Noach (Noah, Rest)
B’reshiyt (Gen) 6:9 – 11:32
YeshaYahu (Isaiah) 54:1 – 55:5
MattitYahu (Matthew) 24:36–46, Kefa Alef (I Peter) 3:18–22
Inside the walls of his home was no longer safe. Hamas was breaking down doors murdering, raping, and butchering their victims. The young man jumped inside his car to find that wasn’t safe either. Hamas was burning down cars and riddling them with bullets. So the guy found a large parking lot to stand in where he received instructions on how to drive to a small town where he could find safety. Back inside his vehicle, he fled the scene with bullets ricocheting off his car. Nick Zhiharev survived to tell his story on Epoch TV. Nick didn’t find safety within the walls he had always depended on, he needed someone to instruct him where to go among the walls of a small town to escape the deadly assault. Nick is still alive to tell about it.
Walls of Protection from Hamas
The Torah portion, Noah, gives us instructions on what walls of salvation will protect us from the destruction of Hamas, the Hebrew word for violence. The whole earth was corrupt in the sight of Elohim and full of Hamas, the Torah states twice (Gen 6:11,13). There is no coincidence that the news today is full of reports on the violent acts of Hamas against Israel at the time of studying this Torah portion. Reports abound on corruption in governments and every realm of society around the world. What instructions should we be adhering to to navigate the troubled waters of our day?
Chamas in paleo Hebrew pictures a wall and its supporting structure shaking with confusion and chaos. Violence is intended to shake anyone who feels safe within the walls of their place. But Abba has a different plan.
Chamas (violence) shall not still be heard in your land, or wasting and ruin within your borders; but you shall call your walls, ‘Salvation’, and your gates, ‘Praise’. Isaiah 60:18
Now let’s look at Salvation’s walls as pictured by Noah’s ark:
Resting Safe and Sound Within the Walls of Salvation
The name Noach means ‘rest.’ He built a place of rest for the continuation of the seed of man and animals inside the walls of an ark.
During these days of violence and wicked schemes, the psalmist gives us good instruction on how to rest in YHWH, wait on Him, and let Him cut off all the evildoers.
Rest in YHWH and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
Evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for YHWH will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more, and you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.
But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. Psalm 37:7-11
Like Noah and his seven family members who survived the flood of judgment waters, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5) What a glorious destiny on the other side to be delighting in abundant prosperity! It’s worth the wait!
Who do we have to fret over? Hamas and jihad warriors? Deep state operatives? Kazarean ‘Jews’ and czars? The synagogue of satan? The Biden regime? Jesuits? Woketards in power? There’s no end to who we can fret over in this corrupt world.
We shouldn’t fret, worry, or be about condemning the wicked. That’s the job of YHWH Tsava’ot (of Hosts). Only He can and will stop their wicked and violent schemes.
Yeshua didn’t come to condemn the world, He came to save it. Spreading the Gospel to the Jew first and to the nations is in our job description. Let’s be inviting sinners to the foot of the cross and into the walls called ‘Salvation.’ There we can find rest for our souls.
Building a Safe House
How do we build a safe house, a place of rest for our families today that can survive what’s coming? What kind of foundation can our walls of safety be built on that will withstand the shaking of chamas, or the shaking YHWH is bringing to this planet? Yeshua told His disciples how to prepare for what’s ahead:
“Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. Matthew 7:24-25
Is there any other way to survive storms in these last days than to hear, trust, and obey the sayings of our Master Yeshua? Can we just tough it out and trust in the systems of man to survive the coming storms? Not according to our Savior:
And everyone that hears these sayings of Mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:26-27
The Baptism that Saves us
What can we learn from Noah building his houseboat about hearing and obeying the sayings of Yeshua? Noah heard, trusted, and worked hard at obeying YHWH his Savior. Therefore, his family and animals of all kinds were saved from the great flood.
Let’s go to Peter, who taught us that Noah and his family were saved in the immersion, the baptism that now also saves us.
… When once the patience of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, wherein few – that is eight souls were saved through water: to which baptism, the antitype, now also saves us – not the laying aside of filth of flesh, but the question of a good conscience to God through the resurrection of Yeshua Messiah. 1 Peter 3:20-21
Simply put, this Scripture explains that Noah and his ancestors, like our other forefathers, were all saved and lived by faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah. Having saved us from our sins, only He can give us a good conscience about what we build with our lives. Noah and his family trusted the word from YHWH to build the ark.
Dwelling in the ark, the only place of safety, and immersed in the rains and flood waters, Noah foreshadowed drowning out the old man of the flesh and putting on the Messiah by faith.
The number forty in the forty days and nights of rains lifting the ark and drowning out corrupt flesh is the number of the letter mem – picturing a womb and its waters of chaos and new birth.
The ark itself is a picture of Yeshua, Yah saves, for baptism is in the Messiah:
For you are all sons of God through faith in Messiah Yeshua. For as many as were baptized into Messiah, you put on Messiah. Galatians 3:26-27
Like Noah, many of our forefathers did come to faith in the Messiah, Who was yet to come. Our forefathers were made righteous only by faith in the coming Savior, Yeshua.
There is no distinction between the faith of ‘Old Testament’ and ‘New Testament’ believers, for there is no distinction between the object of any believers’ faith – the Messiah – Who is Elohim. YHWH, the same Savior of the ‘Old’ Testament (Isaiah 43:11; 45:21; 49:26; 60:16; 63:8), is the same Savior Who died for us on the cross and rose again for us to be baptized into Yeshua revealed in the New Testament. In other words, the same God that saved Noah is the same God that saves you and me today who believe the Gospel message.
The Gospel of Noah's Ark
How then did the ark rising on the flood waters in the Torah picture the Gospel message of salvation? Ancient pictographs in the Hebrew can help us see the Gospel. How did the Ark picture the death and resurrection of the Messiah that Noah put his faith in? How was Noah and his family found ‘in Him’? (Colossians Ch 2 & 3)
One Ark for the Lion and the Ox
YHWH commanded Noah to build just one ark, not none for the wild animals and one for the domestic ones. The lion and the ox were in the same boat. This pictures that there is only one ark of salvation for Jews and Gentiles. As judgment falls to destroy corruption and violence in this world, only one house, the house of Israel, where Yeshua is the Head, will be saved. The House of Judah and the House of Israel will become one house, one stick in the hand of Messiah.
Coming together in one ark of safety is the only way we’ll survive what’s coming. The wild will have to be at peace with the domestic. Wild branches will have to be connected to the native in the same tree. We’re going to have to live together.
One Door to Enter
The only door into the ark pictures the only way to be saved – through Yeshua. The Messiah said:
“I am the Door. If anyone enters in by Me, he will be saved…” John 10:9a
Accepting His gracious invitation, we can stand on that promise to enter safely within the walls of Salvation.
Three Floors: Three Days and Nights
The three floors inside of the ark and its 300 cubit length and 30 cubit height elude the Messiah’s body shut up in the tomb for three days and three nights. The threes of Noah’s ark in the waters connect to Yeshua’s one sign – the sign of Jonah in the belly of a great fish for three days and three nights. The threes thematically connect to the burial and resurrection of our Divine Messiah.
Also, the three compartments in the ark foreshadow the three compartments of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, another picture of the Messiah. The Levitical priests during the temple periods named the three entrance curtains the same as what Yeshua said:
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
John 14:6 He is the only way into the ark of salvation.
Gopher What Yeshua Says
The paleo-Hebrew meaning of the word for the wood is ‘gopher,’ spelled ‘gimel-pey-resh,’ meant Noah ‘gimeled,’ or walked with YHWH according to the words of the open mouth of the Exalted Head, the Messiah (Gen 6:14).
In other words, Noah built his house upon the Rock by obeying the sayings of the One Who is at the right hand, the Yod, the working hand, of Yod Hey Vav Hey – YHWH Elohim.
Gopher it! Whatever Yeshua says, let’s do it!
The Seal of Salvation
The pitch, Hebrew kaphar, inside and outside on the ark’s gopher wood was a type of the Anointed One, Who covers our sins to seal and save us from the judgment of God. Yeshua appeased the wrath of the Almighty.
In paleo-Hebrew, kaphar, spelled kaf-pey-resh, means that the open hand of YHWH covered and kept Noah and the ark safe. They were saved by the Word from the open mouth of the exalted Head, the Messiah, Who holds all things together by the Word of His power.
Yeshua, Yah saved, covered, and sealed up the ark so that Noah, his family, and all the animals would come out alive from the ark after judgment rained down upon the earth.
Drowned out Old Man: Resurrected New Creature
The flood’s carnage of dead carcasses in a watery grave was a type of substitutional death and burial of Yeshua’s body. Our Messiah died the death all sinners deserve since Adam, for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). He was buried in the tomb in our place to take the sting out of death and to conquer the power grip of the grave!
Noah, his family and all kinds of animals being saved alive inside the ark among all the carnage in the waters was a type of baptism as a born-again, new creature in Messiah. (1 Peter 3:20-21)
When Elohim said: Bring out from you every living thing that is with you… (Gen 8:17), Noah and his household and all living creatures prefigured the resurrection that believers experience coming alive in Messiah, rising from the dead alive in Him.
Or are you ignorant that all who were baptized into Messiah Yeshua were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that as Messiah was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, so also we should walk in newness of life. Rom 6:3-4
As Tony Robinson (Restoration of Torah) loves to teach, any time in the Scriptures that you see death, life, and the number three, you know you’re into a prophecy of the death, life, and resurrection of the Messiah.
We certainly see that and much more in the story of Noah’s ark and his acts of faith.
As in the Days of Noah: The Second Coming
We now have seen Yeshua in His first coming in the story of Noah and the ark. Is there anything we can see about the second coming of the Messiah?
Our Messiah prophesied that when He comes, the world would again be – “As the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Mat. 24:37
Most of us are well aware that the signs of the times certainly testify to His soon return.
Our Messiah warned us not to think that He’s not coming for a long time and so be cruel to our fellow servants (Mat 24:47-51). Those who don’t recognize His soon return are often unkind, take advantage of others, and even beat their fellow servants.
The days of Noah before the flood were a time of Hamas violence and corruption. As followers of Yeshua, we must shine as followers who are just the opposite – humble, meek, gentle, a people of integrity and uprightness clothed in the Messiah.
Our disposition towards the Jews should be the opposite of Hamas’ hatred – kind, good, and loving. Anyone who sides with unkindly condemning the Jews needs to heed Paul’s warning:
Well! For unbelief, they were broken off. And you stand by faith. Do not be highminded, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, fear that it may be He will not spare you either. Behold, then, the kindness and severity of God: On those having fallen, severity. But on you, kindness, if you continue in the kindness. Otherwise, you will also be cut off. And those also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in. For God can graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the natural wild olive tree, and against nature were grafted into a good olive tree, how much more these being according to nature will be grafted into their own olive tree? Romans 11:20-24
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss the boat and be cut off from the ark of safety in Yeshua. The meek shall inherit the earth, not the high-minded and conceited who condemn the natural branches who are still cut off, but that God can graft in again.
To the Jew first with the Good News of Yeshua! His lovingkindness is what will turn them to repentance, not condemnation.
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant…?” Matthew 24:45
May we be found faithful and wise, building our lives on the foundation of the sayings of our Master Yeshua. May we call our walls ‘Salvation’ and invite the sinner to come in through the one Door, Yeshua, to find safety in the one house of Israel. May we not be found fretting over the corrupt and violent and all their wicked schemes. May each of us find rest by fully trusting and obeying Yeshua our Lord, our God and Savior.
From within the walls of Salvation,
David