By the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

Noah was shut away from the world in the ark by the hand of divine Love. The door of “God’s purpose in election” (Rom. 9:11) intervenes between us and the world that dwells with the wicked one. We “are not of the world any more than [Jesus was] of the world” (John 17:14). We cannot enter into the sins of the multitudes or play in the streets of Vanity Fair of The Pilgrim’s Progress (John Bunyan, 1628 – 1688) with the children of darkness, for our heavenly Father has “shut [us] in.” Noah was not just shut in by his God but also with his God. The Lord’s invitation — “I will establish my covenant with you. . . . Enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you” (Gen. 6:18) — clearly shows that God Himself intended to dwell in the ark with His servant.

In the same way, all God’s chosen dwell in Him and He in them. How blessed we are to be included in the same circle that contains the three persons of the Trinity of God: Father, Son, and Spirit! May we never ignore His gracious appeal: “Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by” (Isa. 26:20). Noah was so shut in that “no harm [could] befall [him]” (Ps. 91:10). Even the flood did nothing but lift him heavenward and the wind only wafted him on his way. Everything outside the ark was in total ruin, but inside was only rest and peace.

Without Christ Jesus we perish, but in Him there is complete safety. Noah was so shut in that he would never desire to come out, and those who are in Christ Jesus are in Him forever. We will never come out from Him, for eternal Faithfulness has shut us in, and our evil enemy can never drag us from safety. The Prince of the house of David has shut the door that no man can open. And “once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door” in the last days, those who profess Him in name only “will stand outside knocking and pleading” in vain, “Sir, open the door for us” (Luke 13:25). The same door that shuts in the wise virgins will shut out the foolish ones forever. (See Matt. 25:1 – 13.)

Lord, shut me in by Your grace.

By the pen of Jim Reimann:

The story of Noah and the ark is so much more than a child’s Sunday school story! It is the story of God’s sovereign work of grace in choosing ​— or electing — Noah and his family for His eternal salvation. And it clearly teaches us that those eight people were saved, not because of their good works but simply because they were in the ark. God Himself closed the door, sealing Noah in the ark in the same way the Holy Spirit seals us in Jesus Christ.

“You also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Eph. 1:13). The “seal” of the Holy Spirit has a twofold purpose: He is not only the one who permanently protects us in Christ but also our King’s seal of ownership on us, just as an earthly king sealed his letters with his own name. And the seal of “the promised Holy Spirit” is sufficient to protect us in Christ until He returns, for the next verse says: “You were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).

I give thanks that “you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Ps. 4:8).