3. Noah's baptism - flying free

The sending out of the raven and then the dove shows the great difference in the work of the flash and the work of the Spirit, the raven looked for scraps/carcasses - man can not find the things of God, hope comes to us in our humanity by the Holy Spirit, the dove looked for the green leaves that showed the promise and potential instead of only death, debris and decay. Have we given room for God to brings us hope by faith in His baptism of judgement and salvation...the dove returns with the olive leaf, hope of life to come, hope of the fruit of the olive...the precious olive oil of anointing. This leads us to the baptism of Jesus where the Holy Spirit ascends upon him like a dove and remains on Him (Matthew 3:13-17). The anointing of the Holy Spirit comes upon Christ and remnained upon him, for those who have repented and believed in Christ will recieve the hope of the restoration of their fallen humanity throught the person of Jesus. We can not experience the wonder of this baptism without Jesus.

It is like the open tomb, the stone is rolled away...hope is risen, the wonder of what is to come. It is crowned with the glorious expectation of the complete work of the Spirit, remember the dove flew away and didn't return, it had flew in freedom to find somewhere to rest its feet. Our hope is not in ourselves, friends, church, denomination or even our vocation in life, hope for eternity is found only in Jesus... the dove rests upon Him, the work of the Spirit was not fulfilled in the judgement of water in Noah's day, the baptism which we need to experience salvation in is the sacrifice of the cross itself. Many people get baptised into churches as a sign of membership...and not into Christ, this falls short of Christian baptism - we are to be baptised into God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit - this is a relational baptism, it is personal, it is not a locational, doctrinal nor denominational one. We can not position ourselves into blessing, it is only in Christ; there is only one Jesus, one Baptism, one Spirit (Ephesians 4:4-6).

Noah gave God room to bring faith and hope into his heart, he again heard the voice of the Father (Genesis 8:15-16) to come out of the ark to begin their lives anew, this is a wondeful picture of the new birth in Christ...we are crucified, buried, and raised with Him, and then wonderfully we shall ascend with Him in the glorious aroma of the sacrifice given to the Father, His Son. Our Saviour Jesus brings restoration not just to humanity but also to all of the creation. Let us turn and open our hearts and give God opportunity to bring His hope in us by the Spirit gently ascending upon our hearts through faith, putting our feet on solid ground.

Matthew Armstrong,
Blantyre,
Issue 22, 31st March 2010.

2. Noah's Baptism - window of faith

After the tremendous downpour, which was the judgement upon the world Noah still finds himself in the ark, he needs a way out of the waters of judgement, they must become for him waters of restoration, otherwise it has been a wasted expereince of grace. Noah when building the ark did so under the instruction of God (Genesis 6:15-17, 22). However we read in 8:6 that Noah opened the window that he had made in the ark, a place of looking and wondering of the life that was before him, is God faithful to save him?

The window in 8:6 has the sense of 'perforation' a making of a hole? Did Noah make a hole in the door looking and expecting God to call him out to salvation? This shows faith as Noah looked patiently into the work of God. The window was opened by Noah in contrast to God shutting the ark, Noah was looking for the hope that was before him, being saved into the ark was to be saved from drowning, but not saved to live life on the earth which God had given humanity to live, rule over and enjoy. Noah soon hears the voice of God calling him out. The 'window/door' has a sense of 'glistening', maybe as Noah looked out the waters glistened with the sunshine - the same sunshine that would latter mingle with the rain to produce the rainbow of the covenant. The root of the word also has the source of the type of glistening - that is olive oil. The window itself is rooted in the picture of the 'anointing oil', the work of the Spirit which is so graciously given as we turn our hearts to the Lord in faith. Noah made some effort to open the window, but if the window is in the door, it is a door into the life of God, and this great covenant and salvation - leading us to the wonderful person of Jesus...through whom we enter into, and out of to feed on the good pastures for which He has given His life to us (John 10:9).

First the raven was sent out, and then the dove...the great symbol of peace and rest. Each seven days Noah sent out the birds, it has been thought that this happend then on the sabbath day, and it was the dove and not the raven that brought hope of peace on the day of rest itself, that is a wonderful picture of the work of the Holy Spirit. Week by week we must seek to live in the hope of the life given to us by Christ, we must have the desire to look into that which God has done for us, otherwise we might be left sitting in the ark...wondering what to do, when God has brought to us a salvation which sets us free to live in Him, by the covenant of Christ's death to us. This is sacrificial grace that is offered to us...more than a rainbow...let us by patient endurance know the quality of this 'anointing' of the Saviour.

Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre, March 31st 2010

1. Noah's baptism - entering the ark

The building of the ark by Noah was the result of God's word and desire, we see that so early in the history of humanity people had already become entirely wicked and evil in both thoughts and motives (Genesis 6-8). The flood that the Lord sent upon the earth was first and foremost an action of the judgement of sin. This is also an essential element of what baptism is; it is a judgement of sin. The judgement of sin means death - Adam and his descendants had already found this out (Genesis 5), the waters of the flood reveal the baptism that is to be found in Christ Himself, where He takes upon Himself the wrath of God for us (1 Peter 3:20-22).

Noah wonderfully found grace in the eyes of the Lord - or 'grace found Naoh' as I have heard it rendered. Noah too was a human being with the problem of sin within him, this is seen after the flood with his drunkenness, and in the description of him as a 'man of the soil/earth' he is a man from Adam. Noah needed the grace of the Lord otherwise he would have been himself destroyed in the flood. For one hundred years Noah faithfully built the ark and preached to the people, who most likely returned to him ridicule and scorn, for it is thought that at this point in the history of the earth rain was an unknown experience and the earth was watered by the dew. But a new and heavenly experience was going to occur - this points to baptism in Christ - an unleashing of the water in the heavens. When this happened and as it began Noah his wife, three sons and their wives entered the ark and God shut them in...the sealing is God's work...Paul calls it the 'guarantee', that which we are marked in Christ with a seal - the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). Amazingly this salvation was not just for Noah but also for every form of the creatures of the earth, clean and unclean animals...all were included. We all need to know the work of the Holy Spirit saving us from the judgement of God, the righteous and unrighteous need it. How mighty were the waters that flooed the earth in Noah's day, think of the modern day experiences of floods, hurricanes, tsunamis' they are minor in comparison yet the destruction is great and our hearts torn for those who have suffered.

As Noah was in the ark, the water came down, lifted the ark off the ground and the ark for fourty days was surrounded by water below and above... Noah and his family were kept safe by his obedience to follow God and His words and God's work of sealing him into the ark. The ark is a wonderful picture of Christ in whom we find salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit is an esential part of it. The baptism into Christ and the Spirit are essentially one baptism. The baptism into Christ is the judgement of sin and the giving of new life in us by the washing of the water...the Spirit's work is to be in us, above us and all around us...we need to get wet! We are wonderfully saved from the judgement of sin upon ourselves by the cross of Christ Jesus, where he died for us. This baptism is cosmically devastating and renewing at the same time, what a wonderful Saviour we have - Jesus.

Matthew Armstrong
Issue 20 - Extended: 26th February
Blantyre