“But Noah found favor with the Lord.” Genesis 6:8
Wickedness and lawlessness had taken over to the point that God had regretted, for a moment, that he had even made mankind. A re-do was in order, but for the sake of a covenant, He could not destroy all of mankind. He needed at least one that He could consider righteous and that one was Noah.
Noah’s salvation would be found in an ark, and just like that, our salvation would be found in an ark too. But not an ark made of wood and tar, but an Ark made of flesh and bone that carried within Him the name of the Lord. This Ark would be Jesus. The name Jesus literally means “Jehovah is Salvation.”As Noah and his family ran into the ark to be saved from judgement, you and I must run to Jesus to be saved. As Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower;The righteous run to it and are safe.”
Noah found favor with God because he was found to be righteous in God’s eyes. And he was found to be righteous in God’s eyes because of how he lived his life free from sin and the entanglements of the world around him. You and I have found favor with God because of Jesus, who lived a sinless, perfect and righteous life. Just as we were “all made sinners because of the first Adam,” so we all have been made righteous by the second Adam, Jesus.
The dove came back with an olive branch which symbolizes peace. Noah had found peace with God because God had been satisfied after judging the world through the flood. The dove of the Holy Spirit rested on Jesus symbolizing that Jesus had found peace with God through His righteousness.
You and I can live in continual peace knowing that we are free from the judgement to come and all because of Jesus, our Ark of the New Covenant.