R³ Devotional - Day 2

Genesis chapter 6 begins the story of Noah and the Ark. We probably all know the story from the time that we were a child. We can recall various concepts and themes of the passage as well as many of the details. But sometimes things are in the story that we read right over without fully grasping what is being given to us.

In the story of Noah, we see a man who is asked to perform a task that will foreshadow the work of Christ in this world. Noah is asked to build an Ark that would resemble and be constructed of the same wood that the ancient people of that region would have built their coffins.  Then, he would cover the inside and outside of the ark with “pitch” (6:14) The word for pitch in Hebrew is a form of the same word that is used for “atonement” (koper). The vehicle of salvation for the people of the earth then was found in an Ark covered in atonement, just as the vehicle of salvation for us today is found in the death and resurrection of Christ covered in his atoning blood.