Ark Prophesies Resurrection

Would you ever imagine that Jesus was resurrected on the same day Noah’s ark landed on the “mountains of Ararat”?

“And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4).

It gives a whole other meaning to be writing this blog in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month (7/17/2011). This date has more importance than you probably ever realized! Please keep reading.

There’s no doubt the story of “Jonah and the whale” has received almost as much ridicule as “Noah and the ark.” The story of Jonah is linked to the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus. The story of Jonah and the whale also was a prophesy of the resurrection of Jesus: “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). Jonah’s name in Hebrew actually means “dove”. Significance is given to his name when he is saved from drowning, not in an ark, but in a great whale prepared by God (Jonah 1:17). The meaning of Jonah’s name and the fact he was saved from the waters commemorates God’s saving grace, just as it did with Noah after the flood when a dove returned to the ark with an olive branch.

Jesus used Johan’s experience in the belly of the whale, just as He had with Noah in the chambers of the ark, as a warning of the coming judgment: “The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here” (Luke 11:32).

We can conclude, based on Matthew 12:40 that the duration of Jesus’ death was prophesied (“three days and three nights”) through the story of Jonah and the whale. What’s surprising to discover is that His resurrection was prophesied in the story of Noah’s ark! Genesis 8:4 tells us precisely when the ark of Noah came to rest: “… and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.”

The Bible is clear that Jesus was crucified and died on the Passover (Mark14:12). The date of the Passover was the fourteenth day of the seventh month in the civil year. Three days later (His resurrection) from the fourteenth day of the seventh month would be the seventeenth day of the seventh month, which is the same day Noah’s ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat! Jesus was resurrected the same day Noah’s ark came to rest! Noah’s ark prophesies the day Jesus was resurrected!

You may be asking, “Isn’t the Passover the first month of the year (Nisan)?” You have to go back and study the scriptures for the answer. Upon studying Exodus 12:2 and 13:4, we see that God changed the Jewish calendar and made Abib the first month of their calendar year.

So, how do this all make sense? It’s very simple: Abib was originally the seventh month of the Jewish year, then God made Abib the first month of the year. Then the name was changed from Abib to Nisan. We know this by comparing Exodus 12:2 to Esther 3:7. Here’s an easy example: We have a month called July, the seventh month of the year. However, the Israelite’s under God’s command change July to the first month of the year. Then, the name was changed from July (Abib) to Nisan. It was once the seventh month of the year, but now it’s just been given a new number. Since Abib was the seventh month, it would also have been the same month in which Noah’s ark rested on the mountains of Ararat.

By comparing Exodus 12:18-19 with Esther 3:7 we learn that Nisan 14 is the day on which God had commanded the Israelites to celebrate the passover. Three days later, on the day of Jesus’ resurrection, Noah’s ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

Is it by random chance that Jesus was resurrected on the same day Noah’s ark came to rest? Absolutely not! The first Ark, which saved Noah and his family from God’s judgment, was only a boat made of wood. The second Ark was given to us over 2000 years later when Jesus defied death, raised from the dead and stood before the masses to proclaim He was the Truth and the new Ark. He solidified this point by offering rest in His new ark the same day Noah’s ark rested on the “mountains of Ararat.” Those who reject Jesus remain in their sins, and will soon experience the next great judgment to come, not by water, but by fire (2 Peter 3:7)