TITANIC

Destroyed by ice

A large iceberg seared the starboard side of Titanic, puncturing its watertight compartments designed to keep the ship afloat. But the puncture was too long and deep and sent Titanic down within a few hours, In recent years many causes have been suggested such as: inferior iron that turns brittle at freezing, a strange fire in the lower decks. (This was even traced back to superstitions which occurred during it's construction); but the fact remains that it was simply a huge iceberg that sealed the great ship’s fate.

NOAH'S ARK

Down through the centuries thousands of people have seen a large rectangle shaped ship on Mount Ararat. In recent years some have brought back black petrified wood from it and claimed to have walked inside it. However, it is covered by ice on a large inactive volcano in extremely hostile country. The area is guarded by armed militia and experiences daily blizzards with 100 mph winds and temperature of 40-60 below zero. If the ark is still on Mount Ararat today, (and I believe it is), it is because Almighty God has kept it there preserved in perpetual ice!

11 Peter 3:5-7 For this they willfully forget: that BY THE WORD OF GOD the heavens were of old,

which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now kept in store BY THE SAME WORD, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

The very same thing that DESTROYED the ship of pride, also PRESERVES the ship of faith to this day. The ice can be compared to the WORD OF GOD. In I Peter 1:23-25 we are told that the word of God is "eternal and incorruptible" and abiding inside those who believe, giving them eternal life. But this same word is preached to others who reject it, and then by THE SAME WORD, are condemned forever in hell, "He who rejects Me and does not receive My words - has that which judges him - THE WORD which I have spoken will judge him in this last day." John 12:48 (Spoken by Jesus). The word of 'God is JUDGMENT to those who reject the Son of God and refuse to acknowledge their sin. But the same word of God is SALVATION to those of us who believe and repent of our sins and trust in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross.

The "Queen of the ocean"; Titanic, was designed and built by the best ship builders the White Star Line could find. It was the "Ship of Dreams,', MAN'S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT in ship building. But it was MEN who came up with it's conception, MEN who designed it and MEN who built it.

In Genesis 6:14-16, we find that God gave specific and exact instructions to Noah on how to build the ark! It was God’s idea, God’s design, and God’s blueprint from start to finish!

Whatever is built by man's hand alone: houses, ships, careers, even so-called religious work, is in vain without divine intervention. Even if all these things seem blessed and glorious, nothing lasts except the word of God and those who are saved by the word of God (I Peter 1:23-25). It says in I John 2:16-17, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the father but is of the world And the world is passing away and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever."

In Matthew 7:24-77, Jesus told the parable of the wise man and the foolish man. The wise man was the one who had built his house on THE ROCK (Jesus Christ - I Corinthians 10:4) and when the storms came it stood strong. But the foolish man built his house on THE SAND (man's wisdom - human strength (I Corinthians 3:19) and when the storms came, his house fell and "great was his loss".

The Titanic, man's glorious ship of pride, sank down over two miles to the bottom of the north Atlantic ocean. Because of its deep location, Titanic was not discovered until 1985 using state-of-the art technology. Today there are only five submersibles throughout the world capable of withstanding the tremendous pressure at that depth. Resting on the ocean floor, Titanic is slowly disappearing, being literally eaten away by strange living organisms called "rusticiles".

Genesis 8:4 says that the Ark rested on the "Mountains of Ararat" which are two lone volcano summits, bordering Russia, Turkey & Iran. The highest summit, called Big Ararat, stands at 16,984 feet. It is believed that Noah's Ark rests on this mountain today. The name Mount Ararat has several meanings depending on the ethnic group: in Turkish it's "THE MOUNTAIN OF PAIN", in Hebrew it is called "THE MOUNTAIN OF DESCENT', the Armenians call it "MOTHER OF THE WORLD", and the Persians call it "THE MOUNTAIN OF NOAH".

Job 38:11 "This far you may come, but no farther, and hence YOUR PROUD WAVES MUST STOP!!" Isaiah 2:16-17 "Upon all the ships of Tarshish and upon all the beautiful sloops, THE HAUGHTINESS OF MEN SHALL BE BROUGHT LOW, the Lord alone will be exalted in that day." Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall."

These verses and many others in the Bible link PRIDE AND ARROGANCE with destruction and being BROUGHT LOW. But the Lord is always seen as Isaiah saw Him in Isaiah 6:1, "HIGH AND LIFTED UP. Also in Isaiah 14:13-15 we see the proud and boastful ambitions of Lucifer (Satan) desiring to "ASCEND, RAISE HIGH & SIT ENTHRONED LIKE GOD." But in verse 15 it says "YET YOU SHALL BE BROUGHT DOWN TO SHEOL, TO THE LOWEST DEPTHS OF THE PIT." The application is clear. If people today refuse to accept the free gift of salvation provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus, then by pride and arrogance they reject their only hope of life, now and eternally. People who reject THE Son of God will be brought low to God's judgment and suffer eternal separation.

In the blockbuster movie "Titanic", as the ship is sinking, the lead character says "We've got to stay on the ship as long as possible". No doubt many on the real Titanic felt the same way. Even while sinking, the safety of the huge, elegant ship seemed preferable to climbing into a small lifeboat into the dark ocean; or worse yet, jumping overboard. But the fact remains that anyone who stayed on Titanic was at higher risk of death. Their only hope was to find one of the few lifeboats, or as director James Cameron has cleverly suggested, people could have been put on the icebergs floating all around! They would have still been alive when rescuers came a few hours later.

As the opposite of Titanic, all those who DID NOT get on THIS ship were not only in danger of death, but ALL DIED. Noah's ark was a ship of safety and their only hope of survival. There was no in-between, gray, middle ground in this scenario. You were either on the Ark and saved, or you were not and perished. Only Noah and his family, eight people total, were spared God's judgment. If you were a person living just before Noah's flood, the ark would have been your only hope of survival; no matter who you were, what you had done, or where you lived! Even if you had tried to build a raft to stay afloat it would have sunk and you would have died. (In the Genesis account, God told Noah He was going to destroy "all flesh".- Genesis 6:13.)

11 Peter 3: 10 "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will he burned up."

This world is clearly a ship of doom; headed for judgment and destruction - (I John 2::15-17). Everyone who is of this world alone ,is doomed for eternal judgment, we MUST be connected to our only hope of survival - God’s free gift of salvation! Even if the divine judgment doesn’t come in our lifetimes, nevertheless, we all must face our own personal end and give an account before a holy and just God. This life may seem long, but it is like a puff of smoke in context to eternity, (James 4:14). God’s ship of safety today has plenty of room within Jesus’ outstretched arms, but time is running out.

Most people are aware of the boast made by one of the White Star Line workers at Titanic's launch; "This ship is so unsinkable, even God Himself couldn't sink it." One of the survivors, Eva Hart, in turn said her mother knew of that boast and couldn't sleep on board because she thought such boasting in the face of God would cause something terrible to happen! It is my personal opinion that the TITANIC HAD TO GO DOWN, possibly because of man's boasting in the face of God, or whatever reasons, but it seemed destined for doom! The scenario for its demise was far too perfectly arranged. Consider just a few interesting facts: 1 There was an extremely warm winter of 1911-1912 causing a huge mass of icebergs to be floating far south of their usual route.

2 There was absolutely no wind the night she sank and a perfectly calm ocean, any wind would be very helpful in causing waves to reveal dangerous icebergs ahead.

3 It was a moonless night with only an incredible display of stars in the black sky. Moonlight is also very helpful in detecting icebergs. 4 One of the two lookout men in the crows nest, Fredrick Fleet, who survived, testified that the only pair of binoculars used to spot icebergs, was somehow lost upon launch.

5 Although Titanic was not unsinkable, it was designed incredibly sea worthy. To sink it would require and unusual and unlikely long gash to puncture all of its special water tight compartments, which is exactly what happened.

Noah's ark was built with "Gopherwood" (Gen. 6:14).

It is possible that there were ancient trees called Gopher trees, but recently a more likely explanation has been suggested. Just like our plywood doesn't come from Ply trees, gopherwood could have been a process of using several strips of non-rotting wood. Gluing them together with their own sap, creating an incredible permanent bond, then covering it within and without with "pitch"; when hardened would have made the ship hard and indestructible like steel! But the main reason I believe the Ark was unsinkable has nothing to do with its incredible workmanship. It is found in Genesis 3:15, where God promises that the seed of the woman (Christ) would crush the head of the serpent (Satan). This is the first promise of the Messiah, Jesus Christ who would come born of a woman, within the human race. Since God cannot lie or break a promise, the entire human race could not be wiped out. Those eight people in the ark were very safe! God's word made that Ark unsinkable! Another confirmation to this fact is that the Hebrew word for "PITCH' found in Genesis 6:14, is "KAPER'. Every other time it is used it is translated as ATONEMENT or "TO COVER". The meaning is clear, the pitch or glue that held the Ark together was more than natural adhesive, it was God's supernatural mercy and grace guaranteed to hold by his word!

(I Peter 1:24,25) "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and it’s flower falls away, but THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER. Now this is the word by which the gospel was preached to you."

This world and all those who refuse to surrender to Christ will fade away and sink to eternal judgment and banishment from God. It will happen because GOD'S WORD IS TRUE! However, for those of us who realize our pitiful lost condition and go to Christ in surrender and ask for forgiveness, He puts HIS WORD inside of us and BECAUSE GOD’S WORD IS UNSINKABLE, SO ARE WE! We are destined for eternal glory, not by anything we did or do, but by accepting Christ's free gift of Salvation. (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Notice in the above verse from it says, "ALL FLESH IS AS GRASS". The bible compares the billions of people in the world to grass that grows and lives, for a season, but then withers and dies. I relate this to the hundreds of people in third class steerage on Titanic, who were the poor, working class of society. Many of us can relate to them! But what about the rich, famous and powerful people of the world? Status will not save them. Just like on Titanic, where it didn't matter if you were the richest and most famous man on board: every person who didn't find a lifeboat died. The richest man aboard Titanic, John Jacob Astor, was found floating among the many bodies with thousands of dollars sewn into his coat! So the above verse continues: " ALL THE GLORY OF MAN AS THE FLOWER'. I relate the "GLORY OF MAN" to the rich, powerful and important people of the world, But notice that they both have the very same end! THE GRASS WITHERS AND THE FLOWER FALLS AWAY BUT THE WORD OF GOD ABIDES FOREVER. It is the WORD OF GOD that make the difference!

Looking back at the Titanic disaster it's easy now to think of what we might have done to save ourselves, but we have the knowledge of what happened in retrospect! The fact remains that there was no one on board the Titanic who knew, suspected or could even dream up a scenario of what happened. It simply was, in their minds, UNSINKABLE and UNTHINKABLE! Having read dozens of survivors accounts, I am convinced that after the ship hit the iceberg no one, (except maybe the captain and the ship's designer on board, Thomas Andrews, and a few other officers), knew that the ship was really going down! No one believed it could sink until the near the very end when it was too late.

In Genesis 6:17, God tells Noah exactly what He is going to do. Noah is fully aware of the coming judgment. In II Peter 2:5 we are told that Noah was a PREACHER of righteousness. So we know that Noah tried to warn others, but in the end, only Noah and seven others of his family were saved. Although it doesn't say, we can only assume that Noah informed his family of all that God told him was coming- Noah and his family on the Ark were expecting and fully aware of the terrible deluge that God spared them from.

People who reject Jesus and are non-believers are totally unaware not only of God's coming judgment, but of their sinful lost condition as well. Anyone without a living faith in the Son of God is in darkness and headed for disaster. But as the above verse makes clear: God's people, those who ARE true believers, are NOT in darkness. 'They are aware of coming divine judgment and seek to warn others. This awareness does not come by anyone becoming better, or more spiritual than anyone else, but is simply one of the results of God’s light shining through from the inside out!

This last analogy is not a contrast, but a comparison on the similarity. Amid all the books and movies about the Titanic disaster, very few even make mention about one of its passengers, who has a very interesting story. His name was John Harper, a young Scottish evangelist and dynamic preacher who's life's passion evangelism and being a light of the kingdom to all those around him. He was on his way to Chicago to preach for a series of meetings at Moody Church, but never made it as he was one of the 1500 people who lost their lives. However, before he died, on that Sunday afternoon of April 14tti, 1912, just hours before Titanic's sinking, he was seen and heard speaking the message of the gospel to others knowing it may be their last chance. Then, when the ship was going down, he gave up his life vest to another and began a one man crusade to preach and testify about God's free gift of salvation throughout the ship! Earlier, John Harper and others held a 2 1/2 hour hymn praise sing-along led by another minister just a few hours before Titanic sank. They were used by God to reach out one last time to many who would never get the chance to hear the gospel again, and only God knows how many responded.

God's mercy was also available during the building of the Ark though Noah. As mentioned earlier, the Bible states that Noah was a "PREACHER OF RIG14TEOUSNESS" (II Peter 2:5). Preaching about righteousness would not be complete without linking it with mercy, love, grace. Justice and judgment. Whether it's today, back in 1912, or even back thousands of years to Noah's day, God's desire is to reach out to save people! Another very interesting example of God's mercy displayed during Noah's day is found in the meaning of the name of his grandfather Methuselah.

Methuselah, Noah's grandfather as found in Genesis chapter five. Methuselah means "WHEN HE DIES, IT WILL COME"! Evidently God revealed to Enoch (Methuselah’s father) that his son was to be a living prophecy, and as long as he lived, judgment was withheld and mercy prevailed, Methuselah was the oldest human being recorded in the Bible, he lived 969 years! Why did he live so long? BECAUSE OF GOD'S MERCY! When he dies the world, as they knew it, was over and everyone would die except Noah and his family.

God's mercy and grace continue to reach out, right now, this very second! As long as we are alive and the world continues as is, there is hope! But the Bible makes it very clear that "now is the time, and today is the day" to reach out for God's grace. My hope and prayer is for you to do find that, and if you already have, then like me, I hope and pray that we will continue to grow and move forward on this amazing journey.

Grace & peace to you, John Boda.