The Ark of Salvation

The early church often employed the imagery of Noah’s ark when speaking about the church. The church is the ark of salvation. It is the visible church that God has ordained as the ordinary means by which He gathers, protects, and grows His people.

No Christian is an island. No Christian is a Lone Ranger. There is not even a Lone-Ranger-and-Tonto Christianity. When we come to Christ, we are saved unto God and also unto one another. He saves us to Himself and into a body—the church.

God’s mission in the world is to redeem a people for His glory. The Son came into the world to accomplish this redemption to the glory of the Father. The Father and the Son then sent the Spirit to apply that redemption and empower the people of God—the church—to participate in this mission.

When we are called to Christ, we are called into the mission of Christ: making known on earth His saving power among all the nations. We are blessed to be a blessing.

Jesus declare that He has come “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). That is His mission. Then He says to His disciples, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17). Their mission is His mission. We often treat this phrase as a clever play on words, since Peter, Andrew, James, and John were fishermen. But the context of Mark 1 reveals something much greater. The kingdom of God has broken into this world in the person of the King. Just before calling these men, Jesus announces, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (v. 15).

The phrase “fishers of men” carries Old Testament reverberations. In several places, God Himself is the fisher of men, and the scene is often judgment. For example, in Ezekiel 29, God declares judgment against Egypt, saying that He will put hooks in their jaws and cast them into the wilderness with the fish of their streams. Similarly, Habakkuk 1 portrays mankind as fish caught in nets, which leads to the promise of Habakkuk 2:14: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Psalm 67 captures the same global vision by reminding us to pray that God’s face would shine on us so that His way would be known and His saving power proclaimed among the nations. The kingdom of God is at hand because Jesus has come. Judgment is on the horizon. Yet salvation is present, for the coming Judge is also the Savior. Jesus calls out, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

Those who receive mercy are sent with that mercy: “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (v. 17). “Go therefore and make disciples” (Matt. 28:19). The blessed are sent to bless so that God’s saving power may be known among the nations. What does this have to do with the church? The church is both the object of mission and the agent of mission.

First, the church is the object of mission—the people who receive blessing. Scripture piles up images to describe this reality: The church is the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, and the flock cared for by Christ. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, those who are in Christ are a new creation. The age to come has broken into the present in the lives of those united to Him.

Christ came into the world to save His church. He sends those He saves into the world to gather it in. As an outpost of the kingdom, the church stands as a visible display of the grace of God. It is a city set on a hill—a lighthouse in a dark world, showing the way to life for all who see it.

In the church, hostility is gone. Rebels become children, strangers inherit, and enemies find peace. When the church dwells together in unity and grace, the reign of Christ is displayed before a watching world. Our life together declares that God truly saves sinners. It proclaims that His way is known on earth and His saving power among the nations. But the church is also the agent of mission. Christ continues His saving work through His people. The Spirit-empowered, Word-proclaiming church is sent into the world to gather others into the ark.

The Great Commission calls us to make disciples, bringing people to Christ and teaching them to follow Him. At the beginning of Acts, Luke writes that his first volume described all that Jesus “began to do and teach” (1:1). He continues to act and teach by His Spirit in and through His church.

The blessed become a blessing. The church proclaims the knowledge of God’s saving power so that the nations will praise Him. Thus, the more we love Christ, the more we will love His bride. This truth appears beautifully in John 21 when Jesus restores Peter after his denial. Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him. Each time He responds with a command: “Feed my lambs”; “Tend my sheep”; “Feed my sheep” (vv. 15–19).

The same remains true for us. Do not simply attend church. Love the church. Serve the church. Worship Christ with the church. Encourage the church. Pray for the church. Be the church. It is the ark of salvation—the place where the Lord ordinarily gathers, protects, and grows His people.

Yet many believers carry real wounds from the church. Some have been hurt by leaders, others by fellow members. God’s people are still worth loving, however. They are even worth the risk of further pain. We can say this because they were worth Christ’s dying for them. If they were worth His death, they are worth our lives.

You need the church. You need the means of grace. You need the diversity of the body. You need the oversight of elders. The young need the wisdom of the old. Children need to see faith lived by others besides their parents. The sick need the healthy to remind them that burdens are shared, and the healthy need the sick to remind them that life is brief. We are urged to gather together all the more “as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb. 10:25). What we experience now is only an appetizer of the great banquet to come, which we will share together.