Jump Start # 3367

Genesis 7:16 “Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him.”

I recently took a friend to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky. It is outstanding. It is massive. Life-sized ark. Lots of facts. Lots of information. Lots of things most of us never thought about such as how did they feed the animals or deal with waste. It’s a must trip that everyone ought to take.

One of the information signs estimated the human population at the time of the flood. No one knows for sure, but based upon some genealogies in early Genesis, at a population growth rate of 1.2%, the low estimate was over 730,000 people. At a growth rate of 1.4%, the upper estimate was 19 billion people. Those numbers are staggering.

Then it hit me. There are people on both sides of that ark door that will be in Heaven. Of course, on the inside was Noah, and his family. He’s listed in Hebrews 11 as one who gained approval. But on the outside of that ark door, killed by the wrath of God, would be innocent children and babies who never sinned. Inside the ark and outside the ark, but together in Heaven. Now, that’s a thought I have never really pondered before.

Consider for a moment:

First, there are many who would worship the Lord if they could but they are prohibited. Parents who do not believe keep their children away from God. A spouse who pressures his or her mate to stay home and away from the Lord and His people. Tragically, these situations are like a spiritual prison. Beyond their control they live in darkness because of others. Their lives would be so different if the Lord was invited into those homes. Many grow up with no direction and the only examples they see are the wrong examples. Anger, hatred, gossip, indecency are as common as food on the table. Habits of lying and dishonesty are praised and bragged about. A culture of wrong is all some children see.

Second, the Lord knew about the children outside the ark. His love would invite them even though at the same time His wrath destroyed their parents. Love and wrath together, something we have a hard time with. For us, it’s one or the other, and it’s never at the same time. As the children outside the ark died, their pure souls would be lifted heavenward. They were not forgotten. They were not ignored. God knows.

Third, this isn’t the only occasion where wrath and love come together. At Sodom. At the destruction of Jericho. Even, the second coming, illustrate this mix of love and wrath. Heaven and Hell. Saved and lost. The modern church has no tolerance for a wrathful, just God. Hell has evaporated from most sermons. And, as they define love, it’s become do and be whatever you want. The honor of the Lord has been ignored.

What a responsibility to raise our children to know the Lord. What a shame it is to keep them from the Lord.

Both sides of the ark door—yet together in Heaven.

Roger

Jump Start # 2921

Genesis 7:16 “Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind them.”

The other day I went looking for a door. It wasn’t just any door, it was a special door, an antique door. Several years ago, my dad, my two brothers, my sister and myself were at a small town festival where dad grew up. We ran into this guy that my dad knew. I would have walked right past him. After chit-chatting with him, he said that he had a door that was on my great or great-great grandfather’s house. It was up in his attic. He pointed specifically to me and said that he wanted me to have it. Great, let’s work it out. Years past. My dad died. This guy, now 99 years old came to dad’s burial. He since passed away. They had an auction at his farm and I went. I thought maybe that door would be there. I sure didn’t fit in that crowd and I think they knew that because they all kept starring at me. Bib overalls, scraggly beards, worn out dirty pickups, they all probably knew that I was a city boy and not one of them.

Our verse today is also about a door. It’s one of the most important doors. It was the door to the ark. The animals were inside. Noah and his family were inside. The Lord shut the door. Salvation was on the inside and death and doom were on the outside. The rain fell. The deep opened up. I expect as the flood waters rose, some people ran to the top of hills. Some likely tried to get up mountains. And a few would have gone to the ark. The door was shut. God had shut the door. As the waters rose, they likely pounded and pounded on that ark door. They would have hollered and screamed at Noah to open that door. But it was closed. It remained closed.

In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, another door was closed. The wise were inside where the wedding was taking place. The foolish, having gone to get more oil, were on the outside of that door. They cried and wanted to be let in. The door remained closed. They were too late. They missed out.

Doors—one side is safety and other side is trouble and peril. One side is joy and happiness. The other side is tears, remorse and fear. And, what separates those two sides is a door. What separates the living from the dead is a door, only a door. A door that swings only one way.

Now some thoughts:

First, some might think that it’s not fair that some are on the inside and others are on the outside. Back in the 1800’s the theory of Universalism was extremely popular. The moderns preached that. That idea was the basis of many debates in the late 1800’s. Universalism died out. Today, it has been resurrected, but most don’t recognize it as universalism. Everyone is saved, except for the most vile and wicked of our times. One doesn’t have to believe, practice or even go to worship. One can drink. One can commit adultery. It’s ok, we are told. We all make mistakes. Have fun. Be nice when you can. Give a little now and then. Heaven is yours. Nothing about Jesus. Nothing about discipleship. Nothing about commitment or a changed life. People today just want to take that door of the hinges and not have any doors. What you believe and who you believe really doesn’t matter. Without a door, we all are going to make it. My that’s sweet. But it is certainly not Biblical. The door to the ark was shut. The door to the wedding feast was shut. There were two sides to that door. One side was salvation and the other side was lost.

Second, not only do people want to remove the door, but if a door must remain, then they want to be the one who decides who gets in. And, once again, Universalism rises up again. They’ll let anyone in. They’ll let everyone in. And, you hear this as people begin sentences with, “Well, I think…” And, somehow, what they think matters. What they think becomes the standard. What they think determines which side of the door people will be on. Once again, missing from a conversation like that is, “God says…” “Here is a passage that explains who will be saved.” They don’t say those things. They are not aware of those things. They don’t care about those things. They only care about what they want.

Third, there are periods of time when the doors are open and opened widely. It was that way with the ark. It was that way with the wedding feast parable. The doors were opened and people could have entered. An open door is an invitation. An open door welcomes. Come into the ark. Come to the wedding feast. God was inviting. God was hopeful. God wanted them to come.

There are some doors that are not opened to us. Unless you have a lot of money, don’t even apply to Harvard. Unless you have great ability don’t even show up at an NFL tryout session. Unless you can sing, don’t go try to get on TV programs that are based upon singing. Some doors are closed and will always be closed to us.

God’s way has never been that way. The great commission was to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every person. Every person could become a disciple. Every person could be saved. Every person would find an opened door to the Lord. Samaritans, tax collectors, lepers, outcasts, misfits, unwanted, unloved, unwelcomed, all of them would find a door to the Lord opened. This is how you and I got in. It wasn’t our great looks. It wasn’t our ability. It wasn’t our knowledge. It was finding God’s grace that led to His opened door.

Back to the auction the other day. I got up real early and drove over two hours to be there. The items were old, rusty, and in poor condition. Wagons full of stuff. Tons of stuff. And against a tree stood an old wooden door. I went over and looked at it. I looked at one side and then the other side. I never saw anyone that was connected to the family that I could ask. Was that the door? It started to rain, and there were so many items to go through that I didn’t want to wait until they came to that door. I left. I didn’t stick around. I don’t know if that was the door of my family. It didn’t look special. It was just a plain brown door. I went to dad’s grave and put grass seed on it. I drove home without any second thoughts. There’s another door that I’m more interested in. It’s the door to Heaven. That’s the door I’m after.

Roger

Jump Start # 1803

Genesis 7:16 “Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him.”

This week we have been looking at Noah and the flood. Skeptics are unable to believe in the flood account. They either dismiss this as a localized flood or more so, myths and fables that have been shared among different cultures that eventually made it’s way into the Bible record. Both theories are easily dismissed. Both lack faith in what God can do. Both are attempts to discredit the Bible.

There are literally dozens and dozens of flood stories from around the world. Although most differ in detail, there is a common thread found in all of them. A family, with some animals, are saved in a boat. Instead of believing that someone edited these stories and put them in the Bible, the opposite may be more true. The Bible story really happened and as cultures spread, so did the story and in time, each place added their own little twist to the original. Fossil evidence, inverted rock strata, formation of coal beds throughout the world, and the internal proofs for the word of God all point to the truthfulness of what happened. Jesus believed in the flood story. He referred to it in His teachings. If the flood didn’t really happen, then what other pages of the Bible didn’t really happen? That’s where the skeptics want us to go. They want us to rip apart the pages about a judgment, an eternal Hell and just live carefree however we please.

In the section of Genesis seven, where our verse today comes from, twice a reference is made to an exact day.

• In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, ON THE SAME DAY all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the floodgates of the sky were opened (7:11)
• ON THE VERY SAME DAY Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark (7:13)

Our verse shortly after says that God closed the door. It was God who closed it, not Noah.

The impression I get is that Noah and his family entered the ark. The door was closed. Then the skies let loose. Sometimes, through artwork, we may get the idea that it was sprinkling and Noah and the animals were making their way into the ark and some people were gathered around chit-chatting. That thought isn’t supported by the text. Noah got in. The door was shut. Then it rained.

Two important thoughts here:

First, God closing the door. Did Noah stand just inside the door to get one final look? What went through Noah’s mind? As far as we can tell, God didn’t tell Noah how long he would be in the ark. Every single person Noah saw, aside from his family, would die. He would never see them again. Noah was a good man. I expect he had friends. The door was closed.

That expression takes us to the parable of the wise and foolish virgins in Matthew. The foolish ran out of oil. The groom came, the wedding celebration began. The door was shut. The foolish showed up and couldn’t get in. The banged on the door wanting entrance, but it wasn’t granted.

I expect when the waters came forth, that people made it to the ark and pounded on the door. Did Noah hear that? What feelings that must have raced through his mind. Noah had preached as he built the ark. No one believed. No one changed. No one listened. I expect he was laughed at and ridiculed. People probably poked fun of the ark. But what a difference, once the door was shut and the waters came. Will it be any different when Jesus comes? People laugh, mock and ridicule what Jesus stood for. People have no time for Jesus. But a day will come, much like the flood, and then it will be too late.

Second, this section of Genesis tells us that “all the fountains of the great deep burst open.” Water came from above and below. The “bursting open” is what amazes me. From the ocean floors, from within the land, water didn’t trickle out, it burst out. Thinking this out, it sounds like massive earthquakes took place. Looking at a globe, the continents look like puzzle pieces that are so shaped that it appears that they fit together. In the creation account, in Genesis 1, we read, “Then God said, ’Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear” (9). The waters below the heavens are not in ONE PLACE today. We have the seven seas. There are massive lakes all around the world. There are islands. Could the bursting open imply the moving of land? If so, the landscape after the flood looked different than the land before the flood. Peter says the first world was destroyed by water. He then refers to the present world. If all this is true, Noah’s ride in the ark may not have been a smooth luxury ride. Violent earthquakes would cause large tsunamis, rapid death and a display of God’s judgment upon a sinful world.

Modern picture books about the ark shows animals sticking their heads out of windows, everyone is smiling and it’s just a pleasant boat ride. Don’t think so. I’m sensing some scary moments, a lot of praying, and a lot of wondering what was on the other side of that door.

It’s hard to imagine that massive door. God closed it. On the inside, was faith, righteousness and life. On the outside, was terror, condemnation, and death. One door separated life from death. Which side of the door a person was on, made all the difference. It was not a matter of getting in the right line. The choices in life, determined which side of the door one was on. Noah chose God. The world didn’t. Noah chose to live righteously. The world didn’t. Noah walked with God. The world walked in their own ways. Then a door was shut. Inside, life. Outside, death.

That image is exactly what is taking place today. We are, by our choices, either on the inside with God or on the outside with the world. The world is having a blast. Partying, laughing, indifferent to a massive door that separates them from the righteous. The pleas to come to Christ are ignored. Too busy. Having too much of a good time. Dancing with Satan, the fun will someday stop when the Lord closes the door. Then it will be too late. It will be too late for sermons. It will be too late to go to church. It will be too late to “find God.” It will simply be too late. On one side of the door will be life. On the other side will be death. The story of Noah will be repeated. Instead of water, it will be the fires of judgment.

Which side of the door are you on?

Roger