(April 28, 2010) Noah’s Ark may have been found according to the London Newspaper The Sun (‘Noah’s Ark’ found in Turkey) and Fox News (Has Noah’s Ark Been Found on Turkish Mountaintop?). The Fox News article reports, “A group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers say wooden remains they have discovered on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey are the remains of Noah’s Ark. The group claims that carbon dating proves the relics are 4,800 years old, meaning they date to around the same time the ark was said to be afloat. Mt. Ararat has long been suspected as the final resting place of the craft by evangelicals and literalists hoping to validate biblical stories. Yeung Wing-Cheung, from the Noah’s Ark Ministries International research team that made the discovery, said: ‘It’s not 100 percent that it is Noah’s Ark, but we think it is 99.9 percent that this is it.’” The Sun article includes video footage of the find. Christian archaeologist Dr. Randall Price, who was with this team of explorers when they made the find in 2008, considers this event to be a hoax (Statement of Dr. Randall Price on the Alleged Discovery of a Wooden Structure on Mt. Ararat). In any event, the story of Noah does have End-Times prophetic implications.
The Days of Noah
Jesus said, “30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe [Noah] were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24″30-39)
How was it in the “days of Noah” ? The Book of Genesis answers this question: “5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them. 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6:5-8)
Except for Noah and his family the human race had turned from God and thought to do evil only. Because of the sinfulness of man a case could be made that every generation since Noah has thought to do evil only. Is the time we are living in any different than all the previous generations? It is interesting that five chapters later in Genesis (after a partial repopulation of the earth) an event occurred which I do believe has a modern-day parallel:
“1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” (Genesis 11:1-9)
The people once again started to turn from God by trying to “make us a name” and unify apart from the will of God who said they were to fill the earth. In our day the people of the world are turning away from the God of the Bible and His Son and trying to unite as a global community. Instead of worshipping God the world wants to worship “Mother Earth”. This global desire will culminate in the cult of the Antichrist when he appears on the world stage:
“1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast [Antichrist] rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:1-8)
For the first time in history technology has made the possibility of a global community a reality. This time however, God won’t destroy the world with water but will allow mankind under the leadership of this evil world ruler to begin the destruction themselves. God will add His judgments to the those of man and they will only cease with the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The Ark and the Rapture
There is one other parallel to the story of Noah and End-Times prophecy. Christians who believe in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture use the example of God saving Noah before His flood judgment came upon the world as prophetic type of how God will remove His followers before He judges the world in the End-Times. God called Noah, his family, and His creatures into the ark before the flood began. The wording used in Genesis is interesting:
“1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation. 2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth…15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. 16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.” (Genesis 7:1-3,15-16)
Notice that the LORD called His people and He shut them safely inside the ark. Thus, Pre-Tribulationists believe that before God begins His judgments upon the earth He will call His people to heaven with the Rapture. God seems to confirm this principle in the prophetic Book of Isaiah:
“20 Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. 21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” (Isaiah 26:20-21)
It may be that our days are like the days of Noah. If so, God’s judgment may not be far off. Only He knows exactly when it will begin.
