Genesis 7:13-16

Entering the Ark and God shutting them and the animals in. The last view of the world they knew, and all of the relatives and people they would drown, but God's mercy and grace were on Noah and his family because of their faith and trust in God. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi, this is Pastor Frank. And this is Lu at Two Becomers One. We just want to welcome you to this episode and podcast. And we are now in Episode 27. And we'll be reading Genesis chapter 7, verses 13 through 16. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

So thank you again for joining us this week. And we hope that you listened to our last uh episode and found value and worth in that. And just to recap just a little bit here, um last time we read verses seven through twelve, um, you know, the animals clean and unclean animals, birds, etc., you know, they began to enter into the ark, and that after seven days the flood waters came on the earth. And it mentions that it happened in the six hundredth year of Noah's life. But moving on here, uh, verse thirteen, I'll go ahead and read that if that's okay. Sure. It says, On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of their of his three sons, entered the ark. 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. Pairs of all creatures that have the breadth of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals were in were going in, the animals sorry, the animals going in were male and female of every living thing as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

One thing I want to um kind of like go back, just regress a little bit back to the to the scriptures we read last episode, was the timing. Now Noah was 600 years old, and but it was the timing that uh that was given here by Moses, who is the author or stenographer of the book of Genesis. Because God is the author. That's right. And it said that it was in the second month, and on the Hebrew calendar, that is uh I would say in the spring, uh, a little bit after the harvest, because the very first uh month uh is Nisan, and I think that we had mentioned the second month, I believe it was Ear. Um in that month you have uh is Nissan is March-April, and I believe it is April-May. So this would be a very interesting time. You'd have in the spring, you have certain animals that have their young. They bear their young or lay eggs and they hatch, and also the season for regrowth or new growth. And so this is interesting, and I really wanted to place that time period in this so that you can kind of get an idea exactly what uh is um going on and how Noah was able to have the resources, uh, not only probably through drying things and such, but just wanted to be able to the availability of the time. Now there's some things you have to get fresh, okay, and I believe this would be the time to do it. So I just wanted to kind of give that time frame um because this chapter is, I think, incongruent and consistent to even though we break it up, I just want to remind everybody.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

You know, it's interesting, I read something and I should have bookmarked it. It's okay. But the person that wrote this particular commentary on um this chapter of Genesis suggested that the time frame was not the spring, but in November. To me, the second month of the year, I mean, if you go by a well according to the calendar we follow now, is February. Yes. Second month. So I'm like, how in the world are they getting November? I I probably have to go I mean, I would have to go back and look at it and really be in depth about it. I just kind of skimmed over it, but I'm like, that doesn't make any sense, so I just kind of kept going.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

November would be it would make sense because of the rain, but that's not how God operated. He did not operate um according to, well, you know, I'm gonna wait till the month of November because that's when rain starts. You know, and that'll be when I use it. So God at any point can cause a flood, whether it's in the middle of summer or whatever, just like uh there are rains that happen in certain places like Africa or desert places where it's really dry, and there are flash floods in the middle of summer, and it literally floods everything, and and that's just one rain. And so it can happen at any point. And and I mean, people have their ideas, but what I'm going off of, the reason why I said what I said is because this is biblical. Moses, uh, if you're talking about the second month of the year, that is the second month of the Hebrew calendar, is what's the only calendar that Moses operated under. But if we start using the Gregorian calendar, which didn't exist at that time, right, you're gonna be off.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yeah, I mean, like I said, I just I just skimmed it. It was very I just I didn't research it in depth. It was very topical, you know, just the time that I spent on it. And I'm like, you know what? You know, I'm just gonna move on. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Okay, so let's uh go to verse 13. It says, on the very same day, Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, by the way, were popular names at that time. And Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the Ark. So I want to stop there. So God goes through links and uh to tell Moses when he's writing this, these specific details are important. We think it's just like a story, and we're conditioned to read stories in the West and how they're written, and this is not the same. This all of these have a meaning, and there's you can reference these things later when you read, which is really awesome. But uh that day, this particular day, okay, I think was the end of the seventh day, the countdown, that when the seven days they were to get on the ark because God said they gave 'em a week. So after reading verse thirteen, and and I read this, and it says that they entered uh the ark. Now, as we mentioned in the last episode, that they were waiting for a week, and on the seventh day, uh they that's when the the flood came. So I don't want to get too far into that just yet, but I want you to try to understand that sometimes the way the Bible is written, specifically the way uh Moses wrote, there are things that happen that says that it happens before it actually happens. And it sounds like it happened when you're reading it in certain sections, and then but you have to understand you understand it when you read the next section, a body of scriptures below it, which is say, like when we read um 17 forward, you will see that it makes sense almost that it needs to be iterated to be able to understand the next set of verses. So just remember that, because if you only read this, this sounds like something completely different than what the narrative as a whole says. Because this is why it's important to read a chapter, an entire chapter, to understand the flow of the narrative, because that's just the way the Bible is written. And it's written for a reason, so that you kind of know what's coming up next, but it doesn't mean. Okay, and that's called a preamble. Look up the word, preamble, and that will help you understand how to read the Bible when you um they call it exegete. Okay, so when I the way I understand this, okay, uh, you have Moses reiterating Noah, his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japan by name, and then his wife, which don't never mention her name, or the three wives of the sons. But this is a reiteration. This is saying that eight people, okay, and the animals, which it names in the next verse, but I want to be able to kind of think about this for a second. It never says how they felt.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

No.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

It never says what they think. But obviously they felt and thought something.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Of course. I mean, and like we were discussing earlier this morning. You imagine eight people going into this ark. Who knows? Maybe they were holding hands going into the ark. I mean, they're a family, right? I mean, but that's just, you know, just what, you know, we we conjure up in our head, but but if you think what would you personally be thinking as you're entering that ark? I mean, I would be like, oh my gosh. Just trying to picture a huge flood coming and everything you know that you've known your entire life. Not just people, you know, you know, the the you know, the the the little, you know, villages or whatever they had going on, the the the animal life, everything around you is going to be wiped clean and j and die. As Kant said, everything, every living thing would die. And knowing that only you and seven other people are going to survive something that massive. Yeah. The feelings, the psychological impact. And that's that's a great weight to have to bear.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

I think as a as a man and being, you know, the leader of my household, um, four sons, you, you know, I I would I would imagine that for over a hundred years we have toiled in the commands of God, in obedience, in faith, to build such a vessel. Uh this would be um an enormous undertaking as we talked about, but here's the other aspect of it. Uh as if I were Noah, I had parents, I had probably brothers and sisters, I had cousins, I have aunts and uncles, and they all dismissed me. And then the the work that I would put into that I had put into this ark, and then to think that my family are the only ones that believe what God has told me, and they're gonna come with me, and they're the only ones that are gonna be saved out of the entire population of the earth. Not to mention my son's psychological and emotional well-being. They have cousins, they have aunts and uncles as well. Um they have extended family from their wives, mother-in-law, father-in-law, and then their wives' family. Okay, now you're this you're basically saying that I'm gonna trust Noah, who's my father-in-law, these are the wives, and they are trusting in God, which I trust in God. So obviously the revelation was to the wives, to the sons, and to Noah's wife. Obviously, Noah to act on this. And they're the only ones in the world that believe this. So, over for over a period of a hundred years building this vessel, everybody had an opportunity either to join in and help or whatever, but decided to mock him as if it wasn't true. Now, the rejection of society, uh, the rejection of your family, and then the idea of now it's culminating into now God is saying, two by two, you know, you got the animals coming on, and then he says, I want you to, you and your family to enter into the ark. Okay, so think about this. They're literally going in together to never see the per previous world ever again. I mean, all the work that Noah has done for the in 600 years of his life, gone for for not. All of family, all of all of the people, the society, the cities, the the things that they've done, all gone. So psychologically, those people you will never see again. The species of animals that didn't get on the ark destroyed will never be seen again. Um there are certain uh aspects of the topography that more than likely has changed due to the the breaking of the artesian wells, and as we mentioned about Pangea.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

It was a catastrophic uh event. Yes. So it's going to cause catastrophic changes. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

And so thinking about that, I literally uh emotionally took myself there just so that I can understand uh that that if we put ourselves in Noah's place or his wife's place from a female perspective, you could actually like feel bad. Because there, you know, um I think of you know people that I love that don't believe like now. There's people that I love now that do not believe in the Bible, in Jesus, in God, in the Holy Spirit. They don't believe any of that, but yet you hope one day they will. And I believe that this is what Noah was facing, his family was facing. These are, you know, these are people that are gonna perish by drowning.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Right. I mean, that's why I said the weight that you would have to bear, the emotional, psych psychological, this is this is not a physical, the physical part is over. Yes, the building of the ark is done, it's complete. Now comes the psychological, emotional piece. Not just for Noah, but Noah's wife, the sons, their their wives, everything that they're leaving behind, everything that they have ever known, poof, be gone, just wiped off the face of the entire planet. And they're going to, when they step off of the ark, it's a literally going to be a new world. Yes. And I can't, I that's just so hard to fathom. Yeah. Um it it's and what and what they're doing as they're entering that ark, think about what also they're witnessing. They are witnessing the precise moment in which God's grace ends. In which God's mercy just ends. Because people have had all those years, well over a century, plus a week, to turn, to repent, to come to God. And they chose not to. And so once they enter into that ark, they're witnessing the end of God's grace and mercy.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yeah, that's um. I think that's synonymous with the way people see uh the book of Revelations, end times and things like that. They I think people have that same thing, and whatever emotions develop from, and there's a lot of end time theories uh that people, the way they interpret the book of Revelations and the Book of Daniel and Ezekiel as in eschatology, that come up with a lot of different theories, but you can't escape how you feel about it. And but the thing is that I do know that if you have right theology, okay, you have right worship of God. So in this theology that we read here, they still believed and worshiped God. And I think that's I think to take away from that, even when pending dooms or pending, you know, darkness or or things like of this nature happens, we still have peace because why? It's because God has saved us through Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is our savior and our redemption. So I think that you can I think they were resting on that with the physical arc, whereas us is spiritual through Jesus Christ. So I I just kind of feel that the parallel is is very the same because the same faith that Noah had is the same faith that we have.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Right. Or that we have to have.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Oh yeah, yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah. So um do you have anything more on on verse 13? No. Okay, so 14 says they and every beast after its kind, and cattle after its kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went into the ark. Uh let's kind of go back, sir. Uh so all these animals that they named, they didn't name it specifically, but they named the kind. So things that creep on the earth.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Well, think about what creeps. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

There's like lizards, there's snakes, there's frogs. Don't even say spiders. No, it's spiders. Okay, so that there's things that creep on the floor. Obviously, they survived obviously they survived the blood. The ones that creep, that that that lets you know those are ones that are on their more likely on their belly or close to the ground.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

And they're necessary.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Yeah. They're very necessary.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

You know. I know they create like chemicals to kill them, but they're they they're necessary for certain things. And God saw it necessary to uh to allow them to live.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

Well, if he didn't, the whole ecosystem, as we know it, would be in a shambles.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

It'd be overran by one thing or another.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Yeah, it would be in the shambles.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

And then let's see what else it says. And then uh every bird, and here's what it emphasizes here. It says, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. So this is like two sections here, and I and I I think the reason why he enables that or names that is because think about different birds that have different functions. Okay, I I could think of a couple. Um big birds, like not big bird, but big birds. Uh like turkeys. Yeah, they're for eating. Chickens are for eating, but they're also for laying eggs. Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Then you have the big birds of prey.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Big birds of prey to keep the smaller things in check, like the owls. Large birds. Large birds of prey.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

But stop saying big birds.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Yeah, large birds of prey, like the owls and the eagles and the hawks and the falcons and such like those are those are predators. And they keep the other things in check, other, not just other birds, but other smaller animals, rodents and such in check. And then also you have birds that migrate.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Like the swallows. Yes. Uh, geese, duck. These all these things, they all have a a in the kinds and their function, I think, is very important to understand. And I I'm just only naming topical things.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

There's a lot more, you know, for scavengers, the nature's garbage men.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Yeah, and then you have, and then you have these larger birds. The most largest bird that I know of is the ostrich.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

Okay, so there's there's so many different things. Anyway, to keep moving forward, it says here in verse 15, it says, and they went into the ark to uh to Noah two by two of all flesh, which is the breath of life. So let's start at the um uh to Noah, two by two.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Well, it says here they came to Noah. It doesn't say Noah had to go around gathering them, they came to Noah, which indicates that God directed them to Noah. God directed them to the place where they had to go. God had to put in their head and their, you know, the the path which to follow to the Ark.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

So what there okay, so there's a there's a there's only one opening to the Ark.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

And that's the the door. Uh now the depictions that you see in the movies, it's almost like a drawbridge. You know, I I don't know if it had hinges where it opens and closes like a door we see today, or is it like uh uh a drawbridge where it is there's hinges on the bottom or such and it lowers down and it also is a ramp for them to go up into the arc. Now, or is it the kind where it's like a a hatch where it the hinges are on top and it's propped up by something and then it closes down. So it either way, uh, the animals were able to uh get onto the ark, and so did Noah and his family.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

I would imagine it's a ramp.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Because you have to have a way to easily get onto something that's high up high off the ground. That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

And and then it says here is they entered two by two. Now I would imagine that this door is narrow. And there wasn't so there couldn't be no stampedes or whatever, or you know. It and and it was orderly and it was it seemed to be calm, a calm entering, not a run for life. Not like trying to get out of a burning building, like a stampede, but it was two by two. And I think that with eight people, you could literally direct these animals to their kind or to what is necessary. Uh, and they wouldn't have eaten each other, but just in case, you know, they tempted, that you could put like certain animals with certain animals in certain sections of each deck, and they were led, I would believe, by Noah, his wife, and sons and daughter-in-laws to to their places where they would go. And um I would imagine that that orderly fashion, but I think that there was other things about the door you wanted to share.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Right, and well, before I do any of that, but it well, despite the ferocious nature of some of these animals, we know God had a hand over all of them. That's right. He kept them calm, he kept that ferocity in on the back burner. So, because if he didn't, think of the chaos. The chaos, the the consequences.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

And Noah couldn't stop a lion or a bear or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

No, I mean the their family would have been killed, you know, if if they had become prey, you know, to these predatory, you know, these large cats or these uh whatever animal was uh bear. Yeah, exactly. Um so God's hand had to be on these on this on these animals in order to keep them peaceful. Yeah, it's there's just no other way except by God's divine power. Amen. But what I was gonna say on the door, and as you mentioned, there's only one door. It's not several, it's not different portals, different paths. One door and one door only into this ark of salvation. And think of what Jesus calls himself. He is the way, the truth, the life. He is the door by which we are to enter into the ark of salvation, that's spiritual ark. That's true. There's not many paths to it. Right. There's one. One as it says here in the book of Matthew, starting in verse sorry, chapter seven, starting in verse 13. It says, Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And there are many who go in by it, because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

That's a good scripture.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

Yeah, it's a very good scripture, and um it lets you know that there is only one way, a narrow way, a narrow pathway in which to come to God and to come aboard the arc of the spiritual arc of salvation. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

So um when when also an addition, and and I kind of like when I read that, I don't know if this is a stretch or not, but I I definitely like to read uh the one where Jesus is talking about that he is uh the good shepherd. Uh this is um John in the book of John uh in chapter 10 we have this uh aspect where it says Then Jesus said to them again, Most assuredly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. And then in verse 9, it says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. So I find that would to be um possibly connected to this of being the door because the door of salvation was the ark. Uh, interestingly enough, um this is how we are how Noah was saved, and the animals were saved uh from the from the water. Um and and being that that was uh the earth God used to destroy mankind and humanity, but also to destroy the earth. Now some people miss that part because I truly believe that if a deluge that rained for 40 days or a deluge of flood, and then it rained for 40 days and forty nights, and then the earth stayed under that water for a year.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Okay. Um we know how corrosive water can be. Yes. If corrosive's the word, but you know how it it once it's waterlogged, once it's water damage is is very harsh.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

I mean it's I would imagine that the earth was absolutely scoured from water. Uh and and plants in general can live maybe days uh without sun. But to be like underwater for a year with no sun, right, the those plants would die um in in so many different ways. Uh and then the soil probably uprooted. Yeah. And not just um plants but trees. Can you imagine the trees as well? And so you're and I just want people to try to understand the destruction level that God uh has wreaked havoc on the earth. It's not just, you know, hey, we're underwater for a little bit and then we're out. This was literally a cleansing. And then there are other scriptures that refer to this, but the next time would be different. So I just don't want to go into that, but I just want people to try to understand that this is very serious. So now uh we are on the part where it says of all flesh in which is the breath of life. I just want to be able to touch on this, and you could do the study if you want to. But if you read in the Hebrew scriptures, the word breath is ruach. Ruach. So that means breath. And so if you go back to the beginning in Genesis 1 and 2, it talks about how God breathed the breath of life into Adam. And that breath of life is the same breath of life that we're talking about here, is what God breathed into not just the animals, but also into the uh mankind.

unknown 29:34

Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Now the breath of life is for man anyway, definitely is God's either spiritual breath or physical breath, obviously physical, but then the Holy Spirit is also called ruach hokadesh. So the the the Holy Spirit has the same meaning, and then also if you study it like I ask, you will see that it also means spirit. So I just want to throw that out there, and that is very important because what God has given man life with the breath, he is here taking it away. And the only ones that have the breath of life are the ones that are on the ark.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

So just to continue, so our last verse here that we're going to touch on is verse 16, where, and to me, this is a big one. It says, you know, so we know Noah and his family, all the animals entered the ark. But no, in verse 16, it says that God is the one that shut them in. Yes. That is of great significance. Noah didn't go and shut the door.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

You know, he didn't go and pull some lever or some rope and you know, harness the door in and you know lock it tight. God shut the door. Because that right there signifies it it not it it um how should I say it emphasizes God's sovereignty, that God is in command, that God is in control. And again, it as I mentioned earlier, it marks the moment where they see God's mercy end, but do you know what begins? Judgment. That's right. And those that heeded the warning, that heeded the message, are now on board that ark of salvation. Those who decided not to are now left outside to face the judgment of God. And we don't want to be those people. We want to be like Noah and his family, who took God seriously, who followed God's words and built the ark and got on board. And so now we must look for Jesus and become and join and and board that ark, that spiritual arc of salvation.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Yes. You know, the uh on that note, here you have uh so those that enter the ark, male and female, I find to be interesting to say. Because those are the ingredients for procreation.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

And and there's no there's no there's no way that God is gonna allow two female of the species on to not probably they would die there right after after their their time is up. And so this I want people to understand that this is a narrative throughout the Bible. It says here, so those that entered, male and female of all flesh. Now I want to just kind of on the that note as well, is that God knows, and anybody knows, that without male and female, that you cannot use the ideology that we have today, that where you have these relationships that people are normalizing of same-sex um relationships. That this doesn't that doesn't fly in the end-of-the-world scenarios. In order to continue, you have to have that aspect. This is not an argument, this is the way God made it. Okay, so just want to make sure that that's clear. And then it says, of all flesh, which is the breath of life, and then oh, I'm sorry, uh, verse 16. So that entered in the male and female in the flesh went in as God had commanded him. So this was something that God had commanded. This wasn't on their uh their own. Are we going to do this on our own? They entered, and every step of the way, God was in charge, and he says, This is what I want you to do, step by step by step. And they listened. And so God's commands, even in life and death scenarios, okay, is should be adhered to. Now, a lot of people when they read the Bible, they try to extract only the stuff that is for life. Okay. But then there's life after death, which is not something that a lot of people look for. In order to have life after death with God, there is a prerequisite that we have to be able to agree and say, this is what I want to believe in, this is who I want to follow, this is who I want to make the Lord of my life. If Noah did not make God the Lord of his life, there would there would be nothing.

unknown 34:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

It would be extinct, total extinction.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Right, because think about if Noah at the point where God came to him and said, I want you to do A, B, and C, you know, in terms of the Ark, what if Noah's all, um, you know, I don't want that responsibility. I don't want to build that. I don't, I I just don't want to take I just don't want to take that on. I think you need to find someone else. What if Noah had had that attitude? Yeah, we'd be extinct. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

Yeah, we'd it'd be a different world. Um and so there are people that believe that we don't have free will and volition, that it's all predestined, and that there are people that God is going to allow to die without their free will to say whether I want to live with you or to live in eternal torment. There are people that believe that that is true. Now, in a life and death situation, okay, you're either going to choose to live or die. And if you have the choice to live, you're gonna live, you're gonna choose life. And it now we're under grace, which you have a a time period to say, I want to live with God eternally or or otherwise, it's because we're in a grace period. These people were right at the day of judgment.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

Right. Well, and they had their grace period, it was that yeah, 120 years plus that week. That was their grace period, that was their time of to make a decision to and then when it's actually happening, right?

SPEAKER_01 36:32

They did not recant or relent. They just say, Oh no, we don't want to do this now. No, they're like, now I know why.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

Right.

SPEAKER_01 36:39

It was it was made very clear, and so then it says, and then the Lord shut him in. So that means that not only did the Lord shut him in, Noah himself, I believe, did not have the capability to seal the door to be watertight. Metaphorically, it could use you could probably see that as what God uh as he shuts him in, the very water, okay, that was the destroyer God used to destroy, was not going to get into the ark. Now, I've never read in the Bible anywhere where the Bible says that the ark leaked.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

No. I mean, I don't know. I just can't imagine that it would. I mean, it was it was a perfect design by God. I mean, I know Noah was one that actually put hands to it and built it, but he obviously followed everything precisely to the letter.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

Exactly, which ensures the the the uh I would say the success of it. Yeah, the stability. Just like the okay, so the church, the way you look at the church now, however how you look at it, you'll see good churches, not so good churches, good pastors, not so good pastors, you see, good congregations, not so good congregations, you see all different types of things in the church. But if you take away the people, the design of the church and how God has designed it, it is a perfect institution. It is the people that deviate. Okay, and the ark is a perfect design, okay, and it will work. The church will work too, as long as you obey the commands of God. And so I think that's the thing. So here's another one, uh, one scripture. It says Revelation chapter 3, verse 7. It says, And the angel of the church of Philadelphia write, these things say he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts, and shuts that no one opens. And this is the same concept that once God had shut that ark door, nobody else was getting in. Right. So that door specifically was to keep people out after the judgment and to keep people in after salvation. Right. So this is interesting because all of this was based on what they wanted and what they didn't want, and they are now paying for the decision. Right. That's not an easy thing for me to say, but it's the truth. And so when you look at this story, Jesus doesn't refer to this story as idol, he reversed He refers to this story as life or death, right, and also for salvation and damnation.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

Right. It has a great significance to the entire world. And just like there was only one way to get into that ark of salvation that that that Noah built, there's only one way to Christ. There's only one way to God. Yes. There's not many paths, there's not many ways, there's only one.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

Exactly. So if I were to, you know, just to kind of sum it all up, for me, is that, you know, I I think of this aspect too also. There are many times that we pray for something. Oh God, bring open this door, open this window, open this, make the way for something. But then it doesn't come to fruition. That's right. And if it doesn't come to be, to pass, God, it's it's for uh it's for our protection. That's right. And if, you know, because God can see things that we cannot. That's right. So that's one one thing that I take away from this. And when God opens the door, he knows that it's the it's it's because it's the it's the way for us to go. It's the it's it's the it's the uh sorry, I keep saying it's it's um since he sees the future, since he knows all, he knows that that particular path will be to our advantage. Yes. And so that's just again, that's one thing I take away from this. But the other thing is that right now is the time to act. Right now is the time to heed the warning, the judgment, because we're in we're in that that um, well, I shouldn't say the judgment period. It's a grace period. Right, we're in that grace period, that time of the days that God gave. Yeah, we're in that time of God's mercy and grace. But yes, God is a loving God, but his grace doesn't go on forever and ever and ever. That's right when it comes to a particular time. When he says, Okay, this is the time I'm giving you, that's all he's gonna give. He's not gonna give another 50 years beyond that when he says, That's it, that's it. That's it. And we are in the last days, and you know, we see it all around us. You know, we see Bible prophecies coming to fruition, one after another. Um, so that right now is the time to act. And that is, and that goes for the entire world, me, you, the entire world. I agree 100%.

SPEAKER_01 42:34

Um, in summation for myself, I would say that if I was to take something away from this, I would at least take away that God's promises, when he promises them, he fulfills them. He's not slack in that area. He definitely means what he says. And he's such a loving God and such a graceful and merciful God, he gives us a time period in which to be told of a pending, imminent judgment. And then we have not only our lives, but we have the generations of lives to tell others, which we are, I believe, in now. We have generation for 2,000 years, generation after generation, to hear this, and then once we've heard it, to make a decision, because it is going to be you've made a decision now, just like the people for a hundred and plus years when Noah was building our after they scoffed at him and when the rain came, that's when it was too late because they were already shut in. So what the intelligent decision would be to at least be curious and investigate what this is about. Because if we are wrong, then we are the fools sitting in an ark for seven days until it actually happens, or you will be the fool on the outside of the ark when the Flood waters start to rise. I will be in the ark and be a fool any day. Because that's exactly what it boils down to for me. And the fact that I can trust God for what I don't know about God, I could trust him for what I do know about him. And what I know about him, he has saved me from a lot from myself, self-destructive nature. And a lot of other people could probably testify to that as well. And if he could do that in my personal life, he could do that for the world. So that's the reason why I truly believe as well. And as you said, how the imminent door, when when the time is up, it's up. It reminds me of the Galilean marriage that Jesus talked about, and how when the father of the of the uh of the spouse and how he blows that horn and how the the people when they come, and for those who are late and who basically have not prepared, when the door is shut to the wedding, the doors are shut. And I I truly believe that that is a very good parallel and parody to it.

SPEAKER_00 45:06

Okay, well, I think we're going to wrap up this episode. And um, as always, thank you for joining us. Please download, please listen, please share with those in your life. We always appreciate um our listeners. And um, thank you for joining us for this episode number 27. And please just remember to read your Bibles daily, you know, and we hope that you take away something valuable from what we've said here today.

SPEAKER_01 45:34

Amen. Well, this is Pastor Frank.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

And this is Luce at 225. Thank you, amen.