Have you ever seen the cute pictures of Noah’s Ark? What about the church diaper-bag tags with a cartoon of Noah's Ark on them? Does your child have a toy ark with the cute stuffed animals? Maybe you decorated your child's bedroom or baby nursery with the adorable little baby animals?
My wife and I recently crossed an item off our bucket list, when we visited the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, KY. The exhibit opened in 2016 and displays a full-size version of Noah’s Ark, a zoo, zip lines, restaurants and more! I would certainly recommend it for a family trip and you should also plan to visit the Creation Museum while you are there.
When you walk through the rainbow gateway to the park, your eyes immediately see the ark and your jaw drops open. The ship is massive! It has three decks, cages, storage areas, living quarters, interactive exhibits, concession stands, a gift shop, animals that look real and yes… even dinosaurs!
A very small section of the Ark Encounter made the biggest impression on me. The section was called the “Fairy Tale Ark” exhibit. The section was bright and cheerful, and immediately lured children into the fun and very cute room. Once inside, the parents were confronted with the reality of Noah’s Ark and the horror of the Flood. The world-wide Flood was God’s greatest judgment on mankind to this date. It was gruesome and horrifying to say the least. The “cute” pictures, logos and décor that we see utilizing the ark; too often hide the meaning of the story – GOD JUDGED AND DESTROYED THE EARTH! Think about it… people, animals and every living thing that walked/crept on this earth drowned. Only Noah, his family members, and the animals with them in the ark survived.
The reality is that God exercised Divine Judgment to punish the people for their sinful choices, behaviors, lifestyles and indulgences. The world had become so wicked and the people had turned their back on their Creator, to the point that God regretted creating them.
Genesis 6:6-7 says – “The Lord regretted making human beings on the earth, and his heart was grieved. 7 So the Lord said: I will wipe out from the earth the human beings I have created, and not only the human beings, but also the animals and the crawling things and the birds of the air, for I regret that I made them.”
A plaque in the Ark Encounter states it this way:
“ Jesus spoke about the days prior to the Flood in Matthew 24:37-39. He said that the people went about their regular activities – eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage – until the day Noah entered the Ark. They were unaware of the coming judgment until the Flood swept them all away. Jesus also likened the state of the world at the time of His return to the condition of the world in the days of Noah.”
So we have to ask the question, “Why do churches and Bible-believing parents paint such a fairy tale picture of Noah’s Ark?” The answer is that they either do not understand or do not believe the Bible! The flood was God's judgment on a wicked world -- not a happy story about adorable animals. Those who teach Bible stories as fairy tales are undermining every effort to make disciples of the children that God has entrusted to them. For if you can convince someone that the Flood was not real, then you can also convince them that Heaven is not real.
What should be our real take-away from the story of the Flood and Noah’s Ark? We find the answer in Matthew 24:37 and Luke 17:26 – “For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
Now you know… so today, you are accountable for whether you teach God’s Word accurately or convince your children that the stories of the Bible are simply fairy tales. Regardless of your choice, most would agree that our present world looks a lot like it did in the days of Noah. Realizing this, the ultimate question is, “Are you ready if Christ was to return today?”
