The Great Flood

Genesis 7:1 – 8:19

When we speak about Noah, the Ark, and the worldwide flood, we speak not only about something which many modern people, whether scholars or not, view as nothing more than a myth. Yet the Bible presents this occurrence as a true, historical event not a fictional story. And not only does the Old Testament (OT) present this account as real, but the New Testament (NT) repeatedly refers to Noah, the Ark, and the Flood as both real and important.

In 1845, while excavating the site of the ancient Babylonian city of Nineveh, archeologist George Smith unearthed a small tablet fragment which said, “The mountain of Nisir stopped the ship. I sent forth a dove, and it left. The dove went and turned, and a resting place it did not find, and it returned.”

Smith realized these words resembled the biblical account of the Flood and found other parts and copies of this Babylonian record. He then presented his findings to the Society of Biblical Archaeology, pointing out the similarity between this ancient record and the biblical one:

“In both, a worldwide flood is brought on by the wickedness of men and women. In both, a selection of animals and people is saved by being taken onto a large ship …. In both cases a raven and a dove are sent out of the ark … After the flood a thanksgiving offering is made and is accepted favorably by God (the Bible) or the gods (the Babylonian epic). Each ends with a covenant guaranteeing that the earth will never again be destroyed in this way.” (Boice, 353-354)

Though variations exist in the details and other accounts like this one replace the one true God with other imagined, lesser, pagan gods and deities, the key point to make here is that this and other records about a massive, divinely orchestrated flood have existed in cultures and records throughout the world from ancient times.

“Creationist author James Perloff analyzed over 200 flood [records] and found that 95 percent mention a global flood. In 70 percent, a boat serves as the sanctuary, and in over half, the survivors end up on a mountain [source: Apologetics Press].”

So, what’s so great about this Flood, which people have spoken about for millennia, even apart from the Bible? What happened and why is it important for us to know about today?
In this message, we will first make some simple, general observations about the Great Flood of Genesis and then second, we will see what the NT teaches us to learn from this Great Flood today.

God judged the world through a global flood.

First, we must affirm and believe that what happened in Genesis 7-8 was a catastrophic, global, worldwide flood. The language of this passage claims that it was so.

• All-inclusive, universal language like “on the face of all the earth” (7:3), “I will destroy … all living things that I have made” (7:4)
• Comprehensive descriptions like “all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered” (7:19), “all flesh died that moved on the earth … every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man” (7:21), “all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died” (7:22), “he destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground” (7:23)
• Exclusive language like “only Noah and those who were with him on the ark remained alive (7:24)

Descriptions like this make it clear that this was not a local flood, limited in scope to a limited region of the world, but was instead a global, worldwide flood.

What’s more, this was not a gradual, rising Flood. It was a sudden, catastrophic one. According to 7:11, this Flood occurred as a result of dramatic disruptions to water both from above in the sky and below under the earth. Not only did water pour down from the sky but water burst up from below Earth’s crust as well. This Flood consisted of both catastrophic cloudbursts and seismic, volcanic, subterranean explosions.

The language is evocative of a violent, churning, whirling maelstrom. The repetitions in these brief verses of “waters” (5x), “increased” (2x), “rose”(3x, NIV), and “greatly” (3x in the Hebrew) portray a wild “water, water everywhere” ride. The earlier description in verse 11 (“on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened”) describe a great rending of the beds of the seas and torrential rain. (Kenneth Mathews)

Imagine the feeling of being strapped into a large, enclosed, wooden boat with all kinds of animals and birds inside. Then like after a brief click and pause as when roller coaster reaches the top of its first descent, the boat is thrust into a maelstrom of unpredictable twists and turns, like a watery roller coaster with no predictable course.

Though this extreme degree of turbulence may not have been continuous for this entire time, the rising, swirling flood action to some degree occurred for about 6 months in total. After this, the waters calmed and began to gradually recede until the 10th month, at which point the Ark came to rest on a mountain called Ararat.

To answer those who still insist that this flood was not global in its reach, we can offer at least the following five archeological and geological observations to consider:

• Marine Fossils High on Mountains: we find fossils of aquatic, marine, ocean creatures in rock layers as high up as 29,000 ft. (Mt. Everest) and 2,950 ft. (Grand Canyon) above sea level.
• Massive Fossil Graveyards Around the World: from Arizona to France, we find massive fossil graveyards spanning thousands of miles which feature fossil deposits from all sorts of animal life, all buried rapidly all at once.
• Exquisitely Preserved Fossils: we find a wide range of fossils throughout the world preserved impeccably, including those which would quickly decompose if they had died normally and slowly over ages of time – these include fossilized jellyfish in the dry desert of the Australian outback. Other instances include squid fossilized with ink still in their ink sacs and at least one instance of a large ichthyosaur at the moment of giving birth. Such things do not fossilize slowly over time but can only fossilize if buried instantaneously by swirling, watery sediment as in a flood.
• Sediment Spread Across Continents: stone, mineral deposits form layers that span entire continents and even across multiple continents, such as the chalk beds of southern England spanning from Northern England to France, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Scandinavia, and Turkey, then on to Israel, Egypt, and Kazakhstan. The same layer can be found also found in Midwestern United States, from Nebraska to Texas, and from Alabama and Arkansas to Colorado. Other similar examples could be given.
• No Sign of Millions of Years Between the Layers: between sedimentary layers, we find no evidence of millions of years occurring between each layer, which would indicate that each layer represents a large, long era of time. Instead, we find that each layer consists of differing, similar properties which cause them to sort into layers as they settle in water after a great upheaval (as when you shake and then sit a jar of dirt, stones, and water).

(More evidence and more details about these topics may be found at Global Evidences of the Genesis Flood | Answers in Genesis.)

Altogether, Genesis tells us that this flood was a universal flood (7:17-20) that resulted in universal death (7:21-23). All land and air animals died and so did all humans. Only those which were within the ark survived.

God preserved air and land animals in the ark.

How did God preserve air and land animals and human life? He did so through Noah’s obedience in bringing certain animals onto the Ark. As God commanded him, he brought onto the ark two of every animal kind (1 male, 1 female).

In addition, he also brought onto the Ark 7 of every “clean” animal. While we’re not told what defined a “clean” animal, this seems to be a way to distinguish the kinds of animals that were more necessary and suited for domestication, farming, and supplying necessary links in the food chain, whether as good food for other animals or for human consumption. It seems likely then, for instance, that such animals would be necessary food for keeping alive the other animals during the extended stay inside the ark.

While this necessary, suitable nature of clean animals explains the need for preserving more of them (6 instead of 2), what about the odd number, 7? The seventh animal from among these sets of clean animals would be offered back to God as a sacrifice after the Flood (Gen 8:20).

So, from these animals on the Ark, all air and land animals today have developed, whether through natural processes or domestication and breeding. In this way, God preserved – through Noah’s obedience and care – the animal life which he made and which our sin nearly caused to be destroyed.

God preserved Noah’s family in the ark.

More importantly, though, God preserved not only animal life, but human life, too. Gen 9:1 says, “Then God remembered Noah …” In the OT, the word “remember” doesn’t mean what we mean today, which is “to recall information from the past.” It means something more significant, which is not only to recall something from the past but “to act in response to or in keeping with that knowledge in a personal way.” In this case, God acted in a faithful, reliable, loving way based upon the promise he had made to Noah, that he would save him from the destruction of the Flood.

The result of God’s action here towards Noah was that he caused the catastrophic Flood action to cease. The watery deluge from above and upheaval from below came to a halt and the floodwaters began to gradually calm and recede, as when a firefighter turns off the water from a fire hydrant; the forceful flow of water simply stops. Just as God started the Flood, he ended it. With this divine action, he showed that he is faithful to his promises.

After the water receded substantially, Noah sent out two birds two determine whether conditions were appropriate for them to disembark and resume life on Earth outside the Ark. The first bird was a raven, a scavenger bird which did not return – meaning that the water had receded well enough for the bird to exist on dead animal carcasses.

The second bird was a dove, which required plant life to eat and to nest. The first time he sent the dove out, it returned because there was no plant life to eat or nest in. The second time, the dove returned with an olive branch in its beak, indicated that the water had receded low enough for small plant life like this to be visible. The third time, the dove never returned, indicating that the water had receded enough for the dove to have ample food supply and dry land to nest upon.

“Securely anchored on the earth again, Noah and the others needed only to wait until the waters receded enough for them to disembark. But this took yet another seven months, so that they were in the Ark slightly over a year—371 days altogether. After 21/2 months, they could see the tops of the nearby lower mountains. Forty days later, Noah released a raven and (seven days later) a dove from the Ark.” (Henry Morris)

At the end of 371 days (after spending more than a year in the Ark), Noah, his immediate family, and the animals he had cared for, exited the Ark onto dry land to resume life again in a newly cleansed world rid of the rampant ungodly behavior of millions, even billions, of people before. This was a fresh start, a chance for a new life, and the continuation of God’s promise to provide the world with a Savior who would still be born.

The Ark and the Flood teach valuable lessons of faith for us today.

What should we learn from this worldwide Flood today? We can answer that question by looking at what the NT says about it! Last week, Pastor Will showed us that Hebrews describes Noah as an example of faith for us to imitate today because he exhibited genuine faith in God by building the Ark at God’s command (Heb 11:7). He showed the genuineness of his faith by obeying God even though the world was against him.

But there is more. Both Jesus and Peter speak multiple times about the Noah, the Ark, and the Flood.

Jesus spoke about the Flood in his teaching ministry. He said that our generation today, before Christ comes to the Earth again, would resemble Noah’s generation before the Flood. They would be distracted, focused, and living for normal, everyday experiences and life goals, such as eating, drinking, and marrying. They would not be focused, instead, on following Christ and seeking his kingdom above all. As a result, they would also be surprised when Christ returns. Just as that generation was surprised by the Flood (despite the warnings and witness of Noah), so our generation will be surprised when Christ returns to judge the world once and for all (Mt 24:37-39; Lk 17:26).

Peter also spoke about the Flood in his teaching three times. It’s important to notice, too, that in these passages, the reference is to a global, worldwide Flood, not a smaller one:

• 1 Pet 3:19-22 – in this place, Peter taught us that the Flood is like baptism for us today because both provide a special, God-given picture or illustration of salvation from sin. Both give true followers of God a clear conscience towards him because they show that their faith is real. Both require obedience to God and both separate and distinguish God’s people from the ungodly people around them who refuse to obey God. There is a sense in which Noah’s entrance into the Ark and submersion in the Flood illustrates death to our old sinful selves and way of life while also illustrating our emergence from the ark onto a world cleansed and washed clean from its former sins, therefore illustrating vividly the newness of life we are to experience after faith in Christ’s death and resurrection. We celebrate and illustrate this same pattern through baptism. We go into the Flood of God’s judgment then we rise again into newness of life, only we are not saved by the Ark but by the cross of Christ.
• 2 Pet 2:5-10 – here Peter says that the Flood proves that God knows how to both rescue believers from the temptations of this world and ensure complete justice for those who refuse to trust and obey him. If God delivered Noah not only from a worldwide flood but also with a worldwide Flood, he certainly knows how to deliver you from the threats of ungodly people and the temptations of sin that press hard upon you. If you believe that God is unable to protect, preserve, and guide you through life in this ungodly world, then you simply do not understand the faithfulness, commitment, and power of God towards you.
• 2 Pet 3:3-8 – here Peter says that our generation will resemble the generation of the Flood because just as that generation mocked Noah for expecting God’s judgment through a flood, our own generation will mock us for following Christ and expecting him to come again. Peter also says that just as God judged the world through a Flood, so he will judge the world again, only through fire. The reason God delays Christ’s coming is not because he is unreliable but because he is compassionate and longsuffering, desiring for as many as possible to trust in him before judgment comes. Noah had been warning the world, by his lifestyle, preaching, and building the Ark, for more than a century. Today, followers of Christ have been warning the world by our lives, witness, and obedience – pointing people to the cross of Christ.

Finally, as we prepare our hearts to observe the Lord’s Table together, we should recognize that the Ark itself is a preview and example of what Christ would be and has become for us today. Just as the Ark saved Noah from God’s judgment through the Flood, so Christ saves us in a far greater way from God’s eternal judgment and wrath towards sin. As one Bible commentator points out:

“The Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead also on “the seventeenth day of the second month.” The seventh month of the Jewish civil year (and this is probably the calendar used here in Gen 7-8) later was made the first month of the religious year, and the Passover was set for the fourteenth day of that month (Exo 12:2). Christ, our Passover (1 Cor 5:7), was slain on that day, but then rose three days later, on the seventeenth day of the seventh month of the civil calendar.” (Henry Morris)

Said more simply, then, we see that Christ resurrected from the grave on the same day that God brought the Ark to rest upon Mount Ararat. The significance of this small detail should not be overlooked or viewed as insignificant. There is a point being made here, I believe, that the God who provided every detail of Scripture, and who controls the details of events in the course of history, intends for us to realize that Christ, who is greater than the Ark, is the one who gives us rest from the tumult our sins and from the terror of God’s judgment upon our sins, not through the Ark, but through the death and resurrection of Christ.

So, what’s so great about the Flood and why is it important for us to know about today?

• The Flood is great because it was global and universal.
• The Flood is also great because through it, God judged the world due to sin.
• The Flood is further great, though, because through it, God saved Noah, who trusted in God by faith and who showed the genuineness of his faith through obedience to God.’

Like Noah, we should place our faith in Christ as our Ark of safety and should declare our faith openly to the world through baptism. And we should go on living for Christ by faith no matter how crazy the ungodly world around us may claim us to be. We should be faithful witnesses for Christ until he comes again to judge the world with fire. Only through faith in Christ alone can we be saved from that judgment which is to come. Will you follow Christ by faith today – and will your family follow?