Could the remains of Noah’s Ark still be out there — hidden beneath ice or lost to time? Solve this mystery by jumping into this 11-minute video to explore whether the Ark landed on modern-day Mount Ararat in Turkey or somewhere else in the ancient “mountains of Ararat” region in modern-day Armenia. While many have searched, no definitive evidence has surfaced — perhaps because the Ark was dismantled and repurposed or decayed over time.
Many ancient cultures have flood legends that mirror the biblical account of Noah’s Flood, suggesting this was a shared global event — but the most compelling connection is between the Ark and Jesus Christ. Just as Noah and his family entered through the Ark’s door to be saved from the flood, believers are saved through salvation in Christ.
Editor’s Note: The transcript that follows was automatically generated and lightly edited, so please be aware there could be typos or other small errors. The Stream is working toward a transcription service that does fast, accurate, and reliable work; thank you in advance for your patience!
(00:01) Previously on the Genesis Account of Noah’s Ark, we investigated the physical evidence for Noah’s Flood and discovered it’s found everywhere in the fossil record, entombed in the immense layers of sedimentary rock laid down all over the world. Join us now as we explore several questions such as “Where did Noah’s Ark land, has anyone found the Ark, and whether cultures other than the ancient Hebrews have legends of a worldwide flood?” … in part 5 of the Genesis Account of Noah’s Ark… “…and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month,
(00:42) the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.” Genesis 8:4 Many people have asked, where is Noah’s Ark today? The biblical reference to “mountains of Ararat” as the landing site of the Ark is in plural form, and means where it landed was in a region, not a single mountain.
(01:06) And we need to remember that the Flood was a global catastrophe that totally reshaped the earth’s geology, so these mountains of Ararat could not refer to land features that were present before the Flood occurred. So these mountains must have formed during the flood event itself, and were already built and in place before the Ark landed and the Flood fully ended. Many expeditions have searched for the Ark in the modern Mount Ararat region, but the ancient name for these mountains could refer to several areas in the Middle East, such as Mt.
(01:33) Ararat in Turkey or other mountain ranges in neighboring countries. Mt. Ararat has attracted the most attention, likely because of its name, and because it has permanent ice, where some people report to have seen the Ark. However, there is no conclusive evidence of the Ark’s location or survival; after all, it landed on mountains about 4,500 years ago where it could easily have deteriorated, been destroyed, and likely been used as lumber by Noah and his descendants.
(02:06) After all, just like stone from the great pyramids has procured by locals looking for building material for their homes and other buildings, similarly, the massive amount of dressed lumber available from the Ark would likely have been re-used by Noah’s family and their descendants for a short time as the world regenerated its vegetation.
(02:26) The Ark is unlikely to have survived without supernatural intervention, but this is neither promised nor expected from Scripture. Some scientists and Bible scholars, though, believe the Ark could indeed be preserved–perhaps to be providentially revealed at a future time as a reminder of the past judgment and the judgment to come, although the same could be said for things like the Ark of the Covenant or other biblical icons.
(02:53) However, Jesus said, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31), so it’s not as if finding the Ark is a requirement for faith in the accuracy of the resurrection and belief in Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, there are several references in the Bible connecting the Flood account to faith and salvation, which give reasons to ask this question, which is: How is Christ like the Ark? “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
(03:26) and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually… But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:5, 6:8). These scriptures speak for themselves. Every human being on the face of the earth has turned after the wickedness in their own hearts, but Noah, because of his righteousness before God, was spared from God’s judgment, along with his wife, their sons, and their wives.
(03:56) As a result of man’s wickedness, God sent judgment on all mankind. As harsh as the destruction was, no living person was without excuse. God also used the Flood to separate and to purify those who believed in Him from those who didn’t. Throughout history and throughout the Bible, this cycle has taken place time after time: separation, purification, judgment, and redemption.
(04:21) Without God and without a true knowledge and understanding of Scripture, which provides the true history of the world, man is doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” (Matthew 18:11). As God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ is like Noah’s Ark.
(04:45) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Just as Noah and his family were saved by the Ark, rescued by God from the floodwaters, so anyone who believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior will be spared from the coming final judgment of mankind, rescued by God from the fire that will destroy the earth after the last days, as 2 Peter 3:7 describes.
(05:07) Noah and his family had to go through a doorway into the Ark to be saved, and the Lord shut the door behind them as Genesis 7:16 says. So we too have to go through a “doorway” to be saved so that we won’t be eternally separated from God. The Son of God, Jesus, stepped into history to pay the penalty for our sin of rebellion.
(05:31) Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9). The Gospel message is truly for all tribes and nations, and it’s fascinating to note that the story of the great Ark and its salvation for those on board has been preserved in similar flood legends from people groups everywhere on earth.
(05:56) There are hundreds of stories and legends about a worldwide flood. Why do diverse cultures share a strikingly similar story? They only make sense because if the worldwide catastrophic Flood, recorded in the book of Genesis, was a real event that affected real people. This evidence can’t be lightly dismissed.
(06:16) When we turn to the history book of the universe, the Bible, we learn that Noah’s descendants stayed together for approximately 100 years, until God confused their languages at Babel as recorded in Genesis 11:1-9. As these people moved away from Babel, their descendants formed nations based primarily on the languages they shared in common.
(06:39) Those people carried the knowledge of this event with them when they spread to the ends of the earth. Through those people groups, the story of the Flood was shared, until it became embedded in their cultural history. For example, Hawaiians have a flood story that tells of a time when, long after the death of the first man, the world became a wicked, terrible place.
(07:02) Only one good man was left, and his name was Nu-u. He made a great canoe with a house on it and filled it with animals. In this story, the waters came up over all the earth and killed all the people; only Nu-u and his family were saved. Another flood story is from China. It records that Fuhi, his wife, three sons, and three daughters escaped a great flood and were the only people alive on earth.
(07:28) After the great flood, they repopulated the world. As the account of the Flood was verbally passed from one generation to the next, some aspects would have been lost or altered. And this is what has happened, as we can see. However, as seen in the given examples, each story shares remarkable similarities to the account of Noah in the Bible.
(07:51) This is true even in some of the details, such as the name Nu-u in the Hawaiian flood story. “Nu-u” is very similar to “Noah.” Typically, naturalists attempt to dismiss these accounts as resulting from Christian ‘missionary influence’, but that really doesn’t stand up according to many of those group’s own history, and has been flatly denied by many indigenous people, many who oppose a biblical worldview.
(08:15) Despite the fact that this may have occurred in some instances, the reverse argument that these legends provide evidence of the accuracy of the Bible can be used as well, which contains provable geographical locations, dates, events as well as prophecies like the coming Messiah and His resurrection, which is the most verifiable event in history.
(08:36) While most of these other flood accounts begin with familiar biblical themes and eventually wander off into mystical stories with no verifiable support for them, the Bible becomes more and more testable through history, archaeology and science as it progresses. Some evolutionists, hard pressed to explain away the abundance of these flood stories have suggested that local floods were common experiences for all people groups and therefore the incredibly similar elements
(09:06) (like a global flood, sent as punishment for sin, there were specific animals and people aboard, with a favored family of survivors, a wooden vessel, etc.) all must have appeared by chance. But why would a ‘Flood’ be a common theme of mythology? The handbook of Native American Mythology states; “Mythological narratives regarding a great deluge abound worldwide.
(09:32) In North America, flood stories are found not only where people lived near large bodies of water, but also in the drier interior of the continent.” So why wouldn’t a common mythology of a deadly forest fire, gigantic earthquake, a deadly plague or a worldwide hurricane be common amongst all of these different people groups if the stories simply came from a common local catastrophes and a natural experience? That form of reasoning seems kind of weak and desperate, especially when there is a perfectly good explanation that makes far more sense.
(10:07) All of these people groups had knowledge of a common historical event that their ancestors knew about. What these stories mean is that God clearly sent a worldwide Flood to punish humankind for their evil and corrupt ways. Although there are varying degrees of accuracy, these legends and stories all contain similarities to aspects of the same historical event–Noah’s Flood.
(10:32) Join us next time as we ask how many animals were on the Ark, look into more details about the kinds of animals that were on board, and ask “How could only eight people care for all the animals on the Ark? … in part 6… of the Genesis Account of Noah’s Ark…
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