the Spirit of God available to them.

Their outward acts of obedience, preparation and preaching, i.e., there “faith,” demonstrated the inward work in their heart – their completion and fulfillment of the “baptism” God had for them.

Their baptism was not a one-time event, it began the moment the Lord commissioned Noah and his family to prepare for the coming flood.

From that moment forward they began the journey of prefiguring Christ.

To be continued…

(NIV) Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblical, Inc.™