LEADERSHIP CAPSULE
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Friday, December 30, 2016

TITLE : UNDERSTANDING THE GIFT OF SALVATION THROUGH JESUS CHRIST 5

God told Noah,
".....Make an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch within and without with pitch. (Genesis 6:13-14).

In the last two episodes  i shared with you that the Noah's ark
#1. shows God’s ultimate provision of salvation in Christ.
#2. Second, The Ark of Noah was a place of safety. It protected its inhabitants from the outpoured wrath of God on a sinful world. This speaks of the propitiatory work of Christ.
The ark was God's provision for Noah as Christ is God's provision for sinners.

Today I am going to share briefly with you the third way that the Ark prefigures, or typifies, our salvation, security, safety, preservation and other realities through the Lord Jesus Christ.

#3. The Ark shows the atonement of Christ.

Look again at our anchor text, Genesis 6:14,

“Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch”

Observe now that God revealed to Noah His own designs and ordered him to build a place of refuge into which he could flee from the impending storm of judgment. In the above scripture we note that Noah was commanded to make an ark of gopher-wood (Gen. 6:14). The material out of which the ark was built teaches us an important lesson.

The word “pitch” is translated from the original strong Hebrew word “kaphar,” which means “to cover.” pacify, appease, make propitiation, forgive. As a noun kaphar is used to signify a place of shelter. Today we call ‘pitch’ tar. The Hebrew word for ‘pitch’ is ‘kaphar’ and it is used seventy times in the Bible to mean atonement as it relates to blood sacrifice. The one exception is here in Genesis where it refers to the substance which covers the ark inside-and-out. In order to better understand the definition, let's break the word ‘atonement’ into its basic components: at-one-ment, as in ‘being one with
God.' By Christ’s shed blood we are in such harmony with God.

What do we mean by atonement??

"Cover" is almost universally regarded as the root meaning of "kaphar", and this fits with its literal use in Gen 6:14, but the root word also mean to "wash away" or "cleanse" or "purge." It is also the doing of something, or the paying of some penalty, to compensate for some wrong action. It is sometimes translate to mean  "forgiveness" or "mercy" Certainly Christ is both a "cover" and a "cleansing" for his people. These are related concepts, but "cleanse" seems to be the deeper one. Atonement is deeper than "cover" that's what i am trying to point out.  In nine places in the English Bible kaphar is translated "purge." Psalm '79:9. 6:14. It is used for the figurative or ceremonial cleansing and purifying of inanimate objects, as concerning the original cleansing of the altar when it was first constructed: "And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement for it" (Exo 29:36).

Yesterday, i look up the Hebrew word for mercy seat by the inspiration of the Spirit. I found....It is interesting to notice that the cover of the ark of covenant, the lid or cover which is known as the mercy seat, as it is described in Exodus 25 and Leviticus 16, is the noun kapporeth derived from the word kaphar. Amazing isn't it??
All this point to the fact that our sin is atoned for I.e covered (past tense) and being cleansed (present continuous tense). Glory to God!!

The term ‘mercy seat’ comes from a Hebrew word meaning “to cover, placate, appease, cleanse, cancel or make atonement for.”
The priest in the old testament sprinkled blood of a sacrificed animal onto the Mercy Seat to appease the wrath and anger of God for past sins committed. This was the only place in the world where this atonement could take place.
The Mercy Seat or cover on the Ark was a symbolic foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice for all sin—the blood of Christ shed on the cross for the remission of sins.

The Apostle Paul, a former Pharisee and one familiar with the Old Testament, knew this concept quite well when he wrote about Christ being our covering for sin in Romans 3:24-25 : "…and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith." Just as there was only one place for atonement of sins in the Old Testament—the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant—so there is also only one place for atonement in the New Testament and current times—the cross of Jesus Christ.

As Christians, we no longer look to the Ark of Noah but to the Lord Jesus Himself as the propitiation and atonement for our sins.

Apostle Paul, gives us a quotation from Psalm 32, “Blessed are they…whose sins are covered” (Romans 4:7). Atonement is a spiritual blessing. You're blessed because your sins are covered. When you come to Christ, your sins are  perfectly covered by His Blood, as the Ark of Noah was covered with pitch. It is the blood of Christ, the perfect sacrifice, that first 'covers', then 'cleanses' us -- not ritually, but practically and gloriously. Glory to God!! He did not die to 'atone' for our sins in the orthodox sense. He lived and died to become a cleansing medium by which our sins are first mercifully covered, and then, progressively and at last completely and perfectly, cleansed from us: 'washed away'.

To be continued....