Earth was just 1600 years old when it became corrupt, filled with violence, and great wickedness. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continally.” Genesis 6:5 Genesis 6:12 says, ‘”So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” Man was on the tracks and death and destruction raced toward him! Imagine – Chapter 6 of the first book of the Bible and man has become this evil!
The Lord grieved in His heart.
BUT Noah…in this striking contrast lies the hope of all subsequent human history. Because Noah was righteous in God’s sight, God said to Noah, “The earth is filled with violence through all flesh. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark.” God gave Noah the dimensions, layout, and the type of wood (gopherwood) to build the ark. Noah was to take two of every kind of animal on earth into the ark, along with his wife, his three sons and their wives. God was going to destroy every living thing. There would be no other survivors!
Noah and Sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, worked 120 years building the ark. God’s grace and patience is uncomprehendable at this point. Noah and Sons endured taunting, mocking, and ridicule from the people. Noah pleaded with them to turn from their wickedness and turn to God.
After the Lord shut the door, the deluge of rain came and the fountains of the great deep gushed out for 40 days and nights. Forty is a number that represents a special fullness of time. The earth was flooded and all mankind destroyed, but Noah and family were safe in the ark.
My husband and I, along with one of our daughters and her husband, traveled to Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky, to see the full scale model of Noah’s ark. The ark measures 510′ long, 85′ wide, and 51′ high. Clearing the land to host such an enormous replica began in 2012 and officially opened on July 7, 2016. Four years with modern tools – 120 years to build the original using home-made hand tools.
We stood in awe at our first sight of the huge ark! We were amazed at the exactness of Ark Encounter with its 132 bays – each standing 18′ high arranged on three decks. Bays on the first deck contain models representing “kinds” of animals in their wooden cages. We saw how the sanitation system worked, how fresh water was collected, and how eight people fed and watered thousands of young animals daily. We saw the modest living quarters and a small work shop. Then we heard the loud thud of the door being closed and the peals of thunder overhead. Seeing the ark brought the Biblical account of the flood to life!
Centuries after the flood, great wickedness ran rampant once again. But God, in His great mercy, gave His Son, a descendant of Shem, to rescue us while we were yet His enemies. God determined that those who have faith in His son Jesus, would be rescued from the coming judgment to live with Him forever.
In retrospect, I went from WONDER of the ark to knowing the REASON for the ark – the rescue of eight people. And today, I stand in awesome WONDER of Jesus and the REASON He came to this dark world – the rescue of billions of people from eternal death and destruction. God’s willingness to provide the only means of escape from His wrath against sin is amazing.
One final time in the not-so-distant future, God will again bring death and destruction upon those 
who reject their only means of escape – Jesus. And so, the history of mankind goes from rescue to rescue to final rescue.