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The Great Dinosaur Mistake

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Noah was asked by God to build an ark. What would you do if God asked you to build an ark? Hopefully obey as Noah did. But God said, Noah, I want you to build an ark. Noah said, What's an ark? An ark is a boat; a boat goes in the water. Lord, what do I need an ark for? There is no water around here. The Lord told him about rain. I can imagine Noah as saying, Lord, what is rain? Drops of water that fall down from heaven. Noah probably said, It hasn't rained before. The Lord would say, Noah, it is going to rain; build an ark. So Noah, being obedient to the Word of God, set out to build an ark. God says it has to be three stories high, has to have a door, a window (that is not just one window but a row of windows) finished in a cubit to take in rain water as well as air.

Noah was told to build the ark 450 feet long, 45 feet high, and 75 feet wide. He was to make it out of gopher wood.

God had warned the people and shortened their time. He said they had 120 years from the time the warning was given in Genesis 6 to the time the flood came. Man should have been waiting for the flood to come and willing to help Noah build the boat. But unfortunately people in Noah's day were much like people in our time. You can hire a man to help build something but it does not necessarily mean that he believes in the project. Word spread all over about this man Noah who was building a boat and telling people it was going to rain. I can imagine that families which did not have anything to do on the weekend would pack up all the children and watch what Noah was building.

What's he building?

A boat? (Where this to happen today, we might think he was building a floating zoo?)

But there's no water around here.

I know, the man is nuts.

All these observers made fun of Noah. One day Noah had just finished the boat and maybe thousands of people were watching. Noah got up and told them about the rain and the judgment to come. I imagine many of those people were concerned. They had watched Noah build a boat and heard him talk about rain and judgment. Perhaps God was going to judge the world. There had been an increase in sin and wickedness and violence lately. Maybe they should think about that. Many people probably thought about believing.

Then I can imagine one of the scientists from the university stepping forward to speak. Don't worry about it if when Noah tells you it is going to rain. I want you to know I have studied meteorology and I have talked to all the experts at the university and it can't rain. Why? Based upon the principle of uniformitarianism -- the present is the key to the past -- it has never rained as long as time has been. A mist waters the ground and as far as our present experiences can tell us, it is impossible for it to rain because a mist will always water the ground. Rain has never fallen from heaven; there has never been a flood; there is no reason to fear because these things cannot happen; it is not natural for them to happen. Therefore be at peace, relax, and enjoy the pleasures of life. We cannot expect God to step in any time man ignores Him. Besides, ladies and gentlemen I am a religious person. I go to church and I don't hear any of the religious leaders telling me it is going to rain. Why listen to Noah? I am sure this quieted many people and they felt relieved.

The religious leaders of the day were not concerned with this peculiar fellow out building a boat either, because they felt if God were going to speak He would surely speak to them. Why be concerned with preaching water and judgment anyway? Noah ought to be socially concerned. Think of what could be done with this big structure for the Saturday evening bingo party, or whatever. Still, amidst all the heckling, Noah continued to build an ark.

I imagine there was much concern on the faces of some individuals as they stood watching. Picture what happened on the day Noah finished and 35,000 animals simply started marching into the ark. I bet it raised quite a bit of confusion in the minds of people when 850,000 pairs of insects buzzed and crawled into the ark. Then Noah and all of his family packed up their belongings and said goodbye to their relatives. Noah's father died just five years before the flood, but Noah must have had several brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, who refused to believe. Because of their unbelief they would not enter the ark.

I can picture Noah standing on the gangplank pleading with people to come inside the ark. God has told me the flood is going to come. He has told me that all things will be destroyed. Please, please come inside. I can see him with tears running down his cheeks because none of the people believe. Finally God said, It is too late. Noah, step inside. Noah stepped inside and God shut the door. All the people left outside wondered. Maybe they began to believe that things are all right. They probably began to think it is not going to rain; Noah was wrong after all.

Then the rain began to pour. The fountains of the great deep broke up. Tidal waves came over all the land and all those people who stood outside cried, Now I believe. But it was too late.

The tragedy, my friend, is that from a study of population statistics, it is quite possible that there were over 3 billion people living on the earth when Noah built the ark, but only eight stepped inside. Think about it.

Only eight people believed in God. Three billion people went to a watery grave and a Christless eternity because they refused to believe. My friend, there is another judgment coming when God is going to destroy all the earth. Not by flood this time, but by fire. In addition, there is the judgment that comes to each man, for we are told, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27)

Today there is another ark of safety, but this is not an ark made of wood. This is an ark in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who says simply, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved ..." (John 10:10)

Jesus Christ is the ark of safety; those who step inside the ark of safety, Jesus Christ, are saved and are spared the great damnation, the great judgment, and eternity in hell.

Those who stay outside are in danger just as those who were outside the ark.

Where do you stand? Hopefully it is inside the ark of safety, Jesus Christ. If you are, let me challenge you to live your life as Noah lived his life so it might be said of you at the end of your life as it was said of Noah: "Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he." (Genesis 6:22)

Noah was a man who was able to withstand ridicule, able to withstand the temptation to walk with the crowd. He was a man who was able to stand firm for the truth of what God told him, the truth of a prediction that it was going to rain, that there would be a judgment. He was faithful, though no one else believed in his day.

Do you realize that every person who has lived and died on this earth, every person who has been born since Noah has been given a chance to find the Lord Jesus Christ because Noah faithfully believed and stepped inside the boat.

In the light of this, we have a responsibility to live our lives in faithfulness to God, in faithfulness to His Word and to that ark of safety, Jesus Christ.

It is our responsibility to proclaim His truth, that men and women, boys and girls, might be saved and find eternal life and escape the judgment to come.

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