Who Shut the Door?

Who Shut the Door? 

 

Good Morning Friends,

 

One of my friends was up to Kentucky this last summer to see the replica of Noah’s Ark. And yes, the number one question asked there is about what was done with all the scat. But that is not the question I ask today though it is about eschatology and sounds similar. Instead as I contemplate one of the most well-known stories in the Bible and some of its gems and then connect them to the larger story of creation. And the beauty of the Ark story is how well it connects to them all. We see here that God’s call to Noah is like a father kindly calling his children home in preparation for a storm he sees coming. So too Noah reminds us of the call of the Gospel to sinners, the call to come home, come home, come as you are to the safety and security of a life in Jesus.  The story of Noah and the Ark is our very own invitation even today, an echo of one of the great invitations in the Bible. You see, the Ark was built on the faith of a man. So too our faith is the foundation of our salvation in Christ and the comfort of the Body of Believers. We come to the door of decision hearing the call of the Spirit, listening for God’s instructions, knowing that our faith in His power keeps us waiting, keeps us growing in His creation. Here Jesus ushers us into His salvation, the salvation of eternity… the future. For here in the face of death, in this mortal body we learn of God’s attitude, here we learn to wait through the trials, uncertainty, difficulties and heartaches of life to prepare us for the promise that He will meet our needs into eternity. Here God helps us to walk through the door where we stand ready to call all who would hear into the comfort of the Savior, the power of God. Here people make the decision to shut the door on God, force the door shut so others cannot enter or learn to wait and allow God in the fullness of His time to determine when He will open and shut the door. Indeed it is a test of our life, the test of our obedience and faith how we experience the door and ultimately in the time of our birth, in the hour of our death, in the moment of our learning to live anew in Christ, we discover and rediscover the answer to the questions…. Who opened the door? Who Shut the Door? 

 
 

Scripture: He drove out the man; and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.

 

Genesis 3: 24 (NRSV)

 

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.”

 

Genesis 7:1-4 (NRSV)

 

You shall make two cherubim of gold; you shall make them of hammered work, at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other; of one piece with the mercy seat you shall make the cherubim at its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings. They shall face one to another; the faces of the cherubim shall be turned toward the mercy seat.

 

Exodus 25:18-20 (NRSV)

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

 

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord— and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

 

Isaiah 65:17-25 (NRSV)

 

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.

 

Matthew 27:51 (NRSV)

 

Message: Today’s devotional scripture takes the image and prophecy of the LORD creating a new heaven and earth and connects it to our desire to get back to the garden of paradise. With so many people having to move these days because of war and rising oceans it seems timely to unpack a bit of this story about being kicked out of the garden Eden, being put in an Ark, with this hope that God is going to create something new in our lives. First, it is important to note that we cannot go back to the garden at the point we left it. God has placed winged creatures and a sword of fire to block the way to the garden and its path of immortality… the life giving tree. But for those leaving Egypt in the Exodus and also for us today, God gave the Law and it was placed in the Ark of the Covenant and on this chest were two winged creatures inviting us, not blocking our path to a new way… a way back to the garden, the Holy of Holies…a place to walk with God and experience Him face to face… a place Jesus gave us access when He died on the cross.  Yes friends, in Christ we are a new creation. We just have to wait for the right timing. And now back to today’s question which I have already begun to answer. And here it becomes clear that God opens and shuts the doors of creation for His purpose. There is a time for having an open door and a time for having a closed door, but it is God that controls the timing and the flow. The story of the Garden, the Flood, the Exodus, and the Arks speaks to the judgment of God with the door being shut whereas Jesus’ open door though the death and resurrection speaks to God’s grace in preparation for a time when the door most likely will again be shut to protect His creation.

 

Pray we realize there are two sides to every door. Pray that we honor God regardless of which side of the door He has placed us. Pray that we are bold enough to take the opportunities God gives us to build… turning away from the doorway of pessimism, shutting the doorway of fear… closing the doorway of defeat. Pray we not procrastinate. Pray we are obedient, joyful, confident, and expectant. Pray that we believe that if God has opened the door, He will get us through. Pray that we stand at the door ….ready to serve for as long as we can. Pray that when Jesus comes knocking at the door of our hearts we let him in. Pray we realize that Christ is still creating. Pray we let Him create in us clean hearts so we might rejoice and join in the way God has chosen for us to become new creatures.

 

Blessings,

 

John Lawson