And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is full of violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
God speaks the sentence on a whole world to one man, and He gives His reason: the earth was full of violence. What does "all flesh" cover, why does God name violence, and why does the same speech that announces destruction also lead to an ark?
The verse names violence as the reason for the sentence. One writer looks under that violence, and separates what people notice from what God notices.
The most serious evil of man is his corruption before God, and it led to an earth filled with violence. Violence is of course against others, and people consider this the worst thing. But their corruption is against God, and they think little of it. If there were no corruption there would be no violence. But at this time "all flesh" had corrupted itself. God tells Noah that the end of all flesh was near because violence filled the earth. Violence was the glaring proof of man's corruption. God would destroy the people along with the earth.
Older translations read, "The end of all flesh is come before me," and the writers below quote that wording. The sentence covers everyone, not just the worst offenders. God keeps nothing back as still usable, and in the same breath He names His remedy.
The mighty men and the men of renown must all be swept away, without distinction. "All flesh" must be set aside as completely unfit for God. "The end of all flesh is come before me." This was not the end of some flesh only. No, all of it was corrupt in the sight of Jehovah — all of it beyond recovery. God had tried it and found it wanting. Then the Lord announces His remedy to Noah: "Make yourself an ark of gopher wood."
The word "end" marks a closed case, not just a coming disaster. One writer pictures the difference between a man awaiting trial and a man already condemned.
The end of man's time of testing has come before God. It is too late for man to ask for a new trial. He is guilty and under condemnation. It is too late for that poor young man, condemned to death, to talk of being tried again. He must be pardoned or executed. Such is man's condition. The prisoner may dream he is free, and hope to commit no more crimes — but he wakes for execution.
Before the flood arrives, God speaks. He tells Noah what He had already settled in His own heart, and the way He tells him matters as much as the news.
He dealt with him as a man deals with his friend, and as God deals with a chosen sinner. "The end of all flesh is come before Me," says the Lord to Noah, telling him what had been passing in His own heart. Later, on the day of the waters, He showed the same gracious friendship. When the ark was about to float on the scene of judgment, "the Lord shut him in." He did it with His own hand.
The flood does more than end the old world. The same waters lift the ark, and one writer sees the death of Christ in that.
The flood of waters that came, covering everything, so that the end of all flesh came, is a picture of the death of Christ. In His death God passed judgment on all flesh and carried it out. The waves and billows rolled over His innocent head. He passed through death and judgment for us and has made Himself our perfect ark, our hiding place. In Him we are lifted above the waters of judgment.
One writer takes this sentence beyond the flood. God does not improve the flesh, and only two places remain where He ends it.
There can be no purifying of the flesh. God has only one way to deal with it. As He said in Genesis 6, "The end of all flesh is come before me." He deals with it either at the Cross, where faith submits to the sentence, for God, "by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, ... condemned sin in the flesh" — or else in the lake of fire.
- Cause — Corruption toward God came first. The violence that filled the earth was its visible proof.
- Verdict — God ends all flesh, not just its worst examples. It was tried, found wanting, and beyond recovery.
- Closed case — Man's testing is over, not just going badly. Two options remain: pardon or execution.
- Friendship — God told Noah what had been passing in His own heart, and later shut him in with His own hand.
- Shelter — The waters that ended the old world carried the ark. Christ passed through that judgment and is Himself the hiding place. So the flesh meets its end at the Cross or in the lake of fire.
Make thyself an ark of gopher wood [with] cells shalt thou make the ark; and pitch it inside and outside with pitch.
God tells Noah how to survive the judgment He has just announced. The answer is a wooden ark with rooms inside, sealed with pitch — and that word for pitch is the word used elsewhere for atonement.
The judgment and the way out came from the same mouth. Noah's part was to believe both.
The Lord, in this way, provided Noah with an answer to His own righteous and purposed judgment that was coming on the world before the Flood. "Make yourself an ark of gopher wood," said God to him. Noah did so, believing the word both of judgment and of deliverance, and he was safe.
God spelled out the design, down to the rooms and the single door.
Yet the grace of God would provide a refuge for those who realized their need of His grace. God instructed Noah to make a large ark of gopher wood. It was six times as long as it was wide, with three decks and rooms built in, not only for people but for animals too, and covered with pitch inside and out (v. 14). One door is mentioned, which may seem inadequate for so large a ship, but it pictures the truth that Christ alone is the door of salvation for mankind.
No one can say for sure which tree gopher wood came from. But its name stands close to the name of the pitch.
The ark is built of gopher wood. We do not know this "gopher," but the name is very close to the "copher" or "pitch" named afterward... Because of this, the gopher has long been thought to be the cypress, which could well have supplied the "pitch" for the ark's seams. The picture would then fit even better. There is no doubt that the gopher, like the acacia wood of the tabernacle ark, refers to Christ, and "copher" is the word used elsewhere for "atonement." It was not enough that the tree be cut down to provide a refuge from the waters of judgment. The seams also had to be sealed with the pitch the tree supplied. And so death by itself, even Christ's death, would not have been enough to make safe the soul that fled to Him for refuge.
The pitch did more than keep the water out.
Now there was one very interesting feature in that ark. It was covered "inside and out with pitch." That was not only to make it watertight. It would do that, of course. But it was also to teach us a great truth, even if Noah did not understand. The word "pitch" in our translation is the same word translated "atonement" seventy times in the Old Testament. Only in this one place is it translated "pitch." It means a covering — a covering God ordained and provided for the man who had found grace in His eyes. Wherever Noah looked inside the ark, he saw this covering. Wherever God looked outside the ark, He saw the covering. Atonement within, atonement without.
Everyone in that generation ended up covered by something. What differed was the covering itself.
The waters of judgment fell upon the ark, but because it was covered, not one drop touched those inside... It is significant that the waters of judgment also covered the unbelievers, but there was no atonement in that covering.
God ordered the ark sealed. He also took charge of its one door.
Remember, the Lord's own hand shut Noah and his family in the ark (Gen. 7:16), which was made judgment-proof outside and inside (Gen. 6:14). God Himself secured the door. None could enter, and none could get out. "The Lord shut him in." God took charge of the door — safety — while Noah looked out of the window above — communion.
God gave this instruction to one man for one flood. What it pictures is already finished.
As a sinner there is nothing before you but judgment... But you may find a place of safety. You say, Where is it? You do not have to prepare an ark, because God has prepared one. Christ is the place of safety now. He bore all the judgment and the wrath, rose from the dead, and is now at God's right hand.
- Word — God announced the judgment and the remedy in one breath; Noah believed both and was safe.
- Wood — the tree had to be cut down to make the refuge, a picture of Christ; but timber alone would not hold back the waters.
- Pitch — the sealing word is the word for "atonement" seventy times elsewhere. Death alone was not enough. Atonement was needed.
- Within and without — Noah saw the covering inside, and God saw it outside. The same flood that covered the unbelievers left no drop on those in the ark.
- Door — one entrance, shut by God's own hand. It pictures the one place of safety already prepared, so no one today has an ark to build.