FINAL PROTECTION: "Hiding Behind the DOOR!"
God gives clues to prophetic truth in repeated patterns in Scripture. This is the case with the closed door.
We first see this pattern in Genesis 7:11 - 16 "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were broken up. opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. On the same day the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons entered the ark -- . . . And they entered into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. Then they that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God commanded him: and the LORD shut him up."
Jesus said, "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married women, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." Luke 17:26 - 27
Note that only those behind the door closed by God were taken out and kept in a safe place. That same day, death and destruction came upon all those who were not "behind the closed door."
Jesus points out that the same situation occurred with Lot, in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Luke 17:28 - 29 "Just as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, drank, bought, sold, planted, built; but on the day that Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all."
There is no door mentioned here, but Lot and his family were removed first, and then the destruction began.
This same pattern occurs again in Exodus 12:21 - 23 "Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Choose and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you will leave the door of your house until the morning. For the LORD will pass by to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two posts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to harm you. "
Notice again that God's people remained hidden behind the closed door. . . a door that has been brushed with the blood of the LAMB!
Now look at the prophecy of Isaiah 26:19 - 21 "Your dead will live; they will rise together with my dead body. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast it out. the dead. Come, my people, enter your chambers, And close your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a while, until the indignation passes. For behold, the LORD comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth because of their iniquity; the earth will also disclose their blood, and will no longer cover their dead."
Here we see that after this resurrection, (the resurrection to life), God's people are taken behind the closed door for a "little while", until the wrath of God passes!
This same promise is made by the Lord in Revelation 3:10 "Because you have kept my commandment to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth."
Therefore we have the prophecy of 1 Thessalonians 4:15 - 17 "Therefore we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so We will always be with the Lord."
God's people are lifted up to a safe place. This happens because He is about to pour out His wrath on all who have refused to know Him as their Savior.
Jesus gives stern warnings that there will be those who will miss being brought behind the door. When He stands up to close the door, many will be amazed to find themselves on the wrong side!
Luke 13:24 - 25 "Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When the owner of the house got up and closed the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying: 'Lord, Lord, open to us', and He will answer and say to you: 'I do not know you, where are you from'
Matthew 25:10 - 12 "And as they went shopping, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Then the other virgins also came, saying, Lord, Lord, open. us!" But he answered and said, Surely I say unto you, I know you not.
Then Jesus warned once again: "Be careful, or your hearts will be heavy with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close upon you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all who live in the face of all the earth. Be ever watchful, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man." Luke 21:34 - 36
Standing before the Son of Man is exactly where those who are brought, behind the door, will be! The beloved disciple John saw them in a prophetic vision, recorded in the Book of Revelation. "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and BEFORE THE LAMB. They were dressed in white and holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne; and to the Lamb. " Rev. 7:9 - 10
How did they get to this place? Exactly the same way John was. They were CALLED, to ENTER THE OPEN DOOR! Revelation 4:1 - 2 "I looked, and there before me was an open door in heaven. And the voice that I first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what should happen after this. "Immediately I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it."
Yes, the CALL OF THE TRUMPET! See again 1 Thessalonians 4:16 above.
John 10:7 - 9 " Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly I say to you, I am the gate of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and thieves, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and he will go in and out and find pasture. "
