As a new school year has begun, Rev Foster has been asked to speak at two morning assembly meetings. His theme for 2015-16 is DV, "Pictures of Christ in the Bible." The fourth Picture of Christ Noah's Ark "Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it," Genesis 6:14-16. It is called Noah's ark but it was really the Lord's 1. He it was Who conceived the idea of such a vessel and Who designed it. A. It was made of gopher wood. It is likely that it is is another name for the Cypress tree which is very suitable for ship building, it being very durable. B. It was designed for the comfort and safety of its occupants. The word is elsewhere translated 'nests'. Noah and his family and the animals were to have apartments and a place to store provisions. C. It was storm-proof. " . . . pitch it within and without with pitch." The word 'pitch' is translated in other places by the word 'atonement'! (Ie. Leviticus 1:4.) This helps us understand just what atonement means. It means a covering. The ark was covered in pitch. That is what God saw when He looked down and what Noah saw when he looked up. So when we are under the blood of atonement it is the same. God sees the blood and not our sin and we see the blood and not our sin.