In Thursday's passage the Lord delivered some bad news to Noah. He said, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them." When the Lord said "all people", Noah---to whom He is speaking---is excluded. The Lord intends to spare Noah because Noah walks faithfully with Him. We don't know how faithful Noah's family may or may not have been, but the Lord is going to spare their lives too. He's going to give Noah instructions for creating a vessel in which he and his family can ride out the storm.
This family survives only because of Noah's faith in and obedience to God. He could have said, "Lord, I don't understand what this 'rain' is that you're talking about. It's hard for be to believe that such a thing is really going to happen. I've never seen rain and I can't imagine what it would even look like. And I know that the people of this earth have become indescribably wicked, but I just can't make myself believe that You'd actually destroy them." If Noah had said such a thing he would have doomed himself and probably his family too. Salvation is always by faith, whether we're talking about salvation from the great flood or whether we're talking about salvation from our sins. God makes the offer to save us, but it's up to us to accept or not. It takes faith to accept God's offer, and Noah had that faith. Because he has that type of faith, God provides him with instructions for making the ark.
"So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out." (Genesis 6:14) The ark was made of very durable wood and it was coated with pitch inside and out to make it waterproof.
"This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high." (Genesis 6:15) If we translate these cubits into feet, most scholars calculate that the ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. This means the dimensions of the ark were 1,518,750 cubit feet! To put the size into perspective, the first ship that was manufactured for pleasure cruising (the Prinzessin Victoria Luise) was 406 feet long and 52 feet wide, so the ark was actually quite a bit larger. The ark was not engineered for sailing but for floating; therefore it needed no engine and probably no type of steerage equipment. Since it was not designed to entertain people, it required no buffet restaurants, lounges, theaters, swimming pools, casinos, exercise rooms, or promenade decks. All of the space on the ark was usable for its intended purpose: to save enough people to continue the human race and to save enough of each species of animal to continue the species.
"Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks." (Genesis 6:16) Three story commercial buildings are usually built with 15 feet allowed per story, which allows room in between each floor for things like electric conduits, plumping pipes, and heating and air vents. This means a three story office building is about 45 feet tall, just like the ark, so clearly Noah's ark was large enough to contain three stories, just as the Lord instructed him.
Some critics of the Bible have scoffed at the idea that the ark was big enough to preserve every species of animal. But if we translate the cubit feet of the ark into standard size railroad cars, the ark could have held as many animals as 522 railroad cars. If we saw a train pass by with 522 railroad cars attached, and if every car was packed with as many animals as it could comfortably and humanely hold, I think we'd conclude that there was definitely enough space on the ark to contain enough animals to continue the line of each species. Remember, animal life wasn't as varied and diverse as it is today. For example, the canine species may have been represented on the ark by one pair of wolves. It is man who selectively bred canines in such a way as to create all the breeds we know today. There were no Dachshunds on the ark like my little dog. There were no Golden Retrievers or Bulldogs. There was probably just a pair of wolves and perhaps also a pair of hyenas or coyotes or whatever other canine species may have existed in the beginning. Some scientists estimate that in Noah's day only a few thousand distinct species actually existed. God created these species and then man, through selectively breeding together animals whose DNA was close enough for them to successfully mate and produce offspring, created the diversity we see on the earth today.
If the animals on the ark were juveniles and not fully grown animals, even less space would be needed to contain all of them. One commentary I consulted suggests that the ark could have easily held over 200,000 sheep with plenty of room left over for humans, food, tools, and all other needed survival equipment. A sheep is a mid-sized animal. Many of the ark animals would have been a great deal smaller than sheep, such as mice, squirrels, rabbits, cats, dogs, raccoons, and so on. Some would have been larger, like horses and cows. A few species would have been extra large, like elephants and giraffes. But by putting the size of the ark and the size of the animal kingdom of that time into perspective, we see that the scoffers are incorrect. The ark could and did contain enough space to house enough animals to continue these species on the earth after the floodwaters subsided.
We have accepted the word of God in the Bible on faith. God says He sent a great flood on the earth and that He saved the human race and the animal kingdom by having Noah build an ark. We believe these things because we trust God. But isn't it also nice when modern science backs up what the Bible says? Some people are only going to come to faith because there is a source outside of the Bible that supports what the Bible says. As we become more advanced in science and medicine, and as we discover more and more about the ancient world through archaeology and geology, we are finding that instead of disproving anything in the Bible, these sciences actually support what the Bible says. In our study today we have seen that a ship the size of the ark really could have contained and kept alive enough animals to continue the animal kingdom on earth. This is what it was designed to do and it performed its job perfectly. God knew exactly how the ark should be built in order to serve its purpose and, because He does all things well, it did precisely what He said it would do. God doesn't make mistakes. God doesn't lie either. We can fully and confidently place our trust in everything He says to us in His holy word.
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