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Technical > Physics > The Terrible Flood Of Noah
The 104th Psalm is a beautiful hymn about creation that complements the information given to us in Genesis and elsewhere in the Bible. Here, as in other Scriptures, the origin of the universe and our planet is not pictured as a massive explosion (such as a Big Bang) but as an orderly series of events in which everything was crafted by the hands of an artisan, a Master Builder.
Before the Fall
The early earth after creation is nowhere pictured as a place of smoking volcanoes, sulfureous fumes and violent quakes. The Apostle Peter quite simply says that the earth “was formed out of water and by means of water” (2 Peter 3:5 [show/hide]2 Peter 3:5
[5]For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, (ESV)
). The whole purpose of creation was to produce an environment-a habitat-for man. In fact, the universe was designed for man to manage and govern (Gen 1:26-31 [show/hide]Genesis 1:26-31
[26]Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
[27]So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
[28]And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." [29]And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. [30]And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. [31]And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (ESV)
, Heb 2:6-8 [show/hide]Hebrews 2:6-8
[6]It has been testified somewhere,
"What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
[7]You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
[8]putting everything in subjection under his feet."
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. (ESV)
). All this has changed as far as we are concerned-Adam forfeited his rightful place as steward over the creation. The world we live in has been ruined, and the human race in its ongoing rebellion against God continues to require interventions by God when He calls men into courts of judgment. God’s last major judgment was the Flood of Noah-and this great disaster was actually not very long ago in the history of our race.
Seventy-one percent of the earth’s surface today is indeed water-the oceans average 3.8 kilometers deep. Only 29% of the earth’s surface is land-whose average elevation is only 623 meters! If all the continents and land masses were leveled into the sea using a giant bulldozer, nearly two miles of water would cover our entire earth. Glaciers and ice caps hold about two percent of earth’s water; were they all to melt, sea levels around the world would rise 40 meters-a big problem for many large sea-level cities should this happen. The earth’s atmosphere today holds only about two inches of precipitable water-this is constantly being replenished by the hydrologic cycle.1
Before the Flood
The earth before the Flood of Noah was a very different place! Our long years of educational brainwashing in the mythology of evolutionary theory and an old-earth has numbed us to the clear testimony of the Bible that God’s intervention in human affairs during the time of Noah, the tenth man from Adam, changed things forever on our planet.2 Since Old Testament chronologies are actually quite complete, we can date the Flood as most likely occurring between 2500 B.C. and 3400 B.C.- depending on our choice of the Masoretic Hebrew text or the Greek Septuagint of the Old Testament, respectively. The earth before the Flood seems to have possessed a uniform sub-tropical climate. There may have been no rainfall, no ice and snow, and no major seasonal changes. (For instance, palm tree fossils have been found in Alaska, frozen warm-climate mammoths in Siberia, and coal in Antarctica.) The oceans would have been much warmer, and earth’s rivers and streams may well have originated in powerful springs-such as the spring that supplied the four rivers of Eden.
I personally subscribe to a vapor canopy model of earth’s atmosphere before the Flood, which could have provided the greenhouse effect for a worldwide mild climate. But vapor canopy models are very limited by basic thermodynamic considerations. In his classic pioneering study,3 Joseph Dillow suggested a pre-Flood atmospheric pressure at sea level twice the present value-a big help to the extinct flying reptile Pteranadon, who would probably not get off the ground in today’s atmosphere. But too much water vapor in the upper atmosphere before the Flood would obscure the stars, and even the sun and moon, because of perpetual cloud cover. And for the atmosphere to support the weight of additional water vapor, the surface temperature would have to rise rapidly toward the boiling point of water. Condensation of water vapor during very heavy, prolonged rainfall would release enormous amounts of latent heat of condensation.
However, in spite of these difficulties, a modest vapor canopy - perhaps holding 40 feet of rain water - may have existed prior to the deluge of the Flood.
The Flood
Most of the water for the great Flood of Noah came from the so-called “fountains of the great deep” (Gen 7:11 [show/hide]Genesis 7:11
[11]In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. (ESV)
). This source of water is mentioned before the rain from the “windows of heaven.”
During the formation of the earth on the second and third days of creation, large quantities of water were evidently placed between the earth’s crust and mantle in what might be called giant subterranean reservoirs. This water was probably under high pressure to begin with (causing artesian springs and geysers to abound), but after the fall of man and the angels-when some of the heavier atomic elements were apparently made unstable by reduced nuclear binding forces so that radioactive decay commenced - the shorter-lived isotopes could well have heated the subsurface to a point of criticality where it could scarcely be contained by the strength of the overlying crust. We mentioned this in last month’s article as a possible cause for the explosion of a planet where the asteroid belt now is found.
Extensive volcanic activity may have occurred at the same time-the fountains of the great deep were thus broken open and volcanic ash hurtling into the stratosphere could have collapsed the vapor canopy by dispersing condensation nuclei around which raindrops formed.4
[Incidentally, gravitational compaction of the earth at the time of earth's formation would not have raised the interior temperature above 1000 degrees C, yet the earth's core-present temperature about 4300 degrees-has evidently melted and overturned in the past. Radioactive heating is believed to have supplied the extra energy needed - see http://www.ldolphin.org/Early.html]
The Flood in Noah’s time was certainly a direct act of judgment by God on a world which had become thoroughly and continually evil:
“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.’” (Genesis 6:5-7 [show/hide]Genesis 6:5-7
[5]The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. [6]And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. [7]So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." (ESV)
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Since God is in full control of nature-there are no “accidents” in God’s universe-the exact mechanisms the Lord used to initiate the Flood need not preoccupy our attention. Erudite scientific models for the geophysical processes that accompanied the Flood have been presented at three Pittsburgh International Conferences on Creation5- the proceedings are available and highly recommended. Dr. Walter Brown’s outstanding book on the Flood, which can be found on the Internet,6 especially concentrates on possible mechanisms for the bursting open of the fountains of the great deep.
Was the Flood Global?
The Hebrew language has several words to describe ordinary floods, but Genesis 7-11 [show/hide]Genesis 7-11
[7:1]Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. [2]Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, [3]and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. [4]For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground." [5]And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
[6]Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. [7]And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. [8]Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, [9]two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. [10]And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
[11]In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. [12]And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. [13]On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, [14]they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. [15]They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. [16]And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in.
[17]The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. [18]The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. [19]And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. [20]The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. [21]And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. [22]Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. [23]He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. [24]And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
The Flood Subsides
[8:1]But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. [2]The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, [3]and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, [4]and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. [5]And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
[6]At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made [7]and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. [8]Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. [9]But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. [10]He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. [11]And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. [12]Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.
[13]In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. [14]In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. [15]Then God said to Noah, [16]"Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. [17]Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh--birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth--that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." [18]So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. [19]Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.
God's Covenant with Noah
[20]Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. [21]And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. [22]While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."
[9:1]And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. [2]The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. [3]Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. [4]But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. [5]And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
[6]"Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.
[7]And you, be fruitful and multiply, teem on the earth and multiply in it."
[8]Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, [9]"Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, [10]and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. [11]I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." [12]And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: [13]I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. [14]When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, [15]I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. [16]When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." [17]God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."
Noah's Descendants
[18]The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) [19]These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.
[20]Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. [21]He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. [22]And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. [23]Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness. [24]When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, [25]he said,
"Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers."
[26]He also said,
"Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
[27]May God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant."
[28]After the flood Noah lived 350 years. [29]All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.
Nations Descended from Noah
[10:1]These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.
[2]The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. [3]The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. [4]The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. [5]From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.
[6]The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. [7]The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. [8]Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. [9]He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. Therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD." [10]The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. [11]From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and [12]Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. [13]Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, [14]Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.
[15]Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, [16]and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, [17]the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, [18]the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. [19]And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. [20]These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
[21]To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. [22]The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. [23]The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. [24]Arpachshad fathered Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. [25]To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan. [26]Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, [27]Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, [28]Obal, Abimael, Sheba, [29]Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. [30]The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. [31]These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
[32]These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.
The Tower of Babel
[11:1]Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. [2]And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. [3]And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. [4]Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." [5]And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. [6]And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. [7]Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech." [8]So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. [9]Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
Shem's Descendants
[10]These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. [11]And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
[12]When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. [13]And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
[14]When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. [15]And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
[16]When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. [17]And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
[18]When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. [19]And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
[20]When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. [21]And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
[22]When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. [23]And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
[24]When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. [25]And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
[26]When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Terah's Descendants
[27]Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. [28]Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. [29]And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. [30]Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
[31]Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. [32]The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran. (ESV)
uses the unique word mabbul (found only elsewhere in Psalm 29:10 [show/hide]Psalm 29:10
[10]The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
). When Hebrew scholars put the Old Testament into Greek, they chose the Greek word kataklusmos, from the verb “to inundate,” in place of the Hebrew mabbul. All the language of Genesis, and especially the words of the Apostle Peter, give us the clearest possible picture of a worldwide, cataclysmic, universal disaster from which only eight human beings escaped with their lives. Warning of false teachers and strong-willed skeptics, Peter tells us:
“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly… Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.’ For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But the present heavens and earth by His Word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men…” (2 Peter 2:4-5, 3 [show/hide]2 Peter 2:4-5
[4]For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; [5]if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; (ESV)
:3-7)
Noah and his sons (and perhaps some hired hands) probably had less than 76 years to build the Ark in which Noah’s family and selected animals were to find refuge from the Flood. We know the size of the Ark from Genesis 6:14-16 [show/hide]Genesis 6:14-16
[14]Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. [15]This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. [16]Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. (ESV)
, and many fine books have been written in recent years7 analyzing the design and adequacies of this great barge. The Ark is said to have landed on the Mountains of Ararat in Eastern Turkey after the Flood. Many amazing search expeditions<8 have been launched in our century, though all have thus far been inconclusive.
There would be no need to labor many decades building a boat to escape a local flood-simple flight to the next valley or to a nearby mountain would have sufficed. Nor would a local flood require such an elaborate plan to save representative animal species.
Scripture is clear: the purpose of the Flood was to judge and destroy a decadent, thoroughly evil human civilization that probably numbered some billions of individuals - along with their cities and all the infrastructures.
Noah escaped not because he was blameless (justified by his faith as we are), but because he (and his family) responded to God’s mercy and grace. A good many other individuals who lived in the 1655-2255 years between Adam and Noah no doubt responded to the gospel preached by Adam, by Enoch, and by others who knew the Lord. But by the time of the Flood, apparently the entire “civilized” world had become totally unresponsive to the offer of God’s free salvation. Crazy Noah kept on building his weird boat on dry land-far from the ocean-in a country where it never rained! He probably endured constant mocking, scorn and ridicule up until the end. Noah’s friends were welcome to find refuge on the Ark by faith in God, but no one else believed God’s clear warnings.
“And all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. And the water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days….” (Genesis 7:21-24 [show/hide]Genesis 7:21-24
[21]And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. [22]Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. [23]He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. [24]And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. (ESV)
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The Ark finally landed on the very same day of the Hebrew calendar that Jesus Christ would be raised from the dead about three millennia later in history, taking into account the calendar change in Exodus 12 [show/hide]Exodus 12
The Passover
[12:1]The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, [2]"This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. [3]Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. [4]And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. [5]Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, [6]and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
[7]"Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. [8]They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. [9]Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. [10]And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. [11]In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. [12]For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. [13]The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
[14]"This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. [15]Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. [16]On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. [17]And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. [18]In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. [19]For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. [20]You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread."
[21]Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. [22]Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. [23]For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. [24]You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. [25]And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. [26]And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' [27]you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
[28]Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn
[29]At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. [30]And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. [31]Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, "Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said. [32]Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!"
The Exodus
[33]The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, "We shall all be dead." [34]So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. [35]The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. [36]And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
[37]And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. [38]A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. [39]And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
[40]The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. [41]At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. [42]It was a night of watching by the LORD, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the LORD by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
Institution of the Passover
[43]And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, [44]but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. [45]No foreigner or hired servant may eat of it. [46]It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. [47]All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. [48]If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. [49]There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you."
[50]All the people of Israel did just as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron. [51]And on that very day the LORD brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts. (ESV)
. The subterranean caverns of the great deep collapsed, so that the waters receded into what are now our deep ocean basins.
With the tremendous weight of water removed from the land, isostatic rebound allowed great mountains, capped with sediments, to “float” up on the underlying mantle below the crust. (Mountains before the Flood were most likely much lower than they are now.) Seeds sprouted, life began again, and Noah and his family left the Ark to repopulate the earth under a new covenant with God (Gen 8:18-9 [show/hide]Genesis 8:18-9:29
[18]So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. [19]Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.
God's Covenant with Noah
[20]Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. [21]And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. [22]While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."
[9:1]And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. [2]The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. [3]Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. [4]But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. [5]And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
[6]"Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.
[7]And you, be fruitful and multiply, teem on the earth and multiply in it."
[8]Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, [9]"Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, [10]and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. [11]I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." [12]And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: [13]I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. [14]When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, [15]I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. [16]When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." [17]God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."
Noah's Descendants
[18]The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) [19]These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.
[20]Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. [21]He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. [22]And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. [23]Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness. [24]When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, [25]he said,
"Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers."
[26]He also said,
"Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
[27]May God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant."
[28]After the flood Noah lived 350 years. [29]All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died. (ESV)
:17). Four men and four women, who knew and loved the living God personally, began to repopulate the earth. They started with only meager resources and animals from the Ark - plus the bountiful grace of God
After the Flood
The post-Flood climate was now very different - assuming the collapse of the vapor canopy. An ice-age followed. Earth’s original one continent broke up and spread apart (rapid continental drift)- either during the Flood-or as some believe during the days of Peleg, perhaps 100-600 years later.9 The dinosaurs, once contemporary with men, rapidly died out, quite possibly from a separate disaster not long after the Flood. Storms, natural disasters and great seasonal weather changes set in during the years immediately following the Flood as well.
Everything was different, yet life survived, recovered and proliferated. Great civilizations were built up again in a matter of only hundreds of years.
Next month our plan is to look at world population statistics and growth rates for both the ancient world and for the past few hundred years, especially guided by the vast pre-Flood knowledge accumulated by the eight Flood survivors with life spans of 300+ years and the long life experiences of post-Flood peoples with similar longevities. The mathematics and census data lead to an inescapable conclusion: Our earth has surely again reached a critical time on God’s calendar of events for world history. Another great and terrible judgment most certainly lies just ahead. As God provided an Ark of Refuge in the Days of Noah, so He invites all to find eternal safe harbor and refuge through a personal relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. We are invited to come “into” the Body of Christ by faith and thereby to find rescue and everlasting life.
“And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.” It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.” (Luke 17:26-30 [show/hide]Luke 17:26-30
[26]Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. [27]They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. [28]Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot--they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, [29]but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all-- [30]so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (ESV)
)
Time is running out!
* * *
**NOTES**
- Michael J. Oart, An Ice Age Caused by the Genesis Flood, Institute for Creation Research, Box 2667, El Cajon, CA 92021, 1990 ( http://www.icr.org/ ).
- For a history of how evolutionary theory and old-earth geology developed as parallel world-views that sought from their inception to replace a Biblical world-view, see Ian T. Taylor, In the Minds of Men: Darwin and the New World Order, Bible-Science Association, PO Box 260, Zimmerman, MN 55398-0260 (
1-800-422-4253
).
- Joseph Dillow, The Waters Above: Earth’s Preflood Vapor Canopy, Moody Press, Chicago IL, 1982.
- Setterfield, Barry, Creation and Catastrophe, 80-page monograph plus color wall chart. Summary: http://www.ldolphin.org/catastrophe.html.
- Proceedings of the [1st, 2nd, and 3rd] International Conference(s) on Creationism, Creation Science Fellowship, 362 Ashland Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15228.
- 6. Walter Brown, Ph.D., In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood, Center for Scientific Creation, on-line or in book form: http://www.indirect.com/www/wbrown/.
- John Woodmorappe, Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, Institute of Creation Research, Box 2667, El Cajon, CA 92021, 1990 (http://www.icr.org).
- Noah’s Ark Home Page (B. J. Corbin), http://www.beachin.net/~bjcorbin/noahsark/; The Search for Noah’s Ark (Matthew Kneisler), http://users.aol.com/mkneisler/noah/nahome.htm ; The Noah’s Ark Project (Douglas Peterson), http://user.mc.net/dougp/noahs_ark/ : Christian Information Ministry (Noah’s Ark, Creation, Theology; Richardson, TX) http://www.fni.com/cim/index.html .
- Watson, John A., “The Division of the Earth in Peleg’s Day: Tectonic or Linguistics,” Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal, Vol 11, Part 1, 1997, P.O. Box 6302, Acacia Ridge, D.C. Queensland 4110, Australia.
Flood Related Web Sites:
Creation Evidence Museum (Dr. Carl E. Baugh), http://www.creationevidence.org/ ;
Creation, Dinosaurs and the Flood (Charlie Liebert), http://www.sixdaycreation.com/ ;
The Paluxy Dinosaur/Man track Controversy (Glen J. Kuban), http://members.aol.com/Paluxy2/paluxy.htm .
**ADDITIONAL RELATED RESOURCES**
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Flood of Noah - Chuck MisslerDiscover the surprising answers to these questions and learn what Jesus meant when He said: As the days of Noah were, so shall the days of the coming of the Son of Man be.
Click for more information - Audio Cassette |
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Genesis - MP3 Commentary - Chuck MisslerRecent breakthroughs in the fields of physics, technology and biology led Chuck Missler to update and re-record this wonderful study in Genesis.
Click for more information - MP3 on CD-ROM |
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