Eternal Life, Not Temporary Life
A Devotional Series from Genesis
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
6/22 Reading Portions: Deuteronomy 27:1-28:19; Psalm 119:1-24; Isaiah 54; Matthew 2
Genesis 7:16
And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in.
SAVED
Today, we’ll consider two things from this verse. The first is the salvation of eight souls, as well as the pairs of all the various kinds of animals, by their entering the ark. There was only one ark for their salvation. As you know, I’ve been writing about how to understand Israel from Scripture. There is a certain theology (one I do not adhere to), which states that Israel and Christ’s church have two different paths and two different destinies. As far as God’s grace is concerned, as well as God’s judgment against sin, this distinction between Israel and Christ’s church doesn’t exist in this picture of salvation. In just a few verses we read,
And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. Genesis 7:21-23
Jesus also said,
“I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6
I’m not being anti-Semitic here. I have Jewish ancestry. The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to EVERYONE who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile (Rom 1:16). But think about this: the timespan from the Creation to Jacob being named Israel was nearly twice as long as the timespan of Moses to the incarnation of Christ. Jesus is the Light of the world (John 8:12), why would we want to dabble in shadows?
Second, YHVH God shut the door to the ark. That’s eternal salvation. It should strike us as odd that some people who profess to be Christians suggest that a person can lose their salvation. It’s called eternal life for a reason; else it would be called temporary life. There was no way for Noah to leave the ark, but having been saved from the flood of judgment, why would they want to?
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. John 5:11-12
Hallelujah! What a Savior!