Question:
I am a Christian. I want to know more about Noah’s Ark. Please help me.
Answer:
Thank you for your question.
The Bible tells us in Genesis 6:1-19,
1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
We find that man became very immoral, and was taking as many wives as he wanted (verse 2). So God set a time limit (120 years, verse 3), that He would send His Holy Spirit to strive with man to get him to repent from his sin. The Holy Spirit does that with man yet today. John 16:7-11 says, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, HE WILL REPROVE THE WORLD OF SIN, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” The reason for the time limit in Noah’s day, was because at that point, the flood would come, and man would die. After man dies, it is too late to repent and get saved. Hebrews 9:27 says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” A person must repent and accept Jesus Christ before he dies, or he will spend eternity in the lake of fire. Revelation 20:14,15 says, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” That is why the Bible tells man, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
In verse 14 of Genesis 6, God instructed Noah to make the ark out of “gopher wood.” I am not sure what kind of wood that is. Many people have guessed what it is, but I cannot say. In our country we do not have any wood by that name. But it would have been a tight-grained wood that would hold up well in wet conditions. God also told Noah in that same verse to put pitch on the wood on the inside and the outside, to make it good and waterproof.
That same verse tells us that God told Noah to build rooms in the ark, but we do not know the size of these rooms. From an engineering standpoint, making rooms in the ark would make it much stronger by acting as bracing on the inside of the ark. From a practical viewpoint, it would be to keep the animals somewhat separated from each other, as well as give the people on the ark some privacy away from the animals.
In verse 15, we are told how big the ark was — 300 cubits. 300 cubits long equals 450 feet. In the United States, many people know about how long a football field is — 100 yards or 300 feet. So the ark would have been as long as one and a half football fields. Verse 15 tells us that the breadth or width of the ark was 50 cubits or 75 feet. And then the height was 30 cubits or 45 feet.
Verse 16 tells us that there was a window in the ark 1 cubit or 18 inches down from the roof, and that there was 1 door in the ark, placed in the side. That same verse tells us that there were 3 floors in the ark, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
So the ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high, and had 3 floors in it. It was large enough to hold 2 of every kind of animal upon earth, and 7 of certain animals that were considered “clean.”
The ark is a picture of the grace of God, in the midst of wicked and perverted people. Genesis 6:8 says, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Today, it seems like the days in which Noah lived. Genesis 6:5 says, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” That verse sure pictures what is going on in the earth again. We are warned that in such a wicked day, that we should look for the Lord to return. Luke 17:26-30 says, “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”
Are you serving the Lord faithfully in the midst of a wicked and perverted generation, like the one in which we live? We do not know how much time we have left to reach others for Jesus Christ. Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
For more information on the ark, see Web Site, http://www.drdino.com/points.html, which is a page on Dr. Kent Hovind’s Web Site. His home page is, http://www.drdino.com. He has excellent videos of his Creation Evangelism Seminars. I would highly recommend you visiting his Web Site, and ordering his videos.