And all the days of Noah, &c.— "It is strange," Saurin remarks, "that the torrent of interpreters should suppose, that Noah was one hundred and twenty years building the ark, when the scripture gives no intimation to that purpose, but sufficient reason to believe, that he was not near so long as is imagined. It is plain from scripture, that he was five hundred years old, when he beget Shem, Ham, and Japheth, ch. Genesis 5:32. and that, when he received the command for building the ark, the same sons were married; for the text says so expressly, (see Genesis 6:18.) So that all the time between the birth and marriage of the said sons, must, at least, be supposed to intervene before the command to build the ark was given; and between the command and the execution of it could not be so long as is imagined, without a concurrence of miracles, to prevent that part of it which was first built from being rotten and decayed, before the last part of it was finished." But let us just ask, might not the first declaration of God's intention be given, as we have supposed on Genesis 6:3 ch. 6:? Might not Noah then be appointed to declare this solemn truth to the men of those times; and consequently to get in readiness, in due time, the proper materials for building the ark?
Let us now pause a while,
"Betwixt the world destroy'd and world restor'd," and consider the history of Noah as typical of our Great Redeemer, and of the salvation wrought by him.
That Noah was a figure of Jesus Christ, seems not obscurely hinted in his very name given him by his religious father, not without prophetic instinct. It signifies, as we have already observed, rest, comfort. So Christ is our consolation, and our rest. Of him we may truly say with the strictest propriety, "This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands." Noah "was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and walked with God," when the wickedness of men was grown to the most exorbitant height, and all flesh had corrupted their way. He dared to be good, when all were turned degenerate; and, fearless of reproach or violence, he admonished them of their wicked ways, preaching righteousness in their assemblies. So Christ preserved his integrity in every the smallest instance, in an evil and adulterous generation, preaching what he practised, with not unlike success to Noah. For it is written of him in the Psalms, "I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest." Psalms 40:9. In some seasons of the Almighty's vengeance, we are informed, that the righteousness of Noah, Daniel, and Job, could not deliver a sinful people, nor yet their nearest relations, from the lifted stroke. Ezekiel 14:14. Truly Noah, though righteous, could not by his righteousness avert the waters of the flood. But the righteousness, the meritorious obedience unto the death of the cross of our adorable Redeemer, is of such infinite value, as to deliver from death an innumerable multitude of transgressors.
But let us chiefly consider that memorable part of Noah's history, his preparing an ark for the saving of his house; the antitype of which remarkable event, we are informed by St. Peter, is, "our being saved by baptism (not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 3:21. The long-suffering of God was now tired out, and his Spirit ceased to strive with rebellious men, whom all means had proved ineffectual to reclaim. The time was come, when the threatened vengeance was to descend with resistless fury. Noah being long before warned of God, had prepared an ark against the approaching deluge: for he believed God; and being moved with reverential fear, he obeyed the commandment of the Lord. He despised the jeers of the unbelieving world; and considered not the huge difficulties he had to surmount, before he could get a vessel constructed, of such bulk as would contain in its capacious hold, all sorts of beasts and birds, together with their necessary provisions, for so long a time as he was to be there a prisoner. That God who commanded him, that God in whom he believed, and whom he feared, enabled him also both to begin and finish. The ship is built; the cargo is taken in; the flood comes; and the waters prevail above the tallest trees and loftiest mountains. The sinful race of men is buried in a watery grave. But the ark, the peculiar care of Heaven, though without helm or mast, rides triumphant over the foaming billows. At length a dove, fetching in her mouth an olive-leaf, informs the inhabitants of the ark, that the waters were abated. They are at last released from their tedious confinement. The venerable patriarch, overwhelmed with gratitude for such a wonderful preservation amidst the howling waste, sacrifices unto the Lord, who smells a savour of rest, and renews with him his gracious covenant, that he will no more curse the ground for man's sake. A glorious rainbow is seen over his head stamping the clouds, which from that time became a peaceful sign, that the waters shall never more cover the face of the earth; and that, though the waves should toss themselves against the sandy shores, they shall never prevail.—Who sees not in this whole transaction, a lively picture of the method of our salvation by Jesus Christ, from a far more dreadful flood, that shall, sooner or later, descend upon the head of every impenitent sinner? In Jesus Christ we have the antitype of Noah, both floating in the ark, standing at the altar, and compassed with the rainbow. Indeed he is at once the ark that saves us from the floods of divine wrath, the sacrifice that atones the incensed justice of God, and the rainbow which makes our clouds of every sort to wear sweet smiles. Though Noah's ark, and sacrifice, and rainbow, were things different from himself, and from one another, in Jesus Christ they are all conjoined.
What mortal wit could have contrived such an expedient as the ark of Noah, to save from an universal deluge? Noah was not the contriver of this project. It was wholly planned by God. Even so; if men and angels had tortured their invention to save a guilty world, they could never have so much as suggested that method which the wisdom of God has fallen upon in the mediation of Jesus Christ. It was no doubt very strange to see the wildest beasts and birds dwelling peaceably together under the same roof, in that time of common danger; but not more strange than what happens every time when sinners are converted to God, and enter into his sanctuary. For in Jesus Christ, the men of ravenous natures forget their natural ferocity, and put on, as the elect of God, bowels of mercy, humbleness of mind, meekness, and long-suffering; and, to use the lofty stile of the prophet, "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fat-ling together:—they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain." Isaiah 6:9. Dreadful, to be sure, were the buffetings of the rolling surges on the sides of the ark, when heaven and earth seemed to conspire its ruin: but being protected by a superior Providence, the vessel, though heavy-laden, weathered the storm, preserved alive all the creatures that were within her, and at last rested upon the mountains of Ararat. So did the waves and billows of the Father's wrath go over thine head, O suffering Saviour! and the floods of ungodly men made thee afraid. Psalms 18:4. But thou wast more than a conqueror, and at last didst find thy rest on the mountains of eternal glory. "Thou art our hiding-place from the storm, and a covert from the tempest. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, the waters of God's wrath had swallowed us up quick: then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul; the proud waters had gone over our soul." Psalms 124:2; Psalms 124:8.—When we are told in the sacred history, that a dove alighted on the ark with the olive-leaf, what should hinder us to think of the holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, who alighted upon him in the waters of Jordan, in the likeness of that gentle bird? and who brings glad tidings of great joy to all the inhabitants of the ark, when he assures them, by the most incontestible proofs, that the winter of wrath is past, and the rain is over and gone? Song of Solomon 2:11.—The holy fire is now gone forth at the appointed season; and, beholding the dismal desolation, he offers an atoning sacrifice of every clean bird and beast; and the Lord smelled a savour of rest. This naturally leads us to think of him, who gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour. Ephesians 5:2. So well pleased is God with Jesus Christ, that with him he establishes his covenant, and with all his seed. Hear what himself declares by the mouth of his holy prophet Isaiah: "This is as the waters of Noah to me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I will not be wroth with thee, O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted!" Isaiah 9:11. See how the frowning clouds now smile with the glorious colours of the rainbow, the cheerful token of God's covenant. Such is the glorious transformation of all your afflictions by Jesus Christ, O ye heirs of righteousness! They are clouds indeed, dark clouds; but so far from drowning, they shall even fructify your soul, and make you revive as the corn. What before was an indication of wrath, and a cause of fear, is now a token of love, and an encouragement of faith. A rainbow for ever encompasses the throne of your God. And though, like that mighty angel in the Revelation, ch. Genesis 10:1. he should be clothed with a cloud in the dispensations of his providence, his sunny face will produce a rainbow round about his head.