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As far as spiritual representation and significance is concerned, among those who took God’s way of life, Noah was the continuation of Enoch. Just as Enoch walked and lived with God, so also did Noah (Gen. 6:9). However, Noah took a further step—he worked with God to build the ark according to God’s revelation for the preserving of the purified human race and the various living things on earth that God intended to keep (Gen. 6:14-22).
Noah was born into the human race that was corrupt to the uttermost, and he lived among that race. At that time, men abused their fallen bodies and became flesh. They were full of lusts (Gen. 6:3a, 5). As a result, the fallen angels joined themselves to man through illegal marriage, so that the human race was no longer pure but became a mixture of the human nature with fallen spirits (Gen. 6:2, 4). That was the most evil thing in the eyes of God, and He could not tolerate it.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of God (Gen. 6:8). Born into a godly family (cf. Gen. 5:4-29), he inherited the spiritual blessings from his forefathers and took God’s way of redemption and life, including Adam’s way of salvation, Abel’s way of offering, Enosh’s way of calling, and Enoch’s way of walking with God. Moreover, by faith he became a righteous man in God’s eyes and a perfect man who walked with God in that generation (Heb. 11:7; Gen. 6:9). Therefore, he maintained and extended God’s way of life so that God could carry out His plan on the corrupted earth according to His desire.
At a time when people on earth were corrupted to the uttermost, God was still able to find Noah, one who took His way of life, to cooperate and work with Him for the accomplishing of the salvation that was being carried out by Him for those who took His way of redemption and life. The ark, which Noah built by working with God and into which he entered, signifies God’s salvation. Noah was saved before he began to build the ark, but he still needed to be saved further, from that corrupted world. The ark that he built terminated the old age and ushered in a new age. That ark was the salvation that Noah built, which saved him not only from God’s judgment but also from that crooked and perverted generation. This corresponds with Philippians 2:12-16, where Paul said, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure....that you may become blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation.” This kind of salvation not only is prepared by God, but also is worked out by those who take God’s way of redemption and life, through their cooperation with God.
Noah built the ark for God at God’s command and according to God’s revelation. This shows that in order for God to work on the earth according to His economy, He must gain some who will walk and live with Him and who will cooperate, coordinate, and work with Him on the earth. As the mighty God (Isa. 9:6), He alone completed the work of creation, for He spoke, and it was done, and He commanded, and it stood fast (Psa. 33:9). However, for the carrying out of the work of building, He must gain some who will work with Him.
The principle is the same in God’s building of the tabernacle, in His building of the temple, and in His recovering of the temple. In building the tabernacle, God found Moses to cooperate with Him (Exo. 25:1, 8-9); in building the temple, He found David and Solomon to coordinate with Him (1 Chron. 28:2; 2 Chron. 3:1-2); and in recovering the temple, He found Zerubbabel and Jeshua to work with Him (Ezra 3:8). In the New Testament age, it is the same with the building of the church. God must find those who will walk and live with Him, such as the apostles, to coordinate and work with Him (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor. 6:1). It is only in this way that His divine building can be accomplished. Therefore, Noah too is a model in God’s way of life. He represents all those who walk and live with God, who are found by God to work with Him on the earth, and through whom God may carry out the salvation that will accomplish His economy.
After the flood God made a covenant with Noah, promising that He would never again destroy the earth by a flood, that the earth would remain to supply man’s need, and that Noah’s whole family would live on the earth peacefully (Gen. 8:20—9:17). Noah experienced great success and became the leader on the new land and the father of all mankind. Under such a blessing from God, Noah was at ease and became loose. He began to be a farmer and planted a vineyard (Gen. 9:20) to produce grapes, from which he would make wine. Then, because of his drunkenness he became naked within his tent (Gen. 9:21) and lost his covering in the eyes of God. His son Ham saw this and told his two brothers outside (Gen. 9:22). Because Ham exposed the failure of the head of the family and the leader of mankind, he and his descendants received the curse (Gen. 9:24-25, cf. v. 18). Out of Ham’s cursed descendants men like Nimrod were produced (Gen. 10:6-9). The tragic result was that they fell into all kinds of evil, such as rebellion against God, opposition to God, and the bringing in of idols.
This matter is a negative model, signifying that throughout the ages those who seek after God and take God’s way often become loose and thereby fall into evil after receiving God’s blessing. What Solomon did in his old age is a strong example of this. When he was young, he was the wisest of all men, he built the temple, and he had great honor and glory. Yet in his old age he succumbed to the temptations of his Gentile wives to such an extent that he followed after other gods and built high places, provoking God to anger. This eventually created the tragedy of division and confusion among God’s people and led to the fall of their nation and to their captivity in a Gentile land.
Before He destroyed the entire human race, which was corrupted to the uttermost in the godless culture invented by Cain and his descendants, God gave a revelation to Noah. In that revelation He told Noah to build an ark for Him so that He might carry out His salvation for the preserving of mankind and all the living things that He intended to keep.
The ark that God wanted Noah to build was in contrast to the city that Cain built for self-preservation. The city was built by Cain himself for self-preservation, because man had lost God and all the blessings that come from Him, had taken the way of death, and had completely lost his sense of security. But the ark, which Noah built by working with God, was for the accomplishing of God’s salvation in His economy, because man possessed God and the spiritual blessings that come from Him, took God’s way of redemption and life, and walked and lived with God. The city Cain built could protect him and his descendants, but it could not safeguard them from God’s judgment, which would destroy mankind and the whole earth. However, the ark was able to save Noah and his whole family out of God’s judgment.
The ark, which God revealed to Noah that he was to build, is a type of Christ (1 Pet. 3:20-21). The spiritual implication of this is that if anyone walks, lives, and works with God, whatever he does must be, in principle, the building of Christ. The tabernacle built by Moses, the temple built by Solomon, and the temple recovered by Zerubbabel and Jeshua, also are types of Christ. Therefore, the work that they did in coordination with God was, in principle, the building of Christ, whom God intends to build in His economy. In particular, the church that is being built today by those who work together with God is the practical building of Christ, that is, the building of Christ’s Body as God’s habitation (Eph. 4:12; 2:22), with the essence and element of Christ’s riches as the building material. This building is also the working of Christ into people to build them together by Christ that they may become God’s manifestation in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15-16).
The city built by Cain is a symbol of the godless culture invented by fallen men who are far away from God, whereas the ark built by Noah is a symbol of the salvation accomplished in God’s economy. The city in the godless culture caused man to suffer God’s destruction, whereas the ark in the salvation in God’s economy caused man to be preserved by God. Even among the people on earth today, these two things are still in contrast to one another and are still going on. Those who refuse to take God’s way of redemption and choose the way of death are building the city in the godless culture, which will be consummated in Babylon the Great (Rev. 18:2) and eventually will be consumed and completely destroyed by the burning fire (Rev. 18:8, 21). But those who take God’s way of redemption and life are building Christ, who is in the salvation in God’s economy, and their building work will ultimately be consummated in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2), which is the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed ones. Such a building is mysterious, divine, and glorious, and it will remain for eternity.
Noah carried on from Enosh to walk and live with God. However, he took a further step—he worked with God to build the ark. He was born into the human race that was corrupt to the uttermost. But, finding grace in the eyes of God, he inherited the spiritual blessings from his forefathers and maintained and extended God’s way of redemption and life. Therefore, God found Noah to cooperate and work with Him for the accomplishing of the salvation that was being carried out by Him for those who took the way of redemption and life. That salvation was the building of the ark, and it saved Noah not only from God’s judgment but also from that crooked and perverted generation. It not only was prepared by God, but also was worked out by those who took the way of redemption and life, through their cooperation with God. Thus, Noah became the representative of those who work with God. After the flood, he became loose because he was at ease. Then he got drunk and became naked, losing his covering in the eyes of God and bringing a curse upon his son Ham and Ham’s descendants. This negative model shows that throughout the ages those who seek after God and take God’s way often become loose and fall into evil after receiving God’s blessing. The ark Noah built was in contrast to the city Cain built. Cain’s city could not safeguard Cain and his descendants from God’s judgment, but the ark was able to save Noah and his family out of God’s judgment. The ark is a type of Christ. Therefore, if anyone walks, lives, and works with God, whatever he does is, in principle, the building of Christ. The ark is the symbol of the salvation accomplished in God’s economy. The city in the godless culture will be consummated in Babylon the Great, which will eventually be consumed by the burning fire, whereas the ark in the salvation in God’s economy will ultimately be consummated in the New Jerusalem, which will remain for eternity.
