Biblical Takeaways from the Ark Encounter & Creation Museum
We had a chance to go visit the Ark Encounter, which is a replication of the Ark from Genesis 6. It was a wonderful blessing and sight to see at the Ark and Creation Museum. I have some Biblical takeaways to share with you today if you have been thinking about visiting the Ark Encounter.
4 Biblical Takeaways
1. Imaginative modeling
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot of the Ark exhibit you could see the ginormous recreation of the massive ship. Those friends and family who had gone to view the Ark before had tried to impress upon me the sheer size and enormity of the Ark. Seeing the behemoth model was a breathtaking experience. Using a standardized Biblical cubit (a unit of measurement frequently used in the ancient Near East) the builders of the Ark help express and display the magnitude of this floating picture of salvation. My kids commented that the Ark looked like a "skyscraper lying down".
When making a historical replica of any event there is a certain amount of creative expression and license employed. If that reality is embraced rather than ignored, the experience of the Ark will be very edifying. If a person expects a replica to be a flawless recreation with zero imaginative expression, one might as well stay at home and avoid the study of history altogether. Some examples of this principle are the rain collectors, manure disposal mechanisms, and the size of animal cages used. Each of these areas (and many more) are accounted for and given some explanation within the Ark model. These potential imaginative expressions in the Ark helped me to both answer questions I (and other unbelievers I've witnessed over the years) have had, and questions I didn't know might be very historically relevant.
Seeing the imagined engineering solutions for feeding animals, storage of food, weight distribution for maintaining buoyancy, and living quarters increased my understanding and appreciation of the historical context of Noah, the Ark, the Flood, and God's character.
2. Judgment
Any appreciation for the Ark has to come accompanied by a recognition of the necessity of the Ark. The Ark was commissioned by God to be a means of salvation for Noah and his family from the righteous wrath of God against the human evil of those days. The Ark wouldn't have been built had the Lord not been both just and gracious. God's grace is on display even in the midst of judgment that some were spared. God's utter disgust of sin is on display in the global scale of the flood.
The artwork at the Ark takes a serious and somber tone regarding the abominable context that provoked God's wrath. One particularly haunting painting depicts a man and woman climbing to higher ground as tidal waves of raging ocean sweep around. As I looked at the artwork the thought came to mind "What is the point? Don't they know the water will just keep getting higher?". It was a terrifying and surreal moment. To see visually displayed the utter hopelessness of escape from God's wrath against sin, and the absolute truth that the wages of sin bring death. The man and woman were not innocent in the situation, they (and me in my sin!) and every person ever conceived were justly deserving of the condemnation of God.
The artwork was both haunting and hopeful. Haunting regarding the very real wrath of God against sin, and hopeful in that God extends grace upon grace, showering mercy and grace through the righteousness of Christ. The end of the man and woman in the painting is the same of every person in all of human history who die in their sins. Meanwhile, the Ark was rising in the distance of another painting. The judgment of the flood did not destroy the inhabitants of the Ark. As surely as God's judgment brings an end to evil, God's grace brings life to His redeemed.
The account of Noah and the flood is not a mythological tale. It is a theological revelation regarding historical circumstances that display God's character, plan, promises, and provision.
3. Scale
Besides the massive reality of the Ark, the topic of scale was one of those questions that is simply asked and answered regarding animals stored in the Ark. I never had much of an answer for questions relating to the size of large animals like fully grown lions, horses, elephants, etc. I simply answered questions about animal size by stating that the Ark was indeed large enough for all the animals.
After visiting the Ark I'm thankful to have much better answers to questions of animal scale, and the answer is very simple. Noah didn't have to take fully grown animals on board the Ark. Babies are much smaller than adults (generally) in most animal kinds. What a terrific answer! Fully grown lions would represent something of a challenge for any zookeeper, but lion cubs might be a bit less of a threat (both to the keeper and the rest of the floating zoo!).
Many of the questions around the Ark are questions about scale. I'm thankful to have visited and learned that the team presenting the Ark exhibit has put serious archeological, geological, and zoological thought into questions relating to scale.
4. Persecution
It is often said in the United States that we don't have persecution. I'm thankful for the freedoms we enjoy in our country and that I and my family do not live in the path of violent persecution like our brother and sister Christians in places like India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, China, and Sudan.
Yet, while walking the Ark I noticed something extreme. There was no one at the Ark decrying, disputing, disturbing, or disrupting those who were taking time to study, learn, and experience the imaginative Ark museum. Persecution here in the United States is a type of persecution that seeks to ignore and disregard the spiritual truths of God's Word. Rather than using violent means to destroy the church, persecution in the US is deployed via distraction and shame. Students are often shamed for praying in public educational institutions. Voters are often decried as crazy for allowing their "religious views to impact their politics" (I don't see how it's possible to divorce political decision-making from religious conviction, but that's for another discussion). Workers are told to keep silent about their beliefs in the workspace. And preachers are told to keep their messages brief, and limited to Sunday mornings within the confines of their local parish.
While violence is deployed in many other places against the church, marginalization is the persecution deployed often in the secular United States. The church simply isn't welcome or tolerated to have a voice, and when the church does speak up, those Christians doing the speaking are quickly "canceled" via the capital crime label of intolerance.
As I strolled freely through the Ark exhibit with my wife and children, I saw all of these wonderful answers to secular challenges of God's Word and I felt a freedom that can only be described as a freedom from disinformation. For a brief time we spent at the Ark, our family was removed from secular advertisements that abuse and extort women and enslave men, we were able to speak openly about our faith without worry that we would be the target of those with "alternative lifestyles", and we were able to speak about God's work in creation without apprehension that our understanding of Genesis is somehow backward, underdeveloped, under-informed, or devoid of "higher academic scientific knowledge". It was as though we had been set free for a time from gnostic secular counter-messages against the gospel and it was glorious.
Going to the Ark was a brief reminder that this world, even in the freedom-ringing United States, is not our home. Opposition to God's truth comes in many forms, violence is one, and so are belittling and shaming. I'm reminded of Jesus' words that the world will hate us, and when that happens for the sake of Christ, that is a blessed position to be in.
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’ ”
I'm very thankful for where we live, and the people God has called us to serve (including you dear readers!). I'm thankful for our experiences at the Ark and the memories we made as a family thinking and talking together about the truths of God's Word.
Posts You May Enjoy
