Sealed in

DEVOTION

GENESIS

SEALED IN

Gen 7:6-16

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month — on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

NIV

It seems that the same narrative is told to us three times, as if it needs repeating so we get what happened. But at a closer look we might see three aspects of the narrative. First is the command, second is the acting on that command, and the third is the completion of the event. Yet the whole of it still has a truth for our lives. The question we are not sure about is those seven days. Did it take seven days for Noah to load up all the animals? Were they in the ark, all loaded up and just waiting for seven days until the Lord shut him in? Were any of Noah’s family, his brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles or cousins, nieces or nephews watching all this going on? Were others in the neighborhood watching all this? We would think after one hundred years of constructing the ark, at least that is the general thought, a crowd would have gathered. We know that he did not father Shem, Ham, and Japheth until after he was five hundred years old. Here we are told it was in his six hundred year when the flood happened. It is assumed by many that it took those hundred years to build the ark, but that is not stated. We are not actually told exactly how old he was when God commanded him to build the ark. He could have been five hundred and fifty years old and thus the ark told fifty years to build. He could have been five hundred and eighty and thus it told twenty years to build, we just do not really know how long it took, but the fact is it must have taken a long time because of the lack of power tools and everything would have to be done with what we could consider crude hand tools. There was no lumber yards to deliver the wood. Noah and his sons would have to cut down every tree and make the right size pieces of wood for each section of the ark, the frame, the decks, the hull, etc. It had to have been an immense undertaking, like nothing before had ever been done. Yet Noah did everything the Lord commanded him to. So we see this scene. Noah having loaded up all the animals, or in the process for seven days and hundreds, if not thousands of people are standing around, perhaps making fun of him, thinking how foolish he is to have spent all that time first building, then loading up all the food for his family and all the animals, then loading all those animals in the ark, and getting in it with them. Surely they must have thought he could have had more fun, like them during all those years it took him to build it. Certainly they must have thought he was so dumb to think there would be that much water to float his boat. But after Noah and his family entered the ark, he could have been standing in the doorway speaking once more to his extended family, or even to those others, his neighbors, with love in his heart, telling them they can still be saved if they turn back to God. It had to be a serendipity moment for him. Although from the narrative we know none ever accepted his words, none ever turned back to God and all of them, except Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives were saved. Noah might well have had a certain amount of joy knowing his immediate family was saved, but that his extended family was going to perish. From the genealogy we know that Noah’s father had already died, and most likely his mother. God was merciful to Noah in that he would not have to see his parents in the crowd, and know they were going to perish. So we are at this scene and all is finished and ready for the flood to begin. We are told that God shut him in. What that means is that the door Noah made in the side of the ark for all the animals to enter through was supernaturally closed, sealed, water tight. The final act of Noah’s redemption, of his salvation was accomplished by God. What crowd that was there had to have seen this supernatural event and know that it was God, for they could have seen Noah not making any effort to close and seal the door. There must have been a certain amount of fear grip them. They must have thought that perhaps Noah was right, there is going to be a flood. Then it happened. The water started to fall from the sky, there must have been a great storm, lighting and thunder, and pouring down rain. The earth opened up and water came up from the ground. Maybe the pre-flood land mass was different than the one we know, and maybe the oceans began to flood the land. In either case the people had to start to scramble, maybe some, like Noah’s extended family even knocked on the ark, yelling, Noah, it’s you brother, let me in. But God has shut him in, Noah could not open the door for anyone, it was too late. The people had to begin to climb to higher ground in an effort to escape the rising waters. But the waters kept rising, higher and higher the people had to go in an effort to be safe, to save themselves, but it was of no use, the waters kept coming until all the land was covered. Some might have gathered some left over wood, in an attempt to float to safety, but forty days and nights of rain and flooded conditions, they could not live through and all of them perished. Is this not the story of Jesus and the cross? We are in the cross, we are safe, and we are trying to tell others they can repent and return to God, but many of them think us as foolish, as weak minded, believing God, believing the bible is the true word of God, believing Jesus is the only way to be saved. God has also sealed us in as well, with the Holy Spirit.

Eph 1:13-14

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit , 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession — to the praise of his glory.

NIV

We have been sealed, but unlike Noah, we still have the opportunity to tell others they can enter into the cross of safety and be saved. There is room enough for them. God not only will allow them, he desires for them to get in the ark, the cross and be saved. Will these people listen any better than those who heard the words of Noah? We simply do not know, but what we know is that God has commanded us to go into our world and tell them about the impending destruction they are about to experience if they do not come into the cross, if they do not accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. As in the days of Noah, God provided a way to be saved. Being in the ark, in the cross, being sealed in.