Genesis 6:13-22 (NKJV)
“Doors”
June 15, 2025
When we last were together, my daughter and I planned a trip to Kentucky to visit The Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum. It was spectacular! It had some scientific challenges as it tried to prove that dinosaurs were alive during the time of Noah. Which by most educated calculations was no more than 10,000 years ago. I can handle a “10,000-year-old beginning of intelligent life” argument but a T-Rex on a boat… I guess they missed Jurassic Park? BUT the architecture was magnificent! As you come upon this 800-acre landscape you walk through a large rainbow-colored archway and there it is… a full-scale replica of Noah’s Ark to the biblical specifications. At one and a half football fields long, it was remarkable! Each deck had an evangelical tour that took you from Noah all the way to Jesus. On the second deck you can find a large Door, the only way in or out of the original Ark. As you begin to walk through the exhibit you are given a detailed walk through the bible from The Ark Door to The Door of the Church found only in Jesus Christ. He said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”
The Ark Door - The Bible tells us that man had become exceedingly wicked, “they thought of evil continually,” so God planned to flood the earth and wipe them out. He told Noah to build an ark with one door. When God shut the door, it pictured his justice and mercy. The wicked world outside of the ark perished, but those inside were rescued. Even in judgment, God provided mercy. Just as Noah's family went through one door to be saved, so must we go through the one door, Jesus. Those outside of Christ will perish, but those in Christ will be rescued. God instructed Noah to build this ark to save life with His promise. God flooded the earth to wipe out an exceedingly evil world. The door of the ark symbolizes God’s justice and mercy: judging the wicked world and saving by grace a chosen family. It also symbolizes that there was only one way to be saved from the physical consequences of the Flood. So, after the flood, God said to Noah, “I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
The Passover Door - Exodus 12:7 About a thousand years after the flood, God used Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. The night before they were set free, the Lord instituted the Passover. The Israelites were told to sacrifice a lamb without blemish and then put some of the lamb's blood on the frames around their doors. They were then spared from the tenth plague (death of the firstborn), protected from God's judgment by the blood of a lamb. The blood of the lamb taught us that only “by the shedding of blood is the remission of sins.” Though that lamb had no blemish, it was not perfect — Jesus Christ is perfect and the only Lamb of God. Jesus is our Passover, and his sacrificial death on the cross takes away the sin of the world. Just as the blood over the door signifies God’s protection for His children. It foreshadows the need to be covered by the blood of the perfect lamb, Jesus Christ. God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”
The Temple Door - 1 Kings 6:31 Nearly 500 years after Moses, King Solomon built the first temple in Jerusalem. Two doors were placed at the entrance to the inner sanctuary, the place of God's holy presence. Because sin separates us from God, only the ceremonially clean high priest could enter these doors. This happened only once a year on the holy "Day of Atonement," the Israelites could have their sins temporarily covered through the sacrifice of a goat and thus receive God's mercy. Though the blood of these animals could never fully take away man's sin, they pointed forward to the most important sacrifice of all. Jesus obtained eternal redemption for us through the sinless "once for all" offering of himself to God as a sacrifice for sin. The temple door represents our separation from him. Only the high priest could go beyond the door and then beyond the veil and enter the Holy of Holies. But at the cross of calvary Jesus became our door to enter the holy presence of God and then He tore the veil in two so that nothing can separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus!
The Shepherd Door - John 10:7 Jesus said, “I am the door of the sheep… if anyone enters by me, he will be saved.” This door represents how Jesus is the only way for us to be in a relationship with God. Shepherds in Israel and the rest of the Middle East at that time rested in the opening to the sheepfold. That way, the sheep could only come and go through their “door.” Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and our door to eternal life, foreshadowed his sacrificial death by explaining that the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. Each of the doors we spoke of today provided aspects of the good news. Man is sinful and separated from God (Temple door), so he needs his sins to be blotted out. But because the punishment for sin is death, only a sacrificial death can remove sin. The blood of a spotless lamb was required (Passover door) to remove our sins. And like the Ark door symbolized man’s means of safety from death in the Flood, Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, laid down his life for us, and he is the only means of eternal salvation from sin. God’s promise is that all would be saved from sin and hell if only they put their trust in Him and come in through His Door of Salvation, Jesus Christ. Apostle Peter reminds us that the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up… Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
There is a Gospel song from the 80’s by Rev. Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Singers called “It's Gonna Rain” - Can't you see the clouds gathering? Don't let it be said too late. There's a brand-new feeling in the air. Better run to the ark before the rain starts… You better come on in this house, it’s gonna rain. It's gonna rain down fire, it’s gonna rain. Doors have been opened wide open, just call his name. Don't wait too late because it's gonna rain. Come on, follow me, it's gonna rain. Doors have been opened wide open, just call his name. Don't wait too late because it's gonna rain. Place your trust in Jesus today, because tomorrow is not granted. The Door of the Church is open and if you are outside of His Ark of Safety, Jesus is the door. If anyone enters by Him, he will be saved.
Special Thanks to The Ark Encounter. Your staff was wonderful. ArkEncounter.com/gospel
