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THE WITNESS OF THE ANIMALS In addition to the animals on Noah’s ark picturing the peaceful animal kingdom of the millennium, they also picture people from the gentile nations coming to Christ in the church age. We know this from Acts 10:9-15: “On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” The whole lesson here was that Peter needed to preach to the Gentiles, not just the Jews, so God illustrated it by giving Peter unclean animals to eat in a vision, animals that pictured Gentiles, just as they do throughout the Bible (goats, pigs, dogs, vipers, asses, etc.). Now, let’s get the full picture. The animals filing into Noah’s ark two-by-two were a witness to the entire world that something very different was about to happen. Yet, people ignored this witness and perished in their sins when judgment came. Only those in the ark were safe. Likewise, the unsaved world has been seeing sinners come to Christ for nearly two thousand years, yet they have ignored this witness and have perished in their sins. The final generation prior to Jesus’ return will also ignore the witness of the saved and perish in their sins when God’s judgment strikes the earth. Only those in Christ will be safe.