Searching through the Old and New Testaments, you will find a number of doors that provide some significant insights into the role that each door played in its original context, and which continue to have an important bearing on our own spiritual lives today. In my search, I identified seven doors that are important for us to consider, and we will look at the 3 doors that are mentioned in the Old Testament in this blog. Next week, we will look at the final 4 doors mentioned in the New Testament. Let’s begin by looking at:
1) THE ARK DOOR
Let’s go back into some of the beginning events in the Book of Genesis and look at the time of the flood in the days of Noah when evil prevailed and violence had spread throughout the land. Jesus talked about Noah and the flood during his own ministry as He called the people of His own day to repent, warning them that just as the flood came and swept away all those who failed to heed Noah’s preaching, so it would be at His return. Let’s check out some of the text from the account in the Book of Genesis:
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. And you shall set the door in the side of the ark… So, they went into the ark by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. Those that entered, male and female, entered as God had commanded Noah; and the Lord closed the door behind him (Genesis 6:5-8, 16; 7:11-16).
Notice that it was God who shut the door after all of Noah’s family and all of the animal and bird “kinds” had entered the ark. They were all safe inside as the floodwaters rose, destroying all living things upon the earth. We, too, can find refuge from God’s anger and wrath toward sin, as well as from the storms of life that threaten to derail us at every turn by entering into the “ark” of God’s protection. Inside His door, we will find security and the peace that passes all understanding. His loving arms will protect each of those who acknowledge His sovereignty and loving care over their lives. And then there is…
2) THE PASSOVER DOOR
When God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, He assured them that as the tenth plague descended upon the land, He would protect each family if they spread the blood of a lamb on the lintel and door posts of their homes. Here is the text from the Book of Exodus:
Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old…You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:3-7, 13).
The hundreds of lambs that were slain that day provided a picture of the One whom John the Baptist would later recognize as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” And the Apostle Paul recognized a significant truth that “Jesus, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). Indeed, in about 1,450 BC, God provided a picture of Jesus, our Passover Lamb, who would one day die for the sins of the world, and that includes your sins as well as mine. And then, there were …
3) THE TEMPLE DOORS
When Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem, the Lord told him to:
…adorn the temple with precious stones and overlaid the house with gold – the beams, the thresholds, and its walls and its doors…(2 Chronicles 3:6-7).
It was through these temple doors that the priests of Israel would enter to keep the holy place in order, providing oil for the lampstands, bread for the “bread of His presence,” and incense for the altar. And then once a year, the High Priest would enter into the Most Holy Place and sprinkle the blood of a slain lamb on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant which was behind the veil, or curtain. In an interesting twist, Jesus, our High Priest, slayed the sacrificial Lamb (Himself) on the alter and sprinkled His own blood on the Mercy Seat. In other words, Jesus, our High Priest, offered Himself as our sacrifice for sins.
If you have never confessed your sins to Jesus, He is the slain Lamb and the Door of the Temple through which you mist enter in order to have LIFE, His LIFE, that extends into eternity. As in the days of Noah, it’s never too late to enter through the Door, Jesus Christ Himself. Just confess your sins to Him and enter through Him, the one Door He has made available for you to enter.
This concludes Part 1 as we considered the 3 doors from the Old Testament. Next week, we will look at the 4 doors revealed in the New Testament. Hope to see you then.
