Have you ever experienced the Ark Encounter? It is a magnificent sight to see!
The year was 2017, a year and half after the Ark Encounter officially opened that Burt and I and four others journeyed a distance of 890 miles to Williamsburg, Kentucky, to see it. We knew a little of its history from brochures that we had read that heightened our anticipation with every mile.
The five-story, full-size replica of the 510 foot long Biblical Noah’s Ark took Amish builders a little over six years to build at a cost of over 100 million dollars. It took Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, around 100 years to build the original Ark.
Our travels were uneventful on the way, but, as we entered Ark Encounter Theme Park, we drove up an incline and rounded a curve. And there it was! In all its beauty and glory! It was enough to take one’s breath away!
“That is huge!” I gasped.
“THAT is one impressive ship!” Burt said, taking in the grandeur of it all. The others sat in speechless awe.
We parked our van and boarded the ark walking up a long, gradual ramp much like the animals boarded two by two in Noah’s Ark. We were in the ark about ten minutes when we heard a loud, deep boom of a heavy door closing. I imagined it sounded like what Noah and his household must have heard when God Himself closed the door after all were boarded. (Genesis 7:16)
It has been said that God shut the door as a sign of His judgment for those outside the ark. It also signified protection and salvation for those inside the ark.
Noah and his family got the animals and themselves settled in contemplating the massive undertaking of caring for all the animals both feeding and eliminating their waste.
After seven days, the skies turned an eerie and foreboding black. Lightning flashed and peals of thunder rumbled across the expanse above the ark. For forty days and forty nights, the wind and rain never let up. The Ark rose higher and higher as the water got deeper and deeper.
We were in the replica the better part of the day. Noah and family were in the Ark for a year, which included the 40 days and nights of rain, the time for water that covered the earth to recede and for dry land to appear.
Many times throughout the ages, God has said, “Enough is enough!” and would bring various judgments against humanity for their sin and rebellion against a Holy God.
Matthew 24:37 and Luke 17:26-27 records Jesus’ words that illustrate the sudden and unexpected return of His second coming and the final judgment when “Enough is enough” rings throughout heaven and earth. We could very well be living in that day and hour that is unknown to man but has been planned by God before the world was made. He has spoken – surely, He will bring it to pass; He has purposed it, and He will do it! (Isaiah 46:9-11)
There are scoffers that say, “Yeah. Yeah. We’ve heard this for years and years, but where is He?”
If they only knew that God did not renege on His promise regarding the second coming of the Lord Jesus but is patient not wanting any to perish (die without hope), but that all should repent and be saved. That is why His patience, His grace, and His mercy are new every morning. But there comes the day when the terrifying words “Enough is enough!” declaring God’s wrath and judgment is heard.
This blog serves as a heads-up that the world will be unprepared and oblivious for the coming final judgment as the people in Noah’s day were unprepared and oblivious prior to the flood.
It is also a motivation and encouragement to believers to take action. Buckle up. Stand firm in your faith. Be alert. Be bold (but not arrogant) in sharing the gospel. Worship while we wait. Love God and love one another, and remain in God’s Ark.