“NOAH’S ARK”

1. How was Noah able to fit all of the animals on the ark?

2. This is a question that is asked by both children & those who are skeptic.

3. Those who ask this question often have a second question.

4. How could Noah have fed all of these animals?

TONIGHT LET’S SEE IF WE CANNOT COME TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF NOAH, THE ARK THAT HE BUILT, AND THE CREATURES THAT WERE SAVED FROM THE FLOOD.

A.Perhaps the first thing to note about Noah is that he really lived.

B. There are those who believe that Noah was not a real person.

C.Some think that the story of Noah’s ark is nothing but a tale.

D.The Bible says that Noah was someone who was real. The flood is real.

E. Not only is Noah mentioned in the book of Genesis,

(1) Isaiah 54:9 refers to him as does Ezek. 14:14, 20.

(2) Luke includes Noah in the genealogy of Christ (Luke 3:36).

(3) Jesus affirmed that Noah really lived (Mt. 24:37-39), and that the flood was real.

F. Speaking of the flood we have a description of the ark in Gen. 6:14-16.

G.Based upon this text, the ark was a barge like structure.

H.Instead of being a craft that would speed through the water, or instead of being a craft that could be easily navigated.

I. The description of the ark indicates two things:

(1) It had a large capacity for storage, 2

(2) It was a vessel that excelled in stability.

(3) The length of ark was 300 “cubits.”

(4) Not everyone agrees on how large a cubic was.

(5) From all that has been recorded, about 18” seems to be close.

(6) If 18 inches is multiplied by 300 what do we have?

(7) We have a structure that is about 450 feet. Long.

(8) If we look at the back of this auditorium,

(9) We will see how far it is from there to these 2 front walls,

(10) The distance is about 50 feet.

(11) Imagine this area multiplied 9 times.

(12) This was the approximate length of the ark.

(13) Now please look at the width of this auditorium.

(14) If we double the width that we see, we are pretty close to the width of the ark.

J. In looking at how tall the ark was, we find that it had three stories.

K. There are three decks.

L. Noah, we might say, built the first cruise ship.

M. Not only was there more than one deck,

N. There were actually “rooms” in the ark.

O. The square footage in this structure was about 1,400,000 cubic feet.

P. An easier way to grasp the space is to look at railroad cars.

Q. Most of us have seen livestock cars attached to trains.

R. If we had a train with 522 standard livestock cars,

S. This would be equal to the holding capacity in the ark.

T. Scripture says that animals were brought into the ark.

(1) What the Bible does not say is:

(2) Every single creature on the earth was brought into the ark.

(3) Let’s listen to Gen: 6”19 & 7:2 – READ.

(4) Two of “every creature with flesh” was brought on board the ark.

(5) We also learn that in Noah’s day, there we some sense in which some animals were “clean”

(6) These “clean animals” brought along some friends.

(7) Instead of just 2 clean animals, seven were brought on board the ark.

U. Now we come to the question, “Could all these animals fit in the ark.

(1) Our answer begins with a point that is often overlooked.

(2) From what the Bible says, some animals did die in the flood.

(3) Not every single creature that lived on the Earth. was on the ark.

(4) This is a fact that needs to be stressed.

(5) Also, there was no command to bring on board full grown animals.

(6) There is a big difference between a full gowned and a baby elephant.

(7) The same may be said of dinosaur’s were on the ark,

(8) If dinosaurs were on the ark, and I have no objection to believe other wise.

(9) Why do some insist that these creatures were full sized?

(10) The only reason that I can give is:

(11) Some want to reject this story and they raise this unsubstantiated view

V. Was the ark large enough to carry all of the animals that are described?

(1) Think back to the 522 boxcars which illustrate the space on the ark

(2) If all 522 of the cars (which equal the space in the ark was there.

(3) Filled up with sheep, 125,000 sheep could have been on the ark.

A. If we look at all the creatures that are on the earth,

(1) Sheep are average size creatures.

(2) Some creatures like lizards are much smaller than sheep.

(3) Other creatures such a (elephants and giraffes) are a lot bigger.

(4) Sheep represent an average size for non-human creatures.

B. Those who are experts in biological taxonomy (classify species),

C. Have estimated that there are less than 18,000 thousand species of ….

D. Mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians now living.

E. If we take this number, and we generously double it to account for those species.

F. Which we have 36,000 creatures. We must take this number times 2.

(1) We now have 72,000 creatures is well below the 125,000 capacity.

(2) Let’s add in the final thing mentioned in Genesis.

G. According to Genesis 7:2 the “clean creatures” had to be 7 in number.

H. Let’s again be generous and add 33% to our number.

I. 72,000 + 1/3 (24,000) comes to 96,000 creatures.

(1) Based upon the estimates given, and these were not conservative,

(2) How many creatures on the average could the ark hold?

(3) 125,000. Our liberal estimate leaves us with less than 1000,000.

(4) Those who like to do this thing have run the numbers.

(5) What is described is more than realistic.

(6) Noah and the ark are credible, believable, and plausible.

J There was plenty of space for the animals plus Noah and his family.

K. If we can defend Noah’s ark from the standpoint of size.

L. Critics often wish to demand that we answer another question:

M How did all of these animals come to Noah?

(1) The Bible does not say.

(2) Nevertheless, reasonable explanations are available.

(3) It has been suggested that prior to the flood, the entire earth was very similar.

(4) Thus, animals were not limited to a particular region.

(5) One could have gone anywhere and found the same variety of creatures.

(6) If this is true, the needed creatures were already in Noah’s locality.

(7) This view may or may not be the right explanation.

(8) In any case it is a reasonable explanation, though it is not the only one.

(9) We are familiar with the word “migration.”

(10) Some birds are even now returning to our area.

(11) It may be that some of the creatures were not close to Noah.

(12) So God used something like migration to bring the animals in the ark

(13) There may have been a “homing instinct” to come to the ark.

(14) There are reasonable explanations for what took place.

(15) If God made the creatures that exist.

(16) He was certainly capable of directing them to the proposed ark.

(17) If we provide this information to those who do not believe.

(18) We may be pelted with yet another question.

N. Once the animals were on board, how could Noah have fed them all?

(1) Here again is an area where assumptions are made.

(2) What makes us conclude that all of the animals were “awake?”

(3) Is it not a fact that some animals hibernate?

(4) Hibernation and migration are basic scientific facts.

(5) Is it inconceivable that while some animals were on the ark

(6) The creatures were at rest some the time or all of the time.

(7) An arrangement like this would have limited animal waste, and

(8) It would have limited the food that needed to be on the ark.

(9) This would have also made Noah’s job very manageable.

(10) The questions that skeptics think destroy man’s believe in this story.

(11) Can all be answered:

(12) We may “be able to say “This is exactly how it was done”,

(13) We can provide explanations that are more than credible.

(14) Noah and the ark has what I would calla the “ring of truth.”

(15) \It is believable one it is examined in detail.

O. Depending upon the date we accept for the flood,

P. The only vessel to be anything like it came about 4500 years later.

Q. The follow up to a Noah’s ark was built in the year 1884.

R. About the only pressing question I personally have ever had about the flood was this?

S. A high percentage of earth’s creatures are water creatures.

T. One estimate is that 60% of all creatures live in the water.

U. If the flood were world wide, salt and fresh water would have mixed

V. How could fresh water and salt water creatures survive?

W. Scientists have learned about “pockets.”

X. While this is not my area of expertise,

Z. Those skilled and especially knowledgeable in the area of science.

A. Have shown that life in the water was in danger of being wiped out.

B. If people want to reject the Biblical account of the flood

C. They must wrestle with some discoveries

D. Not one has discovered a chunk of the ark.

E. There is no proof that any part of the ark has ever been found.

F. We do, however, have other types of proof.

G. Those who are involved with archaeology…

I. Have found 33 separate tablets that tell of a gigantic flood.

J. 28 of these records say that the ark was used to save a remnant of people.

K. Thirty of the records say that the ark rested on a mountain.

L. 29 state that birds were sent out and brought back new that the water had receded

M 30 say that “divine favor” was upon the survivors.

N. 31 mention that worship was conducted upon leaving the ark.

O. The evidence that we have should remind us of Ps: 85:11 READ.

CONCLUDED:

. 1 God predicted a flood; it came.

2. God gave a big task to Noah, and we learn that large jobs from God can take some time.

3. We see that the good are preserved by God; evil men are destroyed.

4. Gen: 6 tell us that God is patient for only so long.

5. God adequately provides for His people.

6. And most importantly, what is in the Bible is believable.

7. The stories in the NT and the OT are trustworthy. When we tell Bible stories to children they are not just stories this is a historical fact. “Matter of history”.

8. The question is not, “Is the Bible true”, but Have we obeyed?

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