Audio Messages:
Pastor Wade Burleson

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That Ark is Christ

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Genesis 8:15-19 (KJV)

15. And God spake unto Noah, saying,
16. Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
17. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
18. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

The last time Noah's ark is mentioned in Genesis is in our text. Before we proceed to examine the covenant God made with Noah, we need to review again the beauty of the ark. What made the ark so beautiful is that it represented the person of Jesus Christ, and the deliverance He provides for His people. Let's see seven spiritual truths from the ark.

1. The deliverance from judgment is of a divine design.
   God said of the ark, "And this is the fashion of which it shall be made" (Genesis 6:15). "Christ sent me to preach to gospel -- not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (I Corinthians 1:17-18).
2. The Deliverer is eternal in nature, the Deity Himself.
   "Make thee an ark of gopher (cypress) wood" (Genesis 6:14). This cypress wood is called "eternal" wood by builders. That which was designed for refuge was eternal. "For if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24). The one who ignores the nature of the deliverer is ultimately outside of the deliverance.
3. The deliverance is through the judgment not from the judgment.
   "And the waters increased, and bare up the ark" (Genesis 7:17). Deliverance from the wrath to come occurs because the wrath was poured out in our substitute. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" is the wrath of God poured out. God turned His back on His Son so He might give His blessing to believing sinners.
4. The door to the entrance to deliverance is open to the world.
   "Come thou into the ark . . . for yet seven days and I will cause it to rain" (Genesis 7:1,4). The door of the ark was open for a week. It would seem that people ridiculed Noah. The invitations to come to Christ are conditional (i.e. heavy laden, thirsty, etc. . . .).
5. The desire to enter the door of deliverance is a gift from God.
   "In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth" (Genesis 7:13).
   "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of . . . . Jesus Christ" (II Corinthians 3:6).
   "For who makes you to differ from another?" (I Corinthians 4:7). Salvation is by God's grace.
6. The destiny of those delivered is decreed by a Sovereign God.
   "And the Lord shut him in" (Genesis 7:16). God shut the door. God kept Noah safe.
   "Now to him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to him be glory" (Jude 24, 25).
7. The delight of all those delivered from judgment is to rest in Christ.
   "And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day" (Genesis 8:4). As we saw last week this was the day of Christ's resurrection. We rest in His work. "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

In March 1988, Vendyl Jones and his team of Bnei Noah volunteers found a clay juglet about five inches in height in a cave in Qumran, just west of the northern end of the Yam HaMelach (Dead Sea). The juglet contained a reddish oil. It is believed to be the only surviving sample of the balsam oil that was prescribed in the Torah for anointing the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and its vessels, as well as the Cohanim-Priests and Kings of Israel. The oil, when found, had a honey-like consistency. The juglet in which it was found was wrapped in palm leaves and carefully concealed in a 3-foot deep pit which preserved it from looting and the climatological extremes of the area.

In April 1992, Vendyl and his team discovered 600 kilos of "reddish-brown organic substance" in a carefully sealed rock silo in another part of the Qumran cave complex. Subsequent palynological analysis determined that this reddish-brown substance contains traces of a least eight of the eleven spices that were used in the manufacture of the Pitum HaQetoret (Incense Mixture) and burned in the Temple.

In 1994, the incense spices were presented to Rabbi Yehudah Getz, the late Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Places in Israel. A sample was also given to Rabi Ovadiah Yoseph. Rabbi Ovadiah had his own chemist analyze the mixture to confirm its organic nature. Then both rabbis requested that Vendyl Jones "burn" some of the incense for scientific purposes (not with fire but with hydrochloric acid). At their suggestion, he had the spices combined together with the Sodom Salt and Karshina Lye which were also found stored separately in the cave of Qumran.

The results were astonishing. Although the spices had lost some of their potency over the two millennia since their burial, it was still powerful. The residue of its fragrance lingered in the vicinity for several days following the experiment. Several people present reported that their hair and clothing retained the aroma. More amazing, the area in which the spices were burned changed. It had been infested with a variety of flies, ants, moths and other insects. After the Qetoret was burned, no sign of these pests were seen for quite a while. This is reminiscent of the Mishnah in Avot (5:5) which states that there were no flies in the area of the Temple, nor was a snake or scorpion ever able to harm anyone anywhere in Jerusalem as long as the Temple stood.

Avraham Sand of Tiferet International Aromatherapy isn't an archeologist, but he is a master perfumer. For the last decade he has been trying to unravel the secret of exactly which ingredients and processes were used to formulate the finely ground Qetoret [Incense]. He has done this in close association with and under the rabbinical guidance of Rabbi Menachem Burstein, the foremost Jewish authority on the botany and chemistry of Temple artifacts. In order to sidestep the strict prohibition against experimentation with the various plant materials in their original form, Rabbi Burstein has advised him that there is no prohibition whatsoever against enjoying the essential oil extracts of these same botanicals. Avraham has authenticated and obtained nine of the original eleven incense spices, and produced them in the form of essential oils. He has paralleled Vendyl's discoveries of both the Anointing Oil and the Qetoret in Qumran.

The Talmud (ArachinBeth HaMikdashMishkanAron HaKodesh (Holy Ark), Menorah (Candalabra), Mizbeach HaQetoret (Incense Altar), the garments of the Cohen Gadol (High Priest), etc. - were not just physical artifacts. They represented spiritual levels of closeness to God. The same is true of the Anointing Oil and the Qetoret.

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