ACCURATE BIBLE
KNOWLEDGE!
Noah’s flood. It cut through the earth’s
surface like a hot knife through butter.
In watching the TV news the other day about
the floods, there was picture of a road being cut in two to the depth of
several metres … with a vertical cut both sides. “Amazing” I thought “the power
of moving water! And this with only a limited depth of water to do it.”
EXPLANATION:
Many people today, including some
Christians, believe that Noah’s flood was only a local one. They suggest that
it took place somewhere in Mesopotamia but it didn’t spread over the whole
globe.
Surely, God could have told Noah and
his family, to walk to another locality if he was going to send a local flood.
He could have covered many kilometres eg 15km a day adds up to 4,500 kms over
ten months.
Why would you go to the trouble to build
an ark of the size of a couple of football fields in length and three stories,
if you could just ‘shoo’ the animals over the hill to a non-flooded region?
In addition, if the flood was only
local, why would you get every type of animal on the earth and put them on
board. Surely, only the local animals would need to be saved. If that were then
the case, you wouldn’t need a very big ark at all.
As we all know, birds have wings and
they can fly. Some of them can fly hundreds of kilometres in one day. They
could have easily flown away to safety at the first few rain drops that fell.
Jesus Christ himself says in Matthew
24:37-39 that all men and not just some, were killed. Was he lying? Hardly,
because Jesus Christ was without sin (2 Cor 5:21).
In addition, if the flood was local,
why couldn’t have those people on the edges escaped to safety.
IF
THE FLOOD WAS LOCAL WHY ARE TWO DIFFERENT GENEALOGIES GIVEN?
The genealogies of Adam and those of
Noah are completely separate (Genesis 4:17-20,21-24,25-26; 5:1-31; 10:1-32). There were
pre-flood people from Adam and there were post-flood people that came from
Noah.
“And I will establish my covenant with
you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to
destroy the earth.” (Genesis 9:11)
If the flood were local, why would God
say that he would never again send a local flood? It wouldn’t make any sense!
If it is the case, then God has lied because since then there have been
countless local floods all over the earth!
If so, then the coming judgment of the
Son of man will only be local also. Did the Lord mean this? Will some escape
the Lord’s judgment? Not likely.
We read in 2 Peter 3: 3-6,7 of the
scoffers about the universal flood of Noah and the upcoming universal fire of
judgment of the earth.
“Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed
with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same
word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men.” (2Peter 3:6-7)
It would be impossible. As water finds
its own level, you couldn’t have water being contained in the air above a
mountain without any constraints. It would simply flow over the mountain. Water
can’t cover a local mountain and leave the rest of the world uncovered.
Answer? It wouldn’t. Noah, his family
and the animals were on board for 377 days and nights. One must ask the
question – “Wouldn’t this be a rather long time for only a local flood?”
Answer? It was not a local.
We read in Genesis
7:19-22,23
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the
earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were
covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail;
and the mountains were covered.
21 And all flesh died that moved upon
the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of
life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23 And every living substance was destroyed
which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping
things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and
Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.”
Babylon,
Greece, Polynesians, Egyptian, American, Hindu, Greenland, English, Mexicans,
Peruvians, Australian, Europe, African cultures have flood traditions similar
to that of the Bible.
WHY WOULD
SKEPTICS AND CRITICS WANT NOAH’S FLOOD TO BE LOCAL?
“Knowing
this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking
after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for
since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation.
For this they
willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old,
and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
Whereby
the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
But the
heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store,
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly
men.” (2 Peter 3:3-6,7)
CONCLUSION:
WHY DENY A GLOBAL FLOOD?
Just as the
depraved in Noah’s time scoffed at a judgment by water, ungodly men today do
not want to face the coming prospect of judgment by fire. This is why they deny that Noah’s flood was
worldwide.
Harley Hitchcock
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
