Noah
Noah (= rest), the righteous man whose ark saved eight souls from the flood (Gen. 6-8), is identified by Noordzij as a type of Jesus Christ. Noah’s name means “rest” — the same invitation Jesus extended: “Come to me, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). The ark is the type of Christ himself, and the eight ark-dwellers are the type of those who are “in Christ.” Jones adds that Noah’s three doves are the type of the three feast days (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles) and of the three phases of the Spirit.
Biblical Anchoring
| Reference | Context |
|---|---|
| Gen. 5:29 | ”He called him Noah, saying, ‘This one shall bring us relief from our work‘“ |
| Gen. 6:8-9 | ”Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD… a righteous man, blameless in his generation” |
| Gen. 8:6-12 | The three doves Noah sent out — prophetic type of the three feast ages |
| Matt. 11:28-29 | ”Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” — Christ as antitype of Noah (= rest) |
| 1Pet. 3:20-21 | ”Eight souls were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this (antitupon), now saves you” |
| Heb. 11:7 | ”By faith Noah… constructed an ark for the saving of his household” |
Typological Treatment by Author
Noordzij
Noordzij develops the Noah typology extensively in De ark van Noach. The identification begins with the meaning of the name: “Noah” means rest, and Jesus is the rest for those who come to him. The ark — built as a shelter from the coming judgment — is the type of Christ himself:
“For just as in the days of Noah (=rest) God is now building an ‘ark’ as a ‘shelter’ for what will happen when a ‘new earth’ comes, a ‘new order’. The ‘ark’ now is ‘the Christ’, with Jesus as our ‘Noah’. He says: ‘Come to Me, I will give you rest’.”1
The eight ark-dwellers are for Noordzij the type of those who are “in Christ.” Whoever knows the spiritual truths of the numbers of the ark lives with Noah “in the ark” — in Christ:
“Whoever knows the spiritual truths of the numbers 300, 50 and 30 in his own life is with Noah ‘in the ark’, ‘in Christ’. ‘He who overcomes (=300) shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he shall be my son (=30)’ (Rev. 21:7).”2
Even now God is building an ark as a shelter for the “hour of trial” — a call that confirms Noah’s ark-building as type:
“God also wants an ‘ark’ to be built now for the ‘eight’, as a shelter for the ‘hour of trial’ that will cover the whole ‘earth’. […] For the glory of the ‘eight ark-dwellers’, of those who are ‘in Christ’, will be for the salvation of an entirely ‘new’ creation (Rom. 8:19-21).”3
Jones
Jones emphasizes Noah’s three doves as a prophetic type of the three feasts and the three outpourings of the Spirit. The third dove that did not return corresponds to the completion of the Spirit-experience:
“The Feast of Tabernacles correlates with Noah’s third dove. It is the last anointing, for it represents the fullness of the Spirit poured out, wherein we see the redemption of the body (Rom. 8:23). At this outpouring, you receive the true inheritance that was lost in Adam: the glorified body.”4
Related Types
- Connected: adam (Adam as the figure whose lost inheritance is typologically restored through Noah’s ark)
- Connected: feast-of-tabernacles (Noah’s third dove as type of the Feast of Tabernacles and the fullness of the Spirit)
- Via number symbolism: 8 (Eight ark-dwellers as type of a new beginning “in Christ”)
Footnotes
Footnotes
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Noordzij, De ark van Noach, §Introduction — Noah (=rest) as type of Jesus; the ark as type of Christ; “Come to Me, I will give you rest.” ↩
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Noordzij, De ark van Noach, §Finally — Numbers of the ark (300/50/30) as types of “in Christ”; Rev. 21:7. ↩
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Noordzij, De ark van Noach, §As in the Days of Noah — Eight ark-dwellers as type of those in Christ; Rom. 8:19-21. ↩
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Jones, Secrets of Time, ch. 3 — Noah’s three doves as type of the three feast ages; third dove = Feast of Tabernacles = redemption of the body. ↩