Noah’s Story
The story of Noah's flood relates to birth and baptism. It symbolises repentance, a cleansing from sin, and begins a journey while Nimrod ruled the world. The story concludes with God’s judgement at the Tower of Babel.
The story of Noah mirrors the story of Jesus in the Chiasm of World History.
Jesus is the greatest fulfilment of Noah’s flood as He came into the world to cleanse the world from sin. Now we follow Him.
The Birth
Noah’s flood relates to the birth of Jesus through His escape from the slaughter of the infants. Moses had the same kind of birth, and was placed in a little basket called, an “ark”, floated among the reeds of the Nile River to escape Pharaoh’s slaughter of the infants.
A Hebrew word for ark is “tebah” (Hebrew: תֵּ֣בַת). This word is used in the story of baby Moses (Exodus 2v3, 5) and the same Hebrew word is also used for Noah’s ark (Gen 6v14).
The flood relates to new birth. It is called a baptism, and is a form of resurrection.
“God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” — 1 Peter 3v20b-21.
The resurrection of Jesus was foreshadowed when he was a baby as he escaped King Herod.
In Revelation 12, the dragon was symbolically King Herod who wanted to devour the child the moment he was born, but the child was “snatched up to God and his throne.” — Rev 12v5b.
This ‘snatching up’ as a baby occurred just prior to the flood (Rev 12v15).
The birth of Moses in Exodus 2 and the birth of God’s child in Revelation 12 both reveal an escape from the flood at the beginning of a life long journey.
The Spiritual and the Apocalyptic
The testimony of Jesus is prophetic, (Rev 1v1-2, 19v10b, Mat 24v34). We follow Jesus on the journey that he reveals.
The spiritual birth is by repentance. Jesus had no sin from which to repent, so he revealed repentance symbolically by escaping death as a baby.
The first resurrection is always a spiritual resurrection - Eph 2v6. It occurs when we are ‘born again’. But sometimes, at God’s appointed times the journey is also apocalyptic.
Prophecy always begins at birth, so we need to study the birth of Jesus to understand end times prophecy, and the apocalyptic birth to come as we begin the journey of the last days.
The Story
Noah’s flood begins a prophetic story that resembles the life of Jesus:
Noah's family escaped the flood in the ark. Like a birth, it was called a baptism (1 Pet 3v20-21). Then God established a covenant with all flesh (Gen 6-9).
Nimrod was a mighty warrior on the earth. He established great centres of power and built the great city (Gen 10v8-12). Nimrod was the great world ruler when men built the Tower of Babel (Gen 11).
God acted in judgement, creating the confusion of the languages to put a stop to the works of mankind, and God scattered all the nations (Gen 11v1-9).
Jesus also escaped a calamity at birth, and lived during a time of world government as Rome ruled the world, until his death and resurrection.
Scattering and gathering relates to death and resurrection:
Death is a scattering event, symbolised by God’s judgement at the tower of Babel. When we die, our work is done and we depart. We are separated or scattered from our loved ones.
The abomination that causes desolation is the greatest possible suffering, and is described as a terrible scattering event, (Mat 24v15-21). But then the “multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake”, (Dan 12v1-2).
Resurrection is a gathering event. When people pass away it is often said, “he was gathered to his people, (Gen 25v8, 17, 35v29 etc.) When Jesus returns he will gather all his people from the very ends of the earth. (Mat 24v31, Mark 13v27, 1 Thess 4v17).
We Follow
We follow Jesus on this journey. The story is always spiritual, but at certain times it can also be apocalyptic. Given the signs we see today, it is time to explore the apocalyptic journey.
Prophecy begins at birth, so the flood is particularly interesting.
Escaping a Flood of War
“The end will come like a Flood: War will continue until the end…” — Dan 9v26.
Apocalyptically, the flood represents war, famine and plague.
There are many examples to consider. The King of Assyria came like “the mighty floodwaters of the river”, a flood “reaching up to the neck” but God is with us — “O Immanuel!” Isaiah 8v7-8.
Egypt’s army is described as a flood in Jeremiah 46v6-7.
Two key passages that describe an end times war as a flood include:
Revelation 12 — (flood v15-16)
Daniel 11v36-44 — (flood v40)
Jesus told us not to be alarmed by wars and rumours of war because ‘the end is yet to come’. These are just ‘the beginning of birth pains’. (Mat 24v6-8). This calamity doesn’t bring the end… not straight away. Rather it is like a call to repentance, and for many it will be a kind of birth.
However, as we consider the flood of war that is expected with the birth of the final generation, the typological story of Noah’s flood shows the serious apocalyptic nature of nuclear war.
Covenant
The covenant is made at the time of birth.
God’s covenant with Noah was made with all flesh, including with every living creature. God promised not to flood the earth again, and the rainbow was the sign of the covenant (Gen9v9-17).
The covenant relates to the cutting off of flesh, and this is repentance. We crucify the sinful nature and it’s fleshly desires so that we may live the spiritual life in Christ. Circumcision is a sign of this covenant (Gen 17).
The apocalyptic aspect of birth, baptism, and covenant will relate to the effects of nuclear radiation, the pollution caused by nuclear war. This will attack the flesh of every living creature on earth, some more than others.
God’s covenant at Mount Sinai made everything either clean or unclean, and Noah had this same wisdom as he prepared the ark for the flood, getting two of every kind of unclean animals, and seven of the clean animals (Gen 7v2-3).
After world war three when the dust is radioactive we will understand the importance of avoiding the animals that eat in the mud, like pork. Other animals that eat grass without disturbing the dust are considered clean.
God made a covenant with Abram in Genesis 15 that involved dividing the animals of the sacrifice in half, and the covenant was made in “a thick and dreadful darkness”. These apocalyptic circumstances will be more clearly understood in the future after we have experienced a nuclear winter.
The storm of that war will be like Noah’s flood.
The Beginning mirrors the End
Noah’s flood is a clear example of a birth or baptism that foreshadows death and resurrection. It is a new beginning for the world, but it foreshadows the end of the world (1 Peter 3v20-21, 2 Peter 3v6, Mat 24v38-39).
In this sense, as we discuss the expectation of world war three we are considering an event that will reveal the birth of the final generation, and will serve as a warning that also foreshadows the end of the world.
The end comes by fire, and so differs from the birth in this regard.
The birth involves a baptism of water, and begins a powerful ministry. The end will bring a baptism of fire which relates to the scattering of death, and the final judgement (Mat 3v10-12, 1 Cor 3v13-15, 2 Peter 3v5-7).
The abomination that causes desolation is a scattering event that comes through persecution at the very end of the age.
If we share in the sufferings of Christ we will also share in his glory (Rom 8v17b).
James and John asked Jesus,
“Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
39 “We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant.
Mark 10v37-40
