God Shut The Door

God Shut the Door

Genesis 7:6-24  Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.

7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.13 On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark— 14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in. 17 Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved on [a]the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath [b]of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

Here is the culmination of God’s Word to Noah- the world and everything outside the Ark would be destroyed by a great flood and everything inside the Ark would be delivered. Every culture in history has a story of a great flood. This is in fact, a fact. It is not a quaint story. God flooded the earth, killing all men and beasts and at the same time saved a remnant of His creation. 8 souls of men and male/female pair of every kind of animal

The flood reveals that no word of God will go unfulfilled.

Noah built the Ark and preached to a wicked generation of men that mocked him for 120 years.  It was in the 600th year of Noah’s life, which appears to be 1656 years from the creation. Noah was now a very old man. Matthew Henry “The oldest of Christ’s soldiers must not promise themselves a discharge from their warfare till death discharge them. Still they must gird on their harness, and not boast as though they had put it off.”

And this historic event gives us some idea of the state of things when the world that now is shall be destroyed by fire, as the old world was by water-

2 Peter 3:5-7 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and [a]perdition of ungodly men.

There is coming another day of judgment where the earth will be destroyed by fire and men will be judged by the only Lord and Savior Jesus. As surely as God’s Word was fulfilled during Noah’s time, it will be fulfilled in the end.

We see in this passage, both the goodness and the severity of God—

Romans 11:22  Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, [a]goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

It is needful and prudent that we observe both God’s goodness, and His severity. He is both gracious and just. He is both loving and wrathful. Some look at the flood and see a wrathful God. I look at the flood and see a kind and loving God who loved and preserved His creation from a state of utter and complete wickedness. He is both gracious to save and just to destroy wickedness at the same time. 

Noah found grace in God’s sight.  

Genesis 6:9  These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

God in His infinite love and mercy finds a man in whom He could trust to obey His command to build an Ark to save creation and destroy the wicked at the same time.

What can we learn from this Scripture?

#1Noah did not go into the ark till God called him in. He waited for God’s command. He went into the ark. But notice that the flood would come after seven days,(v.10)  as yet there appeared no visible sign of rain,  but everything continued as it had every day.

Matthew 24:37-39  For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Noah prepared the ark by faith in the warning given that the flood would come, so he went into the Ark by faith when commanded. In every step he took, he walked by faith, and not by sight. 

During these seven days, it is likely, he was settling himself and his family in the ark, and distributing the creatures into their places. This was the conclusion of the visible sermon which Noah had been preaching for 120 years to the mocking crowds of people, and which, one would think, might have awakened them to the peril that was fast approaching.

For you-

In obedience to the gospel call, by a living faith in Christ, you are called to follow the Lord down that narrow path. When Noah came into the ark, he left his own house and land; so we too in obedience to the call of Christ must leave behind our own righteousness and our worldly possessions.

As Noah submitted to the confinements and inconveniences of the ark, in order to be saved; so those that come to Christ to be saved by Him must deny themselves and submit to His ways, whether they are convenient or inconvenient. We are not promised that our life in Christ will be comfortable and charming.

Ex: when I came out of the world, I lived in a box. That was the call- leave everything and come to Him for new life. There is a wrestling in this- we want Christ, but do not want to leave things behind in order to follow.

As Noah, you walk by faith and not by sight. We do not always know what we are building or what it will look like, we just need to know who it is for.

Imagine building a big boat for 120 years when you had never seen rain! The bible is not clear on whether or not Noah had seen rain- Earlier creation accounts tell us there was a canopy of sorts that watered the earth

Hebrews 11:7 English Standard Version

7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

By faith, you go where He sends you. You do what He asks of you. You do not need to know everything.  You must give up your right to know and understand what He is doing.

Proverbs 3:5-6 English Standard Version

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,  and he will make straight your paths.

One day, if God permits, you will look back and say, “Now I understand!” 

As Noah’s work was a visible sermon, your everyday life is preaching a sermon. What sermon are you preaching to your family, neighbors, friends, coworkers? 

#2 God does not bid him go into the ark, but come into it, implying that God would go with him, would lead him, accompany him, and in due time bring him safely out. 

In addition, The Lord shut him in, v. 16. As Noah continued his obedience to God, so God continued his care of Noah. The shutting of this door set up a partition wall between him and all the world.

God shut the door for two reasons-

1)To secure him, and keep him safe in the ark. The door must be shut with a tight seal, lest the waters should break in and sink the ark, and lest anyone on the outside should break it down. 

2)To exclude all others, and keep them forever out. The door of the ark stood open,  even during the last seven days, had they repented and believed,  I know they might have been welcomed into the ark. But after that period of grace, the door was shut, and they were cut off from all hopes of admittance: for God shuts, and none can open.

For us–

Wherever we are, whatever we do, whatever work we are called to, whatever storm we must endure; we need the presence of God with us. It was God’s presence with Noah that made the Ark a place of refuge. Without the Lord, it would have just been a floating prison going nowhere, with no aim or purpose.

You WILL go through storms in this life, it is just whether or not you will go through the storm with Him, or by yourself. 

There is storm coming and the safest place to be is in the safety of His will. 

Ex: We talk about moving from this area because it is getting darker and darker. We could sell everything and live comfortably in a small town in the south. But we would be out of God’s will. And if we are out of God’s will, we would find ourselves in the belly of a whale. The safest place to be when the flood comes is in the will of the Lord!

Like Noah, We are His special people, called to separate ourselves unto Him and Him alone

Malachi 3:1 English Standard Version

17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

There will be people and places you have to leave and separate from. You cannot be tied to the wicked and tied to the Lord at the same time. The Ark is a separation- revealing what is inside is holy and righteous and does not belong to the world.

#3 Noah spent a good part of his life building the ark, and now he was himself preserved alive in it. 

What we do in obedience to the command of God, in faith, we will reap a harvest from. 

Our labor for the Lord is never in vain!

Noah’s whole house, his wife and children, are called with him into the ark. He took all his family along with him, his wife, to be his companion and comfort, his sons, and his sons’ wives, that by them  the world of mankind, might be built up. 

Side note, here we see as in the beginning of creation one man + one woman has always been God’s original design.

To us– It is good to belong to the family of God; it is the place of safety from the coming storm. BUT we must not “circle the wagons”. Those that come into the ark themselves should bring as many as they can in with them, by any means.

Luke 14:23 English Standard Version

23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.

There is room enough in the ark for all who will come.

#4 This call to Noah was a type of the call which the gospel gives to the wicked. Christ is preparing an ark where we can be safe when death and judgment come. 

 The door of mercy will shortly be shut against those that now make light of it. Now, knock and it shall be opened; but the time will come when it shall not

 Luke 13:25 English Standard Version

25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

Imagine what terror seized on those shut out when they saw themselves surrounded by rising waters. Jesus tells us that till the very day that the flood came they were eating and drinking and living their lives as they always had. They had no other warning other than the sound of Noah’s hammer.

Luke 17:26-27 English Standard Version

26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

They were drowned in their own security before they were drowned in those waters, deaf and blind to all the divine warnings. Death surprised them when they least expected it and they would see and feel that which they would not believe and fear. They were only convinced of their wickedness when it was too late. 

 The 1995 Mayfest storm was a damaging hailstorm that struck parts of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex on May 5, 1995. It was the first singular thunderstorm with a damage toll exceeding $1 billion and at the time the costliest nontornadic thunderstorm in U.S. history.[1] Hail up to 4.5 in (11.5 cm) in diameter fell across Parker and Tarrant counties, producing hail drifts as deep as 3 ft (0.91 m) and damaging numerous buildings. The storm also struck the Fort Worth Mayfest – a local outdoor festival – pelting the roughly 10,000 people in attendance with softball-sized hail and resulting in over 60 hospitalizations. Though there were no hail-related fatalities, the combination of the slow-moving supercell that produced the hail and a larger complex of storms led to deadly flash flooding that killed 17 people in the Dallas area. Overall, 20 people were killed by the storms. 

I was in the above storm. I was with my mother and stepfather at an arts and crafts show. It was sunny all day and suddenly the wind picked up, the sky turned dark and the tornado sirens began to sound. The security cop came by and yelled, “Get out of here now! There’s a bad storm!” We ran to the parking lot and got in our vehicle. My stepdad started up the truck and no sooner did we pull out of our space, the heavenly opened and grapefruit size hail dropped. The whole thing happened in about 5 min. I watched as many that had lagged and not heeded the cop’s warning were pelted with these hail. It was frightening to say the least. We were completely unharmed (although the truck was totaled) because we headed the watchman’s word. 

Let us suppose that those outside the Ark tried all ways and means possible for their preservation, but in vain. Maybe some climb to the tops of trees or mountains, for awhile. But the flood reaches them, at last, and they are forced to die. Some, it is likely, clung to the ark, and  hoped that this may be their safety which they had so long made a mockery of. Perhaps some made it to the top of the ark; but would eventually die from the elements.

Others, maybe hoped that Noah for would give them admission into the ark, and pleaded with him; yet it was not Noah who shut the door, nor had the authority to let them in. 

God had shut the door, and Noah could not open it.

Revelation 3:7 English Standard Version

 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

Let us now pause awhile and consider the goodness and severity of God. Let your heart meditate on the terror of this destruction. 

Hebrews 10:31 English Standard Version

31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

The righteous God knows how to bring a flood upon the world of the ungodly and to rescue the righteous man at the same time

2 Peter 2:4-9 English Standard Version (watch time)

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell[a] and committed them to chains[b] of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;[c] 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,[d] and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

If you have entered that door of salvation, through the precious blood of Jesus Christ; you are in the Ark of His salvation, you are safe from any storm. Like Noah, you might be confined a bit and your comfort given up; but you are safe in the Lord’s hands. You might have to share a stall with a donkey, but there is no safer place from the coming flood. He will guide you through the rough waters and see you through to safety.

There is no better place to be.

I want to invite you tonight into the Ark. One day, the door will be shut and your opportunity to be saved from the coming wrath will be gone. Jesus said,

John 10:9 English Standard Version

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.