FACT OR FAIRY-TALES
We are all familiar with fairy-tales that we learned as children, you know, Cinderella's pumpkin, Noah's ark, Snow White, Jonah's whale, Mother Goose, the resurrection of Christ etc. Well surprise! The Bible's story of Noah's ark, Jonah being swallowed by great fish and the resurrection of Christ are all true history. But these three Bible stories are high on the "fairy-tale nomination list" of Bible skeptics. Many churchgoers believe in Christ's resurrection but reject Noah and Jonah's stories as true history. Yet, if you accept one, you must accept them all.
The story of Noah gathering animals into the ark to avoid being drown in a world wide flood gathers much ridicule from skeptics. Yet there is ample scientific evidence for a worldwide flood seen in a sedimentary graveyard which averages a mile in depth all over the world. But don't take scientists word for it, Jesus believed in the great flood too, "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah when the flood came and took them all away" Matt 24:37-39. Peter also refers to the flood as real history, "in the last days mockers will come saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming?' but it escapes their notice that the world was destroyed, being flooded with water. But the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up." 2 Peter 3:1-10. Both Peter and Jesus viewed the flood as real history. Peter based the promise of the second coming of Christ upon the fact of the flood of Noah. If you reject the flood you must also reject Christ's second coming.
Another story that attracts much ridicule is the miracle of Jonah and the fish (whale?). "And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights" Jonah 1:17. Yet Jesus said, "just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Matt 12:40. Jesus based the prophecy of his resurrection upon the fact of Jonah and the fish. Jesus would not base the single most important event in history (His resurrection) upon a fairy tale (Jonah). "Jesus was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead" Rom 1:4.
One final proof that Noah and Jonah were true history. Jonah's experience prophesied the duration of Christ's death (three days) while Noah's experience prophesied the anniversary of Christ's resurrection. (The ark came to rest on dry land three days after Passover, the same day Jesus raised from the dead some 3000 years later.) So it is all or none. In view of the fact that God created the heaven and earth in 6 literal 24 hour solar days, the stories of Noah and Jonah are small potatoes.
