God shut
Noah and his family into the ark (Gen. 7:16) so that they were saved. All
this, we saw, prefigures the work of
Jesus. Our Lord Jesus is the ultimate
ark. The righteous man runs into
Him and he is safe (Prov.
18:10). When we enter into
Christ we escape the wrath of God.
The Genesis flood
is not primarily
a meteorological or a
seismological event or whatever other scientific description you may choose. The flood is
primarily a theological event,
and the
weather and the geology are
God’s tools in that process!
As Christians
we actually consider the whole of
life as theological. As
Christians we should not think that theology and
science are in conflict. Theology
and true science are in fact great allies. But
who would be the senior partner?
In Europe during the High Middle ages, schools of higher learning
called theology the “queen
of the sciences.” They understood that the various branches of
learning required an overarching standard. That standard to them was the Bible, because the Bible is
the source of all truth and
therefore the starting point for
learning. “The fear of the LORD is the
beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7).
In our day the
theory of evolution and its associated
agendas have managed to move theology
to the lunatic fringe, but for
any serious and thinking Christian this
constitutes a serious attack on the authority of our Bible and therefore an attack on faith.
The Bible makes after all important
claims with respect to the origin and the creation of the world and the universe. The
Bible makes important claims about man who
is said to be made in the image of God.
The Bible also asserts that all the animals, birds and insects were each made according to their own kind
and not by a process of evolution. The Bible speaks of
sin and judgement in response to man’s
rebellion against God, and the Bible claims
that a universal flood was
the first great indication concerning God’s
universal wrath on man’s
sinfulness. This is clearly seen in the
pronunciation made in Gen. 6:5-7.
Now clearly the claims of evolutionary teaching do not agree at all with the Scripture, and
so we have to make up our mind in this
regard. Do we take the claims of Scripture seriously or not? If the
Bible is simply fiction, then
the next question would be, “but
can we trust fiction?”, and “ if Genesis isn’t strictly speaking true, then what else may we discard in the Bible“? John
McArthur has correctly pointed out that, “
Scripture, not science, is the ultimate test of all truth. And the further
evangelicalism gets from that conviction, the less evangelical and more
humanistic it becomes.”[1]
So, as we get back to our text,
at this point in the history of
Genesis, we have seen that God’s patience with
mankind has come to an end. God is determined to make an end of all
mankind by means of a
universal flood : Gen. 7:17,18 The flood continued 40 days on the earth. The waters increased and bore
up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth and the ark floated on the face of the waters.”
Many think that
the flood mentioned here was perhaps
simply a severe local flood in the
Mesopotamian valley. But this is not what the Bible indicates. If it was simply a local
flood, Noah could have simply escaped
to another part of the world to
escape from this flood . Instead, he is
commanded to build an Ark of gigantic proportions!
According to Gen. 6:15 the Ark was 140
meters long, 23 metres wide and 14 metres high - longer than a soccer field
and higher than a 4 storey building.
It had three decks, and a capacity of approximately 15000 tonnes. In modern terms it would be
have held over 500 standard shipping containers. It is a huge vessel by
modern standards. We ask, how is this possible?
We forget that engineering
techniques, tools and machines of
ancient man were far more advanced than we are ready
to believe. Not long after the flood, the Egyptians were able to cut huge granite blocks and transport and construct
massive, precision built pyramids. In the
3rd Century B.C. the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy IV Philopator had a
huge wooden boat built. It was 130 meters long, powered by three banks of oarsmen, being able to
carry 4000 soldiers. [2] The
ark was a much simpler construction. It was built to float !
The Bible indicates that there
was a universal flood. There are about thirty expressions in Genesis chapters 6-9, which indicate that the Flood was universal. This
flood
was associated with significant
seismological activity which caused the
fountains of the great deep burst forth and in conjunction with torrential rains. Remember that this was God’s doing! This
catastrophic event was so severe that one would not recognise the earth today
from the earth as it was then! Some
creation scientists believe that
a single continent was broken up
as the result of this flood.
They maintain that the post flood
earth developed an entirely new
geology, with huge sediment
deposits that included billions of fossils, plants , animals , insects that
were trapped in
torrential mud which quickly formed into sedimentary rock. Approximately 75% of
the continental surface is sedimentary
rock[3],
which indicates that there was
huge movement of gravel , sand and silt - all the
result of these huge masses of water
moving over the face of the earth.
I have found it astounding to
learn that even the sedimentary layers that form the uppermost parts of Mt.
Everest are composed of fossil bearing,
water-deposited sediment.[4]
Incidentally, the Indian tectonic
plate is pushing up the Eurasian plate and enormous
tectonic movement has not only
produced the highest mountain in
the world , but it is
also true to say that Mt. Everest is growing.
The fact that fossils are found near the top of Mt Everest is significant, for it indicates that this must have been submerged and flooded at some time in history.
The Geology of the world is always changing.
One of the most fascinating
insights into recent thinking
about geological processes has
been provided by Mt. St. Helens (USA), which erupted
in June 1980. It has been
awesome to see how quickly those
sediment strata formed. Three separate eruptions produced sedimentary-type
layers hundreds of feet thick. One
of these was a hurricane velocity deposit that produced thousands of thin
laminations up to 25 feet thick. The third eruption was a lava
flow, which turned into a hot mud-flow as it crossed the
Toutle River. This hot mud flow not only diverted the river,
but carved a 17 mile long series of canyons (up to 140 feet deep) in
a matter of hours. They call it the Little Grand
Canyon of the Toutle
River."…. so , canyons don’t need
millions of years to form.
Having said all this
I must humbly confess, that I (and
all of us) do not know how God exactly
brought the flood about, and what
exactly happened as a result. We just weren’t
there. Nobody except Noah and his family were there, and all our efforts to understand or explain what God did then
will not change the fact
that the Bible says that there
has been a universal flood , and that it
primarily happened in response to man’s
evil and corrupt nature. God did it, and He did it in the same way in
which He always works – by His supernatural power, ordering and commanding nature to obey His awesome commands. Who will not fear God as you hear this?
The Flood lasted for forty days, and we are told that at the
end of this time the mountains of the earth were covered to a depth of more
than 6 meters (Gen. 7:19). It was
150 days after the rain had begun, and 110 days after the rain and springs had ceased to pour out water that the Ark was able to touch land on the mountains of Ararat
(Gen. 8:4). From there another 10 weeks again passed before the mountain tops
became visible, and then another 21
weeks passed before Noah and the family
and the animals could leave the ark. Noah was
almost on the ark for a year! And so God accomplished what He set out
to do . He has once judged the earth with a
terrible judgement.
We have every reason to believe that there was such a universal flood.
Significantly and finally we observe
that Jesus believed the flood to be an
historical and therefore accurate account , for He did not contradict it when
He affirmed in Matthew 24:38-44:
[38] For as in those days before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the
ark, [39] and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away,
so will be the coming of the Son of Man. [40] Then two men will be in the
field; one will be taken and one left. [41] Two women will be grinding at the
mill; one will be taken and one left. [42] Therefore, stay awake, for you do
not know on what day your Lord is coming. [43] But know this, that if the
master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he
would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. [44]
Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you
do not expect.
Significantly the Lord Jesus connects the universal flood with the
universal judgement at the end of
all days when He shall come again. Why
should we believe in the Genesis account as accurate and historical ?
Because Jesus understood the OT as history. Jesus also regarded
Adam, Eve and Noah as historical
people.
So did the apostle Peter, who spoke of the Flood, and we
note that he too assumed it to be a worldwide flood, because he said,
“By
these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed” (2 Pet. 3:6).
He then also compares it to the present heavens and
earth, which are reserved for fire. He is not saying that only one localized
area would be burned by fire in the
final judgment . . . he implied that just as the Flood was global, so the final
judgment of the earth by fire will be
global. If only part of the human race were destroyed by the Flood, the major
point made in Scripture of all humanity being corrupt, violent, and having
hearts inclined toward evil would be lost.
One can understand why
atheistic evolutionists would want to re- interpret
the history of the earth in terms of great ages and evolution, rather
than trusting in the biblical account of
Creation and the Flood. According to
their belief system they must get rid of
God, and Satan has provided a very effective tool to persuade
biblical illiteralists. It has in fact become a new faith system,
and it must be said that biology and much of what is called science
today goes far beyond what we would call
‘scientific’. Much of it is in fact speculation and speculation is
the atheist version of
faith. We need to ask an important question : "Who
among finite men has the authority to
say that the earth is
4.5 billion years old? [5]
Well might the words of Job 38:4 be repeated: “Where
were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding.”
The Flood reminds us that
God has judged the earth once. And we
have seen that Jesus uses the flood account as a reminder to us
that there will be a second destruction of the earth, not by
water, but by fire.
So, here are some important questions to answer:
- What is your faith position?
- How will you escape from the coming wrath ?
Again, we can say that God is so
good. He has provided an ark for us ; this time not a ship, but a person. His own Son. The
righteous run into the Name of Jesus and they are saved.
Amen!
[1]
Quoted in : 15 Reasons to take Genesis
as History : Creation Ministries International ,p.25
[2]
Tas Walker (PhD in Mechanical Engineering
; BSc in Earth Science) : The Genesis flood (2006) Creation Ministries ; The Genesis Flood : Fact or Fiction , p.6
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedimentary_rock : Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that
are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within
bodies of water. Sedimentary rocks cover the majority of the Earth's rocky
surface.
[4]
Tas Walker : The Genesis Flood,
p.28 ( References and notes)
[5] https://answersingenesis.org/age-of-the-earth/how-old-is-the-earth/
Prior to the 1700s, few believed in an old earth. The approximate 6,000-year
age for the earth was challenged only rather recently, beginning in the late
18th century. These opponents of the biblical chronology essentially left God
out of the picture. Three of the old-earth advocates included Comte de Buffon,
who thought the earth was at least 75,000 years old. Pièrre LaPlace imagined an
indefinite but very long history. And Jean Lamarck also proposed long
ages.However, the idea of millions of years really took hold in geology when
men like Abraham Werner, James Hutton, William Smith, Georges Cuvier, and
Charles Lyell used their interpretations of geology as the standard, rather
than the Bible. Werner estimated the age of the earth at about one million
years. After Lyell, in 1899, Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) calculated the age
of the earth, based on the cooling rate of a molten sphere, at a maximum of
about 20–40 million years (this was revised from his earlier calculation of 100
million years in 1862).13 With the development of radiometric dating in the
early 20th century, the age of the earth expanded radically. In 1913, Arthur
Holmes’s book, The Age of the Earth, gave an age of 1.6 billion years.14 Since
then, the supposed age of the earth has expanded to its present estimate of
about 4.5 billion years (and about 14 billion years for the universe).
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