“THE FLOOD”
Last week, we opened this three part lesson, studying about the man mentioned in the Bible called “Noah”. Now, I hope to establish with Biblical scripture that the “flood” was also a reality and not just a myth.
As we stated previously, the time period in history we are looking at is the time after the creation of Adam up to Noah, which turns out to be 1656 years when the flood came about. Creation was about 4004 B.C.,and we’re talking about 2348 B.C., after the creation of Adam. That would be about 4,359 years ago from today.
Backing up a little bit, we studied that in “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. We see here, the Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain. Every human heart was toward evil all the time.
In God decided to wipe out mankind off the face of the earth.
In (Genesis 6:8), it says, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”. and God promised him to save him and his family from a watery death.
God commanded Noah to build an ark and gave humans 120 years to repent before the floodwaters would come
One thing we mentioned in the first lesson was the fact, that up until now, it had never rained before. This one factor is an indication of the difference in the ecology of pre-flood earth.
Before the flood, it was possible there were no huge mountain ranges, because the Book of Genesis refers only to “high hills” being covered
Also, the earth’s land surfaces were all together, not separated by the oceans and seas we find today. The flood would have drastically altered the shape of the pre-flood surface.
So, the Book of Genesis in describing the flood of Noah’s time, tells us that “All the high hills that were under the whole heavens, were covered”
There is no doubt that the Bible is telling us in the clearest terms that this flood was worldwide in extent and that it covered the highest mountains. So, how could the waters from Noah’s flood cover the highest mountains of the world such as Mount Everest?
The answer is that Mount Everest—like other high mountains in the Himalayas, Andes, and etc.—was formed after or during the flood. It just didn’t exist in its present form before the flood. We know this because these mountains contain fossils of sea creatures and seashells, showing that they are composed of rock that was once under water.
Before the flood, the mountains were not as high as today, and the ocean valleys were not as deep. Mount Everest and other mountains were pushed up by the enormous underwater volcanic activity of the flood: “the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened” They were carved out by the rapid draining away of the water into the ocean valleys.
There were hills in the pre-flood world of course, and it was there that the Bible speaks of when it says the mountains were covered to a depth of 15 cubits (675 meters), (22 feet, six inches), during the flood.
One big question here, is, “How long was the flood?”
7:17, says the flood was on earth 40 days and nights.
7:24, says the flood was on the earth 150 days.
This seems like a contradiction in the Bible. However, there is no contradiction. The verses are talking about two different things.
7:17 and Genesis say that it rained for 40 days.
7:24 and Genesis say that the flood lasted for 150 days.
It rained for 40 days, causing a flood that lasted 150 days.
The Ark drifted for 150 days and the water steadily went down.
tells us that the waters covered the mountains then God rebuked them and they fled The mountains rose and the valleys sank down and God set a boundary for the seas so they would never again cover the whole earth
Next question! Where did all the water go? Close to 71 per cent of the earth’s surface is now covered with water, so the waters from the flood have mostly gone into the seas and deeper ocean valleys that exist today.
Briefly summarizing it all up, we can only imagine:
* A flatter earth.
* Hundreds of volcanoes exploding at once.
* Thousands of new large springs gushing out huge amounts of water.
* That rain initially fell for 40 days, 40 nights
* The water reached its highest level sometime between the day and the day
* From the day, the waters started receding
* After another 74 days, the tops of the mountains became visible
* At the end of 370 days (just over a year), the earth was dry enough for Noah, his family, and the animals to leave the Ark.
After the waters subsided, God promised never again to exterminate humans through a flood. He gave “The rainbow” as a sign He would keep His promise to all the generations of man
So far, I have tried to show you that the Bible is what it says it is; the inspired word of God Timothy The word (the Bible or the scriptures) and God are the same thing. You cannot separate God from what He has spoken and written down in the Bible as His very own word. It would be the height of egotism for a person to say that because an idea in the Bible does not make sense (does not conform to his or her reasoning), it cannot be true and the Bible must be in error on this point.
God, in His existence as the three-in-one is beyond the limits of human comprehension.
Everything spoken and written in the Bible is true and can be trusted.
So, if you believe in the Bible, then you should believe in the story of Noah and the flood. They actually did happen.