Genesis 7:13 - Meaning and Application

Here the story repeats what was already said about Noah entering the ark with his family and the creatures chosen for preservation. This repetition honors Noah, whose faith and obedience shone so clearly. He won a good reputation, and he showed himself to be a great favorite of heaven and a great blessing to the earth.

The text also notices that the animals went in “each after its kind,” using the same wording as the creation story (Genesis 1:21-25). This shows that just as many kinds of creatures were made at the beginning were saved then, and no more. It also shows that this rescue was like a new creation, because a life carefully preserved is, in a sense, a new life.

For that time, all hostility among the creatures was held back. Fierce animals were so quiet and manageable that the wolf and the lamb lay down together, and the lion ate straw like an ox (Isaiah 11:6, Isaiah 11:7). But when that time was over, the restraint was lifted, and they remained the same kinds of creatures as before, because the ark did not change their nature. In the same way, hypocrites in the church, people who outwardly fit the rules of the ark, may still be unchanged inside, and in time it will show what kind they really are.

The passage adds a detail worth noting: “The Lord shut him in” (Genesis 7:16). As Noah kept obeying God, God kept caring for Noah. This care was especially clear here, because shutting the door made a division between Noah and the rest of the world. God shut the door, first, to protect Noah and keep him safe inside the ark. The door had to be shut tightly so the waters would not break in and sink the ark, and firmly so no one outside could force it open. In this way, God gathered Noah in as he gathers up his treasured people (Malachi 3:17).

God also shut the door to keep everyone else out forever. Up to that point, the door of the ark had stood open, and if anyone, even in those last seven days, had repented and believed, they might have been welcomed in. But once the door was shut, they were cut off from all hope of entry. God shuts, and no one can open.

There is much here that points to our gospel duty and privilege. The apostle uses Noah’s rescue as a picture of baptism, that is, our Christian life (1 Peter 3:20, 1 Peter 3:21). Our great duty is to come, in obedience to the gospel call and by living faith in Christ, into the way of salvation God has provided for sinners. When Noah entered the ark, he left behind his own house and land. In the same way, we must give up our own righteousness, and even our worldly goods, whenever they come into conflict with Christ.

Noah also had to accept the limits and discomforts of the ark for a time, so that he might be preserved for a new world. Those who come to Christ for salvation must also deny themselves in both suffering and service. And those who come into the ark themselves should try to bring others with them through wise teaching, persuasion, and a good example. Who knows, man, whether you may save your wife in this way, as Noah did his (1 Corinthians 7:16)? There is room enough in Christ for everyone who comes.

Those who come to Christ by faith will be shut in by God’s power and kept safe, like a person protected in a strong fortress (1 Peter 1:5). God put Adam into paradise, but he did not shut him in, and Adam cast himself out. But when God put Noah into the ark, he shut him in. So when he brings a soul to Christ, he makes its salvation sure. It is not left in our own keeping, but in the Mediator’s hand, meaning Christ, who stands between God and us.

The door of mercy will soon be shut against those who now treat it lightly. Right now, if you knock, it will be opened. But a time will come when it will not be opened any longer (Luke 13:25).