In my last post I dealt with some of the symbolism in Noah's ark. This time I want to talk about the second of the three arks mentioned in the Bible: the ark of Moses. At the time Moses was born Pharaoh had commanded that all newborn Hebrew males be killed (Exodus 1:16). To be more specific, "Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive" (Exodus 1:22). But Moses had a mother named Jochebed (Exodus 6:20); and the Bible says that she hid him from Pharaoh's command as long as she could (Exodus 2:2). "And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink" (Exodus 2:3). This also is a great allegory concerning God's plan of salvation.
Let's focus on Moses' mother Jochebed for just a moment. Jochebed is symbolic of the church. Jochebed was the mother of Moses; and the church "is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:26). Jochebed was busy working to save her son Moses from the wrath of Pharaoh; and the church is busy preaching "to save them which believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21). Jochebed was trying to save her son from death; so the church is trying to save sinners, "pulling them out of the fire" (Jude 23) of hell. Notice this: Jochebed provided the environment for Moses' salvation. If Jochebed had not made "for him an ark of bulrushes", Moses surely would have died. In like manner, the church acts as God's earthly agent for salvation. The church provides the environment for sinners to be saved; it acts as the place where God meets man and heaven meets earth. That is why the Bible says that "the Spirit and the bride say come" (Revelation 22:17). The bride is a figurative word for the church. God says "Come", for he is the heavenly and ultimate agent of our salvation; but the church says "Come" in that she is the earthly agent of our salvation, working to bring the lost to God.
But let's continue the story. Jochebed took Moses and put him in this ark, and placed it in the river. The Bible says that Pharaoh's daughter found the Moses "and had compassion on him" (Exodus 2:6). Moses' sister just happened to be close by, and asked Pharaoh's daughter if she would like a nurse to care for Moses. And by an awesome turn of events Moses ended up right back at his mother's house!! This demonstrates to me the nurturing care of the church. Just as it was Jochebed's job to care for baby Moses before he went to Pharaoh's palace, so it is the church's job to care for "babes in Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:1) and help them to grow up in the truth.
The Hebrew name Jochebed means "the glory of Jehovah". This furthers the allegory all the more, because the church is connected to God's glory in the scriptures. Paul was talking about God when he said "unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen" (Ephesians 3:21, emphasis added). Paul was speaking to the church at Colosse when he said "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (Colossians 3:4, emphasis added). When Paul described God's work of establishing a people and a church among the Gentiles he described it like this: "the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:26-27, emphasis added). At the end of time the church is described in Revelation 21:11 as "having the glory of God"!! Jehovah intends for the church to be a reflection of his glory; and Jochebed's name is a perfect symbol of this.
So what does all of this teach us about salvation? If we are going to be saved, we must have a connection with the church. I know at this point I probably sound a little Roman Catholic: "If you are not a part of the church, and unless you do things just the way we tell you to, then you are a heretic!!!" But that is not what I am meaning. The church was God's idea. He created the church to be his tool to save the world; it was the church that he told to "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations" (Matthew 28:19). It is impossible to come to God the Father without coming to the Church the Mother. Let me give a counterexample that, though imperfect, may explain what I mean. Let us say that we are in a desert country and the only water in the area is a lake across the hill. It is impossible to go to the water without going to the lake, because the water is IN the lake. In the same way, this sinful world is like a desert land; and God dwells in the church (2 Chronicles 36:15, Psalm 22:3). So it is impossible to come to God without coming to the church. Perhaps this is why David cried "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary" (Psalm 63:1-2).
So, let's learn from this second ark. God used Jochebed to give Moses salvation from death. And let's allow the church to give us the salvation from death that God offers. ~CJK
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