Though there is ample evidence in
science to demonstrate that the Genesis flood covered the whole
earth rather than merely a part of it, it is not to science but to
Scripture that the man of God turns for proof. Science, being
dependent on the understanding of fallible man, is always
changing—what was held yesterday may not be what is held today. By
contrast, the Bible simply states the truth, because it is the
record of what God has said. Unlike the shifting sands of man’s
apprehension, it is a rock on which we can depend.
The critics find the thought that water once
covered the entire planet too incredible to believe. They would
rather have it that Noah’s flood only destroyed a limited
area—something akin to Caesar’s decree “that a census should be made
of all the habitable world” (Luke 2: 1). Thus when Scripture speaks
about God bringing “[the] flood upon [the] world of [the] ungodly”
(2 Pet. 2: 5), the word world
is taken to mean a restricted area in which the ungodly lived—as we
might say, ‘their world’—rather than the planet. The critics do not explain why
Noah could not simply have vacated the area that was to be judged,
as the time period “while the ark was preparing” (1 Pet. 3: 20) was
clearly considerable (“when the
longsuffering of God
waited in [the] days
of Noah”—my emphasis). There was certainly no need to preserve
either doves or ravens (see Gen. 7: 3; 8: 6–12) since both these
exist commonly outside the imaginary local flood region and could
easily have repopulated it.
Such doubters do not know the Bible (or, if
they do, they do not believe it), for Genesis 1 tells us quite
explicitly of a time, long before the great flood, when the planet
was covered in water.
Thus we read that “the earth was waste and empty, and darkness was
on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering
over the face of the waters”
(v2, my emphasis). Again, in verse 9, God said “Let the waters under
the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry
[land] appear”. Clearly, the message conveyed by these early verses
of Scripture,
is a world covered in water. Thus the idea of Noah’s flood
covering the whole planet should not be regarded as
extraordinary since such a
state of complete inundation had existed before. Of course many
professing Christians will reject this divine revelation as being
too fanciful, but their faith (if it is faith at all) can hardly be
described as faith
in God, for they do
not believe the record of what He has said. Faith in God and faith
in His Word are essentially the same thing.
The record of Noah’s history leaves no doubt
that the flood with which he is so inextricably linked was universal
in its extent: “For I, behold, I bring a flood of waters on th
earth, to destroy all flesh under the heavens in which is the breath
of life: everything that is on the earth shall expire … And the
waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth; and all the high
mountains that are under all the heavens were covered (Gen. 6: 17;
7: 19). There is no doubt that the writer intended to convey to his
readers that the flood was a cataclysm of unparalleled severity,
covering the whole earth, and destroying every living thing. To
assert otherwise is to make the writer a charlatan.
Further confirmation is seen in the covenant of
the rainbow made “between God and every living soul of all flesh
that is upon the earth” (Gen. 9: 16)—for the inevitable conclusion
drawn is that there could have been no rainbows prior to the great
flood. Hence the flood was no local inundation, but an event that
changed the very hydrology of the planet—for these is no mention of
it raining before the flood, only that “a mist went up from the
earth, and moistened the whole surface of the ground” (Gen. 2: 6).
It defies belief to say that the rainbow was present prior to the
flood, and that God only ‘appointed’ it as a sign afterwards, for
that would make it not really a sign at all. Furthermore, the
rainbow is seen in every land and is thus universal. That being so
makes the flood universal too, for the two are inextricably linked.
Men scoff at the idea of a universal flood but
believers need not be concerned with their opinions. There is One
whose words will stand forever (see Matt. 24: 35) and who spoke of a
flood that “came and took all away” (v39). Indeed, the Lord went
further and said that if men did not believe Moses (Moses being the
writer of Genesis), then they would not be persuaded by His own
resurrection (see Luke 16: 31)! The reason men do not like the
record of the past judgment is because it reminds them of the
judgment to come. Then, “the earth was corrupt before God” (Gen. 6:
11) and history is repeating itself. Thus “as it took place in the
days of Noe, thus also shall it be in the days of the Son of man”
(Luke 17: 26). Judgment is coming.
