Shut In--Gen. 7

 

"And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in." Gen. 7:16

Noah preached for years.

The people mocked for years.

And God's wrath against a wicked and perverse people  accumulated for years.

A few felt the power of the message...at first. But everyone soon gave way to "seducing spirits and doctrines of devils". No need to worry: "all things continue as from the beginning."

Not so.

Voices raised in mock and derision were silenced when the watching world saw the animals enter the ark. But their awe and fear did not last long; for they went back to the same thing again.

One last pleading look, one last entreaty: Noah is beaten back by a tide of angry, jesting voices. He enters the ark with all his house. Still, the door remains open.

No human power could've closed this door. None. And so, "a flash of dazzling light was seen, and a cloud of glory more vivid than the lightning descended from heaven and hovered before the entrance to the ark. The massive door,...was slowly swung to its place by unseen hands." PP 98.2

She continues. "The seal of Heaven was on that door; God had shut it, and God alone could open it. So when Christ shall cease His intercession for guilty men, before His coming in the clouds of heaven, the door will be shut. Then divine grace will no longer restrain the wicked, and Satan will have full control of those who have rejected mercy. They will endeavor to destroy God's people; but as Noah was shut into the ark, so the righteous will be shielded by divine power." PP 98.2

Shut in. By God's power, God's protection, God's mercy and grace.

And all those who had not heeded the warning; those who would not put their sins away, however small, were left outside to bear the terrors of what was to befall the earth.

As the little children's song says, "the rains came down and the floods came up."  Sounds poetic--even cute--coming from the lips of a toddler in Sabbath school, but this was no picnic.

"Upon the eighth day dark clouds overspread the heavens. There followed the muttering of thunder and the flash of lightning. Soon large drops of rain began to fall….

"Darker and darker grew the heavens, and faster came the falling rain. The beasts were roaming about in the wildest terror,…

"Then,...water appeared to come from the clouds in mighty cataracts. Rivers broke away from their boundaries, and overflowed the valleys. Jets of water burst from the earth with indescribable force, throwing massive rocks hundreds of feet into the air, and these, in falling, buried themselves deep in the ground." PP 99.1

What of the watching world?

"The people first beheld the destruction of the works of their own hands. Their splendid buildings and the beautiful gardens and groves where they had placed their idols, were destroyed by lightning from heaven, and the ruins were scattered far and wide." PP 99.2

"As the violence of the storm increased, trees, buildings, rocks, and earth were hurled in every direction. The terror of man and beast was beyond description. Above the roar of the tempest was heard the wailing of a people that had despised the authority of God. Satan himself, who was compelled to remain in the midst of the warring elements, feared for his own existence." PP 99.3

That is enough to catch someone's attention. The devil, unable to be killed by anything but God, feared that he would lose his life in the violence of the flood.

"As it was in the days of Noah…"

One day, similar things will come upon the earth. But it won't be destroyed by water. It will be destroyed by fire.

Our only hope?

Being shut in. Like Noah.

Shut in by grace, by love, by mercy…

Lord God, shut me in. And keep me there.