THE ARK OF SAFETY
Genesis 5:28-29 KJV
[28] And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: [29] and he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
Two things stand out about this passage: Noah shall comfort us concerning work and the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
(1) Let’s start with, “Noah shall comfort us concerning work”.
From the book of Genesis we can see that there was a judgment against Adam and Eve for eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 3:16-19 KJV
[16] Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. [17] And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; [18] thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; [19] in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
God is always looking to redeem man. It is His will that none be lost but that all be saved. Even in judgment, God placed a man on the earth to bring redemption to man, even after judgment had been pronounced on man. This is God’s comfort to give us a future and a hope.
The ground which the LORD hath cursed.
One of the reasons God chose Noah was because he was a righteous man. The Bible says in Genesis, that the imagination of man was continuously evil. When God had Noah to bring in animals, He told him to only bring those animals that were clean.
In other words, God was completely starting over and only allowing that which wasn’t wicked to remain.
Genesis 7:1 KJV
[1] And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
From this place of purification, God did the following:
Genesis 8:20-21 KJV
[20] And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. [21] And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
Because of this holy exchange between God and man, which was pure sacrifices on the altar, God said He would not curse the ground anymore for man’s sake nor smite everything living as shown in the previously mentioned scripture Genesis 8:20-21.
ENTERING INTO REST
The name Noah means rest.
Though rest speaks of how God rested from His work of creation on the 7th day, it also represents a fixed and secure habitation, and in the story of Noah, both of these meanings are relevant.
One of the things that is realized when recounting Noah’s story is that when Noah finishes building the ark and gathering the animals and his family, GOD SHUT THE DOOR. This was a part of the judgment. God gave man time to repent and obey His commands. Man chose not to repent after over 100 years of grace, which was the time it took Noah to build the ark; God shut the door. God always gives man time and space to repent. That is His love towards man, and one of the dimensions of His love is length. It sets out to prepare a place for man and gives man the opportunity to willfully come into that prepared place (Jeremiah 29:11).
We can observe that there was a time for working and then there was a time for rest.
Interestingly enough, the ark rested from its work as well. The Bible says that this occurred on 7/17.
Just as God rested from His work on the 7th day, the ark rested from its work on 7/17
According to “Dreams Revealed: Expanded Dictionary of Dream Symbols” by Terri Meredith – The number 7 means:
“7: God’s fulfillment; perfection; completion; accomplished works; rest;”
“17: Triumph over trial; new direction; order; new life;”
From this, we can gather that judgment was complete, and now a new order is in place. Isn’t that an interesting point? We are in the times of Noah and are on the brink of experiencing a new world order.
As judgments are passed along the nations in many ways, we must observe two things:
(1) It is necessary to believe to enter rest.
(2) There is a time for work. This work is done out of obedience to God’s word. This work leads us to build, store up, prepare, gather, and then there is coming a time upon us where we will enter rest.
It can look like a lockdown, where God shuts the door. We witnessed this during COVID-19. Some places will remain, and others will not. This will be a key indicator of places that God has appointed for this season and time. If places and people remain, it will be because they are appointed to this time and season, their obedience to God, their obedience to this time of preparation, and because they abide in the ark of safety.
What one can observe from these aforementioned passages of scriptures is this, the ark of safety has requirements and that requirement is being a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. How is this accomplished?
- Accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior
- Obedience to God
- Daily communion with God
- Thoughts, intents, motives and will must align with the will of God. This is being an acceptable offering and a living sacrifice.
REST REVEALS
I have been working on growing a garden. I have pineapples, cucumbers, carrots, eggplant, spinach, yellow squash, culantro, and whatever else. My cucumber plant had been growing and flourishing for quite some time, but I didn’t see fruit, so I figured it should be one by now. The next day, I sat outside in my chair, ceasing from work, and my head turned, and I looked because God was speaking to me. I said, “OMG, that’s cucumber.” It was hidden and I didn’t see it because it was the same color as the leaves. I told my kids and spouse, and they were like ah man, we didn’t see it. God will cause your eyes to see what you can’t see.
In another scenario, I asked God why I had a certain patch of brown grass. One day, I was in my driveway, sitting there before going into the house. I was quiet. I had another scenario where I just looked. As I looked, I saw that this certain patch of brown grass was brown because bushes had grown so that when the sun was out, a shadow was cast on this portion of the grass, not allowing it to receive sunlight as it should. This was God answering me yet again as I ceased labor. Sitting in rest. I was able to receive answers.
Entering into the rest of God is necessary because it keeps us from entering into unbelief, according to Hebrew 4.
When we receive the word of God, we move by faith because we believe. Then we rest, that we consecrate the work. In the rest, God reveals to us about the work that we remain in faith in pursuit of His word.
Rest is supernatural, and out of rest, we begin to experience the supernatural power of God and His sovereignty.
One of the things that God has been speaking to me about is the new year. That new year on the Jewish calendar is 5785. The 80 in 85 represents the decade of the mouth but the number 85 has a different significance and it means eternity invading time. This is how we will experience the supernatural power of God. It will require our belief in God’s word that we may rest from our work and transition over into His sovereignty.
