The Lord Shut Him In
Article by Russ Grinter
Sometimes the smallest detail says so much, and in the biggest flood in human history - it’s the detail of who shut the door.
On Sunday we watched such dramatic scenes unfold from the pages of Scripture, in Genesis 6-8. We watched the way in which the LORD God saved Noah (and his household) through judgement. We watched what we experience fulfilled in Christ, where we are safe in the whelming flood.
And then, there it was. Such small detail., such a small sentence. There at the end of Genesis 7:16 we read, ‘And the LORD shut him in’ (ESV).
This comes after we see God’s grief at human evil, sin.
This comes after we see what God sees, that rather the earth be filled with the glory of the Lord reflected in the lives of his image-bearers, instead the earth is filled with violence.
This comes after the Lord judges the situation as bad, very bad. So bad that his judgement in action will be to destroy what already has been destroyed by human sin (since the word for ‘corrupt’ in Genesis 6:11-12 is the same word as ‘destroy’ in Genesis 6:13).
This comes after God commands Noah, and Noah did all that God commanded him.
This comfort of being safe in the whelming flood comes in the few words, of such small and yet profound detail. It’s not Noah pulling that door closed. It’s not a clever locking mechanism made of pitch and wood. The door of the ark is shut by the grace of God, and kept shut and safe by his power.
And notice how close and tender the Lord God is as he shuts that door. This is the same Lord who gets up close and personal to wipe away every tear in Revelation 21:4. This is the same Lord with the same care for his precious people. We know him revealed to us in Genesis, and in final and fulfilled revelation in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus keeps us safe
Our world is still full of wrong, and if we’re able to have a moment of honesty - it’s not just the world’s problem. I am full of wrong too. I also deserve to have the waters of God’s judgement come against me, and when they do they will prevail and I will not.
We know from the next episode that our future day of wrongs being righted, the future day of judgement, is not a day of floods - but a day of judgement to hell, forever. Just like in the days of Noah, that day will come, and it will not do to think that I will be okay to safely float through it. I will not, you will not survive the judgement of God without a lifeboat. We need the safety found only in the Lord God’s tender care. We need the Lord to shut us in.
We need the safety found only ion the Lord God’s tender care. We need the Lord to shut us in.
So how? By being in the ark who is Christ. By trusting in the Lord Jesus, it is the Lord himself who shuts us in safe and sound from the whelming flood of judgement to come. A flood I deserve, you deserve, because we are corrupt and destroy our own lives with such ease you’d think it was second nature - but it’s simply sinful nature. But the Lord Jesus shuts us in, he keeps us safe, by grace.
For it is Jesus who goes to the judgement of the cross.
The waters of God’s judgement prevailed against Jesus, and he went under into death.
Then Jesus was raised to life, defeating sin and death. So that Jesus floats in victory and if our life is in him - we are shut in.
