God Closed the Door of the Ark (Gen. 7:11-16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/27/2006

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  God closed the door of the ark

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 7:11-16

            Message of the verse:  “11 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.  12 The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

13 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, 14 they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds.  15 So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life.  16 Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him.

Verses 11 and 12 gives the date as to when the flood began.  In this section of Dr. Wiersbe’s book he brings out the argument of a universal flood as opposed to a local flood and brings out many points to support the universal flood.  This is the view that I have always taken and probably always will, because I believe it is what the Bible teaches.

I have written before that I think that the Bible clearly teaches that it never rained upon the earth before God sent this flood so when it began to rain at this point no one had ever seen it before and this probably was why the people did not believe that this would happen.  Verse eleven points out that not only did it rain but that the floodgates of the sky were opened and the fountains of the great deep burst open, which makes me believe that the earth was very different than the one that we can see today.  Many scholars believe that the earth had a great water vapor bearer over it to protect the earth from the damage of the sun, and because of this the people of that era lived such a long time.  The earth was probably all tropical at this time for there have been tropical fossils found in Antarctic and also there have been found elephants their buried in the ice with food still in their mouths, which leads many to believe that when this great flood came that the earth was tilted on its axis and there would have been an instant freeze on the poles of the earth.

Verses 13-15 tells who and what was in the ark and in verse 16 the statement is made that the LORD closed the ark door behind Noah and the rest on board.

4/1/2020 10:03 AM  I mentioned that my wife and I went to see the “Ark Encounter” a couple of years ago and I remember what happened the day that it was first opened to the public where what was probably an unbelieving reporter stated that “of course it began to rain as soon as the park opened for the first time.”  This is a wonderful place to visit and to see the different videos and displays that Ken Ham’s crew made for people to understand that this really happened  and the main point of the presentation is to get the gospel out to people who may not have another opportunity to hear it.  4/1/2020 10:06 AM

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The statement that jumped out at me this morning was that God closed the door and it seems to me that that statement and the one that Jesus cried out from the cross just before he died have some things that are similar.  Jesus cried out “It is finished,” which means that salvation was now complete; the way for man to come to God had been paid for.  When God shut the door of the ark the way of salvation for all those who were in the ark was complete and they would be saved from the coming judgment of the Lord on the wicked generation that was around them.       

God was the One who did the work of saving Noah and his family by giving them the instructions to build the ark and also calling the animals to go to the ark so that the animals would be able to continue to live on the earth and then by shutting the door behind them.  Jesus Christ did the work for salvation by dying on the cross something that no man could have done so because of this work of the Lord I am able to have this great salvation and be accepted by the Lord into His family and live my life to accomplish the work that He has for me to do and one day be in heaven with Him forever.

The Word of God again brought refreshment to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord with the difficulties that have come my way and also to continue to trust the Lord for the outcome of the operation that I am to have a week from this coming Tuesday, and to continue to trust the Lord to teach me contentment.