Make yourself an Ark

MAKE YOURSELF AN ARK

There are some remarkable similarities between the event of Noahs ark in the time of the flood to this time of the novel (brand new) corona virus and the global pandemic that has us all shut in. novel new like the flood – never been seen before
Genesis 6:14…Make yourself an ark…18… and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. And you shall take for yourself all kinds of food, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” Noah did according to all that God commanded him.

Noah’s ark is a story of people being saved from worldwide disaster, a flood that lasted for many months (5) and finished off the life and culture of that world at the time, in order to bring a new world into being, a new kind of life and culture. It was the end to former things and a beginning of new things - The global gamechanger – You could say that the flood was even the novel climate change gamechanger.

We are in the midst of a global event where certain emerging new ways of life and culture now perceived as temporary game-changing things will become permanent realities in many many aspects of our routine lives – working from home, banking and finance, education, even church.
As far as global game-changing is concerned there is an amazing spiritcode message – the number 120 – it is hidden in a comment that God makes as he speaks to Noah about the ark, when he looked at the things going on in the earth and decided he was going to stop things happening the way they were and prepare the world for a new way for life to happen

Genesis 6:4 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not contend with man forever, for his heart is totally self centred: so his days shall be 120 years.
That number 120 is not talking about what the span of human life is going to be. It is talking about how long Noah has to prepare an ark before the game-changing event occurs that marks the end of things being done man’s way and beginning to be done God’s way- the end of former things and a beginning of new things.
Building an ark is now the biggest and greatest project in our lives – but we need to know what it means…

This is the first specific mention of the number 120 in the Bible and it always signifies a situation of the old passing away and the new emerging. There are two very significant further mentions of the 120 code

The next was about Moses who was 120 years old when he died (Deuteronomy 34:7) - and his end-of-life age pointed forward to the rule of life under the Law coming to an end and a new rule of life would emerge in due course. The game-changing message here is that the new thing would be life under the rule of the Spirit of God.

The next was in Acts 1:15 - There were 120 Jewish disciples living under the Jewish Law in an upper room of prayer when the world at that time as they prayed, was visited with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and humanity was now able to live a life guided by the Spirit of God and not just their own understanding. We are living in a number 120 moment in the earth today. New things are going to come to pass we will be doing things in a new way that we haven’t done before. It’s no good my trying to guess what they will be but they will be done God’s way and not our way and we will experience a time of letting go – letting go of the old and embracing the new living way that is waiting for us to walk in.

The ark was a place of safety in a time of disaster and destruction – a flood - a global crisis, and the ark was where you had to go and had to be to preserve your life. So what kind of life are we talking about preserving in our current situation? We are all doing the best we can to observe the life-saving protocols of the lockdown shut in life in our homes for as long as we have to. It is in us as human beings want to preserve that and everything that goes with it – the outward form of things. But there are some outward forms of things we are learning to have to let go of and that is hard and often sad and perplexing to see them pass away. That is causing much grief and sense of loss and we are finding ourselves coming closer together even in our social distancing through our faith and our love for one another. That brings me to the inner life and THAT is where we can build the real ark and preserve the things that do not pass away but are eternal. Letting go of outward things that pass can keep alive the inner things that last. So Noah’s ark has lessons for us in finding the wisdom for safeguarding both inner and outer things in our lives. We might lose some things of our outer life in this crisis that help us to gain the inner things. Some things in our lives may have to die to so that other things might live.

How does this MAKE FOR YOURSELF AN ARK compare to the current corona virus disaster that we are experiencing at this moment?
Noah was told to prepare for something that he had never seen before – rain. There is no mention of rain on the earth till this time.
Genesis 2:5 For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth…but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground… So how could Noah prepare to survive and overcome something that he didn’t know even existed How do we prepare for something today that we didn’t know existed?
We can hear Noah saying to God after he was commanded to build an ark‘ Lord could you tell me what an ark does?– I honestly don’t think we need one’. God was not going to teach him about what a flood was or how to predict rain. And we can hear God replying ‘This is not the time for me to teach you about weather forecasts Noah – just build an ark’.
Covid 19 is called ‘the novel’ – the new corona virus – no vaccine – so no defence – no treatment so no cure as such at this time except for protocols of lockdown. so what do you do? You build an ark.
That is what you are on the earth for now – at this time.
There are outward things you are I are doing now that are different to what they were – and difficult -if we are taking the good advice from the authorised experts who are responsible and caring, and not only the facebook posts. So we listen carefully in that respect and try to get it right.

How do we let go of things that pass? Well mostly they just cease to be and will not be there so the only thing we cling to is the emotional attachment we have to wanting to have them still there or to get them back. Some we will and some maybe not or maybe different. That is the meaning of spirit code120.
Many people in this time of crisis don’t have their work and occupation or interaction with others that was their everyday life, at least not in the same way. Our hearts go out to each other in these things and we feel for one another, all over the world in our common sense of loss and grief. All of us no longer have the freedom of movement and travel to and fro and gathering together but yet we stay close.
So let’s move from the letting go of outward things that pass and get to keeping alive the inner things that last. That’s our real ark.

So how do we build an ark?
This is the building of the inner place of refuge. The ark had three levels Gen 6:16 This speaks of the Trinity Father Son and Holy Spirit. He was told to build three levels – upper, middle, and lower. A huge Cruise ship. I’ve never been on a cruise ship but this is the kind of cruise ship that I want to be in at this time and I believe many of us have been seeking to travel our sea of life with God as father son and Holy spirit and to have this as our refuge.
The upper level represents the Holy Spirit, as the Bible speaks of the dove being sent out across the waters from a window in the upper deck to see if there was dry land, and the dove returned with an olive branch – the branch of inner stillness and peace. That dove was finally set free by Noah to fly through the skies. He is our freedom, gentle but powerful and the giver of truth and love.
The middle level represents Jesus who joins us with the Father. Jesus is there in us and as us – in everything – he’s been there in danger and in crisis and he always had the Holy Spirit to lead him and guide him and he always had the Father, in whose arms of love he could rest. Jesus is your Noahs ark experience in this calamity He is your strength in your weakness. And The Father cradles us all from underneath as his children.
I mentioned last week about our human need at this time to know what to do... What do I do next what do I not do OR What is happening – God is happening. God happens to us as the three in one, Father Son and Holy Spirit. There is one Scripture that sums it all up regarding building an ark and living the ark experience, and it speaks to us about The Holy Spirit who helps us to know what to pray for in a time like this because we don’t even know what to ask.
Romans 8:25 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought to, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts (that’s Jesus)knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He(that’s Jesus) makes intercession for the saints (that’s us) according to the will of God (That’s the Father- and Father always answers Jesus’ prayer).
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (invited to share with him in the unfolding purpose he has for our lives).
You have the Holy Spirit to touch your feelings and pray your prayer, and you have Jesus to take that to the Father so that your prayer is answered in the most powerful and caring way in a supernatural dimension that is above all of our attempts to know or to understand the unknowable and the incomprehensibility of the things which are beyond our control. This is your ark – God knows the thing you need, your health and material provision, your hope in times of anxiety, your fear of the unknown – he knows these things and he is quick to answer and to give you faith. You are his children.
So be conscious that this process is going on all the time and we can become part of this four way prayer meeting simply by knowing and believing that it is there and muttering our thankyous to God every time fear or anxiety try to wrestle this reality away from us. Make for yourselves an ark.