What is gopher wood? We do not know for sure, but we do know that God specified it, and Noah used it (Gen. 6:22). Evidently, it was sufficiently strong to make a large vessel capable of accommodating two—sometimes seven—of every species of bird and land-based creature. Yet Noah could also work with it: cut, shape, and fit it together to form the ark.

God instructed Noah to cover the ark inside and out with pitch, or tar, to waterproof it. He also prescribed its dimensions (v. 15): 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high (135 m × 22 m × 13 m). These make the ark one of the largest wooden vessels ever built and perfectly proportioned. And to cap it, there was a window—a place of light—in its roof (v. 16). The door in its side gave access to rooms on three decks.

The ark was divinely designed for taking Noah and his family safely though the flood. They symbolize, no doubt, the remnant of Israel during the tribulation in contrast to the Church snatched from the earth to keep her “out of the hour of trial,” like Enoch (Rev. 3:10; Gen. 5:24). But the apostle Peter applies the story of their passage through the water to Christian baptism (1 Pet. 3:20–21). In baptism we freely acknowledge that we have escaped the judgment we deserve by believing on the Lord Jesus, whose resurrection is proof of the efficacy of His death for us. This has a practical saving effect on us, as the apostle goes on to show in the succeeding verses.

The Lord Jesus is the true ark. The wood speaks of His strength to save, the pitch of the sufficiency of His atoning work, the decks and rooms of the abundance of His provision, the window of the link He gives us with heaven, and the door of opportunity open to all to enter into God’s blessing and be saved by the obedience of faith, while it is still the day of grace (Jn. 10:9; Rom. 1:5; Heb. 11:7).