...and the Lord shut him in...

“…and the Lord shut Him in…and only Noah remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.” – Genesis 7v16,23

I am so glad to read these words – “And the Lord shut him in.” It is one of those phrases that we can just pass over as part of a very familiar historical event. There are many great lessons in the account of the flood, but today we are going to focus on this one thing – “and the Lord shut Him in.”

Why is this little phrase so important? I think it puts God’s role of deliverance in perspective. In 1 Peter 3v20 the ark is used to illustrate salvation. Noah and his family had faith in God, they acted upon their faith by building and boarding the ark as their only hope of deliverance. The way out of destruction was there, but only eight people trusted it enough to act. When they boarded the ark their role in deliverance was done. Then, God shut the door and they were the only ones to survive.

God does the same thing in salvation. He calls us to allow others to know they way if deliverance – in essence we “build an ark” when we share the gospel with others. Noah spent 120 years building an ark. At the end of that time only he and his family accepted God’s way of salvation. Today we know that strait is the gate and narrow is the path that leads to salvation and there are few that follow it.

The great comfort comes in the knowledge that those who enter in are sealed as assuredly as Noah and his family were when God shut the door. When God shuts the door it is shut, deliverance has been made. When I got saved God “shut the door” behind me. Praise God that He shut me in! The closing of the door was His work, not mine. Therefore I can be assured that His work was final – there can be no undoing on my part. That is why Jesus can say “I will never leave thee or forsake thee.”

Thank you Lord that you closed the door of my salvation. No matter what comes across my path that is not going to change!