Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #18 of Genesis, chapter 7 and we are continuing to look at Genesis 7:16:

And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and JEHOVAH shut him in.

I will stop reading there. We have seen how God speaks of shutting the door in the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew, chapter 25 and in Luke 13, verses 24 and 25 where He is speaking of the door of heaven. Of course, the “door” is speaking of Christ, as it says in John 9:10:

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Here, God very clearly relates the “door” to Christ and to salvation and, therefore, when the “door” shuts it would indicate no more salvation. People were able to become saved and enter into heaven through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ that was performed on their behalf. However, once all that were to become saved had become saved, then the door shuts, which means no more salvation. That is the clear implication found in the parable in Matthew 25 or in Luke 13, verses 25 and 25. It is also the clear implication with the historical parable of the flood. The flood was true history and it actually took place in the way we read about it in the Book of Genesis, but it also has spiritual application. It is a true historical event, but it is also a historical parable that spiritually points to other things and, in this case, it is pointing to the final judgment at the end of the world. The teaching is that when God saves all His people and they have all “entered into salvation,” then God ended His salvation program.

We have looked at this before, but in speaking of the blind man, it says in John 9:1-2:

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

In the Bible, blindness is a figure of being unsaved or someone in the darkened condition of the unregenerate state. They are still dead in sin and that leaves them “in the dark,” spiritually. Whenever Christ would give sight to the blind, it was a picture of salvation. Jesus answered them in John 9:3:

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Jesus does give the blind man physical sight and God manifests that physical work as an indicator of salvation, as all the miraculous healings of Christ typified God’s salvation program, so Christ refers to the “works” of God being “made manifest in him.” The blind man receiving his sight is a manifestation showing forth the work of salvation. Notice it says that it is “the works of God.” It says back in John 6:28-29:

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

The “works of God” is that “ye believe.” We could paraphrase that and say, “The works of God is salvation,” because when people believe on Christ from the heart, it is salvation. But none can change the heart, so it is the work of God when one believes – we are saved by the faith of Christ. Christ’s faith was shown as He died for the sins of His people; it was His work that showed His faith. It is the “works of God” when the elect believe. Therefore, Jesus said, “but that the works of God should be made manifest in him,” and that is the context for what He says next, in John 9:4:

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day…

Again, it is the “works of God” when you believe and Jesus is saying that He must perform this work of salvation “while it is day.” In other words, He must perform the work of salvation in the day of salvation. And then He goes on to say in John 9:4:

… the night cometh, when no man can work.

Christ is the “man” that is performing the work of salvation and He only does that during the figurative 12-hour period of “day” (the day of salvation), as the work day was 6:00AM to 6:00PM and this figure was used in another parable where the laborers went into the vineyard and worked 12 hours and that also pointed to the “day of salvation.” Then at the end of that work day came the “night” and during the (spiritual) night, Christ cannot do the work of Him that sent Him that people might believe. He cannot do the work of salvation once the 12-hour day elapsed. Remember in that parable there was a special emphasis placed on the “eleventh” hour and that is because the last hour of the work day ties to the Great Tribulation, as the Bible identifies the Great Tribulation as “one hour.” It is the last hour in God’s salvation program and it was the time in which the great multitude was saved and immediately after that Tribulation, the sun was darkened and the moon did not give her light and the stars fell. It was through the light of the Gospel that salvation was brought. The Word of God brought the light to the sinners and the light shined in the darkness and salvation entered in.

But after the Tribulation, which was the eleventh to twelfth hour, salvation ended and then there was spiritual darkness, the “night” in which Christ no longer can work the “works of God” which is salvation. In other words, the door is shut. It matches perfectly with the 23-year Great Tribulation period (or 8,400 days) that went from May 21, 1988 through May 21, 2011. What happened on May 21, 2011? It was the last day of the Great Tribulation and it was the point that was exactly 7,000 years from the flood. God had said to Noah, “And yet seven days,” and the Bible says, “one day is as a thousand years,” and exactly 7,000 years later was May 21, 2011. That date also had the underlying date in the Hebrew calendar of “the seventeenth day of the second month.” That matches the date the flood began. It is the time when the “work day” comes to an end. The spiritual day of salvation is over and it is the time that “night” begins and the work of salvation can no longer be performed. Christ, the “door” by which men can enter in and become saved, is now shut – there is no more salvation.

All of these verses use different language to say the same thing. There is the “darkened sun,” or the “shut door” or the “end of the work day.” It is all harmoniously teaching that God’s program for Judgment Day is the end of His salvation.

That is one thing we see, without question, in this language in Genesis 7:16:

…and JEHOVAH shut him in.

We also see something else. It is significant and interesting, but it also relates to what God is doing now with His elect people. JEHOVH shut Noah and the other seven and all the animals into the ark. The word “shut” is an interesting word. It is Strong’s #5462 and it is translated a few different ways. For example, it says in 1Kings 11:27:

And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breaches of the city of David his father.

The word translated here as “repaired” is the same word translated as “shut” in our verse. So we could say that Solomon “shut” the breaches of the city of David his father. We are not sure exactly what it refers to, but there could have been holes in the walls of the city, or whatever, but Solomon closed up those holes. If you have a city with a wall and the security depends on the wall, you cannot have holes in the wall because an enemy could come and easily gain entrance, so Solomon “shut” up the holes or closed them up.

This word is also found in Isaiah 26 in a verse we have looked at many times. It says in Isaiah 26:20:

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee…

Some might say that in our verse it does not use the word “door,” but it simply says that JEHOVAH shut him in, but the only way into the ark was a door and the only way to guarantee the safety of everyone that entered in was to shut the door. After they were shut in, we find the rain fell and destroyed the earth, so if the door was not that which was shut the water would have gotten into the ark and they would have been destroyed by it. So, it obviously means that it was the door that was “shut” and this word is often used in conjunction with a door. It is also used in Isaiah 22 and we have made reference to this verse many times. It says in Isaiah 22:22:

And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

It has to do with doors and gates or anything that can be locked up or secured. It points to God’s kingdom and deliverance, as far as the ark is concerned. You enter into the ark and you have refuge; you enter into the kingdom of heaven and you have refuge and are spared from destruction. That is what is involved with salvation. Christ is the “door” and all that enter in are saved.

This word is also used in Exodus, chapter 14, but not in reference to a door. It says in Exodus 14:3:

For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.

God intentionally led Israel out of Egypt by way of the Red Sea and the wilderness was around them. Pharaoh and his army and chariots pursued them and he thought he had them trapped because the sea was at the back of the Israelites, so Pharaoh could cut them off and they would not stand a chance. He could kill them or recapture them and take them back to Egypt as slaves. That is the idea here. They are entangled in the land and the wilderness has “shut” them in. It was as if they were delivered up. That is the idea that is presented here and the word “shut up” or “shut in” is translated several times as “delivered.” It says in 1Samuel 26:7-8:

So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him. Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time.

The word “delivered” is the word translated as “shut” in our verse in Genesis. Abishai said to David, “God has shut up your enemy into your hand this day.” You could read it that way and it has the same meaning, does it not? It does not mean that Saul was locked away anywhere, but it means that the situation is such that he has been handed over for destruction. As Abishai said he could smite him with his spear and he would only have to smite him once to make sure he was dead.

In 1Samuel, chapter 30 it speaks of an Egyptian that fled from his master, an Amalekite. It says in 1Samuel 30:15:

And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.

Again, the word “deliver” is the same word, Strong’s #5462.

It also says in Deuteronomy 32:30:

How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and JEHOVAH had shut them up?

This speaks of a rebellious people. For instance, you could substitute the corporate church because God gave them up into the hands of their enemies. How could it be that the church could fall to Satan and his emissaries? It was only because their Rock had sold them and JEHOVAH had shut them up – the Lord delivered them up.

There are several verses just like this that have to do with God delivering up someone to an enemy. We find it says in Psalm 31:8:

And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.

In this case it means the opposite. God has not shut him up into the hand of his enemy.

It says in Job 16:11:

God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.

In his suffering, Job was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered at the hands of the Romans as the Jews had delivered him up into the hands of the Roman authorities. He was delivered up to the wicked or the ungodly and that is the same word translated as “shut.” More verses can be shown where it is used in a similar way, but I think we get the idea.

You know, we have always looked at Genesis 7, verse 16 as it being like a door to the kingdom of heaven and God shut it. All that were inside (Noah, his wife, their sons and their son’s wives) picture the elect and they are safe and secure and the flood will not harm them. That idea is correct. We have learned that all the elect have been saved and have entered into the kingdom of heaven, but we have also learned that all the elect are appearing before the judgment seat of Christ. They are being tried and tested by fire and this same word that tells us about their protection and deliverance from the destruction of the flood can also teach us that they have been shut up, as it were, to the judgment. They have been delivered up before the judgment seat of Christ and they have been “shut” up in a way, where their enemies think they are easy prey, like Pharaoh thought the Israelites would fall before him because they were shut into the wilderness. As far as the churches and the world may think, since May 21, 2011 the elect have been “shut” up or “delivered” into their hands. God arranged the circumstances to give the impression that the elect that had been talking about the end of the church age and Judgment Day and the timeline of history are through and finished – it is as if they have been “shut” up. But this is all in the hand of God and God is working it all out. His elect are safe and secure and, yet, at the same time they must go through this grievous period of time as they appear before the judgment seat of Christ.