10 Things to Ponder about Noah's Ark by Chris White

  Recently I have been doing some further reading about the well-known (and, one might say well-worn) story of Noah’s Ark.  I was surprised to learn a few things that I have presented here for your consideration.  If it is a true story, it will be plausible, it would have a bearing in our present reality, and more importantly it presents a call to action.  I think it meets those criteria.  Here are my thoughts:

1.  Many cultures which do not share the heritage of the Holy Bible nevertheless have a legend or oral history which follows the broad contours of the Bible story with their own variations.  These cultures are in disparate locations in both hemispheres.  Is this story widespread because it was popular and passed around a lot or is it because the peoples of the world are descended from the surviving family?

Babylonian Flood story

2.  While it seems hard to imagine features of this present world like Mt. Everest or the Swiss Alps being under 20 feet of water (15 cubits in the Bible), what if the landscape of this present world is the result of the collapsing land masses of the destroyed world and volcanic eruptions and that the previous topography was much flatter?

3.  According to the chronological and genealogical evidence of the Scripture, the world was roughly 1,656 years old when the flood occurred.  The population of the world based on natural human generation and family size would have an extremely conservative estimate of 2 billion people but more likely closer to our present day populace of 6 billion.

4. Where would enough rain be produced to cover the entire globe?  Walt Brown, Ph.D in mechanical engineering from MIT and Chief of Science and Technology at the Air Force War College suggests that the world we see today was created by a worldwide flood.  Brown suggests that the “fountains of the deep” were subterranean water sources ten miles beneath the surface of the earth.  As these broke open the tremendous force caused the water to go airborne and fall to the earth as ice, snow, and rain for 40 days.  As these sources exhausted, the plates collapsed and thus the oceans got deeper and the mountains were pushed up much higher.  Prior to this the seas and the mountains were much shallower and shorter than they are today.  (source: WND.com “Does Science Prove Noah’s Flood?”)  Another suggestion is that the rain was caused by volcanism.  The steam from a small cinder cone at Sicily’s Mt. Etna has been shown to generate enough steam to produce 4.6 million gallons per day.  What if many volcanoes were involved?

5.  As cute as the children’s story books are with Noah waving from the boat and all the animals sticking their heads out two-by-two smiling, the reality painted by the Bible account is much grimmer.  An ark is a chest used for stowing valuable things.  It was constructed of cypress (gopher) wood and then covered with bitumen or dark pitch inside and out.  It had no cabin on top and just a small skylight in the top for light and some ventilation.  In short Noah’s Ark was the original “black box”.  It sailed nowhere, it simply floated and bobbed through the water until it receded.

6.  The dimensions (which are specific in the Bible account) describe a chest with a displacement of about 43,000 tons.  This is comparable in size to the Titanic (only the Ark never sank!)  There were 3 decks in the ark, giving the interior the same cubic feet as a train of today with 1000 boxcars.  If the parent species of each animal was represented there (as opposed to the multiple, multiple varieties we have now) it would be quite plausible could all fit with room for food and people on board.

7.  Genesis is the first book of the Bible but it is not the oldest.  The oldest book of the Bible is Job and surprisingly Job references the Flood of Noah’s day.  It is also important to note that the judgment of the flood is referenced by the Prophets, Jesus, and the Apostles as something they not only believed to be true but also a paradigm for salvation and the final judgment of God.

8.  The Bible tells us the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.  The tallest of this range (in present day Turkey) is 17,750 feet and has been called since antiquity “Mt. Noah”.  The Bible also tells us Noah ended his days as a viticulturist and winemaker (who apparently had a tendency to sample his work a little too much).  It is an interesting coincidence that the grape of today originates in the Near East (Eastern Mediterranean countries) and that the oldest known references to winemaking occurred in the country we know today as the Republic of Georgia, which incidentally is in the same region as Mt. Ararat.

9.  Jesus was asked what will be the sign of his Second Coming and the judgment of the world to which he replied it will be then as it was in the days of Noah (a reference to the times and culture of the people).  The only known record of this era in human history is contained in Genesis chapter four.  The societal conditions it describes are apostasy and godlessness, easy travel and mobility from place to place, city building or urbanization, polygamy and amoral sexuality, agricultural advance, production of music, advanced metallurgy, increased violence and crime.  Add to this the words of Michael the Archangel answering the prophet Daniels question about the end of the world:  “many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase (Dan. 12:4).”  Just before I finished this article, I booked plane tickets to take me to the other side of the world in a month. While researching this article I went to Google to ask several questions of which every single one had over 1 million potential sources of information.  I will be posting this article on my blog next and it will join the other 3.32 billion other pages on the world wide web. 

10.  If God judged the first world for its evil and Jesus says the second world (the one we live in today) will not be spared of judgment and this judgment will occur when humanity’s evil reaches a certain point, and that point of judgment has a resemblance to the culture of Noah’s day, then it follows that wise person will start looking for the ark of God’s provision.  That ark today, according to the Bible is trusting in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Consider these words:

^“ By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”  (Heb. 11:7)

^“ I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Lk. 18:8)

^“ And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31)