Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”...“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:1-3, 36-39,NIV)

This is a prophecy that has left Christians wondering exactly what Jesus meant. There are some who interpret that Jesus means Christians will be “raptured” out before the great tribulation and God’s wrath are poured out upon the earth. This is because Noah was raptured out in a sense. On the other hand, there are others who believe that Jesus is speaking to the suddenness of the events of the last days because the flood was sudden. But the point of this post is not to get into the theology of the end times; the point of this post is to point to perhaps a more literal interpretation of this passage than anyone may have ever dreamed.

There is a Norwegian gentleman who has in part rebuilt a life-size replica of Noah’s Ark. It’s height, width, and length is not completely to scale. The length is roughly half the size of the actual Ark and the width is about a third of the actual size. The “Ark Van Noach” is open to the public for tours and has life-size polyester replicas of many animals that would have been aboard the original Ark. For more in-depth information about the Ark Van Noach, you can visit their website here.

The same gentleman is also in the process of building a full replica (to scale) of Noah’s Ark that he plans to take around the world. For a little more information about the new Ark during its current construction, watch the video below.


So could it be that what Jesus was referring to could have been a little more literal than any of us would ever have imagined? Who would have thought that a guy over in Europe would rebuild Noah’s Ark?