Then God said to Noah…”Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.”
Genesis 6:13-14
As I was reading this in the Hebrew yesterday I noticed that the words “cover it…with pitch” are the same words used elsewhere to mean “make atonement with a ransom”. I find this significant in that Christ Jesus is the ark of our salvation that we must enter into to be preserved from the flood of waters here in our own day. For just like the covering of pitch that kept Noah and his family safe and secure inside the ark by sealing out the water and preventing it from coming in, so does the atonement of Christ’s ransom keep us safe and secure in Him by sealing out the curses of the law, which is that aspect of the water of the word of God that sweeps away the wicked in a flood of destruction. We should consider that if Noah had not obeyed God and covered the ark with pitch, then the waters of the flood would have seeped in and eventually sunk the ark of his salvation so that He too would have perished. In the same way, unless the ark into which we enter is covered with the pitch of Christ’s ransom that truly redeems us from our sins, then the flood of waters will still seep in and eventually destroy us. For the blood of Christ was the ransom paid to redeem us not just from the penalty for our sins, but from all our slavery to sin. If one continues to serve sin as his master, then Paul makes clear that he is still a slave to sin and the result is death (Rom 6:16). In this case he has not obeyed the Lord to cover the ark of his salvation with the pitch of Christ’s ransom. Indeed, he discovers too late that the ark which he entered and thought to be that of the Lord Jesus wasn’t His ark at all (cf. Matt 7:22-23). The only way one enters into the true ark of the Lord Jesus is by taking up his cross and following Him so as to crucify the old man of flesh and be united with Christ in His death. In this way, since the law no longer has any jurisdiction over a person who has died (Rom 7:1-4), the curses of the law can no longer touch him, so that he is truly in the ark of the Lord Jesus Christ, kept and preserved from all the flood of destruction that comes upon the world for its sin.
Also in this passage we see that the ark was specifically made with rooms, which reminds us how the Father’s house (which is the heavenly temple made of living stones) has many rooms (dwelling places, where we may abide in Him, and He comes to abide in us), and how Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:2). For the place He has prepared for us is in the ark of Himself, where we may abide in Him and He and the Father may come to abide in us through His Spirit who dwells in us. For as Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode (same word as in 14:2, only used in these two places) with him” (Jn 14:23).