Savage Street Church of Christ

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01_21_2018_CouldNoahHaveBuiltTheArk_DonRuhl

Could Noah Have Built the Ark?

Did he have the know-how and the tools?

Genesis 6.13–16

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • January 21, In the year of our Lord, 2018

Prelude:

1. People offer many objections to the biblical narrative of Noah’s Flood.
   1. They question how Noah could have gotten all the animals on the ark.
   2. They question the ark’s sea-worthiness, et al.
2. They also question whether Noah could have even built such a huge ship.

Persuasion:

1. The Biblical Narrative
   1. One of the things that we have to get into our minds
      1. is how much time transpired from the time of Creation
      2. to the time of the Flood.
         1. The Flood occurred 1,656 years after the Creation.
         2. Even as we build upon past generations and upon our teachers,
            1. so they would have done the same.
            2. How far had technology, engineering, science, et al., progressed?
      3. I hear Christians talk about people back then
         1. as though they were merely cavemen.
         2. Some people speak of pre-Flood man
            1. as though they know just exactly what life was like back then.
            2. Why do we think the way that we do about early man?
               1. Early man was just as intelligent as we are and
               2. we are just as intelligent as they were.
   2. What do you think of ancient Egypt?
      1. Yet, the empire of Egypt arose shortly after the Flood!
      2. Did they just suddenly acquire intelligence
         1. to do things that we still cannot figure out how they did them?
   3. Also, by the time the Flood came,
      1. Noah was 600 years old.
      2. I have learned a few things in my 60 years;
         1. surely Noah must have learned 10 times more than I have,
         2. since he lived ten times as long.
   4. Genesis 4 shows us some of man’s capabilities before the Flood,
      
      16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech. 19 Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. 20 And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. 22 And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah (Genesis 4.16–22).
      
2. “Evan Almighty”
   1. For this movie they built a full-sized ark,
      1. although not with all the necessary things on the inside,
   2. in just a matter of months.
3. Answers in Genesis Ark
   1. Answers in Genesis built a full-sized ark and
   2. they built it with the features inside that would have been necessary.
   3. It only took a few years to do it.
4. Dutch Man Who Built an Ark
   1. Johan’s Ark, they call it.
   2. He had 8 helpers and it took 4 years.
5. Fantastic Voyage: How Could Noah Build the Ark?
   https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/fantastic-voyage-how-could-noah-build-ark/
   1. The technology and engineering would have been available.
      1. People lived close to 1,000 years.
      2. They developed sophisticated skills (Genesis 4.16–22)
   2. Manpower
      1. Noah could have hired a team of workers.
      2. Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather, died the year of the Flood.
      3. Lamech, Noah’s father, died five years before the Flood.
      4. Many others would have been available also.
   3. Wooden Ships of the Past
      1. Ancient Greeks and Chinese built ships on a scale close to Noah’s Ark.
      2. Tessarakonteres, a Greek warship, was constructed in the third century BC and carried catapults, and 3 to 4,000 people.
      3. Chinese treasure ships in the 1400s.
   4. Time Involved
      1. Less than 100 years.
         1. We sometimes assume that was how much time he had.
         2. Notice Genesis 5,
            
            32 And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Genesis 5.32).
            
            1. The Flood happened in Noah’s 600th year.
            2. 100 years from the time the oldest boy was born to the Flood.
         3. Notice Genesis 6,
            
            3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6.3).
            
            1. This referred to the time that God made the decision.
            2. He may have informed Noah and
               1. he may have then started getting the necessary
                  1. skills,
                  2. tools, and
                  3. materials.
               2. He had more than enough time and talent to do it.
      2. The boys would have had to grow up,
         1. marry, and
         2. acquire the skills and strength to build the ark.
            1. How much time did that take?
            2. 20, 30, or more years?
      3. Also, it had to be built fairly quickly, even under a covered structure.
         1. Wood shrinks and expands, and decays.
         2. Therefore, one end of the ark could not sit for decades while working on another part.
         3. Heat, cold, and humidity would have affected the wood.
         4. The pitch helped some, but we do not know much about it.
      4. Consider how fast
         1. the Amish put up barns,
         2. the Jehovah’s Witnesses put up Kingdom Halls in three days, Friday through Sunday;
         3. companies rebuilt the freeways after the Northridge earthquake:
            
            Less than three months after the Northridge earthquake knocked down two sections of the world’s busiest thoroughfare, Gov. Pete Wilson announced Tuesday that the Santa Monica Freeway will reopen next week, ending frustrating delays and bottlenecks for thousands of commuters.

            State officials hope the final cleanup of construction work can be completed early April 12 in time to let rush-hour traffic inaugurate the two new freeway bridges at La Cienega and Washington boulevards.

            Spurred by the promise of an extra $200,000 a day for every day work was completed ahead of schedule, the contractor, C. C. Myers Inc., will finish the project 74 days before a June 24 deadline and rack up a $14.5-million bonus for the company.
            

   5. Did Noah have what he needed?
      1. Whether skills, materials, finances, et al?
      2. Genesis 6.22,
         
         22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did (Genesis 6.22).
         
      3. What was Noah’s occupation before the Flood?
         1. He preached righteousness (2Pe 2.5), but
         2. no one would have hired him.
            1. He may have been a carpenter.
            2. He may have built ships.
      4. Genesis says again,
         
         5 And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him (Genesis 7.5).
         
         1. Noah just had to trust and obey God.
         2. God would do His part to get that Ark built.

Exhortation:

1. First Peter 3.21