1. Who commanded it to be built: God. And here we see marks of love, favour, and a determination to preserve him and his family while He destroyed the world.

2. Of what and how was it to be built? Of Gopher wood, to denote its strength and durability. Its dimensions, reckoning eighteen inches to the cubit, were 450 feet in length, 75 feet in breadth, 45 feet in height.

3. Its suitability. This is clearly seen by the number it held; for all that God had appointed entered the ark.

4. The shape of the ark is supposed to have been that of a chest or coffin. And, indeed, by the description here set down, the ark, in shape, was like to a coffin for a man's body, six times as long as it was broad, and ten times as long as it was high; and so fit to figure out Christ's death and burial, and ours with Him, by the mortification of the old man, as the apostle applies this type to baptism (1 Peter 3:20, 21); whereby we are become dead and buried with Christ (Romans 6:3, 4, 6).We must now look at this ark spiritually; and here we are led at once to see the Lord Jesus as set forth.

1. Christ, as the ark, is a place — to preserve life. He not only is the preserver, but He is the author of natural and spiritual life, and He alone can preserve that life, and Cause it to increase in the hearts of His people.

2. To support the soul. For the believer cannot live, in a spiritual sense, upon anything short of Christ. All his spiritual food is in Him.

3. To warm and cheer the heart.

4. A place of safety. "For the name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and are safe." Again, He is spoken of as "a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."Again. In Christ the spiritual ark there is —

1. Pardon for every sin-convicted and repentant soul; for every broken-hearted subject.

2. In Him there is peace, which flows to us through His blood; which gives ease to the troubled soul, calms the agitated mind, and is "the acceptable year of the Lord."

3. In Him there is righteousness, which all His people enjoy —

(1)By imputation.

(2)Internally.

(3)Externally.

II. THE PERSONS IN IT. Noah and his family, and a portion of living creatures, while the rest were drowned. So it will be again; the world will presently be destroyed by fire, and only those who are in the spiritual Ark will be preserved. Who are the persons in this spiritual Ark, which is the Lord Jesus Christ? Believers in all ages of the world. They are made up of persons out of all countries, tribes, people, tongues, nations, under heaven. And as to their number, I would refer you to Revelation 7:9, 10. The ark was open six days, giving sufficient time for all to get in; and which sets forth the spiritual Ark which has been open now nearly six thousand years. But we must consider the creatures going into the ark spiritually.

1. There are many lion-hearted Christians, who are richly blessed with grace and faith, and are great in the divine life; who press through crowds, and ever-come every opposition, and enter fully and firmly into the spiritual Ark, the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. There are many lamb-like ones, gentle in their movements, who proceed by quiet steps, and whose progress is marked by nothing very particular; whose natures naturally are tame, and in whose hearts the grace of God does not shine so conspicuously, but equally effectual. Hence their movements towards the ark are progressive, but yet silent and oftentimes unobserved by others.

3. There are many who fly in the divine life, and, like the hare, pass everyone on the road; they are born again today, in Christ on the morrow, and many steps up the spiritual ladder, while others are only just brought into, and still continue under the convicting operations of the Holy Ghost.

4. There are many weak ones, whose strength at times appears to fails; they see others passing them, while they are so weak and feeble, that their progress to themselves appears to be at an end; but yet, if these weak ones will but look back, they will perceive they have already come a good distance in the divine life.

5. There are many who can only walk in the divine life, but yet their movements towards the Ark are characterized by their evenness, unbroken, and yet firm step: there is nothing out of the ordinary way; the work in their hearts is only to be seen in the path they take, the object they have in view, and the way their faces are turned, which is towards the ark.

6. There are many who go to the Ark broken-hearted and weighed down by their sins; their cry is, Unclean! unclean! Their face, their eyes, their heart, their language, all bespeak the anguish of the soul, and the conflict within. "The Lord is nigh them that are of a broken heart, and sayeth such as be of a contrite spirit."

7. There are some who are going to the Ark, but it is only by sighing and groaning. If you look at one of these poor souls, you will hear them say, "Lord, save, or I perish!" "God be merciful to me a sinner!" "Will the Lord hear?" But yet the sighing of the prisoner comes up before God; their cry is heard above; and He says to them, "Turn to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope; even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee."

8. There are some who can only creep towards the Ark, like the tortoise, and there are a great number of this class; and to enumerate the doubts, the fears, misgivings, tremblings of soul, hard thoughts, discouragements, diffidence, and distress, these souls pass through, would be more than I can do; their pace is so slow towards the Ark, that they fear they are making no progress; but they still are enabled to look that way, and sometimes when they look back they are surprised that they have come on so far. But hark! what is that I hear from one of them? "I fear the Ark is closed; I fear all is over, and I am lost." But the inquiry comes, Shall I get in? Will the Ark door be left open until I am in? — Yes I yes! Let such souls mark for their comfort and encouragement, and to spur them on still to persevere, that the ark was not closed until the slowest creeping thing was in; so spiritually the door of Christ, the Ark, shall not be closed so long as there is a soul on the road.

III. WHO PUT HIM IN? "And the Lord shut him in." Not Noah, for if he had shut the door perhaps he would have left something out; but God, who knew all about it, shut the door Himself; therefore, what He does is well done. So it is spiritually; God puts poor sinners into Christ, the Ark. How does He do it? By His Spirit, who shows unto them —

1. Their state as sinners, which He causes them to feel in a two-fold sense — in Adam and in themselves.

2. This teaching points out to them the greatness of their danger.

3. This teaching begets alarm and anxiety, for it breaks their hearts, subdues their will, causes tears of genuine repentance to flow from their hearts, and they cry out, "God be merciful to me a sinner!"

4. Then they see that He is the glorious Person who has "blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross."

IV. THEIR GREAT SAFETY. Being in the spiritual Ark by faith, they are safe —

1. From the wrath of God against sin; for God, having received at the hands of the Lord Jesus a full satisfaction, He having made the great atonement for sin by the sacrifice of Himself, has obtained for His people an eternal redemption from the wrath of God, and the right to all the blessings contained in this redemption.

2. From the malice and rage of Satan, who hates the Lord's people, and would destroy them if he could; but, blessed be God, they are kept by the mighty power of God.

3. From a wicked world; for the Lord again addresses them, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and the tongue that riseth up in judgment against thee thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord."

4. They shall be safe when God shall overthrow the world by fire, which will not be till all His people are in the Ark.Lastly.

1. Learn for information that God has prepared an Ark, in the person of His Son, for the saving of poor sinners.

2. Are we in it?

3. Are we running to it? The steps which lead to and into it are conviction, repentance, and faith in Christ.

4. Happiness of getting into the ark.

5. Misery of being without when God shuts the door.

(R. B. Isaac.)

II. A POSITION OF PEACE. Noah and his family knew that in God was their help.

III. A PLEDGE OF HOPE. Expecting "new world," where they should have full scope for their energies, and new blessings from God their Saviour. God, who had safely shut them in, and who had preserved them in peace from the universal ruin, would assuredly perfect their salvation. Is it not so with us?

(W. S. Smith, B. D.)

II. IT IS WELL TO MARK SURROUNDING MISERY WHEN WE ARE PROTECTED AND SECURED. Have we not seen in many instances pale disease and pinching poverty hovering all around, while we have been protected, comforted, or even enriched! Look back and recount the mercies of God; call to mind seasons of affliction, of trial, of distress; when, as Noah from his ark, you have seen the descending torrents, witnessed the inundation of woe by which others have perished. God said to you, tear not, be still, my child, it shall not come nigh you. In epidemical diseases, in burning fevers, has not this been literally the case? While we pity these sufferers: while our hearts bleed over these unhappy, these devoted victims, we may, with gratitude, exult in our own security, and give glory to God for discriminating grace.

III. Where God is the protector, as here in the case of Noah, ALL ATTEMPTS OF ENEMIES TO INJURE OR DESTROY ARE PERFECTLY VAIN. When God shut Noah in the ark, He shut all his enemies out; and presently distanced both the young and the old by the descending rains and the separating waves.

IV. TO BE REMEMBERED OF GOD, AND TO BE REGARDED BY HIM IN TIMES OF PUBLIC CALAMITY, IS AN EXCEEDINGLY GREAT MERCY.

(The Evangelist.)

     8404   commands, in OT

Genesis 7:1-24

     7203   ark, Noah's

Genesis 7:11-24

     7227   flood, the

Genesis 7:13-23

     4604   animals, nature of

An Exposition on the First Ten Chapters of Genesis, and Part of the Eleventh
An unfinished commentary on the Bible, found among the author's papers after his death, in his own handwriting; and published in 1691, by Charles Doe, in a folio volume of the works of John Bunyan. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR Being in company with an enlightened society of Protestant dissenters of the Baptist denomination, I observed to a doctor of divinity, who was advancing towards his seventieth year, that my time had been delightfully engaged with John Bunyan's commentary on Genesis. "What," …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Mosaic Cosmogony.
ON the revival of science in the 16th century, some of the earliest conclusions at which philosophers arrived were found to be at variance with popular and long-established belief. The Ptolemaic system of astronomy, which had then full possession of the minds of men, contemplated the whole visible universe from the earth as the immovable centre of things. Copernicus changed the point of view, and placing the beholder in the sun, at once reduced the earth to an inconspicuous globule, a merely subordinate …
Frederick Temple—Essays and Reviews: The Education of the World

Tithing
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Mal. 3:10). Down deep in the heart of every Christian there is undoubtedly the conviction that he ought to tithe. There is an uneasy feeling that this is a duty which has been neglected, or, if you prefer it, a privilege that has not been …
Arthur W. Pink—Tithing

Exhortations to those who are Called
IF, after searching you find that you are effectually called, I have three exhortations to you. 1. Admire and adore God's free grace in calling you -- that God should pass over so many, that He should pass by the wise and noble, and that the lot of free grace should fall upon you! That He should take you out of a state of vassalage, from grinding the devil's mill, and should set you above the princes of the earth, and call you to inherit the throne of glory! Fall upon your knees, break forth into …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial

Journey to Jerusalem. Ten Lepers. Concerning the Kingdom.
(Borders of Samaria and Galilee.) ^C Luke XVII. 11-37. ^c 11 And it came to pass, as they were on their way to Jerusalem, that he was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee. [If our chronology is correct, Jesus passed northward from Ephraim about forty miles, crossing Samaria (here mentioned first), and coming to the border of Galilee. He then turned eastward along that border down the wady Bethshean which separates the two provinces, and crossed the Jordan into Peræa, where we soon …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology.
(Ad. vol. i. p. 42, note 4.) In comparing the allegorical Canons of Philo with those of Jewish traditionalism, we think first of all of the seven exegetical canons which are ascribed to Hillel. These bear chiefly the character of logical deductions, and as such were largely applied in the Halakhah. These seven canons were next expanded by R. Ishmael (in the first century) into thirteen, by the analysis of one of them (the 5th) into six, and the addition of this sound exegetical rule, that where two …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Genesis
The Old Testament opens very impressively. In measured and dignified language it introduces the story of Israel's origin and settlement upon the land of Canaan (Gen.--Josh.) by the story of creation, i.-ii. 4a, and thus suggests, at the very beginning, the far-reaching purpose and the world-wide significance of the people and religion of Israel. The narrative has not travelled far till it becomes apparent that its dominant interests are to be religious and moral; for, after a pictorial sketch of …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament