Windows, Yet Door

"One door and only one, and yet its sides are two?  I'm on the inside.  On which side are you?!"1

Why do you suppose there was only one door into the Ark?  Pictured above is the representation of Noah's Ark found at The Ark Encounter, in Williamstown, Kentucky.

16Make a roof for the ark and finish it, leaving 18 inches from the top. Put a door in the side of the ark, and make lower, middle, and upper decks.

Genesis 6:16 (NET)

The "cubit" of space between the top of the Ark and the roof allowed for windows of light and ventilation, but it was not enough space to permit water to overwhelm the Ark during the many tempestuous days of the Great Flood.  The windows figured prominently in determining when the judgment was concluded.  (See Genesis 8:6-12.)

There is little we actually know about the door of the Ark, other than God commanded Noah to set it in the side of the large boat.  However, it would make sense for the door to be located "on the middle deck".  In The Ark Encounter photo, you can see a ramp that extends diagonally up the side of the Ark, to a door in the middle deck.  There were so many animals to load, though....why only one door?

We see, further, in Genesis 7:16 that the Lord shut the door to the Ark, sealing inside all the human and animal and plant life.  This is significant.  Why mention the shutting of the door at all?  Or, why did Noah or his sons not shut it?

When we think of a miracle, what comes to mind?  We need to remember that not all of God's miracles were miracles of healing or of restoration.  Some, as in the case of the Flood, were miracles of judgment.  The Flood was not just some "natural disaster".  This was a supernatural judgment of God (and a foreshadowing of the work of Jesus Christ).  How else could this overgrown boat, albeit impressive, have survived such catastrophic upheaval, where the very "fountains of the deep" burst open? (Genesis 7:11)

God Himself shut the one-and-only door to keep the living inside safe through the year-long cataclysm.3  In Revelation 3:7 we read that when God opens a door no man can shut it and when He closes a door, no man can open it either.

There is a symbolic meaning in the Flood judgment.  As He did in the case of the Ark and the Flood judgment, God provides a way for people to escape eternal judgment through Jesus Christ.  Jesus referred to Himself as "the door", in John 10:9.  In that specific instance, Jesus was referring to the door or gate of the sheep pen, but the principle is the same.  He is the one and only way God has provided to "enter in" and receive salvation, eternal life.

The italicized quote at the top of the page is from a song I learned as a child.  It asks the question, "On which side of the door are you?".  Have you entered through the Door into God's Ark of eternal security?  If not, please enter in today!

Through the writing of the apostle John, Jesus uses the "door" metaphor again, in a slightly different way.  Open the door of your heart to Him today!

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Revelation 3:20 (ESV)

Sources:

1    http://www.digitalsongsandhymns.com/songs/7817

2    http://www.alfredplacechurch.org.uk/index.php/sermons/genesis/71-16-the-lord-shut-the-door/

3    https://answersingenesis.org/bible-timeline/biblical-overview-of-the-flood-timeline/

Exclusionary Entrances

In our current American culture, it has become "hateful" to exclude people, for just about any reason. Here are some controversial examples from over the past few years:

• 2012  Augusta National golf club admits first woman
• 2013  Restriction that prevented U.S. women from serving in direct combat was lifted
• 2015  Boy Scouts of America admit openly gay scoutmasters
• 2016  The Obama transgender bathroom fracas

I could cite many more, but I'm sure you get the drift.  Those who object to any group, club, church or other institution excluding people for any reason, even legitimate reasons, are labeled "haters".

The Bible, on the other hand, is an exclusionary book, as we'll see as we take a look at the Jewish Temple in today's post.
In our Hebrews study, which has, for reasons I can't explain, "meandered" more than any of my previous studies here at the RDM blog, we are now going to delve more deeply into the components of the Jewish Temples/Tabernacles, as promised in the post "Dual Citizenship" from a few days ago.

We will begin with the Temple entrances that, whether the Tabernacle was pitched in the wilderness wanderings or either of the two Temples constructed over the hundreds of years before Jesus was born, faced East.  A good question to explore would be, "Why was that the case?"  A second good question would be, "Who was allowed to enter at each entrance, and why?"

For starters, the Garden of Eden was the first "sanctuary", the place where God met with man (Adam and Eve).  The garden was planted, we are told in Genesis 2:8, in the East of the area known as Eden.  This is the first instance we see of "East" having a prominent role in God meeting with man.
When Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden, they were sent out "East of Eden", therefore signifying that moving away from God is to travel East.  If that sounds like "a stretch", consider that when Lot departed from Abraham he went East to the area that became Sodom.

Then, later under the inspired leadership of Moses and Aaron, the Tent of Meeting (again, where the presence of God descended to meet with man) was pitched so that the entrance faced East.  See Numbers 3:38 (ESV)

Those who were to camp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, guarding the sanctuary itself, to protect the people of Israel.  And, any outsider who came near was to be put to death.

When Babylon conquered Jerusalem and took Hebrew captives off into 70 years of exile, the Hebrews traveled East.  In fact, we read in Ezekiel 10 that the glory of God left the Jerusalem Temple to travel with the exiles East to Babylon.

When the Temple was built in Jerusalem, the entrance likewise faced East, toward the sunrise and the city's Eastern gate.  But, let's leave this point of directionality and focus on the "who" of the Temple entrances. There's another important factoid revealed here in the Numbers passage, which became part of the Temple ritual later.  The Temple priests, like their forebears before them, guarded and governed who was allowed access to various parts of the Temple.  In the case of the Tabernacle, no non-Hebrew peoples were allowed entrance.  In the more elaborate Temples to follow, Gentiles were allowed into only the most outer courts of the huge building.  There was a literal "Court of the Gentiles" for instance, which resembled a large outdoor bazaar.  Gentiles could proceed no further into the Temple than this outer court which, it could be argued, was not truly a part of the Temple at all.

Jews could proceed through the first East-facing entrance, the Beautiful Gate, into the Court of the Women.  Jewish women could proceed no further.  Jewish men could proceed on through the next East-facing entrance, called the Gate of Nicanor, into the Court of Israel.  But, only the male Levitical priests could enter the next area, called the Court of the Priests.  It was this area of the Temple which corresponded to the design of the Tent of Meeting.  (Just click the link.)

http://www.jesuswalk.com/moses/images/tabernacle-flow-of-worship-2293x1251x300.jpg

In the graphic of the Temple's Court of Israel, at the link above, the "Enter" designation on the East side --- the entire area pictured here could only be accessed by Levitical priests.  Hmmmm....quite exclusionary, right?

Personally, I am so glad that my Savior reassured me that, regardless of the Temple, He is "the Door", the only door I need to experience joy, forgiveness, restoration and eternal life, beginning here and now.

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 10:9 (ESV)

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

When He came, He perfected salvation so as to render the Temple system unnecessary. I do enjoy studying about it, though, because God did ordain the Temple design as a "type" of Jesus Christ's perfect salvation which was to come.  As Hebrews 8:7 testifies - - -

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

Jesus, the Second Adam, in bringing the perfect "second covenant" does not exclude anyone.  No lock on that Door!  He invites anyone to come to Him and through Him for salvation, because eternal redemption is found in none other.  Praise His holy name!


Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_military

http://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/448/what-is-the-significance-of-east-in-the-scriptures

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Temple

http://www.friendsandheroes.tv/Temple_in_Jerusalem.html