The Door of the World Text: Genesis 7:13-16
Introduction: The Great Separation
There are moments in history when God draws a line so sharp and clear that no man can mistake it. These are the moments when the ordinary course of life, the eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, comes to an abrupt and catastrophic halt. The world outside continues in its willful blindness, assuming that tomorrow will be just like yesterday. They hear the preaching, they see the preparations, but they process it all as the eccentricities of a religious fanatic. Noah was a preacher of righteousness for a century, and his sermon was punctuated with the rhythmic pounding of a hammer. The ark itself was a sermon in gopher wood. But the world, steeped in its own arrogance, refused to listen.
We now come to the culmination of that long obedience. The time for warnings is over. The time for preparation is done. The sky is still clear, the scoffers are still scoffing, but God's appointed moment has arrived. This is the great separation. It is the division of all humanity into two, and only two, categories: those who are in the ark, and those who are out. Those who are safe, and those who are doomed. There is no third way. There is no middle ground. You are either on the boat or in the water.
This passage is not simply about an ancient flood. It is a paradigm for God's action in all of history. It is a story about covenant, about judgment, about salvation, and about the sovereign finality of God's decisions. It is a story that should cause every soul to tremble, and then to rejoice, depending entirely on which side of the door you are standing. For in these verses, we see the door of the world swing shut, and we learn who it is that holds the key.
The Text
On this very 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, 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, every fowl, every winged creature. So they came to Noah into the ark, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and Yahweh closed it behind him.
(Genesis 7:13-16 LSB)
The Appointed Day (v. 13)
We begin with the solemn timing of this great event.
"On this very 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..." (Genesis 7:13)
The phrase "on this very day" is freighted with theological significance. This is not a casual time marker. It signifies a divinely appointed moment, a day set in the eternal counsels of God. It is the same phrase used when Abraham circumcised his household, sealing the covenant in their flesh (Gen. 17:23). It is the same phrase used for the day Israel marched out of Egypt in the Exodus (Ex. 12:41). This is a day of reckoning, a day of covenantal action. For over a century, the world had lived on borrowed time, enjoying the longsuffering of God. But that patience had an expiration date. God's patience is not infinite indulgence; it is a finite opportunity for repentance.
Notice the manifest order. Noah, his sons, his wife, their wives. This is the covenant household, the remnant church, the seed of the new world. God saves in families. He establishes his covenant with a man and with his house. This is the federal principle in action from the very beginning. Noah is the head, and through his faith, his household is brought into the place of safety. They are not saved because they are individually sinless, but because they are federally included with the one man God declared righteous.
The Divine Muster (v. 14-15)
Next, we see the orderly procession of the creatures God intends to save.
"...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, every fowl, every winged creature. So they came to Noah into the ark, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life." (Genesis 7:14-15 LSB)
This is not a chaotic stampede. This is a divine muster. The text emphasizes the orderly nature of this parade: "after its kind... after their kind... after its kind." This is the language of Genesis 1. The God who brought order out of the formless void is now preserving that order from the chaos of His own judgment. The flood is a de-creation, a return to the watery deep of Genesis 1:2. But inside the ark, God is preserving the building blocks for a re-creation. He is the great conservationist, preserving the created kinds He had declared good.
And how did this happen? Did Noah have to go out with a lasso and a giant butterfly net? Not at all. The text says, "they came to Noah into the ark." This is a miracle of divine sovereignty. The same God who would later shut the mouths of lions for Daniel and guide a great fish to swallow Jonah is here guiding every kind of creature to the one place of safety on earth. God's command to Noah was to build the ark; God's work was to fill it. Noah's responsibility was obedience; God's was the supernatural execution. This is a profound comfort. God does not command us to do what is impossible and then leave us to our own devices. He commands our obedience, and then works His sovereign power to bring about His purposes through that obedience.
They came in, two by two, representing all flesh "in which was the breath of life." This is what separates them from the fish. The judgment is upon the land, upon the domain of man's rebellion. And God is preserving a remnant of every kind of air-breathing life that He placed under man's dominion.
The Final Act (v. 16)
We now arrive at one of the most solemn and terrifying verses in all of Scripture.
"And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and Yahweh closed it behind him." (Genesis 7:16 LSB)
The first clause is a summary statement of perfect obedience. Noah did all that God commanded him. The people are in. The animals are in. The provisions are in. The manifest is complete. Noah's work is finished.
And then God acts. "And Yahweh closed it behind him." The name used here is significant. It is Yahweh, the personal, covenant-keeping God. This is not a remote deity pushing a button. This is the faithful God of the covenant acting to protect His people. Noah did not shut the door. He could not. Perhaps it was too massive. Perhaps he did not have the authority. But the theological reason is paramount: Noah's salvation was not ultimately in his own hands. The security of the saints is not a matter of us holding on to God, but of God holding on to us.
This act of God is two-sided. For Noah and his family inside, it was the ultimate act of salvation and security. Once Yahweh shut that door, no wave could break it down, no demon could pry it open, no desperate sinner could claw his way in. They were utterly, completely, and divinely secure. Their salvation was sealed by God Himself. This is a magnificent picture of eternal security. Those who are in Christ, the true ark, are hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3), and no one can snatch them from the Father's hand (John 10:29).
But for the world outside, this was the ultimate act of judgment. The sound of that door closing, sealed by the hand of God, was the death knell of the ancient world. It was the end of all opportunity. The day of grace was over. The day of wrath had come. Imagine the scene. The first drops of rain begin to fall, something the world had never seen. The scoffers' laughter catches in their throats. As the waters rise, they run to the ark, banging on the door, pleading for the mercy they had mocked for decades. But it is too late. The door is shut, and the one who shut it is God. He is the one who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens (Rev. 3:7). The time for decision had passed. Now there was only judgment.
Christ, Our Ark
This entire narrative is a glorious type of Christ. The ark is a picture of our salvation in Jesus. It was designed by God, built in obedience, and it was the only means of salvation from the coming wrath. There was one door into the ark, and Jesus Christ is the one door to the Father (John 10:9).
To be saved is to be "in Christ." Just as Noah and his family were saved by being in the ark, we are saved by being in Christ. Outside of Christ, there is nothing but the raging waters of God's judgment against sin. Inside Christ, there is perfect security, perfect peace, and deliverance from the wrath to come.
And the Lord still shuts the door. He shuts the door on every believer at the moment of conversion. He seals us with the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph. 1:13), guaranteeing our final salvation. He holds us fast. This is our great comfort.
But it is also a grave and terrible warning. The door of the ark was open for 120 years. Today, the door of salvation in Christ is open. God's call to "come" is extended to all. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). But that door will not remain open forever. There is a day coming when the Lord will rise up and shut the door (Luke 13:25). On that day, many will stand outside, knocking and saying, "Lord, open to us!" But He will answer, "I do not know you."
The time of God's patience is now. The call to repent and believe is for today. Do not be like the world in Noah's day, oblivious and mocking until the flood came and swept them all away. Flee the wrath to come. Enter the ark, who is Christ Jesus the Lord. Enter, before Yahweh shuts the door.