Are You in the Ark of Christ?

March 10, 2023 |  | Make A Comment | Warriors Encampment

Recently we went to Kentucky with friends to visit the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum. The Ark Encounter is a huge replica of Noah’s Ark which shows how things could have been laid out in the ark from the caging of animals, to the storage of food, to how Noah and his family lived. The Creation Museum allows families to experience earth history as God has revealed it in the Bible.  It was quite the experience that ministered to us greatly.

As we walked through the Creation Museum, there were two areas that seem to grab my attention due to what was said. They were the mechanical life sized people on the Ark. Both were of Noah. The first stated the following:

The second one, Noah was speaking with another person and stated the following:

How many times have you doubted the existence of God? How many times have you doubted what God has told you to do? How many times have you listened to all that’s going on in the world and worried whether you and your family would have all your basic needs met?

Allow me to bring words of peace into your life. When we accept Jesus as our Savior and begin to change our lives and serve Him, we can rest easy in knowing that we are in the ark of Christ and He will provide for our every need and get us through every storm. In Matthew 11:28-29 it states the following:

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Romans 10:9-10 also states:

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

When we come to Christ, He is not a labor intensive God. Though there are things we may have to do on our part, He walks right along with us, guiding us and encouraging us. There are times He will warn us before the storm hits, giving us time to prepare spiritually and physically and other times He allows the storm to come upon us, knowing these storms and trials will increase our faith in Him and make us spiritually stronger. Jesus is always in the storm with us and we can find His instructions in the Word of God.  Nahum 1:7 states:

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.

When we follow God’s leading in a certain direction, we may hit storms along the way which may cause us to wonder if we heard Him incorrectly or maybe God has left us. But if we go back to His Word and stay firmly on the path, He will reassure us and/or rescue us. Sometimes the enemy wants to blow us off the path…the path to healing, the path to a better life, the path that leads straight to God. But if you know you are doing right and following the directions from the Word of God, you simply must fight the battle on your knees and pray for God’s help and direction. God will  help you.

It wasn’t easy for Noah to go against the grain and do something very unheard of at the time. To others, it may have sounded ridiculous when they asked him what he was doing, especially if they weren’t familiar with floods at that time. That, of course, is up for debate amongst theologians whether the people in Noah’s time experienced rain or not. Regardless, what Noah was building and the reason he was building it must have brought him some mocking from the people, even his friends. However, Noah set his heart on what the Lord had told him to do and he built the ark, trusting in what the Lord had said. Are we any different today when we see or hear Christians talk about the return of Jesus and preparing for it and people chuckle or call them crazy? I have even heard Christians say “people have been talking about Christ’s return for 2000 years and it hasn’t happened yet. It won’t be in our time.” It makes me shake my head because Matthew 25:13 states “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”We must live every day as if the Lord is coming that day.

Noah equipped the ark with food for his family and every animal and insect they would have to care for. He did not have to go out and retrieve the animals, insects, birds, etc. They came to him. This was no doubt one of many confirmations Noah received in knowing that He had heard God correctly. The Bible gives very little about the ark other than the measurements of it, what wood and sealant to use, and that he was to make rooms in it. That doesn’t mean in those 120 years or so it took him to build it, that God didn’t provide more information to him. When God tells us to do something, He will provide everything we need to do it from directions right down to the people to help us, if needed. Why would God provide directions to build an ark and send the animals to Noah if He didn’t intend to save them all? We have to ask that same question in our situations. Why would God call me to Him and not heal me? He wouldn’t. Why would God point me in a certain direction and then leave me there? He wouldn’t. Why would God allow me to come all this way in my healing, only to stop in mid process? He wouldn’t. Why would God give me all of this training in a certain area and not use me in it? He wouldn’t. The enemy will always want us to feel God has left us so we can walk away from our healing, from our work and from God. But we must learn to recognize the lies of the enemy. Jesus had His difficulties in life, but He knew God was with Him. There were times He may have experienced fear, but He knew God was with Him. When He was distressed, He prayed. When He was worried, He prayed. When He needed strength, He prayed. Jesus prayed all of the time and believed in what God had told Him to do and so must we.

The second thing that ministered to me was when it showed in the museum Noah conversing with a friend. He said:

“God’s word is true. Judgement is coming, but if you come along you will be safe in the ark.”

In 2 Peter 2:5 it states that Noah was a “preacher of righteousness”. He not only spoke righteously but with every blow of the hammer building the ark, he was showing righteousness in doing what the Lord had called Him to do. In the range of about 120 years in building the ark, Noah had the opportunity to preach and call people to repentance and salvation. It was up to the people to repent and be saved, but as we see in Genesis Ch 7 once the ark was built, only Noah, his family and all of the animals were called into the ark which tells us no one else repented and was saved.

God had told Noah to build only one door. When the Lord called Noah, his family and the animals into the ark, He called them in seven days prior to the flood coming as we see in verse 10 and in verse 16 we see that “the Lord shut him in”. God called Noah into the ark a full week before the flood came and it was the Lord who shut them in. One door. By entering the ark and the Lord closing the door behind them, Noah was ensured of the physical survival of everyone and everything within the ark. Within the ark, Noah and his family were responsible for the care of not just themselves but for all the animals as well. They still had to work, clean, and maintain the ark. But most of all, they made time to worship the Lord. Though we become saved, we must continue on with our duties in life and help and care for others as well. We must make the time to be with the Lord and worship Him.

There is only one door to salvation and that is through Jesus Christ. This ensures our spiritual survival.

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9

God was with Noah and his family throughout the year long flood. They had everything they needed because Noah listened to what God had told him to do before the destructive storm that was to come. Noah and his family were saved because Noah was a righteous man among and unrighteous society and they obeyed the Lord. Likewise, salvation in Christ has only one door. We enter it by faith in Jesus’ once-and-for-all-time sacrificial death on the Cross and His resurrection 3 days later.

Time is getting shorter and another storm will come. Not like the flood, but another storm. Are you ready for it? Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and have a place in His ark? Though we can prepare physically for the storms of life, have you prepared yourself spiritually to survive the storm? Are you prepared for His return?

If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, take some time to do a heart check with Him to make sure your heart is clean. If you have not accepted Jesus as your Savior, what is stopping you? Just as Noah, in his time, preached righteousness, spoke of the goodness of God and called people to repentance and salvation, God is doing the same thing today. He is saying that judgment is coming and He is calling people to repentance and salvation before that day. He has provided a way for us to be with Him. Will you be like the people in Noah’s time and ignore God’s call or will you accept His free gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, and walk into the ark, through the door of Christ, and be saved? The choice is yours.