Noah’s Ark

Many people, even those who consider themselves Christians, are not convinced that the great flood narrated in Genesis 6 was real. Many likened it to a parable or any other story that is meant to teach a lesson, but which didn’t actually happen. But scientific discoveries and similar, parallel anecdotes in the world’s contemporary cultures and religions such as those in Hinduism, Greek, and other myths, and mythology, tend to confirm the Genesis flood narrative. If that is so, then the earth did have billions of people (estimated at four) before the flood, all of whom perished except for eight --Noah and his wife, their three children and their wives.

What saved Noah and family (and a host of the world’s animal creatures) was the ark, specifically designed by God which he instructed Noah to build. Without the ark, all mankind and all land animals would have perished --I wouldn’t be writing, and you won’t be reading this, either. But why the flood? Gen. 6:5 tells us, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” Worth pondering upon, as we reflect the current state of our human thoughts in our hearts in this day and age. Aren’t we headed in that same direction?

Many scientifically-minded people would contest the biblical thesis on the world’s creation and its history until now. Many would prefer fossils etched on stone that aren’t actually, to this very day, one-hundred-percent proof. At least, the biblical, and other Abrahamic faith-based accounts were written by people and believed by more than half of the world’s population (of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faith). Yet, on this great flood event, science and faith agree that this really happened. For perspectives, it is estimated that the world’s population before the flood was four billion people, who all perished except for the eight. We are 8 billion people now.

Will there be another global flood? Science isn’t convinced, but neither does it rule out any future apocalyptic events. But I believe in God, and he did promise in Genesis 9:11, “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” If we are to believe the Scriptures and I see no reason not to, the next, and probably the final, time a global cataclysm would occur would first be by wars and ultimately by fire (others surmise a nuclear annihilation).

That time comes at Christ’s second coming. And he will be the “ark,” for those who believe like Noah. “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37-39). Jesus will save those who are in him.