LEADERSHIP CAPSULE
...committed to raising, mentoring and equipping leaders to ultimately fulfill the great commission.
Tuesday, December 27, 2016

TITLE : UNDERSTANDING THE GIFT OF SALVATION THROUGH JESUS CHRIST 2

Matthew 1:21 "She will give birth to a son, and you shall give Him the name Jesus, because He will save his people from their sins." ISV

Acts 4:12 "There is no salvation by anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”

Noah's Ark - A typology of Jesus' Salvation

A man once came to Pastor D. L. Moody and said he was worried because he didn’t feel saved. Moody asked, “Was Noah safe in the ark?” “Certainly he was,” the man replied. “Well, what made him safe, his feeling or the ark?” The inquirer got the point. “How foolish I’ve been!” he said. “It is not my feeling; it is Christ who saves!”
Many believers today are like this man, they are not certain of their safety, security and perseveration. They believe they are saved but aren't sure to what extent. Perhaps you are one of those who don't feel saved??

The Ark of Noah is one of the clearest and most comprehensive types of the believer's salvation in Christ which is to be found in all the Scriptures. One place we find Jesus in the Old Testament is in “type”. Noah’s ark is a type or symbol of Christ. It points us to some of the truths about the person and work of salvation through Jesus. Not only is salvation an event but salvation is a person. You cannot study the Bible for any length of time without discovering that the Ark of Noah is a type of Christ, a prototype or symbolic picture of the Saviour. We are specifically told of the typology of the Ark in I Peter 3:20-21. Thus, both the Flood and the Ark typifies our salvation and baptism into Christ.

What is a typology?

A typology is a method of biblical interpretation whereby an element found in the Old Testament is seen to prefigure one found in the New Testament. The initial one is called the type and the fulfillment is designated the antitype. Either type or antitype may be a person, thing, or event, but often the type is messianic(connected to Christ) and frequently related to the idea of salvation. A type or typology is an example or illustration that points to a person or an event.

Typology is a special kind of symbolism. (A symbol is something which represents something else.) We can define a Bible type as a “prophetic symbol” because all types are representations of something yet future. More specifically, a type in scripture is a person or thing in the Old Testament which foreshadows a person or thing in the New Testament. For example, the flood and the ark of Noah’s day (Genesis 6-7 ) is used as a type of baptism into Christ or salvation in 1 Peter 3:20-21 . The word for type that Peter uses here is figure.

When we say that someone is a type of Christ, we are saying that a person in the Old Testament behaves in a way that corresponds to Jesus’ character or actions in the New Testament. When we say that something is “typical” of Christ, we are saying that an object or event in the Old Testament can be viewed as representative of some quality of Jesus.
I hope you got that perfectly???

Finding Jesus hidden in type is a most exciting and rewarding study. As it says in Proverbs 25:2: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”
So let’s study Noah’s Ark as a type of Christ and see what we discover. Noah’s ark is a type of Christ. It points us to some of the truths about salvation, the person and work of Jesus.

In the next episodes i am going to share some basic ways that the Ark prefigures, or typifies, the believer's salvation - security, safety, and preservation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

How then is Noah’s ark a type of Christ?
To be continued.........