Ruth and I recently took a weekend to experience the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum, ( The Ark is in northern Kentucky and the Creation Museum is just north of Cincinnati, Ohio- about 40 miles apart. ).
We stayed in a rustic cabin which reminded us of our honeymoon just 53 years ago. The cabin owner directed us on Saturday night to a local restaurant where we enjoyed listening to a master of the Cherokee fiddle. On Sunday morning we went with the cabin owner to her Christian Church and enjoyed a Southern Gospel singing group called the ‘Northbound Train’. And to top it off we had breakfast with our good friends, Lloyd and Elaine Hoover, who just ‘happened’ to be visiting the area at the same time.
As we toured the Ark and the Museum on Saturday, Sunday and Monday,I had the following reflections:
The judgment of God and the mercy of God are right in your face, as you encounter the 500 feet long, full scale replica of Noah’s Ark in the hills of northern Kentucky. The Ark Encounter, constructed at a cost of over a 100 million dollars, and visited by over a million people in its first year of operation, 2016-2017, is not about a chlld’s fairy tale, rather it is a powerful presentation of the reality of God’s judgment which falls on a people who persistently reject His grace.
Recently I have been making ‘end of life’ decisions-judgments. This does not mean that I sense I’m about to die, but rather it means “no matter how long I live, I will never read this book again”; so I toss the book. “No matter how long I live I will never wear this coat again”, so I toss the coat.
God’s judgments are rather like my “end of life decisions.”
God said of the Amorites at the time of Abraham that their “iniquity is not yet full”. But hundreds of years later when Joshua was ready to enter the promised land, he was told to totally eliminate the Amorites ( Deuteronomy 7:2.. thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them).
It was as though God were saying, “No matter how much more time I give them; they will never accept my grace. Their sins will only increase! It’s time for my judgment to fall!”
And in the times of Noah, God said, I have given them many warnings over a long period of time. No matter how much more time I give them, their immorality and violence will only increase. and they will not repent. So God made an “end of life judgment” and destroyed all humankind,( except for Noah and seven others).
The Noah’s Ark Encounter is just one of the ways God is reminding this present generation that a Door of Deliverance from the coming Judgment is still open. And that Door is Jesus Christ who chose to die on the Cross so that all who enter a relationship with Him will not perish but live eternally.
The fact that we are still living and that God’s judgment has not yet fallen on us and on the earth, indicates that God has not yet made an “end of life decision” regarding us. He has not yet said, “There is no way they will ever respond to Me, so I will make an ‘end of life decision’ and close the door.” Rather He has delayed closing the door of the ark, for it is His will that all should come to repentance and live.
The Door of the Ark is still open! Awesome!
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
theexpandingshrink 