WEEK 11 — OUTLINE

Noah—the Life and Work That Can Change the Age

Scripture Reading: Gen. 6:5-22; 7:13, 16; Heb. 11:7

DAY 1

I.  Noah's life was a life that changed the age (Phil. 1:19-21a):

A.  God showed Noah the true situation of the corrupt age in which he lived (Gen. 6:3, 5, 11, 13; Matt. 24:37-39; 2 Tim. 3:1-5).

B.  “But Noah found favor [grace] in the sight of Jehovah” (Gen. 6:8):

1.    When Satan has done his best to damage the situation, there have always been some who found grace in the eyes of God to become ones who turned the age (cf. Dan. 1:8; 9:23;
10:11, 19).

2.   The main purpose of the record of Genesis is not to show the fall but to show how much
God's grace can do for fallen people; grace is God Himself, the presence of God, enjoyed
by us to be everything to us and to do everything in us, through us, and for us; grace is
God coming to us to be our life supply, our strength, and our everything (John 1:14, 16-
17; Rev. 22:21):

a.   The enjoyment of the Lord as grace is with those who love Him (Eph. 6:24; John 21:15-
17).

b.   The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as the bountiful supply of the Triune God is enjoyed by
us through the exercise of our human spirit (Heb. 10:29b; Gal. 6:18; Phil. 4:23; Philem.
25; 2 Tim. 4:22).

c.    God's word is the word of grace (Acts 20:32; Col. 3:16; cf. Jer. 15:16).

d.   We experience the processed Triune God as the grace of life in meeting with the saints on
the ground of oneness (Psa. 133:3; 1 Pet. 3:7; Acts 4:33; 11:23).

e.    We can experience the Lord as our increasing and all-sufficient grace in the midst of
sufferings and trials (2 Cor. 12:9).

f.    We need to labor for the Lord in the power of His grace (1 Cor. 15:10, 58; 3:10, 12a).

g.   We need to be good stewards of the varied grace of God (1 Pet. 4:10; Eph. 3:2; 2 Cor. 1:15; Eph. 4:29).

h.   By the power of grace, the strength of grace, and the life of grace, we can be right with
God and with one another; grace produces righteousness (Heb. 11:7; Rom. 5:17, 21).

DAY 2

C.  Like his great-grandfather Enoch (Gen. 5:22-24), Noah walked with God by faith (6:9; Heb. 11:7), which was God's divine element transfused and infused into him to be his believing ability (Rom. 3:22); as a result, he  became  heir  of  God's  righteousness  (cf.  4:3,  9)  and  a  herald  of righteousness (2 Pet. 2:5) as a protest against the evil generation; Noah's righteousness strengthened God's standing to execute His judgment upon that ungodly generation.

D. The ark that Noah built is a type of the practical and present Christ as God's salvation, and to build the ark is to build up the practical and present Christ as God's salvation in our experience for the building up of the Body of Christ as the corporate Christ; according to Philippians, this is to work out our own salvation (2:12-13):

1.    To build the ark is to work out our own salvation, which is to build up Christ in our
experience for the building up of the Body of Christ, the corporate Christ.

2.   What Noah worked on and entered into was God's salvation, the ark; we should have a
practical and present Christ into whom we can enter as God's salvation.

DAY 3

3.   The salvation in Philippians 2:12 is not eternal salvation from God's condemnation and
from the lake of fire but the daily and constant salvation that is Christ as a living person;
although we have eternal salvation, we need further salvation from the crooked and
perverted generation (v. 15).

4.   Today we are in the passage of God's salvation; we have entered into this passage, and
our going through this passage is our working out our own salvation:

a.   The more Noah built the ark, the more he passed through God's salvation, and eventually,
he entered into what he worked out (Gen. 7:7).

b.   The very Christ whom we are building up in our experience today will become our future
salvation; one day, under God's sovereignty we will enter into the very Christ whom we
have built up.

c.    Even today, if we build up Christ in our experience, we will be able to abide in Christ, to
dwell in Christ (John 15:5):

(1)  To build up Christ in our experience is to love the Lord, to talk to Him by calling on His
name, and to fellowship with Him, living by Him and walking together with Him day
after day and hour after hour to be a “co-walker” with God so that we can be a co-worker
with God (Gen. 5:22-24; 6:9).

(2)  Then we build up Christ in our experience so that we can enter into Him as our salvation.

5.   All four chapters of Philippians refer to the all-inclusive, living person of Christ as our
salvation:

a.   In Philippians 1 salvation is to live Christ and magnify Christ in any circumstance.

b.   In Philippians 2 salvation is to reflect Christ by holding forth the word of life.

c.    In Philippians 3 salvation is the righteousness of God, that is, God Himself embodied in
Christ.

d.   In Philippians 4 salvation is Christ Himself as the life that is true, dignified, righteous,
pure, lovely, well spoken of, and full of virtue and praise.

DAY 4

II. Noah's work was a work that changed the age (2 Cor. 6:1; Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 3:12a):

A.  God  gave  Noah  an  all-inclusive  revelation,  a  further  revelation,  the revelation to build the ark, which was the way that God would terminate the corrupted generation and bring in a new age; Noah built the ark not according to his own imagination but absolutely according to God's revelation and divine instructions by faith (Gen. 6:15a; Heb. 11:6-7; cf. Exo. 25:9; 1 Chron. 28:11-19; 1 Cor. 3:10-12; Eph. 2:20a):

1.    The ark is a type of Christ—not only the individual Christ but also the corporate Christ,
the church, which is the Body of Christ and the new man to consummate in the New
Jerusalem (1 Pet. 3:20-21; Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 2:15-16; Col. 3:10-11; Rev. 21:2).

2.   The building of the ark typifies the building of the corporate Christ, with the element of
Christ's riches as the building material, by those who work together with God (1 Cor. 3:9-
12a; Eph. 4:12; 2:22).

3.   This building is the working of Christ into people to build them together by Christ so that
they may become God's manifestation in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15-16; 1 Cor. 3:9a, 10, 12a;
Rom. 11:36).

B.  By building the ark and entering into it, Noah was not only saved from God's judgment on the evil generation through the flood but was also separated from that generation and ushered into a new age (Gen. 6:5-22).

C.  Likewise, by building the church and entering into the church life, we will be saved from God's judgment on today's evil generation through the great tribulation and will be separated from that generation to be ushered into a new age, the age of the millennium (Heb. 11:7; Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27; 21:36; Rev. 3:10).

D. The length of the ark was three hundred cubits, the width fifty cubits, and the height thirty cubits (Gen. 6:15); the basic numbers in God's building are three and five (cf. Exo. 27), which signify the mingling of the Triune God with man through His divine dispensing (2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6).

DAY 5

E.  The ark was of three stories: the lower, the second, and the third (Gen. 6:16):

1.    The three sections of the tabernacle signify the depths into which we all must enter; the
three stories of the ark signify the height to which we all must attain.

2.   The three stories of the ark signify the Triune God; the Spirit brings us to the Son, and
the Son brings us to the Father; when we come to the Father, we are in the third story
(Luke 15:4-7, 8-10, 18-23; Eph. 2:18).

3.   We need to enter into the deepest and highest intimacy with our Triune God so that He
can bring us to the “third story” to show us His mysteries, secrets, and hidden treasures (1
Cor. 2:9; 2 Cor. 2:10; Exo. 33:11).

F.  In the ark there was one opening toward the heavens for light (Gen. 6:16):

1.    The Hebrew word for opening has the same root as the word for noon; this means that
when we are under the opening, the window, we are in the noontime and are full of light
(cf. Prov. 4:18).

2.   Just as there was only one window, one opening, in the ark, there is only one window,
one revelation, and one vision through one ministry in God's building (Acts 26:19; Gal.
1:6-9; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; cf. 2 Kings 2:2, 9, 13-15).

DAY 6

G. There was only one door, one entrance, into the ark; this one door is Christ (Gen. 7:13, 16; John 10:9):

1.    Noah's entering into the ark is a type of our entering into Christ (3:16; Gal. 3:27).

2.   Once we believe into the Lord Jesus, we are “shut in” by God with no way to get out of
Him (cf. John 10:28-29; Psa. 139:7-12).

H. The ark was made of gopher wood, a kind of cypress, a resinous wood that can withstand the attack of water; this is a figure of the crucified Christ, who can withstand the waters of death (Gen. 6:14; Acts 2:24).

I.   The ark was covered within and without with pitch, a type of the redeeming blood of  Christ, which covers God's building within and  without (Gen. 6:14; Heb. 9:14; Exo. 12:13):

1.    The Hebrew word for pitch has the same root as the word for expiation, which means
“to cover”; Noah and his family were saved from the judgment of the flood by the pitch
upon the ark, signifying that the believers in Christ are saved from God's judgment by the
redeeming blood of Christ (Rom. 5:9).

2.   Whenever we look at the blood, we have peace; whenever God looks at the blood, He is
satisfied; whenever Satan looks at the blood, he is unable to attack; whenever the angels
look at the blood, they rejoice (Rev. 12:11).

J.  The water through which Noah passed is a figure of the water of baptism (1 Pet. 3:20-21):

1.    The pitch on the ark, signifying the blood of Christ, saved Noah from the judgment of the
flood, whereas the water of the flood, signifying the water of baptism, not only judged the
world but also separated Noah from the evil age (Exo. 14:26-30; Acts 2:40-41).

2.   The  water  of  the  flood  delivered  Noah  out  of  the  old  manner  of  life  into  a  new
environment; in like manner, the water of baptism delivers us out of the inherited vain
manner of life into a manner of life in resurrection in Christ (Rom. 6:3-5).