I HAVE CHANGED THE POST FOR THIS DAY BECAUSE I HAD ACCIDENTALLY POSTED THE WRONG DATE'S PASSAGE. THIS IS THE CORRECT ONE IN ORDER OF THE STUDY.
Continuing our look at Noah, let’s review yesterday’s info and then move on. In his time, “Noah was… the only blameless person living on earth” (Genesis 6:9, NLT). Things were so bad, in fact, that “the Lord was sorry He had ever made” humans (Genesis 6:6). Even so, God remembered Noah and promised: “I will confirm My covenant with you” (Genesis 6:18a).
So Noah, 500 miles from the nearest significant body of water, spent the next century or more of his life building a humongous boat. And even though the people around him surely thought him a lunatic, he kept right on doing “everything exactly as God had commanded him” (Genesis 6:22 and 7:5).
And when the flood came (see Genesis 7:11), Noah’s family and everything else the Lord had instructed Noah to bring along, went into the ark and “Then the Lord closed the door behind them” (Genesis 7:16b).
Two things to think about here:
(1) Noah built the ark with a door too big and heavy to close. With it open, Noah and his entire family and all of the creatures God had instructed him to bring along would be drowned. Everything Noah had worked so long and hard on would be for nothing. They were helpless. But Noah trusted the Lord. Only God could take care of that part of the plan – He had to be the One to close the door. If God gives you a vision, you don’t have to worry about the things you can’t do for yourself – God expects you to do your part and trust Him to do the rest.
(2) Just as Noah couldn’t close the door, he couldn’t open it either – until God said to (see Genesis 8:18). Crazy ol’ Noah didn’t look so crazy when the rest of the world didn’t have time to take swimming lessons. I would imagine that everyone who could get near that ark was beating on the sides and pleading for Noah to take them in before they drowned. But Noah couldn’t. God shut that door and it could only be opened again in God’s perfect timing.
With all that under our belts, let’s take a look at John 10:7b: “I assure you: I am the door of the sheep” (HCSB). Jesus identifies Himself as “the door.” And in case His listeners missed it the first time, He repeated it: “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved” (John 10:9a, NASB).
What we see in the account of the flood is God’s eternal plan for the salvation of mankind: Jesus. Those who entered through “the door” were saved. Then God, not man, closed that opportunity and those outside the ark perished.
Notice that there were a whole lot less people IN the ark than OUTSIDE the ark. I fear that the same is true today. A. W. Tozer said he believed that 90 percent of the people sitting in church were lost. Billy Graham put that percentage at 85. Either way, it’s a terrifying thought.
Church membership doesn’t save you. Knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior saves you. And the proof of that commitment is in your daily living. Do you know Him?
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